506
Albums Rated
3.29
Average Rating
46%
Complete
583 albums remaining
Rating Distribution
Rating Timeline
Taste Profile
1950
Favorite Decade
Blues
Favorite Genre
US
Top Origin
Wordsmith
Rater Style ?
74
5-Star Albums
12
1-Star Albums
Breakdown
By Genre
Top Styles
By Decade
By Origin
Albums
You Love More Than Most
| Album | You | Global | Diff |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Duck Stab/Buster & Glen
The Residents
|
5 | 2.02 | +2.98 |
|
Trout Mask Replica
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band
|
5 | 2.29 | +2.71 |
|
Opus Dei
Laibach
|
5 | 2.39 | +2.61 |
|
Locust Abortion Technician
Butthole Surfers
|
5 | 2.39 | +2.61 |
|
Bright Flight
Silver Jews
|
5 | 2.68 | +2.32 |
|
KE*A*H** (Psalm 69)
Ministry
|
5 | 2.69 | +2.31 |
|
Phaedra
Tangerine Dream
|
5 | 2.73 | +2.27 |
|
AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted
Ice Cube
|
5 | 2.92 | +2.08 |
|
Kollaps
Einstürzende Neubauten
|
4 | 1.92 | +2.08 |
|
Very
Pet Shop Boys
|
5 | 2.95 | +2.05 |
You Love Less Than Most
| Album | You | Global | Diff |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Channel Orange
Frank Ocean
|
1 | 3.33 | -2.33 |
|
S&M
Metallica
|
1 | 3.26 | -2.26 |
|
Tonight's The Night
Neil Young
|
1 | 3.24 | -2.24 |
|
Dry
PJ Harvey
|
1 | 3.23 | -2.23 |
|
MTV Unplugged In New York
Nirvana
|
2 | 4.2 | -2.2 |
|
The White Album
Beatles
|
2 | 4.17 | -2.17 |
|
Hejira
Joni Mitchell
|
1 | 3.14 | -2.14 |
|
Queen Of Denmark
John Grant
|
1 | 3.12 | -2.12 |
|
Spiderland
Slint
|
1 | 2.97 | -1.97 |
|
Shadowland
k.d. lang
|
1 | 2.87 | -1.87 |
Artists
Favorites
| Artist | Albums | Average |
|---|---|---|
| Leonard Cohen | 5 | 4.8 |
| Black Sabbath | 3 | 5 |
| Tom Waits | 3 | 4.67 |
| Pet Shop Boys | 2 | 5 |
| LCD Soundsystem | 2 | 5 |
| Pink Floyd | 2 | 5 |
Least Favorites
| Artist | Albums | Average |
|---|---|---|
| Joni Mitchell | 3 | 1.67 |
| PJ Harvey | 2 | 1.5 |
| Neil Young | 2 | 1.5 |
| k.d. lang | 2 | 1.5 |
| Neil Young & Crazy Horse | 3 | 2 |
| Dexys Midnight Runners | 3 | 2 |
Controversial
| Artist | Ratings |
|---|---|
| Yes | 2, 3, 5 |
| David Bowie | 2, 5, 3 |
5-Star Albums (74)
View Album Wall
Popular Reviews
CHIC · 8 likes
2/5
Why everyone, before they die, should spend what felt like 20 minutes listening to a lady repeating "I can hardly see what's in front of me" in a dramatic voice is insane to me.
I guess it's a decent dance album, but every track is double the length it needed to be, and absolutely nothing happens or evolves.
Frank Ocean · 3 likes
1/5
My expectations were at ground level, but I still want my hour back.
Floaty non-music with pretentious slice-of-life lyrics of a bored clown. I absolutely hate his vocal style. The man can't sing for shit, but he can do pretend vocal flourishes that might have worked for someone with talent.
Kid Rock · 2 likes
3/5
I genuinely do not get the hate for this.
It’s juvenile and crass, and the artistic merits are highly debatable, but at least it’s trying to have fun. This will never be part of my personal rotation, but if I had to chose between this and yet another K.D. Lang album, I’d pick this 10 times out of 10.
Radiohead · 2 likes
3/5
This was a struggle for me. I absolutely hate Radiohead in general. I've never understood what so many enjoy in the mess of whiny and jangly noise.
I was actually suprised that I almost liked the first two tracks, but then the depression kicked in. Background music that's not great, but not bad enough to get up and change.
Beatles · 2 likes
2/5
If this album did not have The BEATLES on the cover, it would never, ever have been even considered for a list like this. There's a couple of good tracks, but the rest is just grab-bag of whatever the dudes felt like throwing at the wall. We get everything from embarrassingly bad fake American accents to eight minutes of a random dude saying "number nine" - what artists!
On the plus side there's one less The Beatles album left to suffer through on the road to 1001 albums.
1-Star Albums (12)
All Ratings
Stan Getz
2/5
No. Just no.
70s stereo with vocal in one ear. Sounds like a porn movie.
Nas
5/5
Arcade Fire
3/5
This is an album where everything is “good enough”. Melodies are fine, production is fine, lyrics are mostly fine, and the album turns out to be fine and super generic. To me this album could have been made by hundreds of other 90s bands and I would be unable to tell the difference.
Play a backbeat and hit record.
Beatles
3/5
It's the Beatles. It sounds like the Beatles. I'm sure it's great if you enjoy listening to the Beatles. I don't enjoy listening to the Beatles.
The Band
3/5
I find this album frustrating. Every track has a spark of something I would be extremely interested in listening to, but - with very few exceptions - no track ever really get there.
The Who
3/5
I thought I liked The Who, but after sitting through this I'm less sure. Based on reputation, and my own imagination, I was expecting a rebellious hard hitting album. What I got was fairly boring pop rock. Not bad, but really not noteworthy either.
Steely Dan
4/5
Albums like this is why I signed up in the first place. I know Steely Dan, and individual tracks by Steely Dan, but I've never sat down and listened to a complete album. I should have.
It likely helped that my first week of this 3+ year project has been generic 60s pop rock that did absolutely nothing for me. Listening to a band with some different takes was great.
MGMT
4/5
The good songs are great, the less good songs are mostly fine. Different sounds to a lot of the albums on this list.
Coldcut
4/5
This hit the sound that most electronic music went for in the 1990s. Some absolute bangers, and some truly weird stuff. Maybe slightly long.
The Verve
3/5
Leonard Cohen
5/5
He's kindda sad, right?
Great lyrics, great melodies, back when Cohen could actually sing. The album with Avalanche, Last year's man, Diamonds in the mine & Sing another song boys. This was always going to be an easy 5/5
Dusty Springfield
3/5
I don't understand how this album made the list.
Every album so far - even the ones that absolutely were not my taste - has had some cohesion and creative vision. This is, a skillfully done, compilation of cover tracks.
Great vocals, good backing band, but still a collection of covers. Almost every track is available in more interesting versions.
Killing Joke
4/5
I really liked this.
Not sure how I would describe it, but it somehow felt heavier than it really was. Despite knowing basically nothing about this band, I have a sneaking suspicion that this would be your favorite bands favorite band - except if your favorite bands favorite band was Butthole Surfers who seems to overlap in both sound and timeframe.
The bonus tracks felt like a bit much.
Simple Minds
3/5
Very generic 1980s sound and feel. Not great, not bad. Nothing really left any impression.
Ananda Shankar
2/5
Never listened to an album of sitar rock before. I'll do my best to not do it in the future.
2nd half of the album is much more interesting than the 1st.
Violent Femmes
2/5
Oh. Oh no.
I should like this. Tons of energy, basslines that are very forward in the mix. The vocals though. I just can't... I find it actively annoying. And why did one of the tracks have what sounded like a 10 year old with a xylophone?
Steely Dan
3/5
This is the 2nd Steel Dan album I've had on this list. I loved the first one, so I had high hopes for this. I just don't get it. Nothing about this feels inspired or interesting. Fine as background music, but that's about it. Even Bernard Purdie sounds uninteresting on the 2 tracks he got - that's almost impressive.
Goldfrapp
3/5
I really liked the first track, but everything after that turned into a blur of songs that I could not separate out, and that left no lasting impression of anything. Perfectly fine for background music, but don't expect to remember that you had it on.
Q-Tip
2/5
Extremely forgettable. Super polished, but also super uninteresting. I really prefer rap that has some hint of an edge, and there's none to be found here.
I did make it through, but I completely checked out during "Life is better", when I realized that the name dropping was really just a (maybe overly long) list of artists, I'd rather listen to than finish this album.
The Rolling Stones
3/5
Some great tracks, and some complete misses.
Minus 1 start for the 10 minutes of nonsense in going home
Dwight Yoakam
3/5
Very old school sounding country. Really not a fan of the lyrics, and his vocals do not sound all that convincing
Grant Lee Buffalo
3/5
A few interesting ideas, but never really got going for me.
Holger Czukay
4/5
What a trip.
I absolutely loved this. It's not gonna go into regular rotation for me, but albums like this is exactly why I started listening to 1001 albums. This was far away from anything I'd normally listen to, and made by someone I didn't know. Great album.
CHIC
2/5
Why everyone, before they die, should spend what felt like 20 minutes listening to a lady repeating "I can hardly see what's in front of me" in a dramatic voice is insane to me.
I guess it's a decent dance album, but every track is double the length it needed to be, and absolutely nothing happens or evolves.
The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion
1/5
What a colossal waste of time.
I guess the type of person who think starting an album with an obnoxiously loud and distorted scream, is also the type of person that believes the rest of this nonsense album could be interesting to anyone not involved in making it.
After surviving the first track, there's still more than an hour of this muck to wade through. Lord have mercy.
Harry Nilsson
3/5
This didn't really do much for me. Nothing is truly bad, nothing is truly great.
Bob Dylan
4/5
I'll never be a huge fan of Bob Dylan, but it's hard to deny that there are some amazing tracks on this album.
Somehow this album feels like it spans 3 decades, with a wildly varied style and expression.
The Police
4/5
Perfectly fine album, with a few genuinely good tracks. I really don't like Sting as a singer though.
Pet Shop Boys
5/5
I love this album, and I have absolutely no reason why this should be. I still remember buying the CD in it's orange case with the lego look and feel.
I know this album is a big thing in the queer community, and I can see why, but my love of this album is really not affected by that.
I guess I just grew up with this album, and heard it at the right time to have it leave a lasting mark on me.
I absolutely hate the impact "go west" had on media for years, but at the same time I absolutely love the track.
To me this the absolute picture of early european EDM. It is the sound of thousands and thousands of poor people dancing their issues away on any given weekend. The upbeat sadness propably didn't start with this album, but it provided a blueprint for how it would build for the next 20 years.
The Adverts
4/5
British punk. It's not my thing, but this was a lot more catchy than I expected it to be. Tons of energy, even if it's not going to be one of my favorites.
The Stone Roses
4/5
This is an album I grew up with and have always known about. I know basically every track, but I would never actually choose to play this album myself. The music is super pleasant, so nothing really to complain about. It does top out at a 4 though.
PJ Harvey
2/5
I'm really struggling to think of something nice to type out. I absolutely hated this album. I don't like her voice, I don't like the lyrics, I don't like the production.
George Michael
3/5
Faith alone ensures that this will never be less than 3 stars.
Jackson and Prince most likely did music better. Morrissey most likely did gay better. But there's still Faith.
Simon & Garfunkel
3/5
Some absolute classics, and some tracks that are an absolute waste of time.
Talking Heads
3/5
Not really my kind of music.
Fine as background music, and a few interesting twists.
Baaba Maal
2/5
This one is not for me. I actually like the sound, and almost all of the tracks, but why in the world are they so long? Nothing evolves... The sound at the start of a track will be the sound at the end of the track.
Depeche Mode
3/5
Not my favourite Depeche Mode album. Well crafted and most of what I'd expect from the band, but just doesn't really get all the way for me.
Talking Heads
4/5
I just had "Talking Heads 77" 3 days ago, and wasn't impressed at all. In the 3 years between "77" and "Remain in light" Talkingheads have somehow moved from something that I didn't enjoy at all, to something I absolutely love, and that will enter my normal music rotation.
It's faster and more upbeat, and just all around more stuff going on.
Absolutely brilliant.
Bob Dylan
5/5
I'm not a big Dylan fan. Mostly I really don't get along with his singing style - not his voice, but his way of phrasing lines. The constant pitch shifting in every word seems to be more controlled on this album though.
The production seems to be fairly dialed back, but constantly highlights different instruments, so while all the tracks are somewhat long, there's more than enough going on to keep the energy up.
Desolation Row might be one of my favorite ways to spend 12 minutes.
Linkin Park
2/5
This really hasn't aged well.
I had this album when it came out, and I'm fairly sure I listened to it non-stop for months. Listening to it now, I have no idea why. It has all of the distortion and volume of metal, but absolutely none of the edge. And what in the world is the flow on those rap parts?
Billy Joel
4/5
It's just so smooth.
Joel's lyrics are always great. The production is outstanding, and the musical ability is more than enough to carry the tracks. Everything is catchy, and I found myself just enjoying the album from start to finish.
Fats Domino
5/5
I'm not sure how anyone is supposed to rate or review this album. It's one classic after another, and it's immediately obvious how influential this album (well really this man) was.
Can only be 5/5.
Black Sabbath
5/5
The heaviest of heavy metal.
What an album. Supernaut is the standout. I think my first time hearing the track was the "1000 homo DJ's" version, but the original was so far ahead of it's time. Nothing will ever beat that riff.
Goldfrapp
2/5
My 2nd. Goldfrapp on the list, and I think I'll just have to accept that this band is not for me. The good tracks, are really good, but the bad tracks are downright annoying.
Other bands do the same thing better.
Metallica
1/5
Oh god no.
How did this make the list? Not only a live album, but a compilation (I trule hope this is not considered a greatest hits) album on top? Just no.
It's not that I hate Metallica, I just find them bland and uninteresting. I tend to like most classical music, but the combination of the two just ruins any interest or enjoyment. And why is this nonsense album so incredibly long?
I want my two hours back.
Antony and the Johnsons
2/5
This is not for me.
Albums like these are really the reason I'm going through the list in the first place, but I absolutely cannot stand the vocals. Unfortunately there's very little going on besides the vocals.
Somehow the shortest album I've heard in a long time seemed to go on forever.
Madonna
3/5
I remembered this album as being stronger.
Like a prayer, and express yourself are absolute classics. The rest of the album is somewhat irrelevant.
Serge Gainsbourg
4/5
Well that was certainly something.
Not a fan of the concept itself, but this is the type of album I would expect to find on this list. I'm not gonna listen to this regularly, but going through it once was an interesting experience. The backing music is catchy, even if the vocals don't do much for me.
Songhoy Blues
4/5
I love it. So different from what I usually listen to, but so much energy.
Nick Drake
4/5
So incredibly stripped down and personal. There really are no layers to go through in the music. It's just this one man and his songs.
The Cardigans
2/5
I absolutely hate the overly sweet half whispered vocals. The rest of the band could have been absolute magic, and I would still hate the album.
As it is, the first few tracks are so incredibly annoying that I more or less checked out. Lovefool is catchy, but that has to be the worst Iron Man ever.
The crowd on the cover cannot possibly be reaching to anything made by this band?
DJ Shadow
4/5
I loved this album in the 90s. It was such an interesting new feel to have an album constructed from only samples.
I'm not sure it has aged all that well. I love most tracks, but that's most likely because I loved them long, long before listening this time. I think there's a fairly clear line from this album to his later productions, but this isn't DJ Shadow firing on all cylinders, and many tracks feel a bit longer than they had to be.
Germs
4/5
I didn't enjoy this on my first (and focused) listen.
For various reason the pretty short album kept repeating for the next hour and a half while I worked, and this really turned the experience around. The energy alone gives a few stars, and by the third time round I caught myself thinking "that's neat" at a few points.
I'll never be a big fan of punk, but this album turned out to be fairly enjoyable.
Adele
3/5
So much talent. So incredibly safe and boring.
Yes, "Hello" is a great track. "Water Under the Bridge" is more interesting than the rest of the album, but that's about it. Take a chance, do something less safe.
Beatles
2/5
If this album did not have The BEATLES on the cover, it would never, ever have been even considered for a list like this. There's a couple of good tracks, but the rest is just grab-bag of whatever the dudes felt like throwing at the wall. We get everything from embarrassingly bad fake American accents to eight minutes of a random dude saying "number nine" - what artists!
On the plus side there's one less The Beatles album left to suffer through on the road to 1001 albums.
Arcade Fire
3/5
My 2nd. Arcade Fire album on this list. I still don't get the hype.
There's not really anything wrong with the music, but it's just not all that interesting either. Fine as background music.
The Velvet Underground
3/5
I don't know about this. Like everyone else I've been preached to about this album for years, but I just don't get it. Some of the tracks are great, some are filler, and some feature Niko prominently, and should be ignored.
Morrissey
4/5
It's not the Smiths, but it's good enough.
Morrissey is such an unpleasant man, with horrible politics and beliefs, but he is so good at being relatable on records.
Metallica
3/5
Another album that I listened to non-stop when it was released, but that maybe hasn't aged that well. The first half of the album is incredibly strong, but it runs out of steam.
MC Solaar
4/5
I have absolutely no idea what was going on, but what an album!
John Cale
3/5
This really didn't do much for me. A couple of great tracks, and a few tracks where his voice is straight up annoying.
Kraftwerk
4/5
Super sparse early electronic music. I love it.
Air
2/5
It's incredible how boring this album manages to be. I love the basslines an the old school synth sound, but it still just blend into a grey soup of boredom. Absolutely nothing happens.
Stevie Wonder
2/5
Some incredible tracks, but all my enthusiasm for the album got killed with the opener. How can this man write such great tracks an also pump out that overly sweet nonsense?
Digital Underground
4/5
Pretty great 90s hiphop. Upbeat, funky and having a laugh.
Bob Marley & The Wailers
4/5
I'm not really a huge fan of reggae in general, but how could you possibly dislike this?
Some absolute classics, and the remaining tracks are more than good enough.
LCD Soundsystem
5/5
I love this. It's not my favorite album by LCD Soundsystem, but it's still a super solid 5. It's just such a unique sound, and I find it extremely hard to be even slightly bored listening.
Prefab Sprout
2/5
This is a strange one.
I really liked the opening, but it just got progressively more grating with every track. By the time I got to "Horsin' around" everything from the lyrics and phrasing, to the lazy latin inspired drumming, and the feel changes, seemed almost custom designed to be as anoying as possible to me personally. Then "Desire As" started.
I did not enjoy this.
Gang Starr
5/5
Honestly I think the rap and lyrics are a bit too old school for me, but the beats are absolutely crazy, and the combination is amazing.
I never gave Gang Starr a fair chance when this album came out, but I absolutely should have.
Van Halen
3/5
I want to like this more than I actually do. The guys are clearly immensely talented, but the end product ends up a bit over the top, and mostly just playing all of the notes all of the time.
Red Hot Chili Peppers
3/5
I loved this when it came out. Not so sure I still do. First half of the album is great, but the last half is a complete waste of time.
The Bees
2/5
This one is absolutely not for me. It's trying so hard to have chill and happy vibes, but the vocals are just straight up grating.
I have no idea what this album is doing on a list like this? What did it influence? Who remembered this band or this album even 5 years later?
The Doors
4/5
A lot of classics.
This seems to be a cleaner sound, and fewer 20 min. songs. Just a great album.
Miriam Makeba
4/5
I'm super surprised with how much I enjoyed this. Not a genre I would normally go for, but what a pleasant way to spend half an hour.
Blue Cheer
2/5
Well, that was a waste of time.
I don't know who this noisy mess is for. It has the sound and distortion, but it lacks anything catchy or interesting.
Stereo MC's
2/5
Very dated. Great opening track, but everything is downhill from there. Lyrics are not great, and the overall sound just screams early 90s in a way I did not miss.
Pulp
5/5
Brilliant, brilliant album. Common People, Disco 2000, Mis-shapes and Underwear are the standout tracks, but the rest of the album is good enough to have been lead singles from most other bands in that period. Very close to a perfect album for me.
Pet Shop Boys
5/5
Really, really not a fan of the first track, but the rest of the album more than makes up for it. Very 80s. For some reason Pet Shop Boys just hit my personal sweetspot for the mix of upbeat synthpop and undertones of sadness. I love this.
Fleetwood Mac
4/5
An interesting album, with a lot of different ideas. Some of them work, others not so much. The intense tracks are almost manic, and the chilled tracks are bordering on boring.
It's going to be a small 4 for me.
Janis Joplin
5/5
What a voice. Just pure power.
The Cult
4/5
This one really surprised me. Not really an amazing creative triumph, but tons of energy, and power without pretending to be super complex.
New York Dolls
5/5
Everyone is saying how influential this album was. I'm sure they're right. It's also a great album.
A Tribe Called Quest
4/5
Great beats, good vibes. The lyrics and flow is too old school for me. I really don't get the whole story-teller setup of many of the tracks.
Deep Purple
4/5
It seems that this is an album with strictly one idea/riff per track. Most of the ideas are great, but every tracks is much, much longer than it should have been.
Miles Davis
4/5
This is going to be a super unfair 4. There's absolutely nothing wrong or suboptimal about any part of this album or performance, but it's just so smooth that it ends up melting into somewhat boring for me.
Leonard Cohen
5/5
Just classics from start to finish. The music matches the voice that matches the lyrics. The production is very understated, and the tracks are somewhat similar. I can see how this album would be tough to get through if you're not into the feeling and vibe, but for me it's a very secure 5/5.
Neil Young & Crazy Horse
2/5
No thanks!
This album is at best boring, and at worst actively annoying. Everything is just so uninspired. It’s almost like 90% of the album was made with the one objective of not offending anyone or taking any chances. The remaining tracks are some sort of whiny country knockoff.
I think everyone understood that he was a very sad boy after the first 5 tracks, so you could have saved the horrible violin stuff at the end.
Other reviews mention that this was released 4 months after his first album. Maybe he could have spend a bit longer and produced something worth listening to.
Al Green
5/5
Half an hour of funky tracks with incredibly smooth vocals. I'm not sure I would have stayed on board for much longer, but this was exactly the right amount.
Christina Aguilera
3/5
I have to admit that I was surprised to see this one the list.
I remember hating most of this album when it came out and was played constantly. I was probably wrong.
This is not my style of music, but it's not bad. I'm not sure what makes this album different from a ton of other pop albums from the same decade. Why did this album make the list instead of them? Or are they all here and I just haven't gotten to them yet? Overall good, but slightly too long, pop album. Not sure how influential it actually was.
John Grant
1/5
The music is fine, but sounds very close to tracks released decades before. I really had a feeling that entire riffs had been lifted, but I can’t really place any concrete examples.
Then there are the lyrics.
Surely the dude can do metaphors that don’t involve fruit loops, or caramel, or chocolate. Why is everything candy or movies? Congratulations on finding the edge to say "shit", and "fuck" a lot though. We even get some racial slurs. All of the edgy 12 year old tropes, and the he's even bad at swearing convincingly. There's just nothing worth listening to, or reading here. Edgy teenager stuff even if he was technically older when he wrote it.
3 for the music, minus 2 for the lyrics.
AC/DC
4/5
Look. It's ACDC. We all know what this will sound like.
Radiohead
3/5
This was a struggle for me. I absolutely hate Radiohead in general. I've never understood what so many enjoy in the mess of whiny and jangly noise.
I was actually suprised that I almost liked the first two tracks, but then the depression kicked in. Background music that's not great, but not bad enough to get up and change.
Joni Mitchell
2/5
I've just realised that I absolutely do not like Joni Mitchell. It's rare for me to be this bored while listening to an album. Everything just sounds dated, and the few bits that are not incredible uninteresting are straight up annoying.
Pixies
3/5
One outstanding track, and a lot of decent but not great filler. I wanted to like this more than I actually did.
Dexys Midnight Runners
2/5
I went into this knowing one track by Dexys Midnight Runners, and not entirely convinced I liked the track that I knew. I honestly don’t know what to make of this. The talking between band members' gimmick is just absolute rubbish. The music is fine-ish when they stick to the upbeat (possibly strings driven) basics, but they seem to want to create a different album than what their strengths would play to - maybe to ape Dire Straits. I really do like parts of this, but it’s drowned out by so much pretentious art wank that a 2 is generous. I’m still sticking to no skips, but this album was the closest to breaking that.
Gram Parsons
2/5
This seems indredibly uninspired and honestly designed to be middle of the road and not offending to anyone. The faster tracks are passable, but the slower entries are everything i dislike about country.
David Holmes
3/5
I liked it more than I thought I would. Some great tracks and a lot of filler that's really just background music. Nothing is truly bad, but there's just too much og it. Seems to be a general problem with 90s albums.
The Stooges
4/5
I honestly don't love this as much as I thought i would. The energy is clearly there, but to me it sounds a bit dated. Not bad in any sense, but didn't completely win me over either.
Elton John
4/5
Nothing to dislike about this. The tracks do seem a bit longer than necessary, and the start of the album is a lot stronger than the last half.
Beatles
3/5
Enough with the Beatles albums.
Yes, yes, very influencial. I still don't get why these guys are always held up as the gold standard of music. It's fine, but that's it.
David Ackles
2/5
What in the world is this?
If you want to do an artsy album, the first track needs better writing than "He trades the milk for booze, and Molly wants new shoes".
The last track is nowhere near good enough to be 10 minutes long. This was just overall stupid. A poorly written musical with no actors.
Dusty Springfield
3/5
Amazing voice, good instrumentation, tons of passion, but really doesn't move
the needle for me. Nothing to dislike, but maybe an hour was a bit much.
The Rolling Stones
4/5
This really is the sound that I will always think of when someone mentions The Rolling Stones.
Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five
3/5
This is too old school for me. The beats are great (even if they sound a bit dated) but the lyrics are not amazing. Not sure I needed the soul numbers included.
Björk
2/5
I struggle with Björk.
This album, and artist, has absolutely everything I’ve complained about in other albums. The talent is completely undeniable, there’s risk-taking to an almost unbelievable degree, and there’s just tons of creativity.
The problem is that I hate absolutely every second of it. I hate the creative goal, I cannot stand the way she insists on hard rolling on r’s seemingly at random, and I find the lyrics almost laughably bad.
I guess I completely agree that this belongs on the list, but it’s absolutely not for me.
Black Sabbath
5/5
This is an obvious 5. There's really not much to say - just absolute bangers from start to finish.
Neil Young & Crazy Horse
2/5
Incredibly boring. First half is the same song with a minimum of variation, but the album gets slightly better as it goes on. Would be an uninspired 3, but I hate his voice, and whatever he was trying to do with the solo in powderfinger.
Kendrick Lamar
5/5
A bit of a fever dream. The opening tracks are from a completely different level, but I honestly think they lead into a bit of a lull before going full throttle at the end.
Even if I think parts of the album are slightly boring, the total score can only be a solid 5.
Paul McCartney and Wings
3/5
Surprisingly I like this album a lot more than any of the 20 The Beatles albums on this list. That doesn’t say much, but it’s a solid 3. The first tracks are much better than the 2nd half of the album.
Stevie Wonder
3/5
I want to like this album. I really do. But besides 2 or 3 tracks I'm just bored.
Emerson, Lake & Palmer
2/5
How are live albums on this list?
Why would I want to listen to this version rather than the original Mussorgsky?
Who did this influence or inspire?
This really should be a 1, but the guys can play…
The Crusaders
4/5
Very surprised how much I liked this. Maybe not the most challenging album, but super smooth, and great as background music.
Led Zeppelin
5/5
Going out the gate with that first track on a debut album… What an absolute statement from Bonham. Not every track on the album is amazing, but the ones that work really, really work.
Creedence Clearwater Revival
3/5
It's fine. Better than I expected, but not really something I'll remember tomorrow.
The Residents
5/5
I have no idea how to rate this. I hated almost every second, but this is what I signed up for in the first place.
You just have to admire this complete commitment to whatever artistic vision they decided on.
If you think Tom Waits is only slightly odd, this might be for you.
Dion
4/5
I really don't get the hate for this album. Not sure it's my thing, but it's certainly competent.
I absolutely love the Phil Spector sound. Everyone knows why he's a terrible human being, but man was he good at producing music.
Isaac Hayes
3/5
Great music, but not sure it's really something that works without the movie.
Janelle Monáe
4/5
I liked this much, much more than I expected to. I had heard of Janelle Monáe before, but had really listened to anything she made.
This is an album of wildly different tracks that still somehow seem connected. Not really a huge fan of every single tracks, but certainly worth a listen.
Pentangle
4/5
Somehow medieval folk, but with some almost rock feels on a few tracks. I didn't expect to like it, and not sure I'll listen again, but great performance, and pretty unique.
Hugh Masekela
4/5
Loved it.
It seems like background music, and really that's how I treated it, but it had focus for more of my workday than I would tell my boss.
Eagles
2/5
I'm not sure that I hate the fucking Eagles, man, but I certainly don't love them either. This was just boring.
Nick Drake
3/5
I absolutely loved Pink Moon, so I was looking forward to this. I was incredibly bored the whole time. It's not bad, it's just boring.
The Saints
4/5
Great energy.
Tom Waits
5/5
I absolutely adore Tom Waits. I don't think this is his strongest album, but it's more than good enough. For some reason this man can distill jazz down to a format where I actually enjoy it. He seems to be able to improvise but still reign it in, and his stage persona keeps it strange and interesting where I'd have given up on other artists.
Curtis Mayfield
5/5
What an album. Absolute everyone in the backing band are putting on a show, and then that voice on top.
Motörhead
2/5
I absolutely cannot even begin to understand why this album is on the list. I actually quite like Motörhead, but the recording quality is completely off on this, and the end result is just messy.
The Dave Brubeck Quartet
5/5
The one jazz album that absolutely everyone already know. This was always going to be a five. It's not super challenging, but there's a ton of variety and great skill.
Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
4/5
Very laid back album of great backing music, and not so great singing.
Duran Duran
4/5
I liked this much more now, than when I heard it as a child. Hungry like the wolf and The Chauffeur are great tracks.
Jack White
4/5
Not a deep or complicated album, but great fun.
Beck
4/5
Not a happy dude on this album. Some great tracks, but somewhat slow.
AC/DC
4/5
One of the most popular reviews of this, is how simple the construction of songs turns out to be. Pick a popular phrase, add a power chord, call it a day.
I completely agree.
But it just works.
Nirvana
3/5
I will never understand Nirvana. I'm the right age, I listened at the right time, I even like some grunge, but Nirvana is just noise.
Deerhunter
2/5
This did absolutely nothing for me. Pure distilled boredom for 46 minutes.
The Velvet Underground
2/5
I will never understand the hype around The Velvet Underground. It's not bad, but it's not very interesting either.
John Martyn
4/5
I had no idea what I was in for here, and I absolutely hated the first track. The vocal style seems to be different on the rest of the album though, and it turns out to be a pretty diverse and interesting 40 minutes. Not something I'll listen to often, but not everything on this list has to be.
The Police
2/5
I absolutely hate Sting as a vocalist. I absolutely hate lyrics that Sting is involved with.
"Reggatta de Blanc" had enough interesting choices to somehow overcome this and be a good album, but this is just actively annoying from start to finish - except "Every Breath You Take", but that track has so many other problems that including it is not a plus for the album.
On the other hand it's +1 for "Murder by numbers"
Neil Young & Crazy Horse
2/5
What I imagine I sound like when I'm 3 beers over my limit. Overly emotional and sad about regular shit.
The skill is clearly there (even if I don't love his voice), but the vibe is just dramatic with nothing to back it up.
Megadeth
3/5
I'm an age where Youthanasia was the first Megadeth album I remember - and I listened to that on repeat forever. Maybe it's my memory, or maybe I'm just older and more jaded, but this album sounds almost flat compared to that.
It's clearly Megadeth. Tons of energy, tons of riffs, but it never really peaks for me.
Goldie
3/5
I'm not sure I loved this, but it was perfectly fine for focusing at work. Then I got to "adrift" and was so annoyed I felt like throwing furniture. I think this is an album that works well when being slightly understated music that sounds good, but that's really all I see here.
Bob Dylan
4/5
The most Bob Dylan sounding Bob Dylan album. Not my favorite, but still up there.
Marvin Gaye
2/5
What a whiney dude. The talent is clearly there, but it's just so fucking boring. I don't care about your lawyer bills, or what a judge said. How did you ever get married in the first place if you're this bitchy about everything?
Other artists have used divorces and break ups for interesting albums or tracks, but this is an hour and thirteen wasted.
Green Day
4/5
I had this sitting in the queue for a week because I dreaded listening. I absolutely loved Dookie and Nimrod, and I was so disappointed with American Idiot that it still strings 20 years later.
I'm not sure I was wrong to be disappointed, but I have to admit it's a good album. This is the best they've ever sounded, and the easiest to listen to, but that's not really what I want from Green Day.
It's a well played, well produced album, but it's just less interesting than their earlier work.
Tim Buckley
2/5
How did this make the list? Every track on this album could have been the weakest part on hundreds of other albums, by hundreds of other artists, in the same period. Who did this inspire?
Snoop Dogg
4/5
Snoop Dogg has managed to reinvent himself as a quirky dude loving his weed, but this is the version of Snoop that I grew up with. Before Snoop Lion, before Just Eat, this was the laid back, almost lazy, but also charged with first-degree murder, Snoop.
It's vulgar, and gross, but it also has the charm to make you forget how offensive it really is. And that laid back feel is just amazing.
Sparks
4/5
Not for me. I get it, I get the influence. I hate the vocals. I can see why it's on the list, and why it's rated reasonably highly, but not for me.
B.B. King
5/5
I've been super against live albums on this list so far, but I have to admit that it improves this. Must have been an amazing concert.
Lauryn Hill
2/5
I will never, ever, understand why this is rated so highly that Lauryn can still tour, and be a diva, on the back of it.
A few good tracks, but so much uninspired filler. It's not that this is badly produced or performed, but it's just not for me. I was bored for an hour.
The Beach Boys
4/5
This is clearly a classic, and hugely influential. I didn't really enjoy it though, and honestly I think it's a bit long. Did this album really need a version of a traditional song? It's obviously still a great album, but it could have been leaner and sharper.
John Coltrane
2/5
Jazz will never be something I enjoy. The technical ability is off the charts, but I really don't enjoy the combined product.
Radiohead
3/5
There's some really amazing moments on this album, but I have the same problem here as with any other Radiohead album, I hate his voice, and can not stand the weird mix of sad and noisy. Possibly my favorite Radiohead album, but that's a very, very low bar.
Coldplay
4/5
I hate current Coldplay as much as anyone else, but this is a genuinely good album. In fact it's so good they spend the next 20 years recording variations of it, and everyone got fed up - but this first iteration was great.
The Zombies
3/5
A better version of the Beatles.
First half of the album is much stronger than the end, but there's generally not a bad track - there's just not really any great ones either.
Marty Robbins
4/5
One of the most American sounding things I've ever heard. New quite a few tracks but never knew who recorded them.
I doubt this will be something I listen to often, but I enjoyed listening through it once.
Baaba Maal
3/5
I honestly didn't enjoy this, but I also have no frame of reference for the intentions. I have very little idea of the music scene this comes from, and I don't understand the language.
There's a lot of very interesting things going on, but I'm out of my depth with this one.
Peter Gabriel
3/5
This is clearly solid and well crafted, but I'm not blown away - possibly because I've heard every track tons of times without knowing.
The Good, The Bad & The Queen
4/5
Decent album, but I'm not at all sure that this is a "must listen". Could have been any other Albarn side project, but maybe they're all on the list and I just haven't gotten to them yet.
Bass lines get this from 3 to 4.
Incubus
3/5
This was perfectly decent, perfectly middle of the road background music. Cannot possibly offend anyone, but no idea how it made this list.
The Clash
5/5
I have to admit I wasn't ready for the ska sax, but it was very welcome.
This is just an amazing album. Punk, but less angry, and played by people who can truly play their instruments.
Michael Jackson
4/5
I was sure that this was an easy 5, but I have to admit that while the hits are absolute bangers, the in between songs are very average at best.
This is an album that helped change music for a generation, but I'm not entirely convinced "Liberian Girl" played much of a part in driving that.
The Cure
3/5
I'm clearly missing something here. This was one of the most uninteresing albums on list so far. Not bad, not good enough to remember.
Cyndi Lauper
4/5
It's not quite a 5, but it's pretty damned close.
After a week long streak of sad indie music and folk, this was so bright and sparkly. I absolutely loved it.
Pink Floyd
5/5
If this isn't a 5 I don't know what would be.
My Bloody Valentine
2/5
I hated this. Vibes and textures, but mostly noise. I don't get it at all.
Kings of Leon
3/5
Surprisingly decent. I absolutely hate his vocal style, but honestly not a bad way to spend 40 minutes.
Wu-Tang Clan
4/5
Honestly this was a weaker front half of the album than I remembered. After Mystery of Chessboxing things truly kick off.
Ice Cube
4/5
I'm not sure if I ever listened to this album end to end before. I should have.
"When will they shoot" is an incredibly intense opener to an album that is still relevant in most ways, and the album never really slows down.
Frank Ocean
1/5
My expectations were at ground level, but I still want my hour back.
Floaty non-music with pretentious slice-of-life lyrics of a bored clown. I absolutely hate his vocal style. The man can't sing for shit, but he can do pretend vocal flourishes that might have worked for someone with talent.
Queen
3/5
I'm not a huge Queen fan, so I only knew one or two of these tracks before listening to the album. I'm not a bigger Queen fan now, but I enjoyed my time with Queen II.
Rush
4/5
So much talent, and so much wasted time. There are Rush tracks that I absolutely love, but this album is a few steps further than my taste.
Billy Bragg
2/5
I'm not American or British, so I have absolutely no idea who any of these people are. I fully accept that there might be some context that turn this into a masterpiece, but my impression while listening was mostly confusion.
I truly do not understand how an album like this made the list. The lyrics are subpar. There's no amazing musical ability on display. Who did this influence?
This did nothing to change my view on past albums, or my perception of future listens. It did not provide any insight into the evolution of anything.
The Allman Brothers Band
2/5
No thanks. This is just 80minutes of guitar wank. Really, really did not get into this.
The Strokes
5/5
This is an amazing album. When it came out 18 year old me had never heard anything like it. The sound is distinctly theirs, but still clearly influenced be older bands. Every tracks seems to be one idea distilled down to the essence. There's no overly long tracks, or 10 minute solos, everything is just sharp and perfectly paced.
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band
5/5
How do you even begin to review this?
I truly didn't like most of this in the way you would enjoy a pop or rock album, but that isn't the point. This is challenging, but at the same time wildly entertaining.
Once you get over the immediate shock, the pieces seem to fall into place, and a 2nd listen is much smoother than the first.
Echo And The Bunnymen
3/5
This is....fine.
I never heard of this band before listening to Porcupine, and I'll be hard pressed to remember them going forward. Not bad, not great, not memorable.
Depeche Mode
5/5
This is such a colossal album. Nothing else sounds like Depeche Mode, and this has everything from moody tracks to beats that absolutely drill into your soul.
Fugees
3/5
Somehow I had forgotten about the skits between tracks. I was happier before rediscovering them.
There's clearly some great tracks here, but I don't think it's aged particularly well. The flow seems somehow stuck between oldschool and some newer more complex schemes, but I didn't enjoy coming back to this album.
Ice Cube
5/5
The delivery is so sure of it self, and the beats are so smooth. A very angry dude, with opinions have maybe not aged all that well in all areas, but the album is an absolute classic, and for good reason.
Jazmine Sullivan
1/5
Oh you have to be joking.
This is just bad in every single sense. Since this was added to the list after the initial release, I assume something else was removed to make room for whatever this is?
Explicit content is only really worth listening to if there’s some kind of talent involved aswell, and there’s absolutely none to be found on this album. I absolutely hate this style of music, and I absolutely hate the vibe based non-singing.
The Smashing Pumpkins
4/5
No other band sounds like Smashing Pumpkins. Super distorted, very distinctive vocals. I prefer other albums, but this is very, very solid.
Minutemen
4/5
Punk will never be my preferred genre of music, but this is more enjoyable than I thought it would be. A large part of that is having a (very) large number of short tracks, with quite a bit of variation in sound. That said it does get a bit samey - I think I would have been happier if there had been 30 tracks rather than 43.
Machito
4/5
This was super fun. So much bongo bashing! It did get a bit samey after 20 minutes though.
ABBA
4/5
How do you dislike ABBA?
It's so incredibly cheesy, but it's too catchy to really ignore. Just fun.
Love
4/5
This was a complete surprise to me. Everything is just so incredibly pleasant without being boring. Honestly it doesn’t really sound like any other album - and especially not 60s albums. I absolutely hate the old style stereo recordings with instruments separated in left/right. Who prefers this to mono?
Malcolm McLaren
3/5
Somewhat uninpressed by this. I expected more from an album that helped spread hiphop to Britain.
Richard Thompson
3/5
Very folksy folk. I don't know. Not sure what sets this apart from every other album in the genre.
Calexico
5/5
Great indie album. Extremely varied tracks, but still a unique cohesive sound.
The Go-Go's
3/5
Bleh.
The album is fine, but I'll have forgotten about it tomorrow.
The Gun Club
3/5
This really didn't do anything for me. Not good, not bad.
Led Zeppelin
4/5
First half of this album is great, but honestly a few of the tracks a longer than they needed to be. 2nd half of the album is a bit down hill with a lot of filler. It's hard to go below a 4 based on the opening half though.
Creedence Clearwater Revival
4/5
Some absolute classics, but also a bit of filler, or at the very least overly long tracks.
The good tracks are great.
Tricky
4/5
This was a surprise. A lot darker, and a lot slower than I expected, but very listenable.
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
2/5
Okay. Look. I get it. He's been through some shit, and the lyrics and music are clearly shaped by that. That said, this album is dreadful. Overly long tracks, with very dim music, and something aproaching spoken word.Not for me.
Somehow this got listed as one of the top albums of 2019? Did nothing else release?
Hole
3/5
A well made album with very few things actually wrong. Grunge is something I just never got into, so not for me.
The Temptations
3/5
A very, very strong start. Sadly the back half is a lot less interesting. Also this was the 3rd version of "heard it through the grapewine" I've had in the last 10 albums, and it's getting a bit much.
Jeff Beck
3/5
A pretty strong start, with 3 great tracks that set the stage with forward riffs and heavy drums. Then comes the string of covers. "Morning Dew" and "You Shook Me" works well, but "Old man river" and "Greensleeves" just sound incredibly tired and dated.
My spotify version of this album didn't have "Beck's Bolero" or "Blues Deluxe", and honestly I didn't care enough to hunt them down on other services.
John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers
3/5
A lot of hate on this one. And to be honest I struggle with blues in general, and white blues especially. There is a pretty large amount of skill on display though.
Clapton might be terrible at almost everything, but man he knew how to play guitar back in 66. On the other hand the drummer is just uninspired. The solo on "What I'd say" is a distillation of everything bad about drum solos. Nothing interesting happens, and for some reason keeping time is ignored while he's slapping the shit out of everything in sight.
Bob Dylan
4/5
Previous Bob Dylan albums on this list have ended up being reluctant 5s from me. Not because I'm a huge Bob Dylan fan, but because even the worst Dylan tracks interesting, and previous albums have had some incredible standout tracks that pull the entire album up. This album though, I don't actually like the generally accepted hits. Both "Subterranean Homesick Blues" and "Maggie's Farm" are lyrically interesting, but musically just not for me. "Mr. Tambourine Man" has been played to death, and honestly the cover versions are kindda better.
The Notorious B.I.G.
3/5
I was sure that this was going to be an easy 5. One of the best rappers ever, what a flow. Production is great. It just didn't age well. The skits are out of control, and there's just to much of everything.
KISS
3/5
I'm pretty sure I've never heard a complete KISS album before, and I had no intentions on changing that. I have to say that I enjoyed this much, much more than I expected though. I'll never be a huge fan, but this has aged much better than feared.
Peter Gabriel
3/5
I struggle with Peter Gabriel. This album seemed all over the place, and nothing really worked for me. Not a bad album in any sense of the word, but not something I'd seek out either.
Yes
2/5
Not for me. I'm sure this is a fine example of prog rock, but I just find it intensely boring, and I hate the vocals.
Tom Waits
5/5
I don't think anything this man touches Will ever be below 5 stars from me. It's so unique and somehow sounds ancient and brand new, despite being 40 years old.
Pere Ubu
4/5
I will never be cool enough to actually enjoy avant-garde punk. Some albums make me feel like I'm getting closer though.
For my money there's a lot to get into here, but I truly struggle with the vocals.
I can live with, and maybe even appreciate, the opening tinnitus whine. I find a lot to love in the rock solid drumming and bass lines. The weirder instrumentation choices are interesting, and some of the guitar riffs are fire. But that leaves the vocals, and nothing will save that for me.
The Black Crowes
3/5
This seems incredibly generic. Not bad, not interesting.
Rush
5/5
Fucking Neil Peart, man. This was always a 5.
Animal Collective
4/5
I was completely blindsided by this. I'm the right age, and the right scene for this, but I guess from the wrong country. I had no idea who these guys were or what they'd been doing.
I really like the vibe of this, but honestly the album is likely 10-15 minutes longer than it needed to be, and I'm not too sure about longevity.
Aretha Franklin
3/5
As someone who never liked "respect" this was a long 36 minutes. The talent is obvious, but the instrumentation and production really doesn't do much. Nothing here really caught my attention.
The Who
2/5
Oh, fuck off with the goddamned live albums. I'm not a groupie traversing the US in search of the perfect permutation of a Grateful Dead track, I want to listen to a thousand genre defining albums. This is just wank. "Uh, we'd like to carry on [...] quite what that means I don't know"- Fuck you, and fuck your meandering 15 minute version of decent tracks.
I like The Who, but I want to listen to the best version of their tracks - and live shit is just never gonna cut it.
Portishead
2/5
Bleak with no redeeming qualities. Portishead can produce great tracks, but this is just a dud in every sense.
Various Artists
5/5
Okay, look. I hate Christmas music, but this is actually a decent album. Clearly Phil Spector sucks at being a human, but he is undeniably a musical genius, and he managed to make even me appreciate holiday tracks.
Doves
2/5
Well, that was fucking boring.
De La Soul
3/5
Good fun, but I'm so sick of these skit heavy albums.
Keith Jarrett
4/5
I was incredibly surprised at not hating this. I do think that he descends into the usual piano-wank at some points, but it’s hard to argue with the sheer skill on display. I think this would have been a 5 if it was shorter, but an hour of solo piano and applause is a lot.
Bob Marley & The Wailers
4/5
Not sure what to say about this. Everyone I've ever talked to has known who Bob Marley was, and what he sounds like.
Stereolab
3/5
Pretty solid "meh" from me. Not unpleasant, but I don't get along with the vocals. I hate that (mostly french) style of singing.
Stephen Stills
4/5
After reading the top review on this site saying that this is music for people who clap when an airplane lands, I was somewhat concerned that I quite liked the opening track. Happily the very next track was a bit of a let down.
After a complete listen, I am gonna have to rate this better than average though. The great tracks are actually great, and the weaker ones are at least passable. Since the album is short it doesn’t get tired.
I guess I’ll live with being a middle aged dude and liking this album, but I still have no plans of applauding pilots for doing the minimum expected of their role.
Wilco
3/5
Very, very, very long album.
There's some really great tracks here, but the remaining hour is just a bit much.
David Bowie
2/5
I hated this. I know the story, I know the struggle, I still hated this.
I hate his affectations, and the way he phrases his lyrics on this album. His style was amazing when it worked, but this is just worse than forgettable.
Buddy Holly & The Crickets
4/5
How do you not like this?
Classic sound, classic tracks.
Neu!
3/5
This seems very bland and really missing something. The first 3 tracks are pleasant, and the album speeds up a bit after that. Never really does much for me though.
The Smashing Pumpkins
3/5
Why was this a double album? There's a ton of good tracks here, and it could have been an incredible album, but it's just drowned out on disc 2 with (almost) nothing but filler.
Soul II Soul
2/5
Not sure if this was ever good, but if it was it certainly didn't age well.
Bob Dylan
2/5
This is just boring. I've never been a huge Dylan fan, but this is the 5th Dylan album so far on the list, and the others have been easy 4 stars at the very least. This is just too slow and feature poor to work for me. The music is solid, but it's static - nothing changes, nothing evolves, there are no crescendos or surprises. The lyrics are obviously still interesting, but everything progresses so slowly that it's a struggle to stay focused.
Simon & Garfunkel
5/5
The most solid 5 I've had on this list so far. Everything just works, and the songwriting is off the charts. I will never understand how “So Long, Frank Lloyd Wright” fits in with the rest of the album, but everything else is incredible.
Missy Elliott
3/5
I liked this a lot more than I expected. It's a very listener friendly album, but I'm not sure I'd consider it an all time great.
The Byrds
3/5
Very strong opening that absolutely nose dives with "I Come And Stand At Every Door", and then never recovers.
Kraftwerk
5/5
Sure, it's just beeps and boops, but everything just works. Having a sound this crisp and coordinated on such an early electronic album is incredible. The tracks flow into one another, and the album is fairly short so nothing ever sounds tired.
Britney Spears
2/5
There's simply not enough here to carry an album. The opening is great, the middle is almost okay, and the closers are a waste of time.
Nirvana
2/5
Nirvana was never nowhere close to as good as they got credit for. This album is no different. There are two great tracks on this album, but both Bowie and Lead Belly nailed them on the originals, so what's the point?
Nina Simone
3/5
A couple of really strong tracks, but also a lot of filler. Even the strongest tracks, with their swelling crescendos never actually does enough to justify the drama of the backing track.
4/5
Very strong opener, and very strong final track. I feel some of the slower tracks are a bit on the boring side though.
Massive Attack
3/5
Some great tracks, but hasn't aged well in my opnion.
Stephen Stills
3/5
2nd Stills album in two weeks, but while I liked his self titled album, this one is just incredibly generic. A double album, so a lot of filler, but no standout tracks either.
Wilco
2/5
This is both incredibly boring, and manages to be intensely frustrating by having several tracks that are almost good.
Genesis
3/5
I want to like this. I desperately want to like this. At points I actually do.
But overall this just isn't that great. I struggle so much with Peter Gabriel - both the solo albums and Genesis.
Leonard Cohen
5/5
I've been struggling with these farewell albums. I hated Blackstar
Somehow Cohen manages to compensate for the crumbling voice and makes a very depressed album shine in a way that is almost unbeleivable. The lyrics seem less complicated than his previous albums, but it also feels like an intensely personal conversation with god.
Barry Adamson
3/5
I usually end up giving these experimental albums fairly high ratings, but this just isn't very interesting.
David Bowie
5/5
I struggle to enjoy Bowie. I hate the "stuttering" on changes. It's very, very difficult to argue that this isn't a brilliant album though.
Pulp
3/5
I actually mostly like Jarvis Cocker and his lyrics, but there's a thin line between the songs he pulls off, and the songs where he fumbles and it's all a bit embarrassing. This album has both.
The album is longer than it should be, and there's absolutely no excuse for that 15 minute closer.
Scritti Politti
2/5
How is this, in any way, an essential album? I can't find anything beyond super generic 80s pop.
5/5
The sound of my early teenage years. There's no way this is going to be in any way an objective review of the music.
Of the 3 big hits, I never really "got" wonderwall, but Don't look back in anger and Champagne supernova are such great tracks.
Shivkumar Sharma
4/5
I have very little frame of reference for deciding if this is amazing or completely average. I haven't had many instrumental albums so far, so that alone was nice. It's a style of music that no algorithm would have recommended to me, and that I would not have picked myself, but I really enjoyed it.
Beastie Boys
5/5
This album still sounds somewhat fresh after 30 years. None of the tracks really hit all the things I would be looking for, but there's so much power and conviction that you just have to give in.
Amy Winehouse
5/5
Great album, great voice. One of the only ones to actually make the nostalgia heavy throwback sound work.
Carole King
3/5
Quite pretty. Quite boring. An album of tracks that I mostly know from other people playing them.
Gene Clark
4/5
I really liked this. Laid back, and doesn't try to do too much. Possibly a bit longer than it needed to be.
Roxy Music
4/5
I really liked this. It's not highly rated here, but I found it quite interesting. Not really sure what style this would be, and wikipedias "art rock" description is not that helpful.
The first half of the album is by far the strongest, but it stays interesting till the end.
Haircut 100
3/5
I have no idea how this is an essential album. Not good or bad enough to be memorable.
Adam & The Ants
2/5
No thanks. This really did nothing for me.
The Roots
3/5
This was way, way too long.
First half of the album is great, but it completely loses steam at the 50% mark.
The White Stripes
3/5
This is such a heavy hitting album. From the seven nation army opening, things just keep going. That also means no surprises, and it's a very long album. The standout tracks are truly great, but there's a lot of filler.
Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark
3/5
A difficult album to rate. The great tracks are genre defining, but the filler is incredibly boring.
The White Stripes
3/5
2nd. The White Stripes album in 3 days. I love that none of their albums sound exactly the same, and clearly they are experimenting and evolving. I still think that their albums have a high ratio of filler. I love their sound(s), and I love a select few of their tracks, but even the shorter albums are just too long.
Herbie Hancock
5/5
The funkiest 40 minutes you'll spend. I don't really enjoy the overarching flute theme of Watermelon man, but it's hard to argue that it doesn't turn into something interesting.
The Charlatans
2/5
Incredibly generic music, with a mix that makes sure nothing stands out. It honestly sounds like the producer didn't trust any individual instrument or lyric to stand on it's own, so everything is just pushed into a strange carpet of sound. The result is a unpleasant mush. It's a mushy album.
The Teardrop Explodes
2/5
This album is extremely forgettable and uninspired until you reach the title tracks, and the rest is just wank.
Who thought that including a live performance with tons of crowd work was a good idea? Get over yourself, you fucking idiot.
George Harrison
2/5
This was always gong to be a tough listen. I cannot stand The Beatles, and I despise double albums. I was not pleasantly surprised although the last part of this album is, strangely, better than the first.
Johnny Cash
3/5
We all know what this is. We all know the story.
The tracks are great - Hurt is off the charts - but it's a long album, and I really didn't need to hear Cash covering Bridge over Troubled Waters.
Johnny Cash
4/5
The tracks on this album are enough to justify a 5, but I absolutely cannot get into live albums on this list. I don't care about the crowd work, and I don't want a repeat track - that's the beauty of albums, you get to repeat the things you want.
Paul Simon
5/5
One my absolute favorite albums of all time. The lyrics, the melodies, and the African vibes are just amazing. By most accounts Paul Simon is an absolute demon, but my god can the dude make music.
Elvis Costello & The Attractions
3/5
I don't know man. My first ever Elvis Costello album, and I didn't hate it, but I also don't really look forward to the next 5.
The Lemonheads
2/5
If any album sounds like the 90s distilled, this is the one.
I don't think I'll ever listen to this again though.
Bee Gees
2/5
I actually kindda like the pre-disco Bee Gees, and some of the tracks on this are interesting. But there's just too much whiny nonsense to overcome.
Willie Nelson
2/5
I truly admire Willie Nelson, and I enjoy most of his work, but I'm simply not American enough to understand the appeal of this.
Moby Grape
3/5
Maybe I'm lucky enough to have been born at a time where I've only been exposed to the good artists and albums from the 60s and 70s, but I just find this so generic. Nothing stands out, the vocals are fine but not distinctive.
Astor Piazzolla
2/5
This one was not for me. Clearly skilled musicians, but the end product really didn't do anything for me, except annoyance at the vibraphone that absolutely tore my nerves.
Lou Reed
4/5
Lovely. Just when the opening tracks have taught you to expect guitar heavy backing and slightly rambly vocals, Perfect Day comes in to subvert everything. I will enjoy Lou Reeds solo albums more than I should, but this was just a great way to spend half an hour
Sebadoh
3/5
Very solid opening track, and then complete rubbish for the next few. I enjoy parts of this, but a lot of tracks are just trying too hard to be noisy
Slade
3/5
The music is actually pretty solid, and the bass player deserves better. The vocals are passable at best, and the writing is horrible.
Really not a fan of the Janis cover.
Todd Rundgren
2/5
The opening is actually fairly decent. Hard to hate, but nothing to really love either.
Goes completely of the rails with the examples of bad production techniques - just fix your shit man. The listener didn't hire subpar studio crew for you.
Song of the viking is somehow even worse than the complaints about his producers.
Maybe if he cut some of the completely pointless shit, we wouldn't have to suffer through 24 tracks and 90 minutes.
Tracy Chapman
4/5
Okay, so. Wether you like the lyrics or not (and I don't really love them) the voice and the melodies are out of this world. The music behind the voice is really not all that amazing though. Everything has to come from Chapman herself, and while she does a lot, parts of this album still falls a bit flatterende.
Giant Sand
2/5
There might be a worthwhile album hidden in there somewhere, but my lord would you have to do a lot of digging to find it.
Some of the concepts, and even some of the melodies are actually great, but the lead singer is just so devoid of skill and charm that everything stops when he starts singing. Some tracks seem to be aiming for a Lou Reed feel and are almost passable, but some appear to aiming for a weak, weak, impersonation of the later version of Cohen. The lyrics absolutely do not carry the delivery though.
Also the Spotify version I listened to was 2 hours long, but that appears to padded with remixes and bonus tracks, so I guess I can't blame them for that directly.
Syd Barrett
2/5
This is not an album crafted by a genius at the peak of his craft. This is an album stitched together by a set of producere and a clearly unwell artist. We did not need the outtakes or the coughing. Honestly I'm not sure we needed any of this.
Louis Prima
4/5
Just a great way to spend 40 minutes.
Tori Amos
3/5
I was honestly bored. It's not bad, it's just not for me.
Silver Jews
5/5
For some reason I looked at the rating before listening. I'm extremely surprised at the overall score for this.
This is not the most musically challenging, or lyrically complex album on the list, but everything just works. The lyrics are bleak, and the music is wistfully leaning back decades, but something just drawing me back in to another listen.
Ride
2/5
Absolutely nothing interesting happens on this album. Why did they tune the drums to sound like buckets? The drummer clearly knows what he's doing, som why make it sound so flat?
R.E.M.
3/5
I have heard a lot of R.E.M., and even the best tracks have a hint of boring. Just not for me.
Circle Jerks
2/5
No thanks.
Shuggie Otis
4/5
Great album. Grooves from start to finish.
Kanye West
4/5
Horrible person getting trashier by the day. That does not change the quality of the album though.
I have never listened to a complete Kanye album before, and I never understood the hype. I get it now. I still don't enjoy him as a rapper, but the beats and the production - and even some of the lyrics - are just above and beyond.
Tom Tom Club
4/5
Pretty clear that this was spun off from Talking Heads, and also pretty clear that it's a different singer.
I love this album, and I think it's obvious how much this influenced other artists and genres, but I have a hard time shaking the feeling that something is missing.
Mudhoney
2/5
I'm not big on grunge, so this was always going to be a long 40 minutes. There's honestly bits of this album that I enjoy, but it's disconnected, and drowned out by the sheer amount of everything else.
Manic Street Preachers
3/5
The sound of 90s radio.
I've always been frustrated by Manic Street Preachers. They have fragments of absolutely amazing ideas and melodies, but they always seem to back off or give up before completing them.
Frank Zappa
5/5
So very Jazzy. The opening track is incredibly smooth, but leads in to a Captain Beefheart appearance. Things get wilder from there.
The Byrds
4/5
Okay, so. I don't think this album is anywhere near as bad as the reviews suggest, but at the same time I really struggle to understand how this is, in any way, essential listening.
A very convincing, but maybe not all that challenging, country album.
Gorillaz
3/5
I loved this when it came out, but honestly it hasn't aged well. The hits are still bangers, but most of the appeal was the novelty of the sound, and the whole "virtual band" vibe. That has faded away over the years, and the remains are honestly slightly boring.
Sade
2/5
I absolutely hate this. I fully accept that there is some skill on display here, but it's absolutely not for me. It's not just that this overly smooth music isn't my taste, or that I'm bored, it makes me irrationally angry. There's nothing in the sound that's the least bit challenging. Vocals are uninteresting, even if the voice is great. There's a thousand sax solos, but none of them are interesting.
Tears For Fears
4/5
Very clearly 80s, but still manages to sound relevant. I knew most of the tracks without having heard the album as a whole.
Garbage
3/5
Difficult album to review. There's a lot of genuinely great ideas here, but every single track feels a minute too long. The vocals are great, but it's hard to shake the feeling that a lot of the angst and cynicism is slightly fake.
Dexys Midnight Runners
2/5
I absolutely hate that singer. Second album from them on the list so far, and the overwhelming feeling listening to both is that the band is great, but the singer and his affectations ruin everything.
Björk
3/5
I know I should like this, but I absolutely hate her affectations.
Fairport Convention
3/5
Not remarkable, and not terrible. I think I prefer my folk more folksy.
Nine Inch Nails
3/5
I should love this. Incredibly discordant, dark, and brooding.
I just also find it fairly boring.
Van Halen
4/5
This really isn't great art, but it's so catchy and high energy that it's difficult not to enjoy the ride.
Norah Jones
2/5
I have no idea what makes this an essential album. It was wildly successfull at release, but I'd put money on the success was build on the album being great as background music. Everything is competently performed and put together, but nothing interesting hoppens.
4/5
Honestly this seems more like a collection of tracks, than a cohesive album. That means a lack of direction, but it also means that there's a ton of variety, and no stretch of tracks really outstay their welcome.
I think this list has more psychedelic rock than could be called essential, but this is one of the better offerings.
Beth Orton
2/5
This was quite incredibly boring. This could be fine as background music, but honestly there's plenty of other albums that do the same thing better.
Miles Davis
5/5
Very pleasant Jazz. Shorter tracks played by incredibly skilled musicians.
PJ Harvey
1/5
One of the things I've learnen from going through this list is just how much I despise PJ Harvey. I don't care how authentic or feminist or indie she is - she sucks.
JAY Z
5/5
Great production, great flow.
Absolutely no holding back in the lyrics. Just an overall triumph.
R.E.M.
4/5
R.E.M. will never be my cup of tea.
It's big, it's dramatic, it takes up a lot of room, but it never really resolves for me.
The back stretch of this album is as good as R.E.M. will ever be, but it's still not a 5.
Dr. Dre
3/5
I was expecting an easy 5, but honestly this has aged badly. Still the era of sketches every other track, and while the production is great, lyrics are not amazing.
Crowded House
3/5
This is an incredibly well made, and incredibly generic album. Nothing here is bad. Nothing is memorable either tho.
Moby
4/5
I don't think Moby did anything unique or revolutionary with this album, but he did it incredibly well. Every track is super solid, even if he was not the first to go this route.
Yes
3/5
Really not feeling this one.
Roundabout is clearly a classic, and the pure skill on display is out of this world. The problem is that the end product is overly long, meandering, and contains a pointless Simon and Garfunkel cover.
Dennis Wilson
3/5
This didn't catch me at all. I'm not sure why I find it so bland, there's a lot of the ingredients I would normally go for. The end result was just boring.
Aerosmith
4/5
I'm surprised how heavy this album was. I mostly know the later "softer" Aerosmith, so this was unexpected but interesting.
The Who
2/5
I don't get it.
Maybe I lost focus somewhere, but the storytelling aspect of the album was completely lost on me. The tracks are mostly fine, but it's a very long album.
Morrissey
4/5
I have absolutely no reason to like Morrissey in any way, except possibly nostalgia for The Smiths, but for some reason I always enjoy his music. Sure, it's pretentious, but somehow he always manages to absolutely nail a feeling or observation.
Pink Floyd
5/5
There's no point reviewing this. I don't even know where I would start.
The Icarus Line
2/5
This is not a bad album. It's not a good album, but it's not terrible. It's just completely pointless and forgettable.
Blur
4/5
There's enough quality here that it could be an easy 5, but there's so much filler as well.
Venom
3/5
Not for me. Reading up on the album, it's hard to deny its influence on other artists, but I'm simply not the target audience.
Fela Kuti
5/5
What an album!
The energy and playfulness is off the charts, and the entire band is on point.
Jamiroquai
2/5
There is no rational explanation as to why I hate Jamiroquai as much as I do. On a surface level this is funky and fresh and full of energy, but the end result is just elevator music. Nothing interesting happens, and the lyrics are supremely "meh".
Bob Marley & The Wailers
4/5
This is very clearly Bob Marley & The Wailers, but I'm still left with a feeling that something is missing.
Leonard Cohen
5/5
The first Cohen album I heard, and the one I grew up with. This is Cohen getting older, and getting backup vocals to do the challenging parts, but the lyrics and production are still there. Some absolute classics.
Prince
4/5
The hight points are so incredibly high, but the low points are very meh.
Michael Jackson
4/5
One of the best albums of all time. Minus 1 star for the McCartney nonsense.
Primal Scream
2/5
This is a boring, but not terrible, example of the truly generic 90s vibe. The album would be fine as background music, but unfortunately it’s way, way too long for a focused listening.
The Modern Lovers
2/5
I don't get it. Music is irrelevant at best, lyrics are bad, vocals are weak. What is the point of this?
Bruce Springsteen
2/5
I have to admit that I was bored. In theory a stripped down, dark, album is a great idea, but this is a step too far for me.
Neil Young
1/5
I absolutely cannot stand Neil Young, and this album is a distillation of everything I dislike about his artistic output. The music is generic, the lyrics are meandering and bordering on incompetent, and either the man cannot sing, or he badly needs someone to tell him not to strain for notes he can’t reach.
Other reviews describe this as unfiltered tragedy, and I can certainly see that, but unfiltered tragedy only works if the performer is actually expressive and capable of delivering. This just ends up whiny and annoying.
1/5
The first five minutes of this ensures that it can never be anything but a one-star review. Fuck that. I don't care that people will generously call it avant-garde - it's either pretentious wank, or just noise. The result is the same.
Sad thing is that interesting things actually start to (slowly and unevenly) happen from 5 minutes and forward, but it’s not nearly enough, and nothing about this is essential listening.
No shit this garbage is not on Spotify.
Stan Getz
4/5
All vibes. My very first album on this list was Getz/Gilberto, and I hated every second. I just went back for a relisten, and that's still true.
This album manages to expand the idea and the feeling, but actually makes it work.
Dinosaur Jr.
4/5
I have to admit that I didn't know this album or this band, but growing up in Denmark in the early 90s the sound is very familiar.
k.d. lang
1/5
Is this a joke album?
What a waste of a great voice.
Orange Juice
3/5
It's fine. Completely forgettable, but fine.
Big Brother & The Holding Company
4/5
Not sure why I didn't know that Janis Joplin was anything but a solo act. I usually hate live albums, but this is undeniably great. Just pure energy.
Pixies
3/5
Super tight album with short tracks. There's absolutely no filler.
I like almost all of this, but the vocals and lyrics really do not work for me.
The Shamen
2/5
No thanks. I think this is makes a pretty strong case that there are not in fact 1000 albums that are essential to listen to before you die.
Fleet Foxes
5/5
This is better than it has any right to be.
Nothing new or challenging happens, and there's tons of other bands with the same sound, but this album just works on every level.
Jerry Lee Lewis
4/5
This is an incredible performance and recording, but honestly it's more of a greatest hits than an actual album.
TLC
3/5
Well produced, but really not for me.
I hate the era of RnB/rap that had all these skits - it wasn't that great on the first listen, and it hasn't aged well.
Barry Adamson
2/5
This really didn't work for me.
The thing about soundtracks is that they're made to support and expand things that are happening on screen. Except there is no screen, and no movie.
The album itself is not bad by any stretch, but it's not super interesting either. A few good ideas, but way too much footsteps/broken dialogue for anything to shine.
I truly don't understand the point of this.
Electric Light Orchestra
3/5
If this album had been half the length it would be an easy 5. There's a lot to love here, and every track is passable at worst, but there's just so much of everything.
The The
4/5
The ratings for this seem incredibly harsh. This is not my favourite album ever, but it's interesting. Punk lyrics with a very 80s sound. No truly weak tracks.
Rocket From The Crypt
2/5
This is nowhere near as good as it should be. The vocals are poor, and why did you mix this to hide the horn section?
ZZ Top
5/5
This is just fun. A few great grooves, and just go.
George Michael
3/5
There are a lot of things to like here. This seems to be a more serious version of George Michael - unfortunately it's also a version that I find a lot less interesting.
The Go-Betweens
2/5
I have rarely been this bored by an album.
The Pharcyde
4/5
Beats and production is on point. The overall impression is that it's an album that really wasn't taken seriously by the creators. There's so much talent visible, but the overall product only shines in moments.
David Bowie
3/5
I'll freely admit that I am not a huge Bowie fan. I think this album has a good summary of the reasons I struggle with his production. There is an illusion of depth, but honestly it's fairly predictable and almost boring.
Elis Regina
2/5
This is a style of music that's almost custom made to get on my nerves. This is clearly a problem on my end - there's no issues with the talent or performance, but I hated basically every second.
Prince
5/5
This is Prince going all out. "Housequake" alone is worth atleast one star. I would normally say that 80mins is too long for an album, but it's pretty hard to get bored during this.
Sam Cooke
4/5
Great album, amazing performance.
The sheer presence of Sam Cooke is almost physical, even across continents and half a century.
It’s still a live album though, and I fundamentally do not think it belongs on this list. Great listen though.
The Beta Band
3/5
Some interesting ideas, and a sound I actually kindda like. I absolutely cannot stand the vocals though.
T. Rex
4/5
I liked this a lot more than I expected. I really know nothing about the band, but this album was a good time in general.
Billy Bragg
4/5
I don't know what to do with this.
I actually enjoy the music, but I truly struggle with the lyrics. This very explicit protest song, street poetry style of writing always seem to be created by a nerdy teenager.
Coldplay
2/5
Honestly this isn't the worst album ever. Sure it's generic as hell, but if it had been a one of it would have been atleast passable. The problem is that Coldplay has been recreating and touring with variations of this album for a quarter of a century. And somehow everything they put out is played to death by commercial radio the world over. I'm so fucking sick of hearing the Coldplay sound, and know nothing interesting is about to happen.
Elvis Presley
3/5
Short, intense barrage of tracks short and varied tracks. I'm not the biggest Elvis fan, but it's hard not to be somewhat entertained.
The Who
3/5
I honestly thought I liked The Who more before starting this list.
Incredibly strong opening to the album, but the middle section is such a struggle to get through. The highs are highs, but the rest is incredibly uninteresting
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
3/5
This didn't do much for me. It's not a bad album, or bad music, but it's not great either. Very little that stood out or was worth remembering.
Madonna
3/5
80s and 90s Madonna was an absolute powerhouse. This iteration of her is very far from those heights though. A few good tracks, some that almost became the sound of the early 2000s, but nothing really had the staying power of her earlier work.
Kanye West
3/5
I honestly think this was one Kanye album too far. I am not a big Kanye fan, but on albums before this, it has been hard to ignore the craft, and pure storytelling poured into the product. This is an unpleasant listen, and lyrics that looking back seem to indicate more than just a big ego.
Frankie Goes To Hollywood
4/5
This is a good album, but the opening track is less than ideal, and the end really looses momentum.
Some absolute bangers though.
Black Sabbath
5/5
So clearly a lot of the talk around this is Ozzy and the guitar riffs, but that bass man. That bass.
The Sabres Of Paradise
2/5
This is to stripped down for me. Fine as background music, but I honestly lost focus fairly quickly.
Lenny Kravitz
2/5
No one needs 5 and a half minutes of "let love rule" and no one needs to waste an hour of this.
Somehow this wasn't just boring, it actually made my day worse.
The Associates
2/5
This is not a great album. I truly struggle to find what anyone sees in this. "Party fears two" is a lovely track, but the rest is far from worth listening to.
The Rolling Stones
3/5
One great track, and then filler.
Scott Walker
4/5
This is a weird one. I had no idea what to expect, and I'm honestly not sure what I got.
After listening I was convinced that this was music for a play or a film, but it seems to just be a very dramatic performance. Certainly different from what I usually listen to, but super interesting.
N.W.A.
5/5
I always prefered Public Enemy and the political messaging, but it's hard to deny that this is an absolute classic, and defined rap for years.
Quicksilver Messenger Service
2/5
I actually like the opening of this album, but including several tracks of meandering guitar wank and minute long stretches of just noise, really takes away from any illusion that this is a master piece.
Parliament
4/5
Well, it's funk.
Common
4/5
Incredibly surprised with how much I enjoyed this. Everything is just so smooth. Generally positive, and early Ye did know how to build a track
Sarah Vaughan
2/5
This is going to be a unfair rating. There's a lot to like here. Sarah Vaughan is clearly an immensely talented vocalist. The band is understated but brilliant. The tracks are well written and composed. Despite all that I was bored after the first track.
System Of A Down
4/5
An absolute assault from start to finish.
Willie Colón & Rubén Blades
4/5
What a great surprise! Salsa is not something I've been into before, but this was a very clean, and very catchy 45 minutes.
Deee-Lite
3/5
I'm not sure what makes this essential listening. It's not bad in any way, but I'm not sure that 48 minutes of it yields any insights that 4 minutes of groove is in the hard would not give.
Carpenters
2/5
This is not for me. Amazing voice and a lot of questionable decisions. I truly don't like The Beatles, but even I think that mangling "Help" this badly should be a crime.
Siouxsie And The Banshees
2/5
Music is interesting, vocals are annoying.
A lot of reviews are stating how obviously this album influenced other bands, but I have to admit I struggle to hear that.
The Stooges
3/5
This is a short album, but somehow manages to feel too long.
It's not that any of the tracks are bad on their own, but it's very repetetive. It's clear how influential this was to other bands, but honestly it's not great on it's own.
Brian Eno
5/5
What an opener.
This is a pretty experimental album, but compared to many similar efforts this keeps the energy and pace going throughout.
The only track that didn't really work for me was "Driving me backwards", but otherwise a great way to spend 40 minutes.
The Smiths
5/5
There's a lot of things to dislike about The Smiths and Morrisey in particular, but none of them matter. Everything about this album just works on every level. The rythm section is great, the guitar work is outstanding, and while Morrisey is a huge pile of garbage, he sure had a way with words.
The Rolling Stones
3/5
I think I'm at a point where I have to admit that I enjoy Rolling Stones hits, but I just find albums to be too much filler.
Tangerine Dream
5/5
A lot of the truly influential records on this list sound familiar because other bands approached the sound or concepts. This still stands out.
More of a mood than actual music.
Creedence Clearwater Revival
4/5
It's hard to really dislike this. Short, fun, higly energetic.
Living Colour
4/5
Strong, strong opener, and while the album can't quite keep the steam up, it's good fun.
Iron Maiden
5/5
This is the one Iron Maiden I actually owned growing up. What a string of absolute bangers.
Pantera
4/5
I've never been a huge fan of Pantera, but I did own "Far beyond driven" growing up, and honestly the difference between that and "Vulgar display of power" is so big that I find it hard to imagine what happened in the less than two years that passed between them.
Vulgar Display of Power is a solid album, but I really prefer the tighter more coordinated grooves of later releases.
The Cure
4/5
I really, really want to give this 5, but it's just too long. The opening of this album is downright haunting, and it closes strong, but it just cannot keep the steam going through the middle section.
Japan
3/5
It's clearly an influential album, way ahead of it's time. I had a very hard time getting into it though.
White Denim
5/5
Looking at the band name, and the cover, I really did not have any hopes going into this. What an album though!
Some very interesting choices and ideas, but still with a bit of a folk vibe.
James Brown
5/5
This is so intense, so energetic, so tight, and so funky that I really don't know what band and performer could ever match it.
Obviously Brown is the standout piece of this, but the band is much better than could reasonably be expected in a hectic liveset.
The Kinks
2/5
I truly do not understand this album. Clearly I'm missing something, but I didn't find any of this interesting.
Tom Waits
4/5
I love Tom Waits, but I honestly think this is one of his weaker albums. The lyrics are great as always, but the music is just less interesting than his other efforts.
Cream
4/5
Short and fairly weird album. Could do without Mothers Lament, but otherwise very, very well executed.
ZZ Top
4/5
This is my 2nd ever ZZ Top album. The difference between this and Tres Hombres is stark. Not necessarily bad, but very, very different.
The sound is now ultra processed, and while the grooves are still there, everything seems more sterile. I think that costs a lot of charm, but on the other hand it makes the album sound a lot younger than 40 years old.
Marilyn Manson
4/5
This really did change the sound of the 90s for me. It certainly wasn't the heaviest, or darkest or even most provocative thing around, but the personality really gave it an edge. The Beautiful People will always be an amazing track.
Arcade Fire
2/5
How does Arcade Fire have 3 albums in the 1000 most important albums list? Nothing interesting happens, and nothing innovative is tried. It's not bad, but it's not exactly great either.
Kendrick Lamar
4/5
Allright. So. This is my least favourite Kendrick Lamar album by a long way. The narrative aspect is intereting, the flow and lyrics are obviously fine, but the sound and tempo is just not really my thing. That does not mean that it's a bad album by any stretch, but it's not amazing either.
Eric Clapton
4/5
Great album. I'm not sure I'll ever understand the hype for Claptons skill, but a very enjoyable 40 minutes.
Wire
3/5
This didn't grab me at all.
Deep Purple
2/5
No.
There is no way this album is essential listening. Half the tracks are already on this list with Machine Head, so all this adds is guitar wank and crowd noise. Noone needs a 20 minute version of space trucking.
LCD Soundsystem
5/5
I have no idea why this band works so well for me. It's incredibly repetitive, and not a style of music I actually like, but for some reason I just can't get enough.
Ute Lemper
1/5
C-tier musical garbage.
Too artsy to bother with basic shit like rhyme schemes. If there's any sense of structure to the track, it was written - and almost certainly performed better - by someone else.
Einstürzende Neubauten
4/5
This is a fascinating album. This is clearly not everyone's taste, and it's not exactly easy listening, but it's not chaos and all loud noises either.
This is not an album I want to listen to often (or ever again), but I'm glad I did listen through it before I die.
Spiritualized
2/5
I cannot recall ever being this bored listening through an album. I really don't know what makes this worthy of the list.
k.d. lang
2/5
It should be impossible for an album to be simultaneously this boring and this annoying.
The Cars
3/5
This seems incredibly safe, and somewhat formulaic.
4/5
This is a pretty solid album. Nothing too challenging, or revolutionary, but very tight and generally a good time.
Definitely tries for an epic feeling, and it kinda works, but doesn't leave a lasting impression.
Steely Dan
4/5
Pretty distinct sound.
The Yardbirds
3/5
Meh.
Clearly technically skilled people, but not sure the it worked as an album for me.
Leonard Cohen
4/5
Not the strongest Cohen album, but I'm a soccer for everything he has ever put out.
Joni Mitchell
1/5
What a load of pretentious garbage. The music is basic beyond believe, the lyrics are meandering, and the singing is mostly talking.
Iron Maiden
3/5
That opening track is such a mission statement. It's hard for me to really appreciate Iron Maiden without Bruce Dickinson though - especially as a lot of other elements aren't fully formed yet either.
Gil Scott-Heron
4/5
Even if this is a full band, it still feels pretty stripped down and raw. Clearly political, and pretty discordant between feel and lyrics.
A few great tracks, and quite a bit of competent filler.
Richard Hawley
4/5
Very, very smooth, and very, very pleasant. Bordering on boring, but has enough charm to pull it off.
Count Basie & His Orchestra
5/5
It's hard to come up with a band or ensemble that does this better.
Mudhoney
2/5
This one is not for me. It may be a great grunge album, but I can't tell why.
Cornershop
2/5
This starts out strong, but the quality decline sets in at the 3rd track and continues going, until we reach the absolute nadir with a Indian version of Norwegian Wood.
The xx
2/5
Did not know the album or the band before listening, so was super surprised to know the first track. It went downhill from there though. Pretty boring stuff.
Happy Mondays
2/5
Absolutely nothing about this is noteworthy.
Jeru The Damaja
2/5
This really hasn't aged well. The production is great, the number of skits is manageable, and the flow is fine. Nothing really stands out as interesting though.
Kid Rock
3/5
I genuinely do not get the hate for this.
It’s juvenile and crass, and the artistic merits are highly debatable, but at least it’s trying to have fun. This will never be part of my personal rotation, but if I had to chose between this and yet another K.D. Lang album, I’d pick this 10 times out of 10.
Laura Nyro
2/5
This just tries too hard. You don't need to change tempo and time signature several times ever track.
Parts of this is great, but slow the fuck down and develop a few of the myriad ideas.
Common
3/5
This is my 2nd. album by Common. I loved the first one, but this seems overly long, and honestly not that interesting. The flow is fine, the production is fine, the lyrics are iffy, and everything seems 50% longer than it should be.
The Only Ones
2/5
How was this the best option for lead singer? The music is mostly fine, but kindda generic. The vocals strip this album of any other merits. Is this a joke inclusion on the list?
Don McLean
3/5
This is clearly an accomplished artist, and a technically great recording. The opening 8 minutes and 42 seconds of American Pie is really enough Don McLean for one sitting though.
The rest of the album isn't bad, but it's too slow and too sad to really do much for me.
The Pogues
4/5
Great band, great album.
Bruce Springsteen
3/5
I've never been into Springsteen, and basically only know his hits. Somehow I expected something very different from what this album delivered. It's clearly very, very american, but it's also way less energetic than I expected.
Grateful Dead
3/5
I will never understand the hype for Grateful Dead. This is a fine album, but it's nothing more than that. Jangly country stuff. Not bad in any way, but not remarkable either.
Arctic Monkeys
5/5
Instant classic. Maybe the ambition was greaer than the actual raw talent, but it works.
The Beta Band
2/5
2nd. album by this band, and I still don't get it.
First track is fine (though not the best reuse of "daydream"), but it's all downhill from there.
Slint
1/5
I have made it through 429 albums, including 4 of the 5 worst rated, without skipping a track. This is the closest I’ve been to breaking.
Rambly nonsense lyrics mumbled over a dude apparently tuning up his guitar for the entire duration of the album.
No skill is displayed, and nothing interesting occurs for 39 pointless minutes before the album ends.
James Taylor
3/5
I don't think I'm american enough to appreciate this.
Most of this is fine, but both "Steamroller blues" and "Country road" are actively made to annoy me, followed up with a version of "Oh Susannah" - who needed this in their life?
Slayer
3/5
It's certainly intense.
The scream at the start of "Angel of Death" really set the tone, and it never slowed down or looked back from there.
2/5
18 year old me had a terrible taste in music.
Stevie Wonder
3/5
Great performance. Highly influential. Super boring for a lot of the double album.
Joy Division
4/5
Bleak and strangely minimal album. Not sure this is for me, but it certainly created a mood.
Ash
2/5
Very repetitive.
I think I would like most of these tracks individually, but the album just blends together into something more bland than it's parts.
Anthrax
3/5
I think my problem with most thrash is the vocal. I didn't find this super interesting.
The Byrds
3/5
60s slop.
It's fine, but pretty generic.
Marvin Gaye
4/5
This is a short album, but somehow it still starts out stronger than it finishes. It's a great album, but not a 5.
Jane's Addiction
5/5
A band I've always known, with a frontman I've always known, but somehow I've never listened to this album end to end. I don't know how they evolved this sound, but they absolutely own it.
Derek & The Dominos
5/5
Great album. Yes, Clapton is a muppet, but he did know what he was doing with a guitar. This album is long, but it is fairly varied so it never really frels boring.
Magazine
5/5
What a journey. From the very opening choords this was interesting, but I'm not sure I was ready for where this was going. Solid 5.
5/5
Such a ride. This is very, very close to peak prog.
To me prog has always been about struggling through protracted periods of complete nonsense, but with the payoff being incredibly sections where everything works. This album has all of it, but despite the overly long tracks, there is less of the wank.
Fairport Convention
4/5
Some amazing tracks, and lot of not so great compositions.
The opener had me questioning my will to listen to this, but it does pick up from track 3.
Patti Smith
3/5
Bleh. Nothing about this is interesting.
Nico
2/5
One of the positive reviews mention her "raw and untrained voice" as something that makes the overall experience better. I could not agree less. The one thing I find interesting about her performance is that the lyrics have several rhymes that only work in a german accent.
Cheap Trick
2/5
Live albums are not albums. It's memorabilia for die hard fans.
Nothing about this justifies the inclusion on a list of essential releases. The tracks are okay at best, and nothing is gained by having this recorded with a crowd.
Ian Dury
2/5
This cannot be an actual album released by actual humans.
The Psychedelic Furs
3/5
Very strong opening, but gets pretty repetitive quite quickly.
Klaxons
3/5
I like almost everything about this, but I absolutely hate the vocals.
The Fall
3/5
I absolutely love some of this, but I absolutely hate the rest. Why is "My New House" 5 minutes long?
John Lennon
2/5
Meh. I know that htis is John Lennon, and that clearly everyone has agreed that this dude is a demi god, but it's just not very good.
Bonnie Raitt
2/5
It would be hard to imagine an album I'd be less interested in listening to.
Not interesting enough to get a 1, but absolutely nothing justifies this being included on a list of 10000 albums, let alone 1000.
3/5
This one flew by me. Not bad, not interesting enough to remember.
Travis
3/5
I like this, but honestly there's a sense that they had 2 or 3 really solid tracks, and tried to improvise the rest of an album. First 2 tracks are solid, but then there's a huge dropoff until the end.
The B-52's
4/5
Fast paced nonsense, that somehow works.
Caetano Veloso
3/5
Smooth and flowing. Nothing that will make me listen again.
M.I.A.
2/5
I expected to like this a lot more than I did. Mostly this was just a chore to get through.
The Stranglers
4/5
One of the punk adjacent albums I genuinely enjoy.
Eminem
4/5
Very dark. Brilliant lyrics, but hard to listen to.
The Specials
4/5
This is a great album. Never boring or predictable, but still keeps the essence of the band clear. I kindda expected more brass though.
The Youngbloods
4/5
I truly enjoyed this, but there's not one individual track that I would think stands out. Not entirely sure what genre(s) this would be classified as, but everything works.
Laibach
5/5
Avant-garde industrial, but infinitely almost easy listening to compared to Einstürzende Neubauten. Honestly not sure how serious this was meant to be taken, but it’s certainly out there, and I think it’s hard to argue this was not influential.
Eminem
4/5
It doesn't matter that the topics are at best juvenile, and often much worse. The technical skills on display in both lyrics and presentation changed the genre.
Solomon Burke
4/5
What a voice.
The quality seems to dive a bit in the 2nd half of the (very short) album, but the openers are amazing.
Run-D.M.C.
3/5
Very, very dated. The call and response, ending each others sentences gimmick really grates after a while. This was clearly an important and influential album, but it ends up sounding very simplistic and old.
Elvis Costello & The Attractions
3/5
I will never get Elvis Costello. This is a good album, but is it actually great?
Van Morrison
2/5
This does not feel finished.
Something about the incessant shaking and the half open guitar strumming on the first track made it absolutely claustrophobic. There's just non-music everywhere, and it's 10 layers deep.
The rest of the album is somewhat better, but why does every single miserable track include a god forsaken recorder of all things? Who enjoys that?
The Disposable Heroes Of Hiphoprisy
3/5
I should like this, but I just cannot get into the album.
The beats are interesting, and honestly fine, but never really that exciting. The lyrics are meaningful and personal, but just so on the nose that they lose the appeal.
Throbbing Gristle
2/5
If you ever look into early or proto industrial, Throbbing Gristle is a name that comes up constantly. The problem with this album is that it's both avant-garde and experimental, but at the same time intensely boring.
Pearl Jam
3/5
Very generic sounding album. And there's just so much of it.
Tortoise
4/5
Moody and experimental. The tracks do seem to drag on a bit.
The Monkees
2/5
A worse version of The Beatles. I don't enjoy The Beatles to begin with.
Kate Bush
4/5
That's a lot.
Clearly there's a lot going on, and most of it is both interesting and works, but I think you have to be a Kate Bush fan and spend a lot of time with this to actually get it.
The 13th Floor Elevators
4/5
Loved this. Very forward for 1965, and incredibly unpolished.
Dexys Midnight Runners
2/5
Enough with the constant Dexys midnight runners already. This band cannot possibly have produced 3 of the most important albums in human history.
At least this fresh bunch of nonsense isn't 90% skit.
Maybe if the dude learned to sing they would have been more than a one-hit wonder.
The Cramps
2/5
This did absolutely nothing for me.
Skepta
3/5
I have a weakspot for grime. Minus 1 for the skits.
Metallica
3/5
This album blew my mind as a kid, but as with a lot of people I lost my interest in Metallica somewhere between the black album and reload. Listening back to this now, I think I rated it too highly the first time.
Heaven 17
2/5
If this had been presented as AI slop I would have believed it.
The Stooges
5/5
Great fun. I have to admit that I'm not that keen on The Stooges, or Iggy, but this was a blast. That sax came from nowhere.
T. Rex
3/5
I don't think I get this. If I do get it, it's not for me.
Very clear stylistic choices, and very deliberate sound, but none of it is interesting.
Beck
5/5
Beck is one of those artist that may not have a firmly defined sound, but you know immediately who is playing.
I completely understand why this is not for everyone, but to me the wild creativity and genre blending is unbeatable.
The Everly Brothers
4/5
Nice short album. The lyrics are a weird mix of polite and overly horny, but musically everything is well constructed.
I have a weakness for tracks and albums that are this short and to the point.
The Sonics
3/5
Loud and intense covers of other peoples tracks. Some of it is pretty cool, but a lot of it is a bit of a waste.
Suicide
2/5
I was all in on the first track. The 2nd. track didn't lose me. After that everything went downhill.
My problem isn't really the pounding and harsh synths, but the vocalist can absolutely go stuff himself. I have no idea what's rock inspired about the, uncalled for, amateur hour musical theater performance on "Frankie Teardrop", but the dude really needs to align the ambition with his ability.
Dagmar Krause
2/5
I was not ready for this.
I do not know nearly enough about this genre to tell if this is a masterpiece, but both the arrangements and the lyrics seem fairly clunky. I think I would have preferred to hear this in german instead.
I challenge anyone to actually enjoy "Mother Beimleim".
The Black Keys
4/5
I hated this album when it came out. One of the most interesting bands turned much more mainstream, and a lot of the interest faded.
Going back over it now it's a pleasant but not very challenging listen, but I like it a lot more than I did in 2010.
Butthole Surfers
5/5
This album blew my mind as a kid. I have no idea how I randomly picked it up 8-10 years after it was released, but it was the first time I heard anything even remotely like this.
Jacques Brel
4/5
Very French. Not sure if all french singers were this dramatic, but boy does this guy take his performance seriously.
It's really hard for me to judge the importance and influence of something like this, but I loved getting something different from the british and american albums.
Iggy Pop
5/5
Not sure I've ever heard this album in one sitting. Not the biggest fan of Iggy Pop, but this was great.
3/5
Oh joy, another Beatles album.
Other reviews rave about chords sticking in you soul for long periods, or music in technicolor, but I just heard the same tracks that have been overplayed on every radio station in the world for 40 years.
Sure this was seminal, but does this list really need to include every single note ever recorded by anyone even vaguely connected to this fucking band?
Neil Young
2/5
The constant barrage of Neil Young, The Beatles, and Elvis Costello continue.
I have already listened to enough Neil Young to know that I never want to endure another
album by this muppet, but I’m sure there’s a dozen of them left on the way to 1001.
Incredible Bongo Band
3/5
Maybe the Incredibly Bongo Band has more bongos than one would really need.
All of these tracks are individually fine. The performance is fine. There's just so, so much of it. Every track will follow the same pattern of setup, extended bongos + drums break, and then conclusion. It's fine - it works. But when it's this formulaic, going this much over an hour just isn't all that welcome.
Julian Cope
2/5
If you can't be arsed to write more than 8 lines of lyrics pr. track, maybe don't extend each one of them to go on for this long.
I honestly think this got better around track 15, but that's really too late. Balancing between fine and annoying while it goes on, and absolutely forgettable the instant it ends.
Talvin Singh
2/5
This was a bit of a slog. I honestly like some of the ideas, but not enough happens to keep me interested.
Red Snapper
2/5
Well that was pretty solidly uninteresting. It should likely be a 3, but I've had a shit week when it comes to albums.
Donald Fagen
2/5
Way too smooth. This is background music in a shopping mall.
Ministry
5/5
I'm deeply biased on Ministry. I'm sure there's a ton of reasons to hate this, but to me the pure energy is exactly what I want from industrial. This is the soundtrack of cranking out assignments on the night before deadline.
Public Enemy
5/5
One of the benchmarks for politically aware rap.
The authority of Chuck D's delivery is unmatched.
The Thrills
3/5
Meh
The Louvin Brothers
4/5
This is a cool album. I'm nowhere near american enough to judge if this is an essential country/bluegrass album, but it's something I would never have heard without this list.
Eurythmics
3/5
The album starts incredibly strong, but loses steam pretty quickly. Maybe I just don't get the vision, but a few of the tracks are very artsy.
Astrud Gilberto
3/5
Something about the lazy rythms and overly sweet lyrics grates my nerves after a while. This is not a bad album, but I would never, ever, chose to play it outside of this list.
Suede
5/5
This is an amazing album. I knew Suede for Comming Up, but this is more intense, and honestly more interesting.
Björk
4/5
Really not my thing - and especially not for long stretches of time. It's hard to argue that this is not a wildly impressive album though.
Mj Cole
2/5
This is an album where I have to see the book entry to have any clue why it's included. There is nothing spectacular about this. A 71 on metacritic, and released in 2000 so not exactly the leading edge of EDM. Incredibly long, and not all that interesting.
Joni Mitchell
2/5
I really, really dislike her style of super busy singing.