592
Albums Rated
3.62
Average Rating
54%
Complete
497 albums remaining
Rating Distribution
Rating Timeline
Taste Profile
1950
Favorite Decade
Jazz
Favorite Genre
other
Top Origin
Cheerleader
Rater Style ?
131
5-Star Albums
8
1-Star Albums
Breakdown
By Genre
Top Styles
By Decade
By Origin
Albums
You Love More Than Most
| Album | You | Global | Diff |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Fear and Whiskey
Mekons
|
5 | 2.6 | +2.4 |
|
Sex Packets
Digital Underground
|
5 | 2.66 | +2.34 |
|
KE*A*H** (Psalm 69)
Ministry
|
5 | 2.7 | +2.3 |
|
Movies
Holger Czukay
|
5 | 2.71 | +2.29 |
|
Yank Crime
Drive Like Jehu
|
5 | 2.73 | +2.27 |
|
Group Sex
Circle Jerks
|
5 | 2.75 | +2.25 |
|
Beyond Skin
Nitin Sawhney
|
5 | 2.76 | +2.24 |
|
Roots
Sepultura
|
5 | 2.78 | +2.22 |
|
Planet Rock: The Album
Afrika Bambaataa
|
5 | 2.79 | +2.21 |
|
Rejoicing In The Hands
Devendra Banhart
|
5 | 2.81 | +2.19 |
You Love Less Than Most
| Album | You | Global | Diff |
|---|---|---|---|
|
S&M
Metallica
|
1 | 3.26 | -2.26 |
|
Hysteria
Def Leppard
|
1 | 3.2 | -2.2 |
|
Murder Ballads
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
|
1 | 3.08 | -2.08 |
|
Heartbreaker
Ryan Adams
|
1 | 3.02 | -2.02 |
|
Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
Elton John
|
2 | 3.92 | -1.92 |
|
Sticky Fingers
The Rolling Stones
|
2 | 3.86 | -1.86 |
|
Grace
Jeff Buckley
|
2 | 3.74 | -1.74 |
|
Appetite For Destruction
Guns N' Roses
|
2 | 3.71 | -1.71 |
|
Raw Like Sushi
Neneh Cherry
|
1 | 2.7 | -1.7 |
|
Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness
The Smashing Pumpkins
|
2 | 3.68 | -1.68 |
Artists
Favorites
| Artist | Albums | Average |
|---|---|---|
| A Tribe Called Quest | 3 | 5 |
| Black Sabbath | 4 | 4.5 |
| Talking Heads | 3 | 4.67 |
| The Smiths | 3 | 4.67 |
| Parliament | 2 | 5 |
| Led Zeppelin | 2 | 5 |
| Nirvana | 2 | 5 |
| Johnny Cash | 2 | 5 |
| The Clash | 2 | 5 |
| Joni Mitchell | 2 | 5 |
| Belle & Sebastian | 2 | 5 |
| King Crimson | 2 | 5 |
| The Pogues | 2 | 5 |
| The Flaming Lips | 2 | 5 |
| Run-D.M.C. | 2 | 5 |
| Neil Young | 3 | 4.33 |
| Elvis Costello & The Attractions | 3 | 4.33 |
Least Favorites
| Artist | Albums | Average |
|---|---|---|
| Ryan Adams | 2 | 1.5 |
| Def Leppard | 2 | 1.5 |
| Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds | 4 | 2 |
Controversial
| Artist | Ratings |
|---|---|
| The Smashing Pumpkins | 2, 5 |
| Metallica | 4, 4, 1 |
5-Star Albums (131)
View Album Wall
Popular Reviews
Beth Orton · 4 likes
5/5
One of my all time favorite artists and one of her best albums. I hope everyone enjoys this as much as I do.
Anthrax · 2 likes
3/5
Ga ga ga ga junga ga junga. My inner Beavis is shining. I enjoyed this more than I expected. Doubt I'll ever listen to it again, but I am glad to have heard it before I died.
Run-D.M.C. · 2 likes
5/5
I forgot how great this album was.
Ryan Adams · 2 likes
1/5
I never heard of this guy. Listened to the album, and tbh it was a bit of a sleeper. Neither his music nor words pulled me in. When it was done, I started reading to understand why he is in this 1001 album collection. I still can't figure out the rationale, but I did learn he's a putz called out in the me too movement and previously for just being a general shit. I also learned he's put out 29 studio albums in his less than 50 years on this planet. 6 between 2000 and 2002 while embroiled in the me too controversy. What? Why? How? If they are as boring as this one, God bless. 2 for the album. Minutes one for the human.
Living Colour · 1 likes
5/5
That is a banger from start to finish. Say no more, say no less.
4-Star Albums (196)
1-Star Albums (8)
All Ratings
David Bowie
5/5
I've been enjoying this. A first time hearing this album. Started with some fairly straight forward Bowie pop tunes, but then migrated to instrumental tracks and synth ambient. Mellow.
The Stooges
4/5
A bit of a shock on first play. Poor production and an assault of sound took a second to get used to. By the second track, I was all in, and that crappy production enhanced the experience. An album meant to be listened to on a sony walkman with tinny headphones on a school bus wearing a denim jacket as a 14 year-old with angst. OK, the walkman was 10 years after this release, but carrying a record player on a bus is impractical, and besides, I'm not quite that old.
I need somebody is the Iggy I know. I don't know if this is a flashback to older work or a premonition of later albums, but this is the sound I expect from Iggy Pop.
Gorillaz
3/5
My first time hearing this as an album. Somehow this one slipped by, adjacent to much of what I listened to at the time. Clint Eastwood single was familiar but not the full album. So very stoner centric, but I'm digging the groove without any aids.
Double base stood out to me. Great groove, grabbed and held my attention as they traded off focus between different instruments. If I find myself in altered states I hope I remember to put this document on again.
Then I feel asleep about 2/3 through, so I guess it didn't grab me all that well. Need to go back and relisten to the end I guess...
Black Sabbath
5/5
Brings me back to my older brother in high school. This was his favorite and his band would cover all of them surprisingly well for their age. Amazing album with the tone of the guitars and wonderful feel driving it all forward. Every track brings something a little different and stands up to the 50+ years of time. My hair grew 6 inches while listening to it.
The Doors
3/5
This was a good but straight forward collection of tracks. Very clean blues rock, fun to listen to but didn't blow me away. Many songs were massive hits and of course very familiar. Some were less popular or new to me. But as an album composition, it was sort of just a collection of fun tunes to me.
Fats Domino
4/5
I had to struggle a bit to listen to this one properly. Spotify playlist link was only partial. Ended up finding a different playlist that was more complete but was missing The Fat Man's Hop. I ended up searching that one on YouTube as it wasn't available on Spotify, and that was the best track on the list! Anyway, glad I checked the Discogs page for the album to see the original track list and did the legwork to hear the whole thing.
Anyway. as someone else said, what's up with putting a compilation album in a best albums list?!? That's a total cheat. A great collection of songs, of course, it's the greatest hits, duh! Thoroughly enjoyed it all. The Fat Man's Hop was a standout and was a bit different than the rest as an instrumental and real showcase of the musicianship. 5 stars for Fats but knocking the album as a best of collection.
Beck
2/5
Sitting down to listen to this album reminds me why I don't listen to this album. It's a jumbled mess of disorganized ideas. Whole fans call him a creative genius, I think he can't figure out which style to ape so he apes them all. I hear people label this lofi. That's not a fair label, this is massively produced and worked over. Nothing lofi about it. Off key or off rhythm can't be blamed on "being raw".
Oh, and what's up with adding record dust popping noise as a theme. Like in the silence between tracks for ready made, and carried through the whole track. That's not leftover from sampling, it's just added noise. Nope.
Last track, Ramshackle, is far and away the best on the album. A cohesive and moving composition played and sung genuinely. Left the gimmicks on the cutting room floor and let it flow.
Taylor Swift
4/5
Woo hoo! Taylor is a guilty pleasure. Listening to this should be fun. ;)
So I guess I never heard this album before, which is a surprise. I certainly knew the many singles, but interspersed were a few new to me tracks I didn't expect.
I'm more a fan of her early more Nashville roots, and this full shift to pop is hit or miss to me. I love some of her wittier and more self effacing tracks. And of course her signature tell a story songs. I'm not sure I really want this many images implanted in my head of her coital dalliances, however. Seemed like most tracks had some alusion to bumping nasties. I get it, she's all grown up now, message received, move on.
Overall, a good album. Clearly a star maker with more than half the tracks being radio hits. Good on her, but only getting 4 stars. If I were being objective, it would probably have been 3. But what can I say, she's a guilty pleasure and I'm not that objective.
A Tribe Called Quest
5/5
This will be fun.
I'll need to give this one a second listen, as somewhere after Bonita Applebum, I slipped into unconsciousness and let this seep into my dreams. Great grooves, great lyrics, catchy and fun all the way through (the first half). Second half yet to be judged...
The Louvin Brothers
4/5
Something new and fun. I think I want to revisit this one when I'm more focused just on it.
Jurassic 5
2/5
I was optimistic on this one from all the positive reviews. It was good but but great. I don't feel like hearing this had deepened my world view and understanding of the genre.
The previous generation, tribe, digable planets, de la sol, etc, are at least as strong. Less known but more comparable was Boo Yaa Tribe, from a decade earlier. This was a good album but doesn't seem to take the genre further than the decades before. Liked but not love.
Fishbone
5/5
What a fun album! I haven't listened to these guys in too long, but it was and is such a fun assault to the senses. You hear the first notes and smile. Within seconds, you're tapping your feet. Eventually you just have to get up and move around! There is stored energy in these tracks which must be released. Bonin In The Boneyard explodes. Gotta love funky ass bass.
The White Stripes
3/5
A solid album. I think I like this more than most white stripes I've heard. While I enjoyed this, I don't think it's something I would put on without prompting or for a specific reason (like the 1001 Albums project :) ). It's certainly not music to relax to. It's a band I'd love to see live, it just requires a level of activity and attention that listening on the stereo can't provide. And for that, 3 stars.
Parliament
5/5
This was fun from the first drop of the needle until the final beat. Masters of the genre. Nothing more needs be said. 5 stars.
Cocteau Twins
4/5
This was a fun listen to drive home to. Some songs were very sound alike to tracks from other albums. And I can't say I'd jump to put this on outside special listening situations. And for that, 4 stars.
Led Zeppelin
5/5
This was a lot of fun. When it started with the overplayed radio smash, Immigrant Song, I was gearing up for Led Zep rock front start to finish. Then it spun to blues, still holding their theme sound. Then folk. Then something from the Renaissance Fair. It kept changing, kept rocking, and kept sucking me in. Easy 5 stars.
Neil Young
4/5
This was a hard one to listen to. I mean physically. It wasn't available on Spotify, I had to use Amazon music which kept stopping midway. Really annoying. First world problems...
This was really good. My main exposure to Neil Young is the double CD Decade compilation. It was great just hearing a single album of an era. I enjoyed every track. 5 stars, not quite. I'm rounding down to 4, but it's close.
Nirvana
5/5
This will be a good one... And it was. It's been a while since I listened to that one. A clear 5. Every track is brilliant. J Marcus joining was brilliant. Covers were brilliant. Left on stuck a high note with where did you sleep last night.
Lou Reed
3/5
I would have loved seeing this at an easy village club. Hearing it on a stereo isn't quite doing it for me. I'm liking it but not loving it so far (Caroline says I).
My enjoyment picked up. I think because the production got more sparse which made it more clean and raw at the same time. By the time Caroline Says II rolled around I was way more inside the album. It's still getting a 3, but 2 is totally off the table now.
Screaming Trees
3/5
I did not expect huge rip off (homage?) to led zep guitar riff at the beginning of Dying Days. These guys exude the mid 90s alt rock sound. Nothing revolutionary but a solid power pop consistency from start to finish. The definition of 3 in my mind. The last 2 tracks were the highlights to me.
Ramones
4/5
Not their best album but so much fun none the less.
Ryan Adams
1/5
I never heard of this guy. Listened to the album, and tbh it was a bit of a sleeper. Neither his music nor words pulled me in. When it was done, I started reading to understand why he is in this 1001 album collection. I still can't figure out the rationale, but I did learn he's a putz called out in the me too movement and previously for just being a general shit. I also learned he's put out 29 studio albums in his less than 50 years on this planet. 6 between 2000 and 2002 while embroiled in the me too controversy. What? Why? How? If they are as boring as this one, God bless. 2 for the album. Minutes one for the human.
David Bowie
3/5
This was kind of fun. Kind of the hits album with the title track and Fame bookending it. A bit more soul/r&b than I usually like but it worked here. A solid 3.
Arrested Development
5/5
I forgot about this album. Reminds me of visiting my sister in college. Amazing how a few notes can bring you into a room from 30 years past, with the sounds, smells, people, everything so close you can touch them. But that's not the album. The album is wonderfully produced. Great grooves with layers of samples and instrumentation that add to the whole. The opposite of that Jurassic 5 nonsense I was subjected to a few weeks ago. An easy 5.
Johnny Cash
5/5
If only I could give 6 stars, this album deserves it. Start to finish it's just brilliant musically and entertainingly.
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
1/5
Never heard this one. I'm looking forward to the PJ Harvey and Shane MacGowen collaborations.
I gave a distracted listen and liked what I heard but need to go back. I'm going to say did not listen as a reminder to go back.
Went back and listened more properly and this one did not impress. I'm not going to 1, but it's probably a 1.5... ah heck, joining the crowd and rounding down to the single star.
Basement Jaxx
2/5
Never heard this band before. And won't ever put them on again. They lost me with the first 2 vocoder abominations. Some of the later tracks were better with some jungle and krump but not my bag and I can point to other albums in the genre is rather hear. Same old show was one of the better bits.
Paul Simon
5/5
I love this album. I own it, I enjoy it, and I'm so glad to get to listen again from this project. Great guitar work, great songs. But, it's not his best, so could it be a 5? I'll round up, so yes.
David Bowie
4/5
They seem to really like Bowie... This was a fun one. I only knew the one popular song going in. I enjoyed the whole thing. Very cohesive song-to-song and very different (in a good way) to the previous one reviewed (which happened to also be Bowie's previous chronologically). I think I'm still going 4 here, but it's a strong 4.
Steve Winwood
3/5
You can't help but feel like a guy who own's a boat. Going to go sport a pink button down and lace up my loafers today. It's shorts with belts weather!
Anthrax
3/5
Ga ga ga ga junga ga junga. My inner Beavis is shining. I enjoyed this more than I expected. Doubt I'll ever listen to it again, but I am glad to have heard it before I died.
Gram Parsons
3/5
Wasn't loving this album, it was leaning way too country without the promised rock. But then the medley came on and his cover of Charlie Louvin's Hickory Wind, with Emmy Lou Harris won me over. One of my all-time favorite albums is a band called Idha's Melody Inn, where I first was introduced to that song. Was a solid 2 until that came on but that bumped it up a star. And if you haven't heard Idha - Melody Inn, go seek it out. You'll be glad you did. And then Love Hurts. OK, Side B of this album was way better than Side A.
Dire Straits
5/5
I thoroughly enjoyed this from beginning to end. Great musicality. Great blues guitar and groove. I love Mark's voice. Another album I'm surprised I never heard before considering how much I've listened to brother in arms. Another cultural hole has been filled by this pleasant hour in my evening. Thank you 1001 Album Generator. 5
Nico
3/5
I really like her voice and can so get into her crazy. This would at least be a 4 in my musical memory file cabinet, but for who she is as a person. Since I learned she is a Nazi racist I can't rate her that highly. And so a guilty 3. Should an artists music be derated for their personal character? We don't give bonus points for good Samaritan's making music. Discuss amongst yourselves.
Jimi Hendrix
5/5
I don't think I've heard a "Live Concert" album from another band that made me feel more like I was in the audience at the club than this album which I THINK was studio recorded. Completely engrossing. Demands you to just sit in front of the speakers, clear your mind, and just let it all absorb into you. I've never listened to a Hendrix album, only the radio singles. I'm starting to understand why people say he was a genius.
Simon & Garfunkel
5/5
What a brilliant collection of songs. Hard to believe the 12 songs are under 30 minutes total running time. From the classics to the deep cuts, the whole album stays together, mixes things up, and keeps you interested. The easiest 5.
R.E.M.
4/5
This was the first CD I ever owned. Not my favorite R.E.M. album, but certainly a trip down memory lane. Ah to be walking in a denim jacket, bright yellow Sony Diskman in the pocket, skipping more than it was playing... Solid album. A transitional from their young college rock days to the adult contemporary soft rock band they became. It would be a 3 but for the nostalgia.
10cc
3/5
This was something new. I enjoyed it. The sound was quite dated, very much a product of mid-70s rock, but the songs were solid. Nothing totally grabbed me or compelled me to replay it, so for that, ***.
Talking Heads
4/5
This was so much fun. I thought I knew the talking heads, but I never heard this album, and I guess most of what I heard came after. This was so raw and unpolished. I loved it and all it's crazy nonsense.
Everything But The Girl
3/5
I like drum and base and 90's trip hop. I like Everything But The Girl's dance vibe. Their prior, Amplified Heart, has been a go to in my collection over the years. This one is a lot more D&B/Triphop than that one, which had leaned to bossa nova and more traditional dance beats. Walking Wounded - Omni Trio remix was a strong way to end. Love the cymbal bell work. I may need to revisit this one a few times and see if it seeps under my skin like Amplified Heart has through the decades of re-listens.
Dexys Midnight Runners
3/5
I did not expect a one hit wonder band to have a place on the 1001 albums. I especially didn't expect the album to not have the one hit! I dig the basic genre and style. I like Horn heavy band. Enjoyed their Specials reminiscent vibe. His voice is an acquired taste at best. Fun, solid, but I think I'm good with one and done. Listened and now I'm one album closer to being about to die with completeness. Somewhere between 2 and 3. I'll decide in the morning. As I near the end, it's upgraded to between 3 and 4, but I think it rounds down.
The Clash
5/5
So much fun. Love this album. Love the ska influenced punk. The sense of play. You can't help but tap your feet and smile with each track.
The Jesus And Mary Chain
2/5
I wanted to like this more and there was a time when I would totally jam to this noise, but alas, either this, or I, did not age well. I'm giving ** on optimism that it's not me, it's them. I've become my parents. My parents were great, I've subsequently learned.
Ramblin' Jack Elliott
4/5
This was a fun one. Nothing I heard before but many songs were familiar standards. Great guitar, great voice. I liked the guest appearance with what sounded like a fairly aged Woody Guthrie.
Lauryn Hill
3/5
I wanted to love this but it was only like. A bit more r&b pop than I wanted. Good, but just a 3.
Rufus Wainwright
2/5
I tried liking this. I feel asleep on 2 separate attempts. I think that defines a 2.
Sonic Youth
4/5
It's impressive how it can be both pure noise and melodic at the same time. I have owned this album since it first came out but I rarely come back to it. But when I do, I enjoy it.
The Black Crowes
3/5
Good clean rock n roll. I don't like the singers voice so it's tiresome to listen to, but the music is solid if not inspired.
Public Enemy
5/5
Man this was a good album. I will need to come back to it a few more times. I forgot how great they were.
Public Image Ltd.
4/5
I know it's not for everyone, but I like this. This was an interesting bridge between where they were, Sex Pistols, and where they went, the eclectic pop hit, Rise.
Lightning Bolt
3/5
I'm going to be off-trend on this one, but I enjoyed this album. Never heard it or the band before, but it reminds me of The Jesus Lizard or the Black Flag instrumental album "The Process of Weeding Out". Loaded with energy and angst. Can't help but release adrenalin into your veins and lift your heart bit, or perhaps your blood pressure. Some songs are in the 4s, but there are enough that are more noise than rhythm that I'm only getting to the 3. But definitely not a 1 in my book.
Elbow
3/5
Another album and artist I hadn't heard of. I was generally happy but not in love with it. Some was really nice. Some came off to me as pretentious art house pop. But then One Day Like This came on. Why they buried the best track as 2nd to last on the album seems very strange. That was far and away my favorite. I even relistened to see if I warmed to the album after hearing the good song. Nope. Just an album with one song that stands far above the rest.
Red Snapper
3/5
It started strong. Chill electronica. Wasn't a huge fan of the 3rd track but I get the suggestions of sounding like Massive Attack. Next track got back on the groove motif. This would be a good album to have on a long road trip, especially driving an empty highway at night. I think I'm satisfied.
Kate Bush
4/5
An album I've owned and loved for decades. But being honest with myself, it's a 4, there are better albums out there. But very glad to see it on this list.
Merle Haggard
4/5
I enjoyed this one. Not a 5 but above a 3, sounds like a 4 if my math is right. Was not a good album to run too, tempos were just too slow. But since I can't run well, it was fine music to walk to, which was most of my outing, anyway. Looking forward to playing this album backwards so I can get my dog, wife and job back.
Black Sabbath
4/5
This wasn't what I was expecting. It was a softer, blues-ier Black Sabbath. I liked it.
N.W.A.
3/5
I oscillated between 2 and 4 several times while listening to this. I mean within the genre, this was no Arrested Development where everything was top notch. Some great tracks. Some historic tracks. Some duds. Some offensive world views that shouldn't be perpetuated and applauded. Let's average to a conflicted 3.
The Psychedelic Furs
3/5
The only song I know the Psych Furs by was the Pretty In Pink track. It was fun to hear the whole album and put some context around it. I think I'll need to revisit this at least once, but for now lets call it a 3. Super 80s. Love the thick accents. Call me a US nob.
Joni Mitchell
5/5
A favorite in my collection. Something to listen to on pensive quiet nights. Great voice, great lyrics, great music necessary it.
Tim Buckley
4/5
I really enjoyed this one. Added to my spotify library, which has been a rare result so far. The first track had a tune that reminded me of what I think was a Miles Davis track but I just can't place it. I want to listen to this a few more times and really absorb it. I'm surprised I never heard of him before. Thank you 1001 Albums!
The Cars
4/5
So much fun. I never realized how much The Cars sounded like Devo. Was that just the sound of the day, or what?
Morrissey
2/5
I enjoy his voice and sound, but he hasn't aged gracefully. From those angsty teen heartache songs from his hay day, now it just sounds vapid and whiny. I wanted to like this one. The wiki said there were 4 singles that charted on the album. I couldn't figure out which they were, none seemed chart worthy in my book.
Bruce Springsteen
2/5
I'm really not a Bruce fan. I tried twice on this one to see if it resonated. Her just doesn't do it for me. Not bad. Just not good enough to get me to focus.
G. Love & Special Sauce
3/5
I would have liked this more if it was all Special Sauce and left the G Love in the car. His voice and style were grating but the music was great that was behind it. And for that... ***
David Bowie
3/5
This is a repeat for me from before we created the group. I'm wondering what I wrote on my first pass. I suspect I am enjoying it more on this pass than on the first. I had fun letting this wash over me while doing my work e-mails. Very ethereal at times, mellow overall. Just a pleasant listening experience. I didn't recognize any track (beyond hearing the album a month ago, of course...), no radio hits/charting singles that I knew. I think Sound and Vision was the highlight for me.
Iggy Pop
5/5
This wasn't what I was expecting and I liked it much more because of that. Raw, unpolished, energetic and fun, but missing the angry I was expecting. Not angry, but Iggy seemed disappointed.
Ride
5/5
I'm confused. This was right in the center of the music I listened to in 1990 as a DJ in a college radio station. But somehow despite totally knowing the name, I don't recognize any song in the album. I love it and think had I heard it then, I'd have bought the CD or record, or at least got a tape copy if I was strapped for cash. So maybe I'm rediscovering an old lost favorite or hearing something new for the first time. 5 either way.
2Pac
3/5
There were times I thought this would be a 4. Solid album.
Joan Armatrading
5/5
A name I recognized but never really knew who she was. What a great album. I want to go back and re-explore this one a few more times.
LTJ Bukem
3/5
A fine drum and bass album. This wasn't ideal on spotify. The album spotify plays isn't quite the album being requested, it's an instrumental version. They did have 2 tracks at the bottom that I think were closer to the original but not sure they were the same. I saw from other reviews that YouTube had "more correct" copies but I heard enough, I didn't bother chasing it down further. A fine example of the sound of that era, but didn't strike me as being much better than several other comps and albums I have. I don't feel like this album was keeping me from dying a complete person.
Love
4/5
I thoroughly enjoyed this one. I didn't know the name of this band but several tracks were familiar. Great sound, just fun to listen to. The biggest quip was the primitive use of stereo with many instruments and mics hard panned fully into one ear. That was a distraction and unnatural.
Led Zeppelin
5/5
Just a solid album start to end.
Cream
4/5
Another fun album. If you haven't seen "Beware of Mr Baker" it's well worth the time. Such a great and ornery drummer.
The Young Rascals
4/5
This had some fun stuff. Groovin' is such a classic.
Talking Heads
5/5
The second talking heads album in our journey, and man, I just love them. This album was such a blast to listen to.
Black Sabbath
4/5
This was fun, dark, ethereal Sabbath. A healthy dose of satan in every riff.
The Good, The Bad & The Queen
2/5
Eh. Kind of boring if you ask me. In the beginning it recommend me of the Joe Strummer post clash work but that all had interest and sucked you in. This seemed to fight to keep me out. 2
Mudhoney
3/5
On the one hand, this totally brought me back to my college band days, and so much fun to play. On the other hand, I never liked to listen to the music I used to play. Great to play, cathartic, and awesome to join live on stage or in the pit, but never as much fun recorded. Belongs on the 1001 shows to see before you die, but not the 1001 albums to listen to.
Billy Joel
5/5
What a great album this is. He's got it right the 5th time with this one. So many brilliant tracks. Some timeless, some exuding the mid 70s vibe. But a great album as a full composition with an opening, an arc, a climax and ending with a release.
Klaxons
2/5
This one was kind of meh. At times I thought it would be fun and entertaining but most of the time it got on my nerves. Very busy and cluttered. They could use a producer who scales them back and focuses them on one idea at a time. Isle of Her was a good example of where they managed to strip things down and layer effectively to a place where it became a great track.
The Afghan Whigs
2/5
When this album came up I thought to myself "This is a band I always saw the name of but I can't think of one song they do." I was excited to fill out a cultural gap, as they were right in the zone of what I listened to when they were popular. When I heard the album, I understood the Wikipedia comment that they were always "almost famous". I wanted to like them, but angsty vocals, muddy playing between the guitar and bass, generally lacked the hooks of a good pop song, they were close, but just not quite there. Sort of like what AI would produce if prompted to create a guitar oriented power pop band from the 90s. It just lacked a soul.
Supergrass
3/5
This was fun. I heard the one hit, Alright, but the rest was new to me. Fun and playful. Some blues rock bits towards the end (Time). Didn't make my jaw drop and wonder where has this been all my life, but I wouldn't turn it off it I was on a long drive.
4/5
This was a really fun one for me. The band name didn't ring a bell for me and the album came out when the house was filled with babies and I wasn't looking at new music. But several songs were familiar and by their sound, I know I've heard and liked other songs from other albums. A few albums back, I dinged a band for being too busy and cluttered and becoming a muddy mess. This album is an example of busy and cluttered done right. While there were so many layers and instruments on each track, they were tight, each contributing, and working toward a whole. Not a world altering 5, but hitting above the "that was quite good" 3 in my book.
The Clash
5/5
From start to finish, an amazing album. Every song is a classic. Great hooks, great production, great words. Undeniably one of the most important and influential albums in the evolution of rock to follow. The easiest 5 so far.
PJ Harvey
4/5
Another album already in my collection and a fan favorite. I sort of saw her when visiting my brother out in SF almost 30 years ago. We got there but missed way too much of the set. It was still a great show and great night. I love her quiet than screaming sound. She makes you work for it, but the effort is rewarded with catharsis and joy.
3/5
I'll need to listen to this more. Definitely more accessible than "Rid of Me", the album fed to us just prior on our particular journey. But while Rid of Me was in my collection and was completely familiar, I'd never heard any of her later work, so while it was an easier listen, to me, it was still foreign. I want to listen more and suspect my rating would rise over time, but for now...
The Flying Burrito Brothers
3/5
This was fun. Very much country more than rock. It seemed familiar though I don't think I've ever heard it before. It shows the influence it had on later bands and also the familiarity of Gram Parsons from his many other projects.
Supertramp
4/5
Good times. Some classics and some I've never heard. Great sound, love their keyboards. Happy to have heard and will look for more from them.
The Cult
4/5
This album brings me back to my college radio days. I forgot how much I enjoy them. A bit louder/harder than my typical go to listen, but they pack a solid rhythm and punch that is contagious.
Little Richard
4/5
So much fun. Doesn't take much imagination to understand why this still shines almost 70 years later.
The Cure
4/5
I thoroughly enjoyed this one. The songs I knew were what made it onto their Standing on the Beach best of album. It was great to hear those familiar tracks in the context of the album they came from. The dry guitar, sparse drums and edgy bass. Not punk but punk adjacent and unpolished.
Bad Company
4/5
This was a fun one. Kind of basic but fun to listen to, none the less.
Belle & Sebastian
5/5
A brilliant album. Start to finish. One of my favorites.
The Beau Brummels
4/5
I had never heard of these folks but enjoyed them. A familiar sound without being something I'd ever heard before. 60's psych rock, well produced. I'll keep my ears out for them again.
Joan Baez
4/5
A pleasant Sunday in the park playing guitar kind of album.
Joy Division
3/5
Enjoyed this one. I didn't realize how much they sounded like old Cure, which I wouldn't have known but for the Seventeen Seconds album assigned to our group a few weeks ago. Good times.
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
3/5
This was fine. I heard of them and expected to like them more. I guess I didn't not like them but did not live up to my expectations. Giving the 3, but only barely.
Pink Floyd
4/5
Just a fun listen, start to finish. Turn it on and let it wash over you. Wake up and go to bed.
The The
3/5
I love The The. Brings me back to middle school. This isn't my favorite album of theirs, but still enjoyable. I wanted to rate higher but if being honest, it's a solid 3.
Foo Fighters
4/5
Just a classic start to finish
Blue Cheer
3/5
So did the who cover them out did they come the who with summer time blues? I'm guessing this was the original. This seems like the beginnings of punk taking shape. Enjoyed, but not sure I'll go find them to relisten. Ok, just read the wiki. I guess summertime blues was Eddie Cochran, and this was the roots of heavy metal. Closer enough for me.
The Band
3/5
Jeru The Damaja
3/5
Want my bag. There are other rap/hip hop albums I enjoyed more.
Devendra Banhart
5/5
I really loved this one. Great guitar work, great voice, loads of fun. Never heard of them but will seek it more.
Rufus Wainwright
4/5
I keep oscillating between loving and being annoyed by Rufus Wainwright singing. I think today I leaned more toward liking. My enjoyment of few artists is as sensitive to my mood as with him. It's a sound that effects, just not always in a good way.
David Bowie
3/5
Started out as "normal" Bowie pop. Ended up as trippy ethereal head music. I enjoyed it. Heroes is a great song. Surprising that was the radio hit given it's over 6min long and radio's infatuation with the 3 minute track.
Elvis Presley
3/5
I was totally going to give the king a 4, but Spotify auto played a Johnny Cash song when the album finished and I realized Elvis was good but there was clearly better.
Rod Stewart
3/5
I did not expect to enjoy this. Rod Stewart in my mind is synonymous with the worst aspects of adult contemporary/easy listening schlock rock radio. The pre-cursor to Shania Twain. I was surprised to hear this album begin and enjoy a blues rock, rough around the edges first few tracks. Didn't lift above 3 in my mind, but 2 higher than expected.
King Crimson
5/5
I love me my King Crimson. To be listened to on the best quality system available to you, while doing nothing but letting the album play out in it's own manner. Don't multitask. Don't fight it. Resistance is useless.
Thundercat
4/5
I'm not a fan of the smooth jazz vibes, but loved the fusion and funk parts. It was a mixed bag from loving it to being turned off. I wouldn't have guessed this was from 2017, it has such a strong late 70s early 80s vibe. Would have been a 3 but bumping to 4 for production quality and the perfection of what they were trying to do, even if it wasn't my bag.
Haircut 100
3/5
This was fun. Reminiscent of taking heads and oingo boingo, but maybe that's just the sound of that minute in music. Liked the horns.
Bonnie "Prince" Billy
4/5
I liked this one. Well, I liked the music. I read the description and I may regret having liked it if the words are as off as the Murder Ballads album. I really wasn't paying much attention to the lyrics but I liked his voice and the music and the generally dark and brooding mood of it all.
The Roots
4/5
A fine album. They do good work. Some tracks were straight up hip hop. Much was creative transitions and asides. A good album to enjoy in its entirety and a rare rebellion from the iTunes only listen to songs in isolation world we have made.
Elvis Presley
3/5
I don't think I heard any of this album before, which surprised me. I liked it. Didn't blow me away but solid tunes all the way through.
Primal Scream
3/5
This was a mixed bag for me. Some recommend me of the Manchester scene like Inspired Carpets, then it moved into trip hop and bounced around between those worlds. What I didn't find was a cohesive album, just a string of different ideas each produced well as what they were.
Echo And The Bunnymen
3/5
This one will need a second listen. I learned of the Bunnymen only in the late 80's. It was interesting hearing this early release from them. Well produced but just a bit more raw and unpolished.
Chicago
4/5
I forgot or maybe never knew that I liked Chicago. I definitely didn't remember them as being a variant on 70s funk. I had a lot of fun listening to this one and will definitely be coming back to it.
XTC
4/5
I listened to this album so much in high school. Dear God and Grass are both amazing. They brought something new at the time and still sound fresh and different. But I can't deny at times it just seemed a bit much.
Ian Dury
4/5
When I got the Stiff box set in college, my eyes and ears lit up. So much great stuff and most was new to me at the time. Ian Dury was one of those gems, with Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick, Razzle In My Pocket and My Old Man featuring on the discs. My first listen to the rest of the album and I love it. His thick cockney accent and penchant for speaking in limericks, while backed by super clean, funky drum and bass lines. Love this.
Small Faces
2/5
This was fine. Nothing really grabbed me. Just an album playing in the background on a long drive.
The Boo Radleys
2/5
I wanted to like this more than I did. Kind of flew by me without resonating any chords of pleasure. Wasn't bad. Just wasn't something I wanted to hear. Could have been mood.
The Prodigy
3/5
In the vein of Fat Boy Slim and Chemical Brothers. Fun listen.
a-ha
2/5
I thought I would like this more. It was fine but not as catchy as I expected and hoped.
Beth Orton
5/5
One of my all time favorite artists and one of her best albums. I hope everyone enjoys this as much as I do.
Creedence Clearwater Revival
4/5
I am speaking with a bit of a drawl now.
Brian Wilson
2/5
I'll need to relisten to this. Some I enjoyed, some I appreciated, some just wasn't what I wanted to listen to at the time.
Eminem
3/5
I expected to be all in on this. Turns out I was at most half in. I think I need to listen again. Fell asleep towards the end. But where the hits I knew were kicking and as solid as they ever were, the bulk of the album hit me as more meh. Much the mixed bag of brilliance and filler.
Kendrick Lamar
2/5
This wasn't my genre and didn't convince me it should become it. I knew the name, didn't know the music. Hearing it, nothing pulled me in. Lyrics didn't grab me. Most of the music was fairly basic. Continuing my original perception on the name as famous for reasons I can't explain.
Country Joe & The Fish
4/5
I'm a big fan of the Country Joe I've heard, mostly his solo albums. My first taste of this one and from the first two tracks, I'm picking up what he's putting down. Surprised how musically similar to Doors. Ok, now I realize if you play a Hammond then it sounds like the doors in my world.
Wilco
3/5
I liked this one more than the more recent (2004?, the one with a white egg on white background) Wilco album I was more familiar with. This band has always been a bit outside what I want to listen to at any given moment, but they are starting to grow on me more and more. I'll go back to this one again.
The Zutons
3/5
I was enjoying the album just fine when Confusion popped on. My liking increased 10 fold with that one. It was a good album. Some winners and some tracks were more middling. They should branch away from the well trodden structures more often because I think those were the better tracks.
The Beta Band
3/5
Mellow jam music. Kind of fun but didn't blow me a way.
The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion
4/5
Took a few tracks to adjust my mindset to match the music, but once I got into it I liked it. I wasn't expecting the punk rock edgy thing. Thank you 1001 for knocking me off my center once again.
The Pogues
5/5
The only thing better than this album was their prior, Rum, Sodomy and the Lash. Love them. Loved this.
Dinosaur Jr.
4/5
Great band. Very good album. There were a few bits where I wasn't totally vibing with it, but then it ended with Just Like Heaven cover that I love love love. I'm giving it a second listen today, but for now, it's sitting at a happy 4.
The Beta Band
5/5
Discovering gems like this is my reason for participating in the 1001 albums project. Thank you once again for introducing me to an album I missed from a band I probably never would have heard otherwise. Great mellow indie psych rock. Beautiful harmonies, great instrumentation and just wonderful.
John Martyn
4/5
What a mellow experience. My heart rate slowed and stressed melted away.
The Verve
4/5
First song, Bittersweet Symphony, sets off the tone and the album moves on from there. Definitely starts at the peak, but I think the rest held up fairly well. I was pleasantly surprised and think this is an album I want to add to my collection. They aren't the one hit wonder I had thought they were. Go Verve.
Siouxsie And The Banshees
4/5
Nothing screams black hair and white makeup like Siouxsie and the Banshees. Let the teen angst out and your inner goth have a moment.
Johnny Cash
5/5
If this album just had the song hurt repeated 13 times it would still be a 5.
Portishead
3/5
I really like Portishead, especially the album Dummy, but this one didn't quite grab me. It lacked the musicality to tie it together and was more a collection of ethereal and experimental sounds without a common thread.
Kid Rock
3/5
I expected to hate this and was very pleasantly surprised. A bit too aping of beasties Ill Communication but otherwise really solid. This album was pushing 5 for me until the insanely bad vocoder schlock rock abortion of Only God Knows Why. Bad enough to knock a star off. Re-listen later with less distraction, I liked the music but very much didn't like the misogynistic and mostly pathetic lyrics. Musically, 5*. Lyrically 2* star. Vocoder ballad -1.
Nitin Sawhney
5/5
This was great. Clean musicianship and recording. Grabbed my interest from the get go and held it. Sometimes jazz, sometimes electronica, sometimes tabla and indian influence, other times more western trad.
Garbage
3/5
It was fine.
Joni Mitchell
5/5
What a fantastic album. An easy 5 in my book.
The Beach Boys
3/5
This was a bit of a mixed bag. At some points, it seemed inauthentic, delivering a corporate message. Very different set of sounds to Pet Sounds, somewhat loose production. There were some really good tracks mixed with a bit of meh.
Marty Robbins
3/5
This was fun. Better than "murder ballads," but at some points it reminded me of that one.
The Residents
2/5
I like experimental music. I often tell people, and the 1001 albums has general been evidence, that no matter the genre, there are always examples of good music even for genres one doesn't usually enjoy. But this album was not good, even for someone who likes this often unloved musical subsector.
Slipknot
4/5
Not my normal listen, but surprisingly good. Didn't pay attention to the words, but the musicality was surprisingly infectious.
Pet Shop Boys
3/5
I didn't realize Colin Jost was in this band? Love that picture. This was a mixed bag for me. That cheesy 80s synth British sound grates on my nerves, but there are still some very good tracks mixed in.
Nas
4/5
Solid. New to me. Heard the name but not the music. Glad to fill this cultural gap. Not my favorite but well above average. And holds together as individual tracks and as a cohesive album. 4
Peter Gabriel
5/5
Brilliant start to finish. Nothing more needs be said. 5
Boston
5/5
Everything about this is brilliant. Riff rock has never achieved such heights before or since.
Cat Stevens
5/5
Great voice, great lyrics, great album. Starts on a high note and keeps climbing.
Dr. Dre
3/5
I enjoyed this more than I expected. Dr. Dre's shtick outside of music generally grates on my nerves, so I never tried listening to his music. I've heard bits over the years which was fine, but I never sought him out or listened to an album until this one. Lyrically, I'm not sold, but rhythmically and musically, this was fantastic. I will re-listen.
Amy Winehouse
3/5
Solid. Not my favorite I've heard by her but a good listen.
William Orbit
4/5
A good album to study to. Mellow trip hop electronica. Well done.
The Avalanches
2/5
A bit of a mixed bag with some parts being sublime and others missing the mark and devolving into noise. I keep bouncing between 2 and 3.
The Blue Nile
2/5
Kind of slow. It didn't grab me. Just always seemed a bit off key to my ears.
Mike Ladd
3/5
I liked the tracks that pushed into trip hop vein, experimental electronic, more than the straight hip-hop. Had some good moments. Takes More Than 41.
Songhoy Blues
5/5
This was an amazing find.
Elvis Costello & The Attractions
3/5
This was a bit more raw for Elvis Costello, especially that first track. Didn't read the wiki yet, but I'm assuming this was one of his earliest albums. Great but not at his best. Still had some growing into his style to do.
Deep Purple
5/5
Dancing on the fence between prog rock and riff rock, then flipping into the blues jams to mix it up (lazy). A classic from start to finish. Love the fat sounds of the guitars and bass, and their signature synth pushing into distortion making it almost like another guitar. All tubes and analogue. No rough edges to be found.
Radiohead
4/5
Radiohead remains on the fringe of the bands in my normal rotation. This album was a bit different. I liked the mellow, somber tone of it. Nothing is a single or a pop hit, but as a theme/mood album, it works. I'm going to mope now.
Hawkwind
2/5
This is the album that never ends. 2hrs 12 minutes. A very talented editor/produce might have been able slice together a brilliant 40 minute album out of it. Maybe.
Neil Young & Crazy Horse
4/5
Just some straight up Neil Young and Crazy Horse. Right down the middle from start to finish. Listen to the fist 30 seconds. Like it or lump it, the next 40 minutes will just reinforce whatever you thought initially.
Iron Maiden
3/5
All triplets and shuffles all the time. A classic head bangers ball. Lighter and more bluesy than the later Maiden I seem to recall.
Syd Barrett
2/5
This was a bit painful. Started with some good stuff. Devolved into not so good stuff. Knowing a small bit of the personal troubles of Syd during this time, especially, it didn't help me find the good in the bad. 2
Killing Joke
4/5
The first song reminded me of early Clash. The next reminded me of PIL. Just hints of commonality that I enjoyed. I was expecting much more punk rock and this was solidly post-punk mixed with that early 80's sound. Bloodsport reminded me of Roxy Music. Ever song seemed to bring back memories of something from that era. Not sure who was influencing who in the musical timeline.
Doves
5/5
I hate it when my eloquent notes from listening don't save and I have to remember what I typed. Anyway, started off setting a mood with Firesuite and held it through to the end. A great album well worth repeated listening.
Prefab Sprout
2/5
Prefab Sprout were on my periphery in high school. Their CD was always around in the used bin, but I never succumbed. I think it was my loss. I am enjoying this. A lot of commonality with Squeeze, but musically and lyrically. Clean 80s brit-pop.
A few more tracks in and putting myself in my orange Chuck's, I probably did hear it back then and thought it was too cheesy. By the time Appetite hit, I was getting pretty sick of them. Did anyone else hear the odd grab of Steely Dan Aja in that track?
Desire As - pops out as an anomaly on the album standing well above the rest.
Grateful Dead
4/5
A classic. Not today my thing but can't help but enjoy it.
Dire Straits
4/5
A fine album. Chill, and phenomenal guitar work through-out. The repeated use of faggot in "Money For Nothing" did not age well, but it was such a common usage word back then, I have to cut them some slack.
Soft Cell
2/5
Oh my. I guess I only knew Tainted Love, the radio hit of the era. Frustration starts this off making me wanna turn it off. Tainted Love pops on and I'm dancing in my seat, the frustration of the prior track fading into the past. Was a bit hit or miss after that. Most I enjoyed, but at times it dragged on and was a bit too campy/dance club for my taste. Where Did Our Love Go? came back at the end to redeem it once more. Fighting with myself between 2 and 3. Fun City sealed the deal. 2 it is.
The Offspring
2/5
I see why they were popular but it still wasn't my bag. Not sure why, to be honest.
Justice
2/5
This was not my bag. I like electronica but not so much the EDM, apparently. Definitely not the right thing to play early on a Monday morning while going through the weekend e-mails. Too hectic, stopping and starting, it seemed more high stress than high energy. I could see this inducing bad trips and paranoia if taking the wrong substances while playing this. Not sure what the right substance would be.
The Dandy Warhols
4/5
Solid alt rock. I liked the steady tempo build they had going on. I don't think I'd what to see them live, but a good album to play at home alone.
Incubus
3/5
Like 311 but harder. Very clean, but too clean. It came across as sterile and soulless. I'd guess this is better in a live setting where there is more play. In the studio, the click track seemed to rule them.
The Allman Brothers Band
4/5
My prior album was Incubus. Incubus seriously need to spend some time listening to The Allman Brothers and unclench their butt cheeks a bit. Some easy jam band blues performed well. Listening via Spotify, it sounds a bit muffled/dull, which I think was limitations of an old live recording.
4/5
I enjoyed what I heard, but listening on YouTube was terrible. I ordered the CDs because I liked what I heard enough and will circle back when the album has arrived.
The Disposable Heroes Of Hiphoprisy
5/5
I do love me the pretentious rappers of the late 80s and early 90s. reminded my of Consolidated.
Elton John
2/5
I get why others love him, but he really gets on my nerves. I thought I'd like this more than I did. Your Sister Can't Twist is on now and I'm wanting to tear my ears out. Vapid. Was going to be a 3 until this trash came on.
Morrissey
3/5
Even when I want to hate him I love him. Solo Morrisey isn't as good as the Smiths, but he still croons out some whiny emo goodness. Pardon me while I go mope in the corner for a bit. Some tracks definitely better than others, making this a solid ***.
Motörhead
4/5
This wasn't at all what I was expecting. I thought Motorhead was more like Metallica. This was way more in the vein of punk rock. Much more to my tastes.
The Fall
3/5
Not what I was expecting, once again. Post punk art rock. Reminded me of instrumental black flag at times. I think I'd have liked this much more when I was younger and may need to come back for a few more listening sessions. I understand why this is in the list but for me to objectively rate it here and now, it'll be a 3, pushing toward 2.
Living Colour
5/5
That is a banger from start to finish. Say no more, say no less.
Orbital
3/5
This fits with my memory. Orbital was all about the drug fueled rave. Fatboy Slim and Chemical Brothers understood the good bits of this, but also recognized that when listening to a CD, most people were not most commonly fully zonked on party drugs. This album makes for fun DJ rave fodder, but doesn't appeal to other listening. Other albums of the same genre were better crafted to pull this sound into a song and album structure. 3. It'd be a 5 if properly zonked. And probably a 1 if I didn't recognize how good it was at meeting it's niche where they were at.
Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark
2/5
This is just too much 80's synth for me to get behind it. Not the analog synths, but the hollow and sterile digital synths that followed. Soulless and grating. I keep trying to listen with fresh ears, knowing they repelled me in my younger days. But then things like Sacred Heart come on dragging me back to this just being something I don't enjoy.
Soundgarden
4/5
To use the lingo of the kids, this is a banger. From start to finish, driving and intense guitars, bass and drums with a great voice rising over the top. My complaint is the overly clean production over the distorted instruments. Feels like click tracks and vocoders stripped the soul and optimizing for radio accessibility. I never saw them live, but would bet they weren't this clean as they rose up and built their following.
Kanye West
2/5
The intro/outro filler was a bit forced and kitschy, nothing that hasn't been done many times before 2004 and not done better here. Lyrics were similarly non-attention grabbing. Of the 21 tracks, 3-5 were really solid. Not a great hit ratio. Breathe in Breathe out was pretty solid. Then lost it with School Spirit as the follow up. That pattern seems to repeat. The critique of college is shallow and annoying. And as far as I could glean, his proposed alternative is to deal drugs and smoke pot? If everyone is dealing, then the value of being a dealer goes down, that's just simple economics, but I guess he dropped out of that class...
Nirvana
5/5
Sometimes I forget how great they were. So much hype at the time, but history has shown that in this instance it was entirely deserved.
The Charlatans
4/5
This band brings me back to an era. The sound is so distinct to that time that it floods me with memories. Never heard this specific album before, but will look to listen to more of them in the future.
Ozomatli
5/5
What a great band to now know about. Excellent Latin, hip hop, soul and funk. I'll be adding this to my regular rotation.
Bee Gees
3/5
This was pretty good. A bit too somber to be yacht rock. Better than the hits they are known for, in my opinion.
Animal Collective
3/5
The album cover makes my brain hurt. The music doesn't. Loved Lion In A Coma, and the whole vibe. Ended on a high note with Brother Sport.
TV On The Radio
4/5
This one took me several tracks for my brain to adjust to their sound, but once it did, I really enjoyed it. I liken it to The Decemberists, but with more experimental and punk/edgy influences.
Tim Buckley
3/5
Just your basic 60s folk pop pleasantry. Didn't wow me but perfectly enjoyable.
A Tribe Called Quest
5/5
A classic from beginning to end. They had such a great sound that pushed the whole genre forward and has stood the test of time. From the blue note jazz samples and break beats to the flowing lyrics. Respect.
My Bloody Valentine
3/5
Kind of a slower, more mellow variant of Sonic Youth. I liked what I heard from these guys but can't call it love.
Adam & The Ants
5/5
Except for the radio hit, Antmusic, I hadn't heard this one. And hadn't heard or thought of Adam Ant in decades. This was a blast to go back in time to my grade school years. Post-punk pop, in the vein of Devo, the sound aged surprisingly well.
Belle & Sebastian
5/5
I remember seeing them in 1996, at Maxwell's in Hoboken, if I recall, to a half filled room, and then only 2-3 months later to a packed hall down in the Bowrey as they exploded overnight. An amazing album from start to finish.
The Flaming Lips
5/5
Another great album. One that defined an era for me and that I always come back to with joy. Love the great use of synth and ultra deep bass in parts, echo in others. And just a fun vibe all the way through. Not like anything else I've heard.
The Pharcyde
4/5
A 5 for music and style. I love this album. I need to back off a bit because at least some of the tracks have lyrics I can't get behind.
The Kinks
4/5
I do enjoy old Kinks. I'm always surprised when I hear them because I'm so used to Lola as the sound of theirs I'm most familiar with, but this almost Beatles sounding stuff makes me smile.
Steve Earle
2/5
I was hoping to like this more. I often like the better country albums I get exposed to. This one didn't do it for me. Just seemed boring/generic country pop. Formulaic structure, standard tropes, meh instrumentation, all polish no substance.
The Pogues
5/5
The easiest 5 ever. A perfect album from start to finish.
The Band
3/5
This was fine. Nothing really jumped out as awesome or terrible. Just some 60s American blues based rock.
Ice Cube
4/5
This was a solid album. Enjoyed more than I expected.
Guided By Voices
2/5
It was like The Decemberists and Uncle Tupelo had an annoying angsty teenage punk son. A band I always heard about but never listened to. I'm missing the hype they garnered.
OutKast
2/5
I wanted more from this. It was fine but grating. There are better albums in the genre.
Run-D.M.C.
5/5
I forgot how great this album was.
Alice In Chains
4/5
A solid album from a band I haven't gone back to in decades. A great rich warm distorted guitar over the harmonic vocals and driving drums. Fairly catchy, almost pop song structure and hooks. No wonder they were able to solidify grunge as radio worthy, laying the groundwork for Nirvana to break out to the mainstream (although this album was after Nirvana began to dominate the charts and I'm sure AiC benefited from Nirvana's glory on this release).
Eurythmics
3/5
Huh. Listening to the first track, Love is a Stranger, I only heard this on the radio and have no recollection of the strange male grunting sounds that kept popping up. Were these not on the radio edit or was the sound quality so bad that they weren't noticeable, or is this just selective memory. TBH, they didn't seem to fit and the track would be better without them, I think, so maybe I just blocked them out? I've Got an Angel sounded like a cross between Prince and Robert Palmer. Anyway, this was a fun album. I wasn't a fan of hers when this was released, but she has grown on me over the years.
Fleetwood Mac
3/5
This was good. Kind of washed over me as generic Fleetwood Mac goodness. Wasn't brilliant and gripping. Just a steady hour and a quarter of pleasant sounds filling the room.
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band
3/5
Am I not young enough anymore? There is a time I think I would have embraced this crazy. I can feel that me somewhere deep within. But when sitting down for a good listen, this is not what I'm reaching for. A low 3 because I know the hidden me will be sad if I gave this a 2.
Ghostface Killah
3/5
Not sure what to say here. Not my bag but seemed good for what it was?
The Streets
2/5
This was a toss up between 1 and 5. Each track from the start, what style is this? Is it a hip hop variant? Is it some EDM/drum and bass thing? Spoken word, atonal verses with a vocoder, story telling, it was odd but somehow enjoyable. Get Out Of My House pushed it to the good side, but even if I liked what they were doing, it was repetitive with all 11 tracks being essentially the same shtick.
Ash
3/5
I'm glad I read the wiki on this one. Silly me, I thought 1977 was the release year and I was so impressed at how much this sounded like mid-90s indie pop. I was amazed at how far ahead of their time they were. Nope, released in 1996, right in the middle of their time, if not late to the game. A good album but I was looking for something to set it apart and wasn't able to find anything. Just let down by their lack of time-travel prowess, I suppose.
Van Halen
4/5
The opening with the cheesy synth sounds that so date this album set the mood right off. I'm definitely more a fan of the pure guitar rock of Panama and Hot For Teacher. Let the good times roll.
Neil Young
4/5
Fairly slow paced, somber even. Great songs and story telling. Solid album all the way through.
Pearl Jam
4/5
This isn't my genre but this album is rock solid.
Mekons
5/5
Man oh man. So back in the 90s, I used to listen to a band, Too Much Joy, with a song called "If I Were A Mekon." Back then, I didn't know what a Mekon was, and I knew I wasn't quite as cool as Too Much Joy. But now I have heard The Mekons. And I'm not a Mekon. So I can't say I'm cooler than TMJ. But I too wish I was a Mekon and so maybe I'm now on par.
The Youngbloods
4/5
A solid 60's rock album. Very chill with a great rhythm and groove. A new one for me that I enjoyed all the way through.
Harry Nilsson
4/5
This song started with a track that I might have thought was Billy Joel if I just heard it on the radio. Another mellow album that's fun to just let play. This would be a good road trip album. Enough variation and interest around a common theme to let the time just roll past with the miles. A few songs I knew but from other artists.
George Harrison
3/5
I expected to like this one more than I did. Of course there were a few classics that are well deserving of their fame. And a few gems I hadn't heard before. The production quality was wonderful. But it didn't hold me in for the very long 2 hours recording time. Like first track new and great. Second track My Sweet Lord. Third track, Wah-Wah, what were you thinking G? This is just boring dad-rock basement jam nonsense. But lasting through that 5+ minute slog, you are then rewarded with Isn't It A Pity and some joy returns. Seems like if they had passed on about 1/3 of this thing you'd have a masterpiece.
The Go-Go's
4/5
A fun romp in pop history.
Joy Division
3/5
This was a known hole in my cultural lexicon. They were just before when I started getting into the alt rock scene and I never went back to listen to them. I'm a little surprised to hear this be regarded as one of the best albums of all time, but it's solid. I still don't think it's getting above 3, though.
Various Artists
4/5
A solid showing of motown holiday cheese.
Pere Ubu
2/5
Boy, not sure what to make of this one. A bit of a slog to get through. Not quite a 1 but darn close.
David Bowie
4/5
Some true classics and some I hadn't heard before. Great album.
Mylo
3/5
Trip hop meets easy listening. Elevators have never been so funky. Not really my bag, but good for what it is, I suppose.
The Mars Volta
3/5
I really don't know what to make of these guys. Prog meets metal meets alt. Sometimes I was into it, other times not so much. Certainly something different than most albums on my shelf. Hard to think of the occasion when I think to myself "I really need to listen to this album right now."
The Velvet Underground
3/5
Mixed emotions on this one. So very heroin driven, sort of sad. But at the same time, such great musical depth and honesty.
Emmylou Harris
2/5
Seemed like a softer Melissa Ethridge. Heavy country bent while still trying to lean to the rock/pop charts. I think I liked her more trad country stuff more than this. The attempt to be a cross-over makes a result that is more like easy listening. When you polish off the rough edges of both genres, you leave a boring stone that slips out of your hands and your head. One Big Love is on this album but Patty Griffen version is MUCH better. Looking it up, Emmy Lou is covering the original and not doing it justice, IMHO.
The Velvet Underground
4/5
An album I've known and loved and agree that anyone who hasn't listened should give this a try before the dark veil descends. This would be a 5 except for consistency of rating with Ryan Adams, I have to doc it a star because Nico, whose voice I do love, apparently had some unsavory views around race and eugenics. It doesn't show up in the music, and her wikipedia page seems to down play it, so I'm a little conflicted, but eh, she still loses a star from me.
Elvis Costello & The Attractions
5/5
I love Elvis Costello and this was one of his better albums. Starts out strong with the first tack, probably the best on the album, but just keeps going.
Traffic
4/5
A good piece of 60s rock. Didn't blow me away but I enjoyed it well enough.
LCD Soundsystem
2/5
Kind of boring and monotonous I thought. OK but sort of meh as it dragged on. Emotional Haircut was probably my favorite, with a sound very reminiscent of Devo meets U2 circa 1986.
Richard Hawley
2/5
Kind of surprised to get an easy listening crooner on this list. I suppose they call it country but this feels closer to Musak than country. Not my bag. Born Under a Bad Sign and I Sleep Alone were pretty good. Then Tonight comes in and just crushes the mood and was down hill from there.
Peter Frampton
5/5
Maybe it's because I'm listening to this directly after the dog of an album by Richard Hawley, but man I'm enjoying this.
Emerson, Lake & Palmer
4/5
I do love me my prod rock.
Frank Ocean
2/5
This was so not my taste. I found it mostly painful to sit through.
Rush
5/5
I loved it in the 80s and it hasn't faded a touch in the two score years since.
The Jam
3/5
Solid but didn't move me that much.
Bauhaus
4/5
I am such a fan of tones on tail and love and rockets, it's crazy I never bothered to listen to Bauhaus much. I'll be going back to this one.
Aimee Mann
4/5
I have many of Aimee's albums but I hadn't heard this one before. She is so much more youthful in this one vs some of her later work. It's an interesting middle space from her 'Til Tuesday stuff to where she settled in. I'll be going back to listen more. So far I really like it but not sure it's as good as the albums I'm so much more familiar with.
Sinead O'Connor
5/5
This is one of my top 10 albums of all time. I love Sinead and this specific album is one of her best. The diversity of songs, the use of strings mixed with drum and bass rhythms. The builds and tension. Then just the pure vocals and lyrics. There isn't a bad or even a just OK song anywhere to be found.
Shack
3/5
Sort of fine. New to me band. Nothing I didn't like but didn't hit me as something I want to hear over and over. Not quite sure what the significance that brought this album to the 1001 list.
The Human League
4/5
This was hitting at a 3, totally dated synth pop. But then the last track, the classic hit Don't You Want Me came on and man oh man is that a classic that has held up despite the dated synth sounds. Uplifted comfortably to a 4, and clearly belongs on the 1001 list for that track alone.
3/5
I wanted to like this more than I did. So many classics and songs that were new to me. But the classics showed that over the decades, he really polished these rough stones, and that polishing was really necessary to what ultimately became timeless classics. I've been listening to The History Of Rock Music in 500 Songs podcast and recently learned a bit more about Dylan's early career (Episode on Song For Woody Guthrie), so it was educational and reinforcing to hear this album. I could imagine him in a Lower East Side coffee house playing this to a bored crowd wanting poetry, and then him getting better and the crowds flipping to people wanting this music and not the poets. Listen to that podcast series if it's not yet in your feed.
The National
3/5
Not as good as the other album I know of them, but I enjoyed it.
Kings of Leon
3/5
This was OK but didn't strongly hit me up or down. I think I owe it another listen at some future date.
Venom
3/5
I'm torn on rating this one. Definitely not my genre and I got very little enjoyment listening to it. But on the other hand, for what it was, it was solid, and despite it not being at all what I wanted to hear at the time, I had no issues playing it all the way through. So... 3.
Depeche Mode
4/5
So the opposite of the prior metal album and made me appreciate that one just a touch more. Depeche Camode was never my bag, I was a Dead Milkmen kind of guy when this was current. The hits did bring me back in time. And overall I enjoyed it more than I was expecting to. Still not in the hallowed ranks of The Smiths and The Cure from the era, but it has it's place on this list. As I type and listen, my rating creeps higher.
The Lemonheads
4/5
I like me my jangle rock. I enjoyed this but it wasn't love at first listen.
Dinosaur Jr.
4/5
Not their best album, in my opinion, but such a great band that even a lesser album ranks a **** in my book.
Tom Tom Club
5/5
This album just brings happiness and joy. I'm o-o-o-over it. It's so o-o-o-over me.
Doves
3/5
I have their first album, but this is the first time hearing this second one. Maybe it's familiarity bias, but I prefer their first. It's good, but hasn't really gripped me. Just some straight up indie-rock from the early aughts. The sales success of this album seems to have been on the back of the prior more than on the quality of this specific release.
Heaven 17
3/5
A new one to me, but it had a familiar sound in many parts. Reminded me of The The or other 80s English alt bands. Wasn't love, but I liked it.
Kraftwerk
2/5
Somehow I thought Kraftwerk were a noise/industrial band. I was not expecting this almost poppy type of electronica. I wanted the industrial which made it hard for me to get into it.
Sepultura
4/5
Not my genre but as the type goes, this was solid. Now I debate myself, is it a 4 because it's so good at what it's trying to do, or is it a 3 because I am never going to put this on again?
U2
3/5
This was an album from when U2 was transitioning from the great indie Dublin club rock band into a mega-stadium pop band. At the time, this is when I lost interest in them, they just weren't as cool and indie as my teen self demanded. Listening afresh to the album, it's a solid 3. Some truly wonderful songs, like Mysterious Ways, then some horrible dogs like Tryin' To Throw Your Arms Around The World. Their Wild Horses cover I find completely meh. Stadium pop-rock, absolutely. But decent in many parts.
Pink Floyd
3/5
I put this on and my wife left the room mumbling something about musical masturbation. I on the other hand sat and enjoyed the whole thing. Much more akin to jam band than the later Floyd's conceptual and then pop structured stuff. More youthful and a bit more edgy. I heard a lot I liked, but still can't get higher than a 3, though. My wife was not entirely wrong.
Carole King
4/5
Man, the opening track of this album brought be straight back to road trips in the way way back of a 1971 Volvo wagon. But as the hits faded into the deeper cuts of the album, it was just a solid blues rock album front to back. Some tracks reminded me of Janis Joplin in their sincerity of delivery (Way Over Yonder). I couldn't help shake my "this is cheese" bias (Will You Love Me Tomorrow), but I'm liking this way more than I anticipated.
Portishead
5/5
Oh boy, an all time favorite.
The Rolling Stones
3/5
I may be alone in having never liked Mick Jagger. I don't like his voice and never was a fan of his style. I wasn't excited to see this album come on. Some classics on here for sure, although I'd venture the classics have been overplayed so much they don't give me much pleasure anymore. Ultimately this gets to a "fine" in my book.
Beach House
5/5
Where has this been all my life? This album grabbed me right off the top and kept me listening. Walk in the Park was just one of the highlights. New to me, but I expect to go back to this band in the future. This is Dream Pop and I don't want to wake up.
Neil Young & Crazy Horse
5/5
This was a great listen. I really enjoyed the progression from acoustic into the electric and distorted. While there were many individual songs that were hits, this album had a progression and flow that made the whole greater than the sum of the individual tracks.
Julian Cope
4/5
Started off with a bit of a Velvet Underground/Lou Reed kind of thing; then pushed to 80s alt akin to The The; next track was funk rock and if they added a horn section it would have fit right in. Each track seemed to explore a new space and I have to give props for the diversity and quality for each track within those many styles. My comments are just on the tracks from the original album. The extra hour on the Spotify "Deluxe Edition" of remixes and whatnot might have knocked it down a star as that got a bit redundant and monotonous.
Bob Dylan
3/5
I wanted to enjoy this one more than I did. It wasn't bad, but wasn't awesome either.
Siouxsie And The Banshees
4/5
A classic album that I loved in my youth. As I've aged, I can still remember how this made me feel, but I also hear it grating a bit on my sensibilities with it's rougher edges.
X-Ray Spex
4/5
Great UK Punk. I didn't know this one in my youth but I would have loved them even more in those angsty teen years.
AC/DC
5/5
The Only Ones
3/5
The guys voice on the first track made me think he was originally a bad singer, then he suffered a stroke, making him worse. Later tracks were uphill from there, perhaps with me getting used to it, sounding much like the Violent Femmes singer at times. The music behind him I enjoyed universally.
Todd Rundgren
3/5
This was a very mixed bag for me. A few classic yacht rock hits. The fact he did this entirely as a solo effort was impressive in many places but there were many times when he would have benefited from the council of others. If he had a stronger (any) editor / producer, this would have been a single album of great music. Instead it was a middling double album.
Daft Punk
3/5
Daft Punk was a band I heard about before I heard, and thought I would love. Years later when I heard them, I was not impressed at all. I'm hearing this album and thinking the early buzz around this album probably was what gave me the positive impressions. I don't love this album, but it's SOOO much better than what I heard from DP in the 2000s, its a breath of fresh air. Some solid trip hop and acid jazz bits at times, (High Fidelity) but a few phoned in tracks (Teachers). They threw some spaghetti against the ceiling and bits of it are still falling to this day.
The Smiths
4/5
I didn't realize they only had 4 albums in their career. Each are classics. This isn't my favorite but it's mighty strong.
Kendrick Lamar
3/5
This is not my genre on so many levels. I generally don't like modern hip hop. I generally don't like R&B/Soul much. I generally don't like dance club pseudo disco. This is a blend of all of that. And with all that said, I'm finding I'm enjoying this more than I expected. The production and cohesiveness are impressive. It's still not my style, but I am seeing why he's given the respect he receives. Personal taste, it' s a 2, but it will at least be a 3 and may end up a 4 if it ends as strong as it's started. OK, the degree of vocoder crap singing, I can't get to 4.
Korn
3/5
Very much not my jam, but I jammed to it none the less. Pretty catchy hooks all through it. Reminded me of Spinal Tap or the Blues Brothers, where they meant to be a joke and parody of their genre, but they still produced solid music in the process. I don't know that they meant to be a joke. I sort of hope they meant to be a joke? I mean, they are a joke, right?
The Who
5/5
This album was so good that I listened to the whole stupid deluxe edition, which was 2+ hours of what was supposed to be a 30-40 minute album, essentially repeating every track 4 times.
Pulp
3/5
I was liking this more and less as it came through. It was good but I don't think it's love. Wondering if I'd ever reach for this album again and not thinking I would. But wasn't looking to turn it off, either.
Elvis Presley
3/5
I'm not a big Elvis fan, but I did enjoy this album. Very country throughout on this one, for sure.
Jeff Beck
4/5
It's entertaining this is called Heave Metal. I have trouble hearing Rod Stewart's voice and thinking Heavy Metal. Is it just me? Guest appearances by John Paul Jones, Jimmy Page and Keith Moon. Solid blues-rock album with some clean guitar and quality licks throughout.
The Mothers Of Invention
2/5
I want to like this more than I did. A few very good bits. A lot of not so much bits. Impressive they were doing this concurrent with Sgt Peppers, they were ahead of their time, for sure.
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
2/5
This is an album meant to be listened to while driving alone in the dark through the woods and mountains of Pennsylvania with hours behind you already and hours still to go. Right now I'm not in a car, it's not dark, and this is not the best album for my mood.
Oasis
4/5
I think the only Oasis track I really knew was Wonderwall. I enjoyed this album. Every song kind of sounded the same, so can't be 5 stars for that reason alone, but it was a fun listen.
Tracy Chapman
5/5
This is an unequivocal 5 star album. Great song writing, great singing, great instrumentation, great recording and production.
Holger Czukay
5/5
I'm digging all the crazy this thing is. I think I want to find this on vinyl. It just feels meant for that format. You know, inconvenient, expensive, pretentious, and too cool for school.
King Crimson
5/5
A perfect album. Bouncing between chaos and melody. Incredible musicianship. Legendary artwork on the vinyl. I'll be humming this the rest of the day.
Prince
3/5
I was not a Prince fan when he was popular. I've grown to respect him over the decades since. Hearing this album, there were times it was a 5 (first 3-4 songs), then somewhere around Automatic, it was really losing it form me. It's still not an album I would ever reach for, so it can't get over a 3. But I respect it's existence in this list. One should hear this album before one dies.
fIREHOSE
4/5
I love fIREHOSE, but this is not their best album. If'n and Flying the Flannel are better picks for this list, IMHO.
Traffic
3/5
I fine listen. Didn't blow me away but was pleasant music to have on. I guess that's a 3?
Tim Buckley
2/5
First tracks were fine. Then Sweet Surrender came on. What a dog of a song. Seemed like it went on for 30 minutes. I kept checking the progress hoping it was over, but it just kept going. That was only 6:47? By 5:30 is was crawling out of my seat wanting to press the skip forward. But no. I MUST LISTEN TO THIS ALBUM BEFORE I DIE!!! Then it went back to fine. Spoke too soon. Make It Right made it wrong.
Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
4/5
This was a hootin' rootin' jolly good time. Not sure I needed 2+ hours of the hoe down, but the time breezed by pretty quickly.
Gotan Project
5/5
This was just a brilliant album from a band I had never heard. I think over the course of the weekend I probably played the full album 6 or 7 times.
Tori Amos
5/5
This has been a go to album in my collection since it was first released. An excellent album with beautiful musicianship, songwriting and recording. Best heard in its entirety and not as individual tracks.
Roni Size
3/5
I like my drum and bass to veer more into trip hop than this did, but a solid album either way. Can't say I'll seek to add to my collection, but glad to be aware of it.
Talking Heads
5/5
Maybe I'm just in a good mood and this album made it gooder, but another 5 being added to my tally. I hope your day is gooder for having listened to this, too.
T. Rex
3/5
I enjoyed this one. A solid 3 pushing into 4 territory. Amazing how much Power Station from 1985 ripped off their sound.
Paul McCartney and Wings
4/5
I think this Paul McCartney fellow has a real future in music.
Megadeth
4/5
Listened to this first thing in the morning with financial markets collapsing around me. Oddly it seemed to work.
Brian Eno
3/5
A good album. I think this depends on being in a certain mood that I wasn't quite in when listening. I felt I would have enjoyed this more if it was something I was intentionally reaching for, but hearing it out of that mood, I could tell it was quality but not what I wanted to hear at the time.
Madness
4/5
A band I've always loved and never owned (except Our House from the Stiff Records Box Set, which everyone should own, 4 discs of pure brilliance!). Glad to be pushed to listen to another great Madness album.
The Prodigy
4/5
Red pill or blue pill? Red pill or blue pill? Such decisions.
David Ackles
1/5
This is what I might have made fun of my parents for listening to when I was a kid, but my parents had better taste than to listen to this. Just the worst schlocky crooner.
The Chemical Brothers
5/5
I do love these guys. I consider them best in class for this genre. Great album.
The Undertones
4/5
Somehow this sounds like The Sex Pistols, played slowly and with a ska vibe. And somehow, I like it?
Sly & The Family Stone
4/5
This is just a party start to finish. I wish I had a chance to see this band live in their hay day.
4/5
I love the sound of the kinks and their witty song writing style. I always thought they deserved more play vs the other British invasion bands of the era.
The Byrds
3/5
I wanted to love this. Instead it was only a solid like. An album forever in the friend zone. It was fine, it was good, but there was no magic, no spark, no love. Maybe at another time, in another life.
Ryan Adams
2/5
Wasn't my jam. Modern pop-country. A bit generic. Reading the Wiki page, he was whining that his label truncated the album. He should have thanked his label, this was too long and too boring as it is. Should have been "trimmed" by another 10 songs.
Crowded House
3/5
I think when this was current I probably would have rated it a 4, but it's only a 3 to me today. A few classics. And a sound that is so familiar. But it's not an album I'm going to reach for to listen again. I'm probably being too generous, tbh.
Rush
4/5
A great album. I love that this was a big finger to their label that wanted a more commercial approach. How un-Canadian of them. Ends on a high note with Something For Nothing.
Bob Dylan
4/5
I oscillate on Dylan. This was a pretty fun album with a lot going on musically. I was surprised by how many echoes from other songs were found in snippets of these tracks. Like "Obviously Five Believers" had hints of "Rolling Stone", and "Visions of Johanna" had musical bits that were used in other hits, can't recall which right now. A lot of the chord progressions and tunes were repeated as he evolved into other parts of his career.
Arcade Fire
3/5
OK. I just gave Bob Dylan 'Blonde on Blonde' a 4, which arguably should have been a 5. But now I'm hearing this album and wanting to give it a 4, but feeling a bit sheepish that if this is a 4, then is this really in the same bucket as Dylan Blonde on Blonde? So for that reason alone, this falls to a 3. Sorry Arcade Fire. You just aren't Dylan.
Lucinda Williams
5/5
This is Nashville country done right. First 2 songs are pure brilliance. It's a niggle, but I'd have wished for a better mix. The drums are just too heavy throwing it out of balance. Playing is great, it was all in the post mixing. Won't impact my stars. This is a 5 through and through. Can't Let Go is still buzzing in my ears.
Cypress Hill
5/5
One of the top albums of it's genre in the decade. Hands down.
Marilyn Manson
2/5
There was probably a time I might have loved this album. Or perhaps if I was born about 5 years later, so I was in a certain developmental phase when this was current. But I aged out of this before this came to my consciousness and as such, just ain't doing it for me. The predecessors, NIN, Joy Division, Ministry, Meat Beat Manifesto, etc., were all things I enjoyed or even loved. I hear pieces that I should like. But I'm just not there with this one, so it's falling flat. Probably a 3 on what I appreciate I should like but my instinct is toward a 2. We'll see what I feel in the morning when it's time to click submit.
The Specials
4/5
The specials have a warm place in my mind. I'm struggling because I really really want to give them a 5. I will be sad that I didn't give them a 5. But alas, I think they are falling to 4. Why? I really can't say. I just don't know. But they didn't reach the pinnacle of 5-dom today.
Sparks
4/5
If I just heard this on the radio, I'd have sworn this was a Siouxie and the Banshees album. I had no idea Siouxie had a predecessor in style and sound, I just thought of her as completely original. The more you listen, the more you find these stepping stones and pre-cursors that show how music evolves rather than popping out of a solo creative genius. Another tip o' the hat to the 1001 albums project for getting me to hear something so eye opening.
Boards of Canada
3/5
I'm glad I came back to this. I tried listening and got interrupted. But I enjoyed it a lot more on my second pass. Maybe I acclimated myself, maybe I was just in a more appropriate head space. Good trippy electronica, think 4am rave tracks, leading up to the sunrise set.
Jurassic 5
3/5
This is my second pass through this album as it was early in my list before we created the group. I think it's "fine". I was more harsh reading my prior review. I'll lift it from 2 to 3. I still think there are better in the genre and they were not bringing much new in this album.
Iron Maiden
3/5
Solid classic heavy metal from start to finish. Don't drop on your big toe.
Can
3/5
The Miles Davis equivalent of jam rock. I can dig it. Can you?
Kings of Leon
3/5
I knew the name Kings of Leon, but apparently hadn't heard them before? I had no clue this is what they sounded like. Good album, nothing I'd seek to add to my collection. In the vein of Uncle Tupelo. Some sounded like Camper Van Beethoven but less interesting. I think the last song, Talihina Sky was one of my favorites. Alt country rock. Worth at least one listen before you die, I suppose.
Jane's Addiction
4/5
This album brings me back to freshman year of college. Played on repeat, I wore out the groove with the very crappy dorm stereo, the kind that didn't even have a counter-weight on the plastic tonearm.
Nick Drake
5/5
I'm feeling a bit sheepish for giving Jane's Addiction Ritual De Lo Habitual a 5, having this album come next and really appreciating what a 5 should be. Such a brilliant album. The insane guitar work, the lyrics, the voice, the whole package.
Simon & Garfunkel
4/5
Not my absolute favorite album of theirs, but still an undeniably wonderful collection of songs. Cecilia, The Only Living Boy In New York, the title track. I'm cuspy on 4 vs 5 but I think I'll round down on this one. Some of the production was kind of busy and distracting to the tracks.
Waylon Jennings
4/5
I'll come back to give a second listen. A short and sweet blast of the kind of country that you want when sippin' a long neck in a road house bar.
Stephen Stills
3/5
A good album but not as good as I'd hoped. Kind of generic jangly 70's jam band rock. Nothing really pulled me in. Nothing offended either.
The Smiths
5/5
Such a great album. Morrisey may be a whiny twerp, but he's musically worth his salt and then some. And the genius of Johnny Marr's brilliant song writing talents drips from every track. Nobody does the power pop jingle jangle better.
Manic Street Preachers
4/5
A solid album in the alternative genre. A band I'd heard the name of but never gave a solid listen to. The Intense Humming of Evil was a departure that I enjoyed a lot. This is an album I will likely go back to.
Alice Cooper
3/5
My first pass this was only a two. It took a second listen to start to grow in me. I don't see myself coming back but I'm glad I was here for a spell.
Cornershop
5/5
What a fantastic album. Fatboy slim adjacent but with influence of traditional Indian instrumentation. I will keep this album for many return visits.
The Style Council
4/5
I enjoyed this thoroughly. I liked the switching of styles from jazzy to dance and back again.
Buffalo Springfield
4/5
A fun, poppy (in a 70s jam rock sort of way) album. A few hits, all the edges smooth and polished.
2/5
Had a few bits I enjoyed, but overall was a bit too out there for my mood and tastes. I will not be going back to this one.
Leonard Cohen
4/5
So dark, so deep. And that's just his voice...
808 State
3/5
I expected to like this more. It wasn't as dancy or as funky as I expected. I'm flip flopping between 2 and 3. Leaning to 3 because it wasn't bad, it just wasn't that good. It's a low, low 3.
Mercury Rev
3/5
This reminded me a lot of The Flaming Lips. A solid alt rock period piece of it's time. Worth a revisit, for sure.
The Fall
2/5
I think I can appreciate the creativity and punk ethos here, but this did not resonate with me. Respect for having it on the list but not something I will ever listen to again.
Van Morrison
4/5
I ebbed and flowed with this album almost as the album ebbed and flowed in my speakers. I went in thinking "eh, van morrison is overrated and boring". Each song was similar and blended into each other. However as I kept listening, I enjoyed how it swung and swayed. I liked that it was so similar as it drifted along from one part to the next. I don't like the individual tracks, which is what I'm used to from classic rock radio, but I really like the album as a whole, which is clearly how this is meant to be enjoyed.
Einstürzende Neubauten
3/5
Ah the subtle sonnets of Einstürzende Neubauten. Soothing, calming, dare we say sleepy? The perfect album to fall asleep to.
Jefferson Airplane
4/5
I remember seeing Paul Kantner and I think a few of the other members of Jefferson Airplane playing at what was like a hotel lobby bar with tables and chairs in Denver back in the 90s. At the time I was pretty clueless as to who they were. The tiny audience was mostly "old people", they must have all been 50+. I don't think Grace Slick was singing but they did have a female singer, honestly barely remember the show at all, but I remember when they started playing White Rabbit was when I realized (was told?) who they were. Good times.
The Doors
5/5
What a brilliant album. So far beyond their contemporaries. Every song is a classic and yet they all come together as a coherent album as well.
Common
3/5
I'm bouncing between 2 and 3. But I am bouncing, so I guess that makes it a 3? Not my style and the heavy R&B influence grates on my nerves, but I recognize it's well done for what it is. Let's call it a 2.6, rounding up.
Sleater-Kinney
4/5
Alt rock/punk rock in the vein of sonic youth, throwing muses, etc. Aggressive and fun. Makes you feel like your in a small dark club filled with teen rage and angst. The stripped down and more melodic Little Babies was my favorite.
Jean-Michel Jarre
2/5
I'm not high, nor am I playing with an electronic organ at a mall music store wearing polyester pants and a leisure shirt, and therefore, this album is not where I am at.
The Beach Boys
4/5
It's probably heresy to say, but I enjoyed this a lot more than Pet Sounds. They should have left the last track for some documentary. That random recording of studio noise adds no value on the album.
The 13th Floor Elevators
3/5
I started out liking this little slice of 60's psych rock quite a bit, but it started to weigh on me. It didn't help that the spotify version of this album included multiple versions of the songs and went on for 2+ hours. Fell from a 4 to a 3 in my book.
Jungle Brothers
4/5
I think the late 80's era was probably my favorite for rap/hip-hop. This was right up my ally with great samples, so solid turn table work, quality lyrics and just fun to listen to all the way through. Very reminiscent of Tribe Called Quest. Evolutionary, not revolutionary, but a solid listen.
Iggy Pop
3/5
We did David Bowie, Low, a few months back, a related album recorded when they were in Germany. I didn't enjoy Low that much and wasn't optimistic about this one, but I was pleasantly surprised. A nice hard edge to the power pop tunes. The Passenger was the hit for me.
The xx
4/5
This is my jam. I'm surprised I didn't know of them, but I'll blame it on being in the middle of my babies at home years, the musical dark period in my library. Heart Skipped A Beat was a favorite.
James Taylor
5/5
I expected to pan this for my memory as a kid of James Taylor being total cheese ball band my parents forced upon us. I was very surprised to find I kept tuning into it, getting sucked into his lyrics, voice, guitar playing, instrumentation. This was way better than I expected. 1001 list has paid off once again, getting me to revisit a pre-conceived notion with fresh eyes.
Hüsker Dü
4/5
I love Bob Mould and the Husker Du sound. His voice mixed with the guitar and bass tone are just so hypnotic. I'm kind of shocked reading the wiki article about it. I would have expected this to be an earlier album of theirs, but apparently it was the mature eldest brother of their collection. I guess I'm swayed by Mould's solo work after he ditched Grant Hart, who must have brought that punk energy to the mix. I like it with this punk energy and might need to go exploring some of the older Husker Du collection.
The Rolling Stones
3/5
I think I prefer this older version of Rolling Stones as a blues cover band than what they became as they developed into actual song writers. Lacks creativity but they covered good music and made it sound good. Further to this comment, Tell Me is definitive low point.
Röyksopp
4/5
Another new one to me. I liked it. Good background music to work to. A bit chill. A bit funky. I could see putting this on for a long run or a daytime solo road trip.
Skepta
4/5
Not my genre and nothing I heard before, but I liked it. Solid all the way through. Kind of a cross between hiphop and London rave music, ala Tricky.
Lenny Kravitz
5/5
What a pleasant surprise! I didn't think I liked Lenny Kravitz and his yelly style of singing. I was wrong. I thoroughly enjoyed this album from start to finish and even found I enjoyed his voice. A surprise 5.
Pavement
4/5
Brings me back to September 1992 seeing Pavement - Mudhoney - Sonic Youth and Primus at Red Rocks in CO. Early days grunge at its finest. A fun power pop snapshot from the hey day of college alternative.
Nightmares On Wax
4/5
I like this 1995 album more than the 2002 album I had in my collection, the only other thing I knew from NOW. Trip hop that just flows through the room. Doesn't grab you and hold your riveted, but just mellows over you and lets you focus in and focus out as it lingers.
The Coral
4/5
How have I never head of this band? This is way too much in my lane to have somehow missed it. The punk/ska Skeleton Key was a top track on my list. Nevermind - looked at the wiki and this came out during peek baby. The dark years of new music. Thank you 1001 for filling in this gap.
Cee Lo Green
2/5
This ain't my jam. I don't enjoy his squeaky voice that's adjacent to Outkast but I find more grating. Music backing was good but didn't grab me. An album to be tolerated in the name of completing the list. Does the woefully empty wiki page hint at the mediocrity of this album?
Neil Young & Crazy Horse
3/5
This album sounds like a dad band playing in the garage, but yet, it's also very enjoyable. A very good dad band in a well equipped garage with the orange glow of tubes illuminating the space. Nothing stood out as awesome, though.
Rod Stewart
3/5
This was a bit unexpected. I grew up with 80's Rod Stewart, who to my young ears was this old sleezy annoying guy singing about Maggie waking up. Hearing this young Rod playing funky bluesy type stuff and not coming off nearly so 70's sleaze, I mostly enjoyed it. Wasn't awesome but was far better than feared.
Pere Ubu
3/5
I probably didn't give this the concentration it deserved. I'm not sure if that extra concentration would have increased or decreased my enjoyment. I'm going with quirky and fine. I don't see myself going back to re-listen with that heightened concentration.
Red Hot Chili Peppers
5/5
On track 1 he already ran out of words and reverted to ding ding aling dong as a verse lyric? A bit sketch there. But no matter, it's hard not to listen to this and want to be in the band, and if not in the band, at the show up front and in the mix. I knew the many hits from this but enjoyed some of the deep cuts even more. Porcelain was a nice interlude I'd not heard before.
The Thrills
4/5
A solid alt rock/alt folk/alt cow poke album in the vein of The Decemberists. Thoroughly enjoyable. Would be fun to see live. They are cooler than me. That's not hard. Solid 4.
Genesis
4/5
I'm a sucker for prog rock, and the blend of Phil Collins and Peter Gabriel's voices grab me. It may be controversial but I'm leaning high on this one.
Digital Underground
5/5
This was great, beginning to end.
"This is my dance, y'all, Humpty Hump's my name
No two people will do it the same
You got it down when you appear to be in pain"
Brilliance!
The Go-Betweens
4/5
Very much akin to Frank and Walters and other late 80s/early 90s indie-pop bands I've enjoyed. I'm surprised this wasn't previously in my lexicon, I'm sure I played them in my college radio setlists, but I didn't remember them beyond a familiarity with the name. And for that forgetableness, they fall from the lofty 5 to a solid 4.
Metallica
4/5
I'm not sure I realized how bright the recording/engineering on this album was. The slappy attack on the bass drum kick that is almost snare like. I'd like to hear this on vinyl to hear how much of this is digital artifacts vs how they intended their sound. Anyway, honestly not feeling this aged as well as I'd have expected. I was expecting a solid 5, finding only a middling 3 as it drones on. "One" stands out with such an unbelievable intro and build, with "Shortest Straw" kicking hard right after. OK, the second half has been better than the first and it's creeping up to 4 with 3 tracks remaining. But alas it has ended as it began with "To Live Is To Die" being a bit of musical masturbation that lost my interest. At least it left on a high note with Dyers Eve.
The Libertines
3/5
Another fine indie-pop band. This one was in the vein of Camper Van Beethoven, with a little raw punk edge peaking through around the edges. Didn't get me past a 3, though.
Mott The Hoople
3/5
I enjoyed this album, but every time I hear something from them, I can't tell if it's The Kinks or David Bowie I'm listening to. And I always find out it's neither and stare with a blank confused look. Today is no different.
Radiohead
4/5
I enjoyed this more than I thought I would. Radiohead never really did it for me, but this album, despite it's off-kilter and dissonant tones, sucked me in. Kind of like Radiohead meats Miles Davis circa Bitches Brew era. Other parts reminded me of Sigor Ros.
The Zombies
4/5
Ha! I was listening to this but thinking it was an band from the early 2000s. I was thinking "this is decent but they are just copping on 60's rock. how come they can't bring anything new to the table." And was quite ready to give them a crappy review. Only when almost done and I head the last song which was the first I recognized, I looked up and saw this was in fact the 1968 band and they were authentic of their period. So much better.
The Damned
4/5
What an amazing punk rock blast of energy and enjoyment. Chef's kiss.
Black Sabbath
5/5
RIP Ozzy. This is my second pass through on this album, it was in my list before we created the group. Still a 5. Always a 5. Play it loud. Play it often.
Dr. Octagon
4/5
Fatboy Slim
4/5
You hear this album and wonder why anybody wasted their time with The Chemical Brothers. FBS is just at another level.
TV On The Radio
3/5
I wanted to enjoy this more than I did. It was fine. Busy, congested, a bit tiring to have on, but fine. I think they would be better if they removed about 40% of the noise in each track. By that I mean less instruments, less notes, focus on the core of what they are trying to play. As it stands, it's a bit of a muddled mess that just bounces off the walls and becomes pink noise.
Django Django
4/5
Kind of like a 2000s version of Devo. I complained that TV On The Radio was too busy. These folks were busy but seemed to achieve what TVOTR couldn't. They stripped it down at times and weren't afraid to go silent for a beat. Kept everything cohesive to where they were going. Much better songwriting, IMHO. The Devo influence faded as the album progressed but the rest of the comments held true.
Def Leppard
1/5
80's hair rock in it's purest form. Some would take this as a very good thing. I am not that someone. Van Halen without energy. Toto without Toto. Frat boys gone "hard". I hated them in the 80's. I was hoping that 40ish years later I'd come back with fresh ears and find what I was missing. I was missing nothing. It was bad then and aged poorly. This brought a visceral skin crawling sense of disgust and ick from beginning to end. Keep your simple syrup to yourself, Def Leppard, that's not hot.
Afrika Bambaataa
5/5
I juxtapose this brilliant and fun collection with the Def Leppard - Hysteria abomination I was fed yesterday, made essentially at the same time. This album makes me feel that the 1 star I gave DL was too high. And this isn't even the best album of the early hip-hop days.
The Stooges
4/5
This so clearly connects the dots from Rock to Punk. Shame it sounds like the mics in the studio were mounted in a bucket of water on the loud tracks. Whatever compression they applied decimated the sound. This would have been a heck of a show to catch live. If I was younger and angrier me, this would likely have been a 5. Older, calmer me, it's a 4.
Robert Wyatt
3/5
My first pass this was super low on my list. But I didn't finish and came back for a second time around. It still isn't high on my list but has pushed up to a 3 at least. Great tone. I loved the ending string and brogue singing bit.
The Mamas & The Papas
4/5
All the hits, all the harmonies.
Ministry
5/5
Oh my F-ing G, I forgot how much I love these guys. AHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!
The Bees
3/5
This was pretty good at bits but was very forgettable. I went back to add my notes a day after listening and had to replay it to remember what I heard.
Dead Kennedys
4/5
My anti-social high school days come crashing back as this one plays.
Tom Waits
3/5
I enjoy Nighthawks at the Diner so much that I expect and want his other stuff to be as good. So far, it's not been.
Elliott Smith
2/5
Kind of boring. Just in one ear and out the other. I may need to give it a second shot as I know he has such high critical acclaim, but at least on first listen, meh.
Elvis Costello
5/5
Hard to believe this was his first album. Every track is excellent. It was great when I first heard it in high school and has aged brilliantly.
4/5
A nice chill bossa nova electronica thing. Thoroughly enjoyed as a nice back ground layer while getting some work done. I'd happily go back to it.
Echo And The Bunnymen
4/5
I only knew them through there radio hits like Lips Like Sugar. This is my first time listening to a full album and I'm quite pleasantly surprised. They certainly have a template for their songs and structures, so there were many times I thought they were starting a song I knew only to find it was some other song with a similar vibe. So let's just say their songs rhyme a bit more than ideal. But enjoyable none the less.
Orbital
3/5
Hmm. Did I like this? Kinda? I didn't hate it. 2.6 rounding up?
The Who
4/5
Early Who, let's you see a glimpse of their youth and where they would be heading. Some true classics and a lot of fun throughout.
Jack White
4/5
Jack White is such a talent. First time hearing this album and I thoroughly enjoyed it. This will need future listens.
Fairport Convention
5/5
I love me the Irish folk crooners.
A Tribe Called Quest
5/5
A true classic. Brilliant from beginning to end. One of the favorites in my collection and always fun to give it another listen.
JAY Z
2/5
He seems to be so popular but I just don't get it. Very repetitive. Didn't make me happy.
Barry Adamson
4/5
I enjoyed this. A bit hard to clarify with different tracks having very different styles, but well done and enjoyable. Solid 4 that deserves a relisten.
The Smashing Pumpkins
2/5
This might have been a 3 but for the length. Definitely some good bits of pumpkin goodness but this was smashed by stretches of unpleasant noise during 8 minute songs.
Brian Eno
2/5
Hmmm... This was a difficult one. Challenging to listen to with some very busy tracks and chaotic arrangements, but still was musically cohesive. Intermixed between the chaos were more calming, simple tracks. I appreciated the accomplishment but didn't enjoy the experience.
The Cure
3/5
The hits are solid pop tunes. The intermediate songs were a mixed bag where I think if I was putting this album on because I was in that mood, they'd be great, but I wasn't totally into them at the time. Still rounds out to a 3.
Big Brother & The Holding Company
5/5
I got a new toy to listen to my albums when in my home office, and this album was a great one for testing it out. A fantastic live album that made me feel like I was in a grassy field surrounded by 1000s of muddy hippies.
Peace and Love.
Dwight Yoakam
1/5
The worst aspects of country all concentrated and distilled into one great big barf fest. Murder ballad about shooting his ex as she slept for the offense of leaving him as the title track was the peak puke fest. But "I Sang Dixie," a cover celebrating all that's wrong with confederate pride, was part of the slow decent from that prior pinnacle. The best thing about this album was that it was mercifully only 37 minutes, although it felt much longer.
Hokey music, crappy lyrics that drifted from borderline offensive to outright offensive, but generally good recording, except for a few tracks where they put a single acoustic guitar on both sides of the stage which made no sense.
He ends with "Hold On To God" after writing a song where he murders an ex for dumping him?!? Without irony? Dear me, if there is a god, I sure hope it's not his.
Franz Ferdinand
3/5
First 2 songs were in the low 3 range. Take Me Out, the radio single, was much better. I generally liked the music but the production was muddy and just added a nervous, unpleasant air to the album. A few songs stood out, but in the end, wasn't something I'm going to reach back for.
Meat Puppets
4/5
I do love me the Meat Puppets. I hadn't heard this album. Started much more aggressive than their later albums I was more familiar with, but then drifted more into the sound they later leaned into, such as Aurora Borealis and Plateau. Shy of their peak, but still a great album and worthy of the 1001 list.
Sepultura
5/5
This was way more fun than I expected. So not my genre, but this album started hitting from the beginning and I held on for dear life. I'm now bruised and bloody, but oddly sated. Ratamahatta was a stand out. Great interplay between rhythmic styles and sounds. And I liked how nearer the end it was more about Brazilian indigenous music, sounds and rhythms. The 13 minute last track was hypnotizing at times. Rounding up because it was such a surprise.
Leonard Cohen
3/5
A mixed bag of emotions here. Nothing sucked me in or made me think, wow, this guy is brilliant and will have a lasting history in music long after his death. But it was enjoyable and made me think if I heard it several more times, it would likely grow on me more and more with each listen. With only the one listen, it doesn't rise above 3, and may even be closer to 2.
Peter Gabriel
4/5
It's amazing how many long standing hits are in this album. It's almost like a greatest hits collection but yet released all together. Big Time was surprisingly tonally distinct from all the other tracks, which was odd. I'm tossing between 4 and 5, but edging on 4 because it came across as a collection of pop singles instead of a single holistic and cohesive album, which is my preference.
Silver Jews
4/5
This sounds like something that could have come out in the late 80s/early 90s, around the era of Wilco and Uncle Tupelo, with a strong cow punk flair riding through it. I was surprised they were a Hoboken band and not from the south west somewhere, but I guess that Cali Pavement component brought all that cowpoke feel with them. Also surprised they were around when I lived in Hoboken, but I don't recall seeing them. Maybe I was at a Maxwell's show of theirs and didn't realize it? Maybe we sat next to each other at La Isla's sandwich counter?
Metallica
4/5
I may not like Metallica, but I gotta give props to this album from their long-haired past. It's some solid rock from beginning to end.
The Yardbirds
3/5
Ya' know, I don't think I've ever actually listened to The Yardbirds before today, or at least nothing from this album. I find this hard to believe, but I'm listening to this and it's not anything I remember. I'm liking what I'm hearing. Solid rock-blues. "Ever Since The World Began" is insanely reminiscent of Ozzy Osbourne, and seemed out of place, but was a great track. I think I would have liked this album more if it was just the original album tracks and not the extra 30 minutes of alternates and demos that were included in the Spotify album, I assume from an extended CD release.
Sonic Youth
3/5
I did not enjoy this as much as Dirty, most likely because it's Sonic Youth and it takes a while to absorb them into your system. One thing remains true. I am not as cool as they are. I never was and I never will be. I am OK with this, and I am OK that to me, this rests comfortably at a 3.
The Byrds
4/5
Hard not to enjoy this one. Great musicianship, some classic songs, harmonies and melodies that wash over you. A bit more psych rock than I wanted at times, but overall very enjoyable.
Kings of Leon
3/5
I wanted to like this but it was so god awful boring that I had trouble. Not specifically bad, but just so so so generic that it wasn't good. Is Frat Rock a thing? Because I'm just thinking cheap beer and preppy clothes abound. Rounding up to a 3.
3/5
They call it proto-punk. Seemed more like psych rock and heavy metal to me, but all good. It was a fun listen either way. Didn't hit higher than 3, but glad I heard it. Once.
Scritti Politti
2/5
This made my skin crawl from start to finish. The worst vocals. Crappy mid-80s pop in all the wrong ways. This is everything wrong with music distilled into 38 minutes of pure hell. Crappy synths, early vocoder vocals, soul free. My one bit of enjoyment was mis-hearing one of the verses in "Don't Work That Hard" where he repeated "I got to pee".
Sonic Youth
5/5
This is my new favorite Sonic Youth album. I've only been really familiar with Dirty which leans more into noise core. I liked the dark but still pop structured songs in this album. Enough noise to keep you on your edge, but enough structure and sense to not make you go mad. This album reminded me less than their other albums had of how much cooler they are than I ever was or will be. But yet, their coolness continues to drip out of their pores like
Sex Pistols
5/5
This is pure 5 fodder for me. Brings me back to my teen years and has aged pretty well. Honestly, I thought I'd have outgrown it and didn't think I'd be enjoying it as much as I just am. Typing this to the dulcet tones of Pretty Vacant wrapping up and New York queued up next. Why are the good ones only 38 minutes and the crap is 2 hours?!?! Closing with the perfect EMI, leaves you humming, tapping your feet and smashing your head against a wall.
The Louvin Brothers
4/5
Slipping from Sex Pistols "EMI" into Louvin Brothers "Kentucky" is jarring to say the least. My what changes 20 years had brought.
Metallica
1/5
Dear god, this was brutal. 2 hours 13 minutes of musical masturbation that wasn't even that musical or impressive. The brilliance of orchestra was ruined by this annoying rock band stepping over them. The brilliance of Metallica and their thrash metal perfection was muddied by this annoying string accompaniment. The opposite of Reese's peanut butter cups.
Caetano Veloso
4/5
Oh behave, where have you been all my life! I enjoyed rolling around on my orange shag carpet, sipping on my cocktail and smoking a slim cigarette, while this album poured into the room. Let's get ready to Rumba.
I just hope Caetano was laughing when he approved the pre-print of this album cover. If he takes himself as seriously as that picture suggests, Yipes.
Neil Young
5/5
I usually like Neil Young, but I more than liked this album. At no point did I wish I was at the end, and when the end did come, there was a sadness. It wasn't exciting, it was just comfortable and enjoyable. A 4.5 that rounds up.
Green Day
5/5
Don't call this punk, it's not. They are about as punk as Avril Lavigne. Dressing up in doll clothes does not make one punk. But it is some fantastic adolescent angst power pop. Pure fun start to finish. Built for stadiums and festivals. Polished to perfection.
The Waterboys
5/5
Another favorite from my high school days. This album always just makes me smile and want to fish... Just finished Bodkin on Netflix, which somehow fits for enjoying this album. Good show, btw, if you haven't seen it.
Simply Red
3/5
This is not my genre. I don't hate it (yet), I like some of the funk influence, but impression during track 1 is its going to have to fight for every star above 1. But Track 2 and I'm leaning 3. Great cover of Heaven, Track 4. OK, so it started with cheesy 80s synth funk. But it opened up into a decently groovy jazz vocal R&B kind of thing that dialed back those 80s synths to a tolerable level and won me over as I round the middle with Open Up The Red Box. I'm not rating the extended tracks, but I'll say they did not help the average.
Aerosmith
3/5
This eked out a 3 despite my disdain for Aerosmith. I don't like his high pitched voice. I'm not generally a fan of the southern rock sound. Glam rock/stadium rock makes my skin crawl. But this album is decent no matter how much I want to hate it. Not good, but decent. The last 3 tracks were the best on the album, IMO.
ZZ Top
5/5
I did not expect to enjoy this as much as a I did. A surprise win from the 1001 albums. This was some fun blues rock beginning to end with the last few tracks being some kicking live tracks that made me wish I was older than 2 when they were sounding this good!
Blondie
4/5
Another fun album! 1001 has been on a roll lately. Many hits but the deep cuts were some of my favorites. My debate is does this rise to 5 or round down to 4. I may need to stew on this one for a bit before deciding.
The Young Gods
3/5
I like the tracks where they pushed into Ministry style industrial grind core, like Longue Route, more than some of the more arty, orchestra stuff like the opening La fille de la mort. Rounding up, though.
Kraftwerk
3/5
Better than the prior album from Kraftwerk, but still wasn't a huge fan. Given how important they were to the foundations of genres I really like, I'm surprised I'm not enjoying them more. Rounding up for this rating.
The Sonics
4/5
This was a new one introduced by the list. Who knew Seattle grunge scene started in 1965? This was a hoot. High energy all the way through. And despite it being 80% covers of Black music by white musicians, they were making them their own. This didn't feel like recreating of the music to sell to white audiences, which was prevalent in that time. I'm giving them the pass on this one.
Goldfrapp
2/5
I think I want to like this. Female artist, check. Singer songwriter style, check. English, check. Clean and pleasant, check. So why is this so numbingly boring and meh? Is it me? Do I need more coffee? No, this just lacks interest. And separately, what's with the pirate outfit? There wasn't one "Argh" nor any sea chanties to be found. False advertising!
SZA
3/5
I always want to like Sza more, given she's from our hometown and went to the same HS as my kids. But despite what is a wonderfully produced album, I just despise vocoder vocals and can not get into this album. Recognize it's good for those who like it, but this ain't my yum.
Willie Nelson
4/5
Enjoyed more than I expected. Good clean country crooner. I would not have listened to this had it not been for the 1001 project, but glad I did.
Fats Domino
5/5
17 minutes of pure goodness. Smashing Pumpkins Collie nonsense, are you listening?!? This is what music should be!
Death In Vegas
3/5
This was like Stereolab lite. A bit more accessible. But perhaps not quite as gripping and engaging in it's hypnotic flow. This is an album that will grow in enjoyment as you keep playing it back.
The Jam
4/5
I had to look to see which came first, because Pretty Green was a musical complete rip-off of Singtown by The Steve Miller Band. It was a great song, perhaps best on the album, but OMG, they copped the rhythm, the sound, the feel, the melody, the break. OK, I got that out. This to me is peak new wave dance. I enjoyed this album much more than the first by them that came through the list.
Sigur Rós
5/5
Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes!!! I am truly shocked this wonderful album is on the list. An absolute favorite of mine. Play this loud. Play this often. Play this while driving across the country or sitting on your couch.
Super Furry Animals
3/5
This was good. A nice solid album, smack in the center of 3 land. I liked that it fit together as a cohesive album with a rise and fall, a beginning and an end. I'd listen to this again. I don't think I'd buy it, but I'd totally borrow it.
The Rolling Stones
2/5
Confession - I've never liked the Rolling Stones. I don't like Jagger's over affected vocals or their "swagger" affectation. They are by far the lowest of the British invasion bands in my eyes. Anyway - for this album, Sweet Sugar is truly one of the most offensive songs ever written and performed and I'm shocked they never pulled it from circulation with an apology. Seriously, read the lyrics sheet and try to redeem or apologize for it. Can't be done. Sway is meh. But then, Wild Horses followed by Can't You Hear Me Knocking are freakin' amazin', and wrapping up the side with a well done blues cover, although hearing a real delta blues performer rather than some English punters would be better. I'll credit that if this introduced a new audience to explore this genre then perhaps some good came of this work. Moving on to side 2, a bit of neutral tracks of varying styles. Dead Flowers centers around a horrible fake southern drawl by Richards. If you want great American delta blues and country, why are you buying an album from a British hack band? Should be a 1, but for Can't You Hear Me Knockin' lifting it up to the 2 despite itself.
Raekwon
3/5
Solid but didn't knock me out of my chair. Given the name I was expecting Cuban music influences, but I didn't hear much of that. Just down the middle US hip hop as far as my uninformed ear could tell. I liked some of the piano samples mixed in. Beats were a bit of a monotonous background purely there to mark time for the rapping and samples. Fine but nothing too special.
Alanis Morissette
5/5
It's fun to sit down and re-listen to this nugget of the 90's in full again. All the jokes about her music (remember the Alanis Morissette song generator websites?) are well deserved, and yet the album is filled with ear worms with great pop hooks. Hitting hard to begin and slowing down with Perfect, then lightening things back up with Hand in My Pocket. They thought about carefully about the album flow and not just making a collection of singles. She might have taught a generation to misunderstand irony, but she became some popular that I believe now she has made the word irony morph to her definition. How many popstars have redefined a common word to a new meaning? I posit Alanis stands alone with this feat. And for that, 5 stars.
Derek & The Dominos
5/5
Teetering between 4 and 5 on this one. Rounding up.
The Jesus And Mary Chain
4/5
A band always on the edge of my listening range. I was aware of them and they were popular in my circle but I never listened to them. Not sure why that was. Strong start with Darklands. As it drones on, I keep digging it. Shoegaze be damned, let me enjoy my morning mope. I'm going with **** here.
The Auteurs
3/5
Another album I missed in it's initial release and 1001 albums has introduced me to. Total brit-pop, can't see why the dude rejected that label. Solid pop tunes all the way through. It's a 3 for now, but my suspicion is more listening will increase my enjoyment and might have lifted it higher.
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
3/5
I liked this one more than previous Nick Cave albums on the list. Wasn't awesome, but perfectly enjoyable, albeit long.
Pet Shop Boys
3/5
I didn't like Pet Shop Boys when they were current. So far with the re-listen and hearing as an album for the first time and not just radio singles, I'm appreciating them more. Still a bit too "smooth jazz" for my tastes to rise too high. Final opinion, a fine listen but I'm not going back to it.
Primal Scream
4/5
Enjoyed the trip hop and psych rock influences. Very 90's brit indie. A lot of shoe gaze happening here. It all came together well and I really enjoyed it.
TLC
2/5
I thought I was going to like this. I don't. Vapid pop. Wasn't this the band with Scrub? I guess not. Some of the more hip-hop infused tracks and interludes were good, I guess. Waterfalls is the highlight track, for sure. Bounced between 2 and 3, but rounding down on this one.
Bad Brains
3/5
Every time the music was playing without the vocals, I was loving it. When the singer chimed in, it was just a strong like... The drums/bass/guitar were locked in and a total surprise. I thought Bad Brains was a sloppy punk brand, not tight neo-metal in the vein of Fishbone and early 24-7 Spyz.
Parliament
5/5
ooooo yeah!
Magazine
3/5
This isn't what I wanted to start my Monday morning with. If this were Friday afternoon I'd probably have liked them more. Very reminiscent of The Damned.
AC/DC
3/5
I thought I'd be grooving more to this one. Solid and all, but not quite as fun as Highway to Hell.
Queen
3/5
I can totally see how some folks drool over this band. I don't, but it was a good listen.
The Strokes
4/5
Solid. Enjoyed more than I expected. Edgy alt rock with a bit of a hook.
Aerosmith
3/5
This was much better than I expected. I am very much not an Aerosmith fan although I do give them huge props for the Run D.M.C. collab that was transformational. But this album was solid beginning to end. Perry's high voice didn't grate on my nerves nearly as much as typical and the music beneath was rocking.
The United States Of America
2/5
I wanted to like this but it did not bring me joy. A few bits were too Austin Powers to be groovy. Lots of noises. Lots of big feelings and seriously taking themselves seriously. Lots of wishing they were Beetles. And me as listener wondering why they needed over an hour to convey this. It would have been a 1 but for the occasional few seconds of enjoyable music that was very sparsely scattered throughout.
Richard Thompson
5/5
This was a surprise and a very good one. I'll need to add this to the re-listen pile.
Blur
5/5
Another pleasant surprise. I knew the hits off the album and was familiar with the band by name, but I guess I never sat down for a solid listen before. Very reminiscent of the Manchester invasion of the early 90s to me (Inspiral Carpets, etc.). This is also going on my re-listen pile.
Nanci Griffith
4/5
I think I prefer Nanci Griffith's more folk leaning stuff than this album which was solidly in the Nashville country camp, but it was a solid listen. Her voice is pristine, the guitar work and musicianship is wonderful. Doesn't grab me enough to get to 5, but it's better than a 3.
Buck Owens
4/5
I'm trying to decide if I love or hate this. Seriously cheesy country with all the country tropes coursing through it. But those tropes include some fun guitar work and a toe tapping groove. Hokey lyrics and that vocal twang isn't my taste, though. "Let the sad times roll on" is about the worst that country has to offer. "Fallin' for You" was much better. And Streets of Laredo I know more from Dave Bromberg, but that's a great track.
I've been all over the spectrum on this one, but I think I'm landing on 4. A best of breed album of a genre I'm just not that into overall. But I gots to give props for how it grabs me more often than I'd ever have expected.
KISS
2/5
Hmmm... I sort of like this but not as much as I expected I might. My brother was super into Kiss when I was a kid, but it wasn't my bag. Still sort of isn't.
The Smiths
5/5
I love The Smiths and this one hit me just the right way. So glad I had this given to me this morning.
Grateful Dead
4/5
I will be going back to this with a better stereo. There were times this was falling flat to my ears with discordant noise, but mostly I was driving along. I'm wondering if the discordant bits will grow on me in future listening.
Sebadoh
4/5
A solid listen. I'm a fan of Dinosaur Jr, too. Didn't realize all the drama there until reading all the notes on who Sebadoh were. A lot of talent was concentrated in that Amherst area in the late 80s.
Green Day
4/5
Green Day puts out another punk-pop gem of angsty clean hooks and fuzz box tones. Stadium rock at it's core, but still filled with ear-worms. I can't quite get to 5 here, but it's a high 4, for sure.
Don McLean
4/5
This album begins and ends really strong. The Grave sounds like a Robert Service poem but from the wrong war (Vietnam vs WWI). Babylon is wonderfully done fugue. The middle fell a little flat on my ears, with Vincent, the other single off the album being particularly boring.
Lana Del Rey
4/5
So very breathy. And did she come from a small town, perhaps? But somehow, I still enjoyed it.
Alexander 'Skip' Spence
3/5
I had to rewrite my thoughts after reading up a bit more on the album. It didn't change my total stars (3), but shifted from low to high in that range. Hearing this as an insight into a man descending into schizophrenia brought something new to the compositions. Also I think it just took time for me to warm up to it all. A strange psych rock/jam folk journey.
Megadeth
2/5
I enjoyed this more than I expected. That lifts it to a 3? This is not what I want to listen to with my morning coffee. I listened to the original album tracks and then skipped through the 70 minutes of other nonsense. This is not meant to be over an hour and a half. Damn you spotify for your nonsense re-releases of bonus tracks and garbage. And in the end, it didn't make that leap. Speed metal just doesn't do it for me.
Bill Callahan
3/5
I'm not sure this is the bomb, but it's certainly the balm to my raw ears after Megadeath. Good but nothing really special. Way too many hoky nature references. The guy sure likes his birds and trees.
R.E.M.
5/5
A great bridge album on the cusp from when they were getting major but hadn't yet fully crossed to pop with Green. I could see that as being worst of both, but to me it's picked the finest elements from each. Still rocking and raw, but it's also dressed up with combed hair and a tucked in shirt.
The Hives
4/5
Not my new favorite band, but one I'm glad to have given a listen to. By the time "Die, All Right!" kicked in, I was all-in. Sloppy club rock with a punk edge. Some tracks reminded me of The Damned, others were more like 7 Seconds.
The Smashing Pumpkins
5/5
I forgot how freakin' awesome this album is. Makes that catastrophe of Melon Collie and the Infinite Sadness so much more infinitely sad in comparison. Starts hard, ends in shoe gaze, drips teen angst all the way through.
Crosby, Stills & Nash
4/5
Super pleasant, very familiar, almost every song is a hit in some form. And yet, I couldn't get myself to 5. Maybe it's just too familiar, but it never amazes, it just always pleases.
Elvis Costello
3/5
I didn't know this Elvis Costello album existed. I'm not sure why this made the 1001 list. I'm a big fan of EC and his importance in rock history, but is this come back album that important? It's good. Surprisingly good. But nothing here slams brilliant. It's a rehash of his classic sound. Well executed and fun, but what's new here? What's important? Why is this something we all need to hear before we die?
PJ Harvey
5/5
Where has this been and how had I missed it! Rid Of Me, her second album, is a favorite in my collection and I think I like this one even more. Infectious musicianship, intense lyrics, fantastic vocals, brilliant dynamics. This has all the interest that the too perfect Crosby, Stills and Nash lacked. Maybe it won't survive in perpetuity like the classics, but it burns like a 1000 watt bulb from start to finish. Anyone liking this should definitely check out her follow up album, also in the 1001.
New Order
3/5
Love Vigilantes is a classic. Later songs on the album were good but didn't grab me as firmly. I'm surprised how much their sound was like The Cure in this album, it's not what I think of for New Order. It's like, but I'm not in love. Low 3, up from 2 mostly because of my enjoyment of The Cure.
Lynyrd Skynyrd
3/5
I get the appeal for southern rock, and this is certainly a gem of the genre, but it's not my bag. I can tap my foot to it and certainly enjoyed the nostalgia of some of the hits, but this is not something I'd reach out to put in my CD player. Enjoyable enough to hit 3, I wouldn't hit stop, but can't lift it higher.
Leonard Cohen
3/5
A few gems, like Everybody Knows, but other tracks missed their mark.
Scott Walker
2/5
Eh. It's a high 2, but can't get it up to 3 in my world. Music meant for a dentist's office.
GZA
3/5
I was pretty excited when this started, with the intro and first track thinking I was in for a fun mid-90's hip hop creation. But while the first track was solid, it didn't keep it up. Kind of generic and ho-hum. Not bad, just not very good or memorable.
Jacques Brel
2/5
If I stay true to my thoughts about rating, I have to give this a 2. I mean it's not bad, but it's just not something I would select to put on. And TBH, it's something I would probably turn the channel on if it came in and I had control. Made especially for grandmas with plastic on their couches and covering their carpets.
Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
5/5
Chill and pleasant from beginning to end. Every track is a hit on this one. I like the addition of Young compared to the CSN album we got previously. Thinking this one rounds up to the 5.
Dexys Midnight Runners
4/5
Solid from start to finish. Doesn't hit 5, but better than I would have expected.
White Denim
4/5
An interesting listen. Solid jam band. Thoroughly enjoyed some of the more intricate pieces and instrumentals. The more poppy video tracks were less engaging. Worth a second look.
Beck
4/5
Liking this a lot more than Odelay.
Sheryl Crow
5/5
Ha! This was the last album I played yesterday after having caught up on my backlog of 1001 albums I had missed over the holidays. You may be able to guess where I'm rating it...
Common
4/5
I liked this one. Better than a lot of the other hip hop albums I'd been fed recently. Good vibe, good grooves. I'd come back to this.
The Sugarcubes
5/5
Life is too good, especially when given this gem of an album. One of my favorites, and always happy for an excuse to listen to it again.
Steely Dan
5/5
I love my yacht rock. Can't lie or hide from it, just need to accept it and move on.
Beastie Boys
4/5
I just watched "The Beastie Boys Story" movie over the weekend. Perfect time that this popped into the list. I have slightly mixed views here. This is 100% pure fun and great music and flow. It also is at least 30% obnoxious/offensive and socially bankrupt. But... they were immature kids, they grew up, and I'm glad I don't have my teen self recorded and played back for posterity. They have grown from here and the music still hits 40+ years later. I really want to go with 5, but I'm still rounding down on what might be misguided principal.
Kanye West
3/5
Ah Kanye. I did like this more than I wanted to. I knew his politics and his crazy long before I ever heard his music so it's hard to listen with an open mind. But this was genuinely good music. Probably a 4 but I'm rounding down for the Ye makes me just a bit too QYeazie.
Erykah Badu
4/5
An album I owned because a music subscription club had selected for me. Nothing I heard before then and not in my normal type, but it's a solid album. I love the dynamic range and the live musicianship with the jazz/funk edge. Great listening and I hope others get introduced to her from this 1001 list as I do think this is something everyone should hear at least once before they die.
Eagles
3/5
Eh. Eagles. Yeah. Junior high slow dances. Perpetual high rotation on every radio station. It's fine I suppose...
Suzanne Vega
5/5
Suzanne Vega started strong and stayed strong her entire career. Every album she made is a 5 star in my book.
Neneh Cherry
1/5
This was so painful. My ears are raw from this onslaught of awful digital, harsh electronic over-produced pop. Grating is being kind. Lyrics are vapid. "All those feelings, I felt them first"?!? Puke. I couldn't find anything redeeming here to lift it above 1.
Guns N' Roses
2/5
I wanted to like this and gave it the best possible circumstance for listening to it. I hated them in high school and was expecting this would be a revisit where I changed long held beliefs. Nope. All the bad parts of Aerosmith on steroids. Squeely lead singer? Check. Generic blues based soft metal music with pitch perfect sound? Check. Every now and again I'd lock into a guitar riff and think "hey, that sounds good." Then I'd think "Nope, that's a Heart riff" or "That's Ozzie" or "That's (Insert another super famous rock artist from the 70s/80s)". What's good is borrowed. What remains is annoying. Not a 1, but not much higher.
Air
5/5
This album is bringing me so much joy. How have I not known of them. Again a thanks to the 1001 albums project and list. Super chill groove core. Just nice, not boring at all. Balancing being super mellow with electric organ and smooth synths, with having a nice energetic driving under beat to carry it forward and keep you alert. This is a road-trip album. I envision best mid day on open long roads through mountain hills or woods. Western PA, rural Ohio, that kind of thing...
The Adverts
4/5
So much of this was familiar but I think I just thought it was The Damned or something. Great fun album. Love the angst of youth.
Marianne Faithfull
5/5
What an amazing album. I knew Broken English and maybe a few other tracks less well. But the whole thing was just so raw, gripping. I usually don't like that late 70's/early 80's synth sound, but here it works well. As an album it's better than the individual tracks. It sets a tone and has a progression from start to finish.
Duran Duran
4/5
I was wondering if I'd like this more than when I was a kid, and the answer is definitely Yes!. In middle school, this was puffy stuff that the girls liked. I was way too manly man (boyly boy?) to be into such synth pop. Listening now, I was probably more than a little bit closed minded. This is a solid album. Looking past the pretty boy image they honed, there was some great music hiding underneath. Rounds up to a 4.
Kraftwerk
4/5
Far and away the best of the 3 Kraftwerk albums fed to us. I wonder if I would have given it a 5 had it not been for the negative expectations from the lackluster prior 2?
Fleetwood Mac
5/5
An album that makes all other 5 rated albums seem to be over rated. This is the very definition of what a 5 star album should be. Great lyrics, amazing musicianship. Plenty of hits and the ones that aren't hits should have been.
The Vines
2/5
It was fine, just monotonous and didn't bring much new to the table IMHO. Nothing I would seek out again.
Supergrass
4/5
Interesting, we just did the Vines, which I couldn't quite get above 2. This album is similar in many ways, but yet it's just better. I can't say why it's better, but it unquestionably is, at least to my pallet. I guess it's more interesting instrumentation, and while it's driving and steady, it's not monotonous. I was flinching between 2 and 3 for the vines, it's between 3 and 4 for this one.
Van Morrison
4/5
Maybe I do like Van Morrison. Huh.
Les Rythmes Digitales
1/5
This was a solid one until "About Funk" which somehow made me smile. Then "Sometimes" came on and any good will was quickly lost. There good examples of every genre of music. This was not one of them.
Dusty Springfield
4/5
This was a great album to listen to. There were a few true classics, but so many I hadn't heard before. What a great voice and musicianship behind it. Not what I'd normally reach for, but I would happily go back again to listen to this one.
Eminem
4/5
What an album. I can't claim to like his depictions of horror and violence, but you can't escape that's it's just brilliant. The guy is a force of nature.
David Bowie
5/5
The nearly 10 minute Blackstar that opens this album is jarring but captivating. I wish I knew more about music theory, as I'm quite certain this is using some fancy modal whatchamacallit for that first 5 minutes of rhythm and melody and harmonic vocals. It sets a mood that sucks you in. The whole album was just brilliant. Shocking to the senses and yet everything was so locked in and captivating. Reading into the album, that Bowie died 2 days after this release just adds to the package. I would like to own this on vinyl.
Cocteau Twins
4/5
So pleasant and ethereal.
Gene Clark
3/5
Been a while since we were fed a country meal on this journey. Although this seemed more akin to Eagles or other early 70's bands edging the lines between country, folk and jam band. I'll need to read up the history to understand why this belongs in the list. It's fine, but forgettable. Reading the history, I'm going to side with those original 70s critics that yawned, and overrule the more recent folks claiming this as a "best album ever".
T. Rex
2/5
I feel like I should like them but I don't. It has the distortion that implies they have energy and intensity, but then they are laid back and slow. Buick Mackane was the best on the album, but mostly this just made me want to move to the next track. Telegram Sam was a musical reprint of a past hit, Get It On. I guess this just reinforces that I don't like glam rock, even from the pioneers of the genre.
Hole
3/5
I always like Hole more than I think I will and less than I probably should. They have a good sound and some interesting lyrics. I'm bouncing between 3 and 4 about midway through with Dying pushing me higher. Naw, it's just a 3.
Aphex Twin
3/5
Good ambient, and appreciate what it was for it's time. Glad I heard it. Still can't get myself over a 3, though.
Tortoise
5/5
15 minutes into the first track, loving the hypnotic sounds that harken to StereoLab but remain their own. Some bits hinted at Primus/Les Claypool. Some were more jazz influenced. Fits into the world of "Knitting Factory Jazz" in my lexicon. Adding to my list of things to go back to, and I'll look for their vinyl. Ends with a call back to Wandering Star from Portishead. This brought me joy.
Flamin' Groovies
3/5
I agree it's a better take on Blues Rock than Rolling Stones, but still not a genre I love. This is a tough one for me to rank. It's genuinely solid, and it's a band I hadn't been exposed to before, which is good. But I don't see myself reaching for it again, and so... 3
Boy, they call this "stripped down" and a return to their younger sound, but to me, it feels like stadium rock. A few good tracks and nothing terrible, but doesn't pull me in.
Pretenders
4/5
My first listen to this album of theirs. Very strong first showing from them. Great lyrics. Loved the more aggressive tone of the band relative to their later stuff. I'm surprised more tracks from this album don't get played, it's better than just the hits that survived to their best-of compilations.
A solid 70s rocker. I keep being surprised by how much I like Rod Stewart. In the 80s, I hated everything about him. Was it just that he was better when younger, and I just don't like his later stuff, or have my tastes changed? I think it's the former, but jury is still out.
The War On Drugs
3/5
This is a low 3 bordering on 2. I mean it's a perfectly acceptable indie-pop album, but it's kind of boring and does not rise to the level of something that "must be heard before you die". I'd put this on the list of 10 million albums you may hear once in your life and forget. So I guess I'm not mad at the album, I'm mad at the editors for wasting a slot with it.
5/5
A hefty dose of punk rock first thing in the morning is a way to wake up. Love X and love that it's on this list.
Throwing Muses
5/5
If I was being unbiased, this would probably be a 4, but these are my home town heroes, so how can I not give them the 5?!? Plus they were so influential, really changing the sound of alt rock to follow. Maybe not as influential as Sonic Youth, but their influence is under recognized.
Spacemen 3
2/5
This started as a 4, interesting electro noise. Then it just dragged on and on and got more and more annoying, monotonous, blah. Ended at a 2 pushing toward 1. And I only listed to half of the extra hour of demos, remixes and 2 extra mixes of the 12 minute nonsense of Suicide.
Jane's Addiction
5/5
What an amazing album from start to finish. So much better than Ritual De Lo Habitual, which I also gave a solid rating. It swings hard and soft, some of the best dynamics of a rock pop act. Summertime Rolls into Mountain Song is brilliant. One of the easiest 5s. Shame Perry's recent douchiness began to overshine the band's history and brilliance, hopefully that was just a blip in an otherwise brilliant career and they all move onward and upward from here.
Beastie Boys
3/5
This has always been an album I feel like I should like more than I do like. It's in my collection, a gift from a friend who thought I'd love it. And Paul's Boutique is one I love. But this album never quite landed for me. It's good, I give them props, I like the bringing back their punk roots and melding it all together. But yet it still just lands a 3 and barely that. I wish I could express better why it doesn't make the grade.
Wire
4/5
I had no idea R.E.M. were doing a cover with Strange, how cool to stumble onto the original. It took me a while to grow into this album, but it sucked me in eventually. The early songs were in the hard rock vein that I'm not a fan of, but as it progressed, it was more like early Clash UK punk rock which I resonate more. I can definitely see why this is on the list.
The Sensational Alex Harvey Band
2/5
It's not a surprise they were a major influence to AC/DC. I can very much hear their influence, especially in the vocal style. New band to me. I like the blues rock/piano in Gang Bang, and the use of horns. Some was good, some not so much. Def not my taste. Low 3? Naw, I'm cranky.
Def Leppard
2/5
I just hate glam rock. I hate the hits more than I hate the deep cuts that didn't get pummeled on the radio. Voice is strained and unpleasant. Studio production is thin and compressed. Synths are 80's bad synthetic, after they lost the 70's analog warmth and before they got good again. Drum sounds are just artificial and out of balance. It's rock without energy, pop without danceability, corporate rock for the masses. I can't go to 1 but no chance this hits 3.
Dirty Projectors
3/5
Took some adjustment to get my head in this space. I loved some, liked some and some just didn't hit for me. Two Doves was lovely. Averaged as a 3 with wide dispersion.
George Michael
2/5
Starts low with a slow emo ballad. Freedom 90 picks it up a bit with a sound very reminiscent of the Manchester scene like Happy Mondays/Stone Roses. I can see why some love George, but I just can't get there. Trying to listen without prejudice, but at the midway point I'm praying there isn't a V2 on this list.
Bob Dylan
5/5
I don't spend much time listening to Bob, but this is a great album from the start to the finish. My only complaint is that he is so popular that many of the tracks have been overplayed. But hearing it as a single album does bring a bit of freshness to it. The major flaw on this album is the guitar distinctly to the right, the voice dead center and the harmonica way to the left. I flipped it to play mono and it was much better, although that created some artifacts. Anyway, great album.
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
2/5
Of the (far too many, this is the 5th) Nick Cave albums on the 1001 list, this is shaping up as better than the others. Not great, the bar is low, but better...
Bruce Springsteen
3/5
Fine? Forgettable? It washed over me and past me, leaving no mark or impression. It's like a ghost album.
Lupe Fiasco
3/5
Not my jam, but was good for the jam it is. I can see why he was on Kanye album, seems consistent with his sound.
Slayer
3/5
A lot going on here. It didn't suck nearly as much as I feared. I'd rather have this than Def Leopard any day of the week. I can see the appeal and there may have been a time when this would be what I chose to listen to. That time is not now. I'm liking at least as much as any Metallica I've heard, though. Half way through and I'm three pushing four.
Fun Lovin' Criminals
3/5
A new one for me. I think I heard a track or two but didn't know who the band was. Not something I'd reach for but didn't want to turn it off. Glad to fill a cultural gap.
Funkadelic
4/5
Thoroughly enjoyable, although I wasn't clear why this was better than the other albums of theirs.
David Holmes
3/5
I was a little indifferent until "Let's Get Killed" rolled in and that was bad-ass. Overall, it was fine. Didn't amaze, but was enjoyable. There was better trip-hop of the era, IMHO.
Prince
2/5
I can see the appeal here but it didn't get above 3 in my mind and with the length, was leaning in the 2 direction. Given how insanely famous he is, I'm surprised to have not known almost any of this album.
Orange Juice
4/5
I knew Edwin Collins from his 90's resurgence but never heard much of his origin band. I bounced between 4 and 5 a few times while listening. Fun, energetic new wave with Edwin's signature voice and witty writing style.
The Rolling Stones
2/5
Everytime I listen to a Stones album I think less of them. Listening to this one, were they the prototype of the modern incel? Track 1 - older women and mothers are drug addicts. Track 2 - young women are vain, mean and stupid. Track 3 - is an engaged dude cheating. Track 4 - OMG, this is a woman abuser who has brainwashed his "girl" to not look at others, only speaks when spoken to, and behaves like a pet dog. And the reviewer comments "casually offensive lyrics"? Shame on the reviewer as much as on Mick and Keith. Musically it's catchy. I see the draw. But this does not age well.
Kanye West
4/5
OK, I'm giving props here. Not my genre and don't love his message, but this is a solid album. Way better than the others I've heard from him. Radical departure stylistically but he keeps it together. It's not just different for difference, it is genuinely fun to listen to.
Teenage Fanclub
3/5
I bet if I were in a better mood I'd be more generous with my stars on this one, but it was kind of generic. Good power pop. Down the middle. Basic, perhaps. Not feeling why this was so highly regarded when it was released. This feels like the kind of album that everyone has in their collection but never grabs off the shelf to play.
Queen
4/5
This was surprisingly good and surprisingly unfamiliar to me. Other than Killer Queen, I don't think I've heard anything on this album. I think Stone Cold Crazy was my favorite, a bit shocked that didn't/doesn't get airplay.
The Killers
5/5
A fun album from start to finish. Great lyrics and vocals. Catchy tunes and great pop sensibility. I'd happily listen to this again.
Jeff Buckley
2/5
Too emo for my tastes. It sounds like it should be good but driven by corporate label production. Hallelujah is the clear hit on the album, but I don't think anyone has made a bad version of that song. My bet is hearing this guy play in a coffee house before he got signed would have been incredible. But then some A&R guy grabbed him and said, "I'm gonna make you a stah, son." and gave him fashion consultants, make-up artists, backup musicians, producers, and stripped him of all that once made him interesting.
Buddy Holly & The Crickets
5/5
This was a great album and absolutely something everyone should at least hear once. I just watched the documentary on The Day The Music Died, and recommend it to others. The music world lost a lot with Buddy's untimely death.
N.E.R.D
3/5
Now this is Party Pop! I was liking it more in the beginning but it started to wear on me. Seemed like they ran out of ideas before they ran out of tape.
Deee-Lite
5/5
This comes on and the party starts, if only in my mind. I hadn't listened to them in probably 20 years and wondering why not.
4/5
Boy do they sound like David Bowie at times. This was enjoyable. I'm surprised I never paid attention to them back in the day. It's a 4 on first listen, but feels like if I lived with it for a long time it would grow up to a 5. Spotify fed me the 2012 2CD box set version. I would have been happier if this ended at Disc 1. Almost 150 minutes is a bit much.
Arctic Monkeys
4/5
A fun Brit power pop jam. I found myself enjoying this more than I expected. I thought it ought to be a 3 and then it ends on such a high note, pushed me to 4 in the end. Well done, lads.
Q-Tip
5/5
Fantastic in Tribe and fantastic solo. It's been a while since we've been fed a real top notch hip-hop album.
Saint Etienne
5/5
One of my favorite CDs. Brings me straight back to the early 90's. So glad this 1001 list will expose more people to St. Etienne.
John Cale
3/5
Meh. Fine I guess. It was an album. Entertaining that this is most notable for not being experimental/avant-garde. Translation "This is great, it's his most boring album ever!".
Sugar
4/5
I love Bob Mould's voice and the Sugar sound. This is peak "compression wars" flat recording, but for this genre it's almost acceptable. A bit more raw, with fewer stand out singles as their later "File Under Easy Listening". Helpless was a favorite. Hoover Dam's annoying 80s synth was a low point. If I Can't Change Your Mind was another strong one.
Japan
2/5
Edged between 2 and 3, but with most of the time resting in 2 land. Their take on All Tomorrow's Parties was a great take on a wonderful song. But much of it was a bit moring, often droning and his singing seemed a bit flat and off key at times. I'm not a huge New Wave fan and this did not seem like best-of-breed of the genre.
Genesis
3/5
The 20" Stone Henge towers under foot in this one. When I wasn't chuckling in my head from Spinal Tap references, I did find myself enjoying the music.
Wu-Tang Clan
5/5
Hot diggidy, this was swell to the nth degree. Never actually listened to Wu Tang, just new about their hijinks with that crazy album auction thing. I must admit, I feel a bit like Michael Bolton in Office Space right now...
John Grant
3/5
Another band I missed on the first pass. I liked it.
Elvis Costello & The Attractions
5/5
Elvis Costello brings it again. One of his best albums. This is where the new wave/post punk worked.
Violent Femmes
5/5
DJ Shadow
5/5
Standing on the shoulders of giants, quite literally. Created only by sampling others art, and yet builds something totally new. What's amazing is he was able to keep producing new things that were just as engaging, he wasn't a one trick pony.
Motörhead
3/5
I'm only going to rate the first 13 tracks of the 27 "deluxe edition", the extra hour of extra credit is for the dedicated listener's independent study. Comment 1 - the production and mix is poor, with everything a bit distant and thin, full left/full right pan balance on things. Fatiguing. It sounds like studio work without the live cohesive sound of a band playing in unison. Comment 2 - (We Are The) Roadcrew was a high point. Jailbait was a low point (Yes, I recognize it was [likely] an attempt at humor).
This grew on me as it progressed. Wasn't love, but shifted up in the 3s.
Run-D.M.C.
5/5
This album marks the end of the beginning of rap's history.
LL Cool J
3/5
There were some really good tracks but as a whole, it didn't rise above a 3 and at points, it was a solid 2. 6 Minutes Of Pleasure was as bad as any Bell Biv DeVoe track. Milky Cereal only slightly better. On the flip side, Mama Said Knock You Out and Boomin' System, despite their extraordinary stupidity, were still fun tracks.
Drive Like Jehu
5/5
I'm sure I'll be in the minority here, but I really liked this one. Reminded me of Jesus Lizard and Black Flag. Great musicianship, insane energy. Cathartic.
Red Hot Chili Peppers
4/5
5 for the music. 4 because the lyrics sounded like they were from a 15 year-old.
Slade
2/5
Not very enjoyable to me. I learned while listening to this slog that Come On Feel the Noize was a Slade cover. I never liked Quiet Riot and now I know they were a glam rock mimic of another glam rock band I don't particularly like.
Gene Clark
2/5
A boring album that landed somewhere between country, 70's acoustic folk and sleep. I usually like this type of singer/song writer style, but this one missed me.
Joe Ely
2/5
This was both kinds of music.
Leftfield
4/5
A solid EDM album. The write ups kept saying it was passed over for various accolades by Massive Attack "Dummy", as if this was better. This was good, but Dummy was the better album in my opinion. A lot going on here but it lacked a cohesive album feel. It was more a collection of good tracks.
Germs
3/5
At times a 4 and even a 5, I love early LA punk, but I guess I'm getting older and ended up at a 3. The 9:40 ending track didn't help. It would have been better with a 28:30 play time.
Kate Bush
4/5
A fun album that I'm sure would grow more on me with multiple revisits. The Dreaming was the highlight track to me. I love the range of dynamics and the flipping between calm and crazy, traditional and dischordant. Houdini highlighted this nicely.
Circle Jerks
5/5
I had no idea that the Circle Jerks were linked to Black Flag. 14 songs, 15 minutes, rinse, repeat.
Lou Reed
4/5
I bounced between 4 and 5 on this one. I really enjoy Lou Reed, his sound, his wit. I loved the stripped down instrumentation but still using eclectic horns or wood winds, and the full dixie band in the last track. Amazing this came in 1972, so far ahead of stuff from it's time. So why isn't it a 5? I don't know. It just feels lower.
Ice Cube
4/5
I hear ice cube and I think of the mutant dog from Tank Girl. But... this is a good album.
Bruce Springsteen
4/5
I liked this a lot more than some of the other Bruce albums. Feeling generous with the 4, it was cuspy.
The Shamen
3/5
Best of breed of the genre, but this is a fairly boring genre in my view. Thumpy bass dance tracks beginning to end. Music to do chores to.
Fred Neil
5/5
Hot dang! This opens with an absolute favorite Beth Orton/Terry Collier duet that I hadn't realized was a cover. This original is wonderful! I never heard of Fred Neil, but great voice, great song writing. Leans pretty have country but I'd say "in a good way", pushing toward Johnny Cash with his baritone voice, but more like John Prine or David Bromberg in content. I will look for this album again.
Christine and the Queens
2/5
This is not an album I must listen to before I die. This is the participation trophy of albums. Crappy, boring, soleless, vapid pop. Something the streaming age allowed to become popular. I think I started liking it more when it repeated into the French only version of the songs.
Randy Newman
3/5
Enjoyable. Was looking for reasons to rate it higher, and "Maybe I'm Doing It Wrong" got close, but not enough.
Big Black
4/5
I was going to say they took the sound from Ministry, but looking up the timeline, I see that's reversed. I see the foundations of industrial but I'm surprised to call them a punk band. Hard core is the label I'd have used. In the vein of Jesus Lizard and Jehu.
U2
5/5
U2 were such a great band when young. They have become a sometimes great band in their older incarnations, IMHO.
The Flaming Lips
5/5
Every time I hear something new from the Flaming Lips, I smile and wonder why I don't go deep and listen to all of their stuff. Then I forget, time passes, and I get exposed to another Flaming Lips album and the cycle repeats.
Sisters Of Mercy
4/5
I knew several of the "hits" from back in the day when I was adjacent to the goth scene as a college radio dj. Hadn't heard the deep cuts, like 1959. Solid album. Would have been a 5 if I was still a mopy awkward teen.
Beatles
5/5
590 songs in and this was the first Beetles album in our mix. I have never sat down and just listened to this album end to end. Hat tip to these fellas. They had it going on.