Very good music to get stoned and lay in a beam of sunlight on the floor like a cat to
Strangely, as a person into loud guitar music, this is my first time listening to Zep 3. Immigrant Song is such a hard opener, the riff that launched a thousand ice cold Coors Banquets. Drum tone is insane throughout, I hate that dirtbag classic rock jagoffs in high school made me not want to mess with Led Zeppelin until I was like... in my 30s
Sarah Vaughan's voice is immaculate but this style of jazz kind of bores me to tears. I need cosmic exploration more than I need a rainy night in Chicago, nahmean? Also, imagine wanting to listen to any version of "Just A Gigolo" that ISN'T David Lee Roth?
Uggghhhh, starting my morning by rolling Clapton on this one is not how I want to enter the day. Let's try to stay unbiased, despite my long running opinion of "fuck that guy".
Jesus, this album is over an hour long? Cocaine really does make folks think ALL of their ideas are great ones, doesn't it? OK OK, hitting play...
I feel like there has to be a correlation between the popularity of this album and the amount of lead paint in homes in America at the time. What an absolutely boring turd of a record. If this is one of the 1001 records I need to hear before I die, now that I've slogged through this I welcome the cold embrace of death.
(Fine, credit where due, the song "Layla" is a ripper, albeit one that could've been edited down by like a full two minutes)
God, what a breath of fresh air after having to listen to fucking Derek & The Dominos yesterday. Has there been a band with a more perfect career than CCR? Get in, get out, write only total jams. "Green River" is the most immaculate dive bar jukebox song in human history. No notes, flawless piece of art.
Bonus note: the vocal production on "Sinister Purpose" sounds incredible (and Sinister Purpose would be an incredible name for a band)
As an extremely casual T Swift fan, this feels like maybe her best front to back album? The production is very cool, the sequencing is strong, and the bops are bops. No smarm to post here, this is a very good album, and I'm having fun listening to it.
Now we're cooking. A masterpiece of post-punk before there was a name for such a thing. Dark, artful, weird, and still catchy as hell. "Shot By Both Sides" will never not get me hyped up.
When this popped up as today's album, I knew today was going to be a good day. "She's So Unusual" is an absolute masterpiece of pop. Artful, emotional, a wholly unique vocal, and hooks for days. Like, the A side of this record?? Come the fuck on. So many of Cyndi's vocal twists (see: the chorus on "When You Were Mine") just send dopamine rushing out of my brain like I just ate a pressy of really pure MDMA. Also, those backing vocals on "Time After Time"??? COME ON NOW. After humanity is long dead and gone, I hope this is the artifact of our existence that the aliens find amongst the rubble.
Hypnotic, driving, and mystical in that very specific Can fashion
OK full disclosure, I'm not a Pixies fan, but went into this with an open mind, and thought this was more enjoyable than I expected... and then the reggae song comes in and I am in actual hysterics. Fuck, there are still another ELEVEN songs after this? I curse the CD era
Depending on the day, this is maybe my favorite Neil record. The run he was on from OTB to Tonight's The Night to Zuma is maybe the best three album run anyone has ever had? Perfect album, 5 stars, no notes
I've never spent much time with Van Morrison's music beyond the hits, but after suffering through an hour and a half of this snooze fest of a live album: I think I hate Van Morrison
Just an absolutely insane album. The drumming is insane, the vocals are insane, the guitar shredding... also insane. Prog music for Fugazi fans
I drank beer all day and then put this on, lad vibes are rattling through my chest. Killer fucking album innit?
I'd always heard 70s Aerosmith described as "a hornier, American version of the Rolling Stones". Imagine my shock when, opening cut "Toys In The Attic" aside, this album was extremely tepid and boring. It made for fine background, but I can't fathom listening to this outside of the hits for fun.
Perfectly fine background music for a Hudson Valley coffee shop, but not something I'll be returning to on purpose
Equal parts ethereal new age and ripping proto-punk, all my favorite bands' favorite band (and honestly, one of my favorite bands too)
Just a full hour of audial sunshine. This record is the logical conclusion of the "Wall of Sound" style production, just so much going on and not a single note of it could be edited out. This is as good as pop music can get.
Possibly the most stave dive-able dance music album ever?
I was kind of dreading this album and expected patchwork skirt style white lady bl00z, but this hit more like a mix between Aretha and Dolly. I can't imagine this is a record I come back to with much frequency or ever buy, but I had a much better time than i expected with it.
Piercing noise, swooning melodies, and caveman drums performed by the coolest Scots to ever walk the Earth
This is my favorite flavor of Daft Punk, and is generally the album I go to when I'm in the mood for them
Primal Scream's weed record. This one sounds more Bristol than Glasgow, which fits the Scream much better their prior record's Black Crowes and rail whiskey energy
True freak music. Sounds like the inside of a schizophrenic's head. Grindcore for beatniks. A bartenders best friend for getting 4am stragglers to leave the building. Jazz as a weapon of mass destruction.
A timeless masterpiece of an album. If "Unfinished Sympathy" isn't the high water mark of human accomplishment, I don't know what is
Has any album ever started off better than "Maggot Brain"? Eddie Hazel was really on one writing this album, a masterclass on being a guitar god
My big takeaways from this:
• Leather pants need to make a comeback in hip-hop
• It's absolutely insane that "Genius of Love" was basically getting sampled as soon as it came out
• "Scorpio" is a stone cold heater
• "Dreamin" is absolutely a deranged piece of music
• Did a spit take when "You Are" came on
The problem with starting an album with "Baba O'Reilly" is that every other song on the album is going to pale in comparison. Much like my experience with early Aerosmith a couple weeks back, I'm surprised by just how little rocking is going on here. At the same time this was happening, Black Sabbath were putting out "Master of Reality" and the Stooges had released "Funhouse" a year prior, so like... by comparison this just seems like nerd shit
The Cure at their most echoed out and skeletal. Absolute sewer dweller post-punk for sunglasses inside types (my 4th favorite Cure album if the mood is right)
God tier synth pop from two of the best to ever do it (and one of Peter Saville finest album covers to boot)
Perfectly fine very English sounding 60s pop with some great highs (Little Miss Queen of Darkness, Sunny Afternoon) and some dull but inoffensive bits of lava lamp music (You're Looking Fine). Not my favorite bit of the Kinks catalog, but an appropriate soundtrack for Sunday morning coffee
Big dumb rock music at it's biggest and dumbest. Impossible to not crush a sixer of lager during this album's 45ish minutes of play time
Bleeps and boops and clicks and whistles from the chill out tent. I feel like I like this album more in concept than in practice.
"Another Girl Another Planet" is an absolute masterpiece of sad eyed junkie guitar pop, and while the rest of the album doesn't reach this high, it still scratches an inch somewhere in between the Buzzcocks and Johnny Thunders pretty nicely
If there is a venn diagram between "extremely talented band" and "extremely unmemorable music", the Roots live right smack dab in the center
A record who's songs are strong enough to match up with the band's lore. I haven't listened to this album in like 20 years, and it blew my mind how beautifully it's aged. These songs just blast out of the speaker, and had to have sounded completely mindblowing coming off a turnable for the first time in the late 70s
I fully expected to shit on this album in my review, what with it being a late career XTC album that I'd never heard anything about, and here I am happily eating my shoe on this one. Well composed, well produced, clever and quirky Beatles-esque art pop that has me wanting to spend more time in the post 80s XTC catalog
First off, a big "get bent" to the author of this book for including a 2.25 hour long late career Metallica live album, that is absolutely cruel and unusual.
This orchestra really amplifies everything about Metallica. On the positive side, these versions of "The Memory Remains", "For Whom The Bell Tolls", and "No Leaf Clover" all completely rock. On the other side, somehow they made that turd sandwich called "Hero For A Day" even worse, and the "Loosen up maaaaan" adlib during "Enter Sandman" made me almost crash my car from violent laughter
Ripping guitars, flawless vocals, and a "Summer Breeze" cover? 5 stars all the way
If there's a better opening 1-2-3-4 than "From Out Of Nowhere" into "Epic" into "Falling To Pieces" into "Surprise You're dead" on an album, I've yet to come across it
As much as I enjoy ambient Eno, I wish there were more fun art pop records like this one in his catalog. Listening to this, it's very obvious why the Talking Heads chose to work with him.
Ideal music for having a little weed with your coffee while you make breakfast
70s studio pop that forgot to bring hooks to the studio
Equally appropriate music for a holiday cookout with friends and family, and for macrodosing psychedelics and tearing apart the fabric of reality
Patti Smith as a NYC icon is much more interesting than Patti Smith as a recording artist
A perfectly fine album that's biggest fault is that it can't hold a candle to the masterpiece (Badmotorfinger) that preceded it
The Temptations update their sound to stay current in the psychedelic era and wind up making the best album of their career
I'm usually pretty ambivalent when it comes to Lou Reed, but this record was a very pleasant surprise. The orchestration here gave a very proto-Spiritualized vive, which I'm all in on. Immediately my favorite Lou Reed project I've heard.
Smart, sophisticated pop for heartsick yuppies. I fucking love it.
It's Johnny Cash playing in a prison, obviously this rocks
This record makes me want to start a 12 piece band ASAP
As far as I'm concerned, the only Pearl Jam album with no skips. A little top heavy? Sure, but no skips
Wish I could give this masterpiece 500 stars
Music for folks who think Snow Patrol goes just a little too hard.
Top tier sewer dweller music
A record that both real rockers and theater kids can agree on
It's wild that this was my first time actually listening to this album, considering it's reputation as "the best album of all time". I don't know if I'd go that far in a world where Hatebreed's "Satisfaction Is The Death Of Desire" exists, but this was pretty fantastic front to back. Turns out I don't hate all whimsical music!
Objectively beautiful music that is also objectively boring as fuck
"Conservatism is the real punk" starter band
A good album by a great band that would be a great album by a great band if they had even a just alright editor
Probably the coolest sounding rap record of all time
Expected to hate this, and was wrong, because this album kinda rules. Nothing but hits!
I like Tom Waits, but an hour plus of piano noodling and beatnik rambling is too much to handle
Party on the A-side, brooding on B, every single song brings it
Stunning vocal performances that shine brightest when tethered to actual song structure
Is there poetic license at work here, or did Marty Robbins actually kill all these men he sings about?
Even on a rainy day while in a terrible mood, Bob Marley still hits
I dunno man, sometimes shit just rocks
100% pure uncut music for people who read books at the bar
An album guaranteed to make me into an absolute emotional mess
Mediocre music for mediocre people on a mediocre planet. Wearing a White Stripes t-shirt in public is a sure fire way to make me not want to strike up a conversation with you at a bar
I probably would've liked this album more if I didn't throw all of my bongs away when I moved in with my girlfriend
I exclusively want to drink in barrooms that play Loretta Lynn
Jam after jam after jam after jam. How good is your album when "Queen Bitch" is only like the 3rd best song on here?
Looking at my cats while I listened to this record absolutely made me cry
One of those rare trifectas of amazing vocals, savant musicians hip, and generally being cool as hell
Actual sewer dweller music
An absolutely fine 50s jazz album, but pales in comparison to the mind melting things Miles would wind up moving on to
The sound of drunk driving in a 2000 Honda Civic. Would have scored this higher if it wasn't a peak CD era "make this exactly 74 minutes" overstuffed album
This era of bland ass big stage indie was 100% the reason I got back into punk and hardcore after a few years of doing cocaine and listening to Ed Banger Records. To quote the immortal Jay Sherman: "It Stinks!"
OK, the last Adele album I got on this thing surprised me with how much I enjoyed it. On the other hand: this album fucking honks. This selling a billion copies is all the proof you need that your average human being is boring beyond belief and has absolutely abysmal taste
My first two albums this week totally sucked, and this album is fine but boring, which by comparison makes it a GD masterpiece
More grindcore and less boomer rock please and thank you. This album rules, and is only like... the 6th or 7th best Napalm Death record. The review section for this one is awesome, ya'll are a bunch of full on dweebs
"Fascist Groove Thing" is a guaranteed party starter
Nile Rogers at the peak of his powers + powerhouse vocals = the best full length of the Disco era and a total desert island record
The Who? More like The Snooze amiright?
Some jangle pop gems, some sophisti-pop snoozers
Sure, I'll drink 3 beers at 10am to "Alien Lanes"
I can't fathom why anyone would ever choose this album over the front to back collection of bangers that is "Back In The High Life"
Shifted between dimensions at least 5 times while this album was playing
I would listen to Margo Timmins sing delivery menus
Weak ass barn wedding with twinkle lights in mason jars ass bullshit (but "Yellow" is kind of a jam)
Bought three iPods and a cardigan from the GAP as a result of this boring ass record
Paul Weller rocks. This album... ehhhhh... not so much
Man, wine dad music really had a moment in the 80s, didn't it?
I dig the Dead, but this era ain't it for me. Take me to Bobby in jean shorts ASAP
Fell asleep listening to this at 4:30 in the afternoon on a Friday
This perfectly bridges the gap between English alternative/synth pop of the era and Downtown NYC club sounds. Not a stinker in the bunch here, five stars, wouldn't mind if this was the only CD I had in my car for a cross country road trip
There is a certain sub-sect of people my age who treat the dude from Eels like he's one of the great underrecognized musical geniuses of our time. I'm very proud to call none of them my close, personal friend.
Free the Gwen Stefani version of "South Side"!
Has Polly ever sounded better than she does on this record? What a dynamo
It is unbelievably hard to not day drink when this album is on. I want to buy a house in the suburbs just to blast this on cassette in my garage while I work my way through a 12 pack of Modelos
Rockers are 5 star, ballads are 2 star, raising this average up to a 4 star review because of how cool the Robinson bros always look
It's pretty wild that humanity has existed for thousands of years, and we're fortunate enough to exist at the same time as both Big Boi and Andre 3000
Like a xerox of a xerox of a Scott Walker album. My friend Gerry's least favorite album of the 1001, for me... ehh, we'll call it a low 2
Jay-Z (and Kanye) are complete dweebs in 2024, so it's fun to time travel to a moment in history where they both made great music and didn't seem like totally unlikeable human beings
You walk into a bar and this is on the speakers: you're not getting a cocktail for under $20
I hated this so much that I might quit smoking weed just so no one ever accuses me of being a prog fan
Pretty bottom of the bucket 80s pop. Made for TV movie quality, not Hughes film quality
Absolute perfection start to finish. The Beatles never put out an album this good.
There's something to be said for saving the best for last. A perfect sendoff to a brilliant career. Still gives me chills every time I listen
Looking at all the 1 and 2 star reviews for this banger of an album leads me to ask the question: are any women doing the 1001 album challenge? Or is this site strictly just loser dudes in stupid hats?
5 star album, bite it you scum. Queen Tina forever
Peak "making a sad mistake for your high school crush" music
It's 90 degrees in NYC, obviously this is hitting real hard on the speakers
Sure, it's art school kid music, but at least it's the fun art school kids who like to party
Massive Attack shows up for round 2 and brings Tracy Thorn with them for this one. That's like playing with Game Genie, it just ain't fair how good this is
Starting an album with Taxman into Eleanor Rigby is one hell of a flex
Mick Jagger never made a solo record this good... or really, a good solo record, period. Team Marianne all day every day
One of the heads on the Mount Rushmore of UKG, but this is a singles genre not an album one
Willie showing us that the hits are the hits for a reason
The Twins write a full on pop album and wind up with the best record of their career
I mean, one listen to Teenage Kicks and you get why John Peel had it carved into his headstone, right? Rest of the album doesn't quite reach that height, but like, that seems like an unfair standard to hold any music to. Slot "Get Over You" in your punk night DJ set between The Buzzcocks and Cock Sparrer, the crowd will thank you for your service
I got nothing clever to say on this one, I just fucking love this album a whole lot
An important album that could've used some editing. Cut this down to a tight 30 minutes and it's a perfect 5. At an hour? 3 feels right
Yeah I dunno man, like, I didn't hate this at all, but I retained nothing from it beyond "man, this Canadian sure does sound sad"
I consumed approximately 17lbs of cocaine while clubbing to "Drop The Pressure" in the bloghaus era, and even as someone who looks back on this music incredibly fondly, having to listen to a whole ass Mylo album is a torture I wouldn't inflict on my worst enemy
Just mind melting production from Dre on this one. Would it be better if it was 20 minutes shorter? Story of the 90s my friends
Sting's patois on "Walking on the Moon" = never not funny. Great record though!
The Damned are a band that I think I just kinda like, until they're on, then boy howdy do I love The Damned. Actual vampire freak music
What a bland fucking planet we live on where this is one of the most popular music groups of all time... but like, I'm not gonna deny that "Clocks" is an absolute banger
Music for the mind, body, and third eye
Absolutely deserved to beat out "Nevermind" in that Spin album of the year poll
Still not my favorite Miles, but we're getting warmer
I generally can't stand Zappa, but I could imagine having a moment in my early 50s where I make being a "Hot Rats" guy my entire personality
Josh Homme figuring things out on his way to writing his masterpiece (Rated R) is still better than most of the hard rock coming out in 98. Like, when this album came out, Limp Bizkit and Coal Chamber were main stage acts at Ozzfest. By comparison this is subtle, tasteful, and as far as music that solely exists to do gravity bong hits to, pretty smart sounding
This fucking rules. About to go rip some hash and travel the cosmos
What an a-side. Mutt Lange knows how to make big dumb music sound the biggest and dumbest
This came up as my album of the day on a ride to the beach, and man, I might not be able to buy a thrill, but I sure can buy every Dan record ever recorded
Countpoint to my Steely Dan review yesterday: I was AT the beach when I got this album, and now I hate the beach and the sun and this stupid planet that produced Eric Clapton
This is great! The Boos are a Brit band that I should know better than I do, but beyond the hits on "Wake Up" I never really spent too much time with them. This fits perfectly into that pre-Britpop moment where shoegaze and sample based stuff like EMF was happening. BRB, about to overspend on a vinyl reissue of this
The next few Maiden albums are really where they hit their stride, but make no mistake, Number Of The Beast still rocks
True freaks making post-punk before punk was even codified. This direct sonic lineage between this and like... Circus Lupus is undeniable
I full on feel like season 2 Mr Big with this playing in my yuppie NYC high rise apartment
The peak of the mountain of "smoking weed out of an apple" music. I don't think there will ever be another record label as cool as early-mid 80s SST.
One of those albums where the chills just don't stop
Sinatra flies to Brazil? Sure, why not
Are The War On Drugs the defining dad rock band of the 2010s?
Sure, the b-side is a little iffy, but the first five songs on this album, back to back to back to back to back... lord almighty what a way to start a record
Kanye West is a toilet of a person, but I can't deny that this is one of the wildest and most intense albums ever released by an artist at his level of popularity. Respect to the game, not the player
Would be a 3 star just on the power of "I'll House You", but fortunately the rest of the album is dope as well
True freak music of the 13th Floor Elevators variety
Coldplay for hard rockers
Pretty much just a nonstop dopamine release of an album
It doesn't all hit, but some bits feel like a Scottish Westerberg so three stars feels right
Trippy and weird and beautiful, and even though it's not my favorite (that honor goes to "Pornography"), probably the front to back best piece of work of the Cure's career
If you're team Blur, not team Oasis, I just know you're an absolute insufferable prick
Am I bugging out, or does Elvis' voice on "Wearin That Loved On Look" sound exactly like Cher?
Forever a sucker for psychy garage rock from the 60s, and this bad boy has got me reaching for the lava lamp
I wanna hate on this album, but man, have you heard John Fruiscante sing backing vocals?
My partner's review: "Could've done without all the moaning"
Multiple people in my life have told me that I have Darby Crash energy which is why I should probably start going to therapy again
You haven't lived until you've hit a bongload of DMT to "Pyramids"
Just totally insufferable fart sniffer music. I am 100% positive that I can beat every single Dirty Projectors fan on the planet in arm wrestling
Now we're cooking! This is a top like... 3 SST release, right?
90s pop punk doesn't get much better than "She"
Constant Craving is full on one of the best songs I've ever heard in my life. The rest of the album, solid wine bar songs sung by an S tier vocalist, but man, fucking Constant Craving will get ya every time
If I would've been into this album in high school instead of Life of Agony maybe I would've actually had a girlfriend
65 degrees in NYC with the windows open and a cold brew, this is album couldn't sound better than it does right now
My partner's review: "I like it. 4 stars?"
(I'm a true freak so I'm giving it 5. Roky forever)
Impossible to not feel feelings to this album
The singles on this are undeniable, but holy shit was making my way through the rest of this album a chore
Live albums from this era are all a fascinating form of time travel, but this one also happens to contain fantastic music as well
Brazilian funk of the highest order. Only a deranged, criminal brain could give this less than a perfect score
Yep, 40 years after the fact, this album is still pretty undeniable
Love the punkiness they still had with Paul D on vocals
This record is actively punk as fuck
The Heads have some of the banging-est bangers of their era, but everything else just feels like tucked in music for folks who eternally think they're the smartest people in the room
Works at the goth club, works at the punk club, works at the yuppie new wave club
Twitchy aggro nerd destruction crew
Welp, I guess it's about that once a decade point in time where I try out a Bob Dylan record to see if I finally get it.
I don't.
Riding on the 7 train to the US Open with this in my earbuds, Queens NYC feels like heaven on earth
Following up on my Little Richard sentiment from a few reviews back: this is 1000x more punk than the trash ass Germs record I had to listen to last month
This legit might be the best live record I've ever heard. It's fast, it's hard, it's nasty, it's performed by an absolute derelict. If I was at this show I would've punched a minimum of two southern cops in the mouth. Five fucking stars, bravo to you, you depraved pervert
The only actual rock-n-roll bands that've ever existed on Planet Earth are Poison Idea and Turbonegro
Probably my favorite of the first wave UK punk crop. Smart, funny, fast as hell, and hooks for days. There will never be another Buzzcocks
This sounds like having the boys over for a cooler full of Bud Heavies on the deck while the wife is out of town
Middle of the road burnout music, worth a doob in the garage to, but not much beyond
Bob Dylan's backing band > Bob Dylan. To borrow a Gram Parsons expression: this is true cosmic American music
One of those records where the hype is very real. The pinnacle of 21st century soul music (no disrespect to D'Angelo's "Black Messiah" which is also the pinnacle of 21st century soul music)
A 3/5 album for Bowie is a 4/5 for everything else. Am I tripping, or is this the Bowie album that sounds most like Pulp?
The sound of the littest party you could ever be invited to
Sad beautiful perfect weirdo outsider pop music (and one of my favorite albums/artists ever)
I live in a yuppie high rise apartment overlooking Manhattan and have a Nagel on the wall. Obviously this is my shit right here.
There us just an unreal disconnect between how badass Alice Cooper looked in the 70s and how bad AND ass his music was
The band that should've been as big as Bowie and Queen
"The Calvary Cross" is basically Songs: Ohia 20 years early. Absolutely essential listening front to back.
Beautifully damaged music from a beautifully damaged genius. "Golden Hair" is such a jam
This would sound incredible on the jukebox of a bar with exactly one patron chain smoking reds and nursing a Bud bottle. In my apartment? Still pretty dece
I can't figure out if this sounds like Bob Dylan, The Doors, or the Dead. All of the above all at once?
Once upon a time this band fucking rocked
I like the Kinks alot, and "Victoria" is an all time banger, but most of this record was just kinda fine to me?
What a perfect record to be assigned on October 1st. This is perfect autumnal melancholia
Impeccable sampling, great rapping, just wish there were two or three less songs on here and a bit of tempo variance
I'd put the first 3 Suede records up against any other band's first 3 any day of the week
Psychedelic commie lounge music at it's finest
God, the 70s were such a golden era for dirtbag jean jacket music, but this is like all of the nerd bits of Zeppelin without the parts that actually rock
There is a sexist theory that people like to throw around that Kurt Cobain ghost wrote this album. My retort: Nirvana never made a record this good
House music of the highest order. Lisa Stansfield has never phoned in a vocal take in her entire life.
23 minutes of absolutely feral guitar music. Love the Dicks cover on the deluxe version!
I love the Smashing Pumpkins, and most songs on here are good to great, but A: the guitar tone (and general production) feels like a drop-off from "Siamese Dream" and B: listening to 2 straight hours of Billy Corgan is kind of alot. If this set was edited down to two 45 minute LPS instead of one 2 hour double album, they'd both probably be 10/10. I'm giving this a 4 because 3 stars seems too low, but really this is like a 3.75
The comments section all agrees: Morrissey is a fucking dweeb. This batch of songs, however, are absolutely fantastic
The first two Björk albums are both hard 5/5s for me, and like... sure, glitch electronic drums and tons of strings and an Anhoni guest spot feels like it should be dope, but damn did this feel like a chore to listen to
This album rocks harder than a folk rock album has any business rocking
Like come on, this is just a jazzy funky punk masterpiece. The Chili Peppers owe their career to these dudes
Perfect for overthrowing dictatorships AND Saturday evenings at a cocktail bar
