1001 Albums Summary

If I wanted to hear a lady whisper witty things to a stripped back sound I'd have transitioned long ago.

For an utter turd (ain't I right?) he sure can play a tune or two.

If you need someone to explain why this is a 5 star classic to you, you may be too far gone.

Kinda drops by the end but for a few years this was the background radiation of my life. Good stuff.

Lyrically and instrumentally fantastic, but I spent the entire album wishing a more soulful singer was performing, which wouldn't be damning if it wasn't a thought 8 couldn't shake at all.

More interesting to read about than listen to, as that's where most meaning is found. Not bad, just kind if boring.

A bunch of covers and a disparate selection of songs does not an album make. Terrible (but sincere!) Chuck Berry cover is a low, All I've Got to Do is a high.

Absolute bangers with important messaging (that people naturally miss because bangers often cause brainrot). Kept thinking that the drums seemed a bit basic but also I can clap all these songs so that's just genius crowd preparation.

Longer than it needs to be, but you can't doubt the craft for a second.

The sort of album where you go in expecting very little, progressively realise you know half the songs and they RULE, and end with a sense of serenity. Good stuff.

The most divorced album of all time (complimentary)

The highs of the instrumentation on the first two tracks fades quickly as it becomes all-too familiar a psychedelic indie experience, but it's also never less than good

It's easy to criticise later U2, rightly or wrongly, but War is the high point of a much more acerbic and powerful group, punk with fancy instrumentation. A career highlight.

Pile of s**t, honestly

A bit like a less thrilling Dexys, but by no means bad. The flat vocals keep this from being a casual listen, but the potent lyricism balances that out a bit.

It might be the socially aware nature of it, the all-star production, or Lupe's phenomenal bars, but this feels like a true all-time alternative rap record, up there with Tribe and De La (though not quite to the same heights that those acts reached with their best records). No skips, no misses, nothing that sounds anything less than great. A true 5 star record. Also a 10+ minute track crediting and thanking everyone he possibly can is a based move, actually.

I quite like this, though I can't hell but feel that what was seen as innovative, definitive rock music is really just a mainstream, more socially acceptable (i.e. white) presentation for the sorts of sounds coming out of black music culture at the time. Which isn't really a mark against it, but makes me feel like its legacy status would be better placed elsewhere. Or that listeners need to reach further back to see what inspired them. Also as a critique of it it is some 18 songs long and (despite their quality) I would struggle to think of a single standout.

I feel like a lot of music is the battle between technical proficiency and emotional clarity. Are You Experienced is the rare album that achieves near-perfection in both.

V. Sad V. Wistful V. Triumphant V. Loving

Feels good, just kinda washes over you.

An album that both feels like something to sit lazily in a chair watching the sun rise with a brew listening to, and as something to get up and MOVE to. A near-perfect sonic experience that reminds me of the hip-hop of the time (mostly the Native Tongues collective, but insert your fave alternative here) while still defining something different in being the foundational record of trip-hop. Powerful, meaningful, and with an impact I don't think we'll ever truly see the end of. Timeless.

Excellent storytelling abilities, massively limited musicians

An amazing listen, fantastic instrumentation, wondrous vocals, way too long for what it is. Perhaps drags out the start of each song a little.

Sincerity goes a long way. You can be uninspired throwbacks putting music that isn't pushing any envelopes, and it can still RULE because you're doing so without an ounce of irony and a true love for the genre you're playing within.

It is a personal failing of mine that I struggle with most music that doesn't involve a vocalist, but even then I cannot shake the feeling that any one of these tracks would best be used as an introduction to a podcast about some niche topic.

Fucking... nah, I'm good.

If you told me that Orbital made the soundtrack to every Sega game circa 1990-2001 I would believe you, no questions asked. I mean that as a compliment. This felt good, seratonin provided in a way that makes me think of dolphins vs aliens (Ecco), rollerskating youths doing graffiti (Jet Set Radio), or calling police with bazookas in on street gangs (Streets of Rage). Ironic for songs featured in a Mortal Kombat film. Still, the good stuff.

There's one guy in here who rated this one because he loves rock but hates this and Bon Jovi, and looking at his profile the dude HATES black people and thinks racism didn't exist a decade and a half ago, so fuck that dude. Anyway this rules. They aimed to make a rock equivalent to Thriller, like an all-singles record, and boy howdy did they ever.

Well-produced music with some of the most dogshit lyrics imaginable, sung by a shithead who's simply too hard to stomach. Like Morrissey without the wit, in the bin.

I feel like this was Dad Rock even as it came out, but it is very good Dad Rock, with a lot of fun voice modulation and panning (though I was sick of that by the end of Ramble On), and a great rhythm section.

Iconic funk, enjoyable but not necessarily the best. That said, undeniably an album everyone should listen to before they die. It feels fundamental.

Not the absolute height of Iron Maiden, but instead the starting point of what Maiden would truly be; this brash, explosive, meaningful operatic metal, with a loud, melodic vocal, intense guitars, and some of the most underrated drumming this listener has ever heard. Run to the Hills is a perfect metal song. Repetitious, but build upon itself until you can't help but form a circle pit wherever you are and get. fucking. MOVING.

Every 1 rating at the top of the reviews section is by elitist dickheads who think hating on anything sufficiently 'low-brow' constitutes a personality. This site is rife with them and it is exhausting seeing their boorish opinions every weekday. Be cool and embrace finding the joy in things. Anyway, this is decent stuff. There's a weird dichotomy with good drum and bass, with good jungle, where you know it's both music ideal for heaving masses of bodies moving with the beat, breathlessly, often chaotically, and also music you can totally chill out to, laid out in the sun, absorbing energy like a particularly cool lizard. I don't know if it's the smooth brass, the dolphin chatter, or the smooth vocals that sneak in here and there, but this fills the latter slot perfectly. Like if you ever want to vibe for two hours, this is the record. That said, two hours. You could have just had twenty minute opener Timeless, twelve minute tune Sea of Tears, and close out with eight and a half minutes of Adrift and it'd be plenty. A perfect record, even. Two hours is the textbook definition of outstaying its welcome, and I'd forgive people for not having the patience for it. For me, though? Banger, four stars. .... maybe I'd keep You and Me on it, as well.

Relatively pleasant, but sex steamroller aside I don't know if I could tell you about anything I just listened to. Washes over you in a loose, ineffective way, regardless of content. Not a bad thing... just barely a thing at all.

It's not that the songs written by Mason are bad, per se, but it is quite telling that the best tracks the ones that feel the most forward-facing and that have aged the best... well, they're the ones by Capaldi and Winwood, huh. And so the album feels split between two creative forces, and we know who wins out. The better one. Weirdly the worst track is Vagabond Virgin, where the two forces meet. Funny, that.

There is no world where this is an album I had to hear before I die. It's not bad, not really, but it is very plain despite its rich instrumentation, and every single song outstays its welcome by the end. Would rather have had Miss Dynamite, seeing as she beat this for the Mercury Prize.

Absolutely fucking not. Not just because he's a reprehensible prick, but also saxophone aside this is a very boring record.

The sort of record to get the hackles up of many a user here by virtue of its genre, this is a really interesting bridge between psychedelia and rave culture with, yes, occasionally basic lyrical content (looking at you, Hyperreal Selector), but you'd be hard-pressed to find something as bold as a sick dance beat set to a sermon from famed anti-apartheid cleric/politician Allan Boesak (a not-uncontroversial figure for many reasons). Music means something, and can be a hell of a platform if you can grab people with it.

If the aim of 1001 albums to listen to before you die is to enrich you with essential, varied, and fulfilling experiences you may not be guaranteed to come across in your life then mission accomplished. Never would have found this myself, and I've come away having gained something in an appreciation of Baaba Maal and Mansour Seck's fantastic music.

An album meticulously evocative of a place and time, even during its many, many sections without a vocal track. Powerful. Suba's love for music is evident, and sadly is why he is no longer with us. A rare breed.

The guy is THE little bitch and let's it be known with his singing

It's good to know that even Queen started out as an uninteresting, generic rock act. Gives hope to us all.

There's being inspired by The Boss and then there's trying to be The Boss. Big difference not recognised here.

Can't believe the guy who drew Loss.jpeg made some music, pretty fucked up tbh.

Quite possibly the best solo (but not really, because Ghost is almost always there) rap album of all time. A thematic triumph with some of RZA's best production work throughout.