1001 Albums Summary

I'm so excited to start with this album! I'm familiar with a lot of their songs but have never listened to any MGMT albums in full. I've always known I would like them but just never got around to digging in. On first listen, I found tracks 6+7 less polished and less compelling. Pulled me back in with tracks 8+9, then track 10 was fine. On second listen, I REALLY liked track 6! It made more sense with the context of the whole album versus just my prior experience with the singles. Track 7 was also better and I could especially hear similarities between it and Little Dark Age in in some of the riffs. Track 10 stood out more on second listen. The first half of the album (where the singles lives) is definitely stronger than the latter half of the album. In general, the popular singles are justified standouts. First half of the album felt basically perfect both as individual songs and as a cohesive piece while the second half was more deconstructed and less immediately accessible. Overall, really liked this album like I've always known I would!!!! It does have a clear \"first half\" and \"second half,\" which prevents it from sounding perfectly cohesive, but in a way that had me asking \"is it on purpose?\" I caught myself thinking \"How did I get here from Time to Pretend?\" but not in a negative way. It's cool coming back and listening to Oracular Spectacular for the first time in 2024. Easy to hear where their more recent work has grown from, and it's nice to see a logical progression from this album to 2018's Little Dark Age (I listened to the singles from LDA a LOT). I think they have only become more polished since this album. Really glad this project has pushed me to finally sit down and listen to it. I think I would listen to this album again, but will probably mostly stick to the songs I most like on it versus listening to it all of the way through. Weekend Wars, The Youth, and The Handshake were standouts to me.

This is another album I haven't listened to before despite hearing about it for years. I was immediately struck by how stripped down this album is compared to Rumours and Fleetwood Mac (and other misc Fleetwood Mac songs I'm familiar with). While Tusk isn't lush in the same way that those albums are, it is meticulous. There are a lot of cool details in the instrumentation. I wonder if they felt they were taking a risk by stripping everything down or if it felt natural for the time? I think I liked this album? I’m not sure. I listened to the first half about 5 times but could never get all of the way through in one sitting, which makes me think I didn’t like it as much as I wanted to. Standout tracks: What Makes You Think You’re the One, Tusk

I ain’t the one, the one to get played like a pooh butt. This album is an interesting time capsule. Equal parts funny, vulgar, and outdated. I liked it best when I played it off the speakers on my phone. Without a vested interest in the history of rap, it serves as a compelling "before" to the more musically and lyrically complex rap that is popular now (I say, as a total outsider). I came into this album amid the Drake and Kendrick Lamar beef. In comparison, the lyrics, beats, and flows all seemed really simplistic. It took listening to about half the album and then going back to adjust my expectations and then appreciate this album for what it is. Obviously, in context this album has a lot of value, but I was curious if I could enjoy this album as just something to listen to! Letting the songs be kind of goofy and funny on their own terms gave me an angle to appreciate it. Still, I’m unlikely to revisit this album except for a bit. Delighted to find that Ice Cube was my favorite! Standout tracks: I Ain't Tha 1, Dopeman, Quiet On Tha Set

Shelby and I just listened to Back to Black a day or two before this, so I was really excited for this! I love Amy's vocals, obviously, but this album fell flat in comparison. I like the more stripped down, raw atmosphere of Back to Black. I am also biased towards albums that feel like a cohesive piece, which at moments this album does but largely just feels like a series of songs. I enjoyed Frank well enough, but I kept thinking "Do I really need to have heard this before I die?" Without the context of Back to Black, I don't think so. Still, a fine album from a talented singer. Stand outs: In My Bed, Take The Box

I didn’t think I would like this but I ended up enjoying it a lot! I was surprised by how well it has aged. The album itself felt like the perfect length and non of the songs overstayed their welcome. Honestly, just good pop music! Didn’t have time to listen it multiple times or super in detail but Oh Boy! was my favorite.

I wasn’t looking forward to a live album when I first saw this, but after a song or two I got into it. Really cool! I’ll probably never listen to it again but I see why it was included.

I got into Beck in high school, but I think I’ve only listened to this album once while on a flight prior to this. I was a little surprised by how many songs I already knew! Beck’s done so many genres and is so prolific, but when I think of what Beck’s music sounds like, this is it. Great album! My fav songs that I already knew: Girl, Hell Yes, Scarecrow, Go It Alone Fav songs I didn’t know: Missing, Earthquake Weather, Farewell Ride

If I was high in a college dorm, this would be the greatest album I’d ever heard. Alas, I am pushing 30 and making breakfast. Standout songs: My Girls, Summertime Clothes

Okay, I’ll admit it. I’ve never listened to OK Computer before this. Obviously I’ve heard about it, and heard about it, and heard about it, and While I’ve never sat down and listened to this album before, I’ve enjoyed a lot of remixes and mashups using songs from it and have otherwise heard the songs just from existing online and liking related genres. The best pop song mashups always include either Radiohead or Björk). At some point it just had to be overhyped and overrated. And considering just how -hyped and -rated it has been in the music spaces online I’ve occupied, it surely is. But, unfortunately, it also rules tremendously. Sorry :( I think it would get better with repeated listening and I didn’t like the song with the robot voice so I’m giving it 4/5. I will probably return to this album and unfortunately I can see myself rating this 5/5 in the future. Hard to pick a standout song because it works as a complete work so well (which is something I value in these ratings, if you haven’t noticed). If I had a chance to listen to it a second time, I’m sure I could pick out some standouts. I’ll say Subterranean Homesick Alien for now because that was when I first said to myself “oh no, this rules”

This one was good and I’d like to listen to it again!!!! Didn’t have a chance to listen twice for a more thorough review. But liked it! Standout songs: Si tu dois partir, Million Dollar Bash, The Ballad of Easy Rider

I’ve always been a bigger fan of Courtney than Kurt, unquestionably. But, talk about moments in music history that changed everything! Honestly, this Unplugged is all of the Nirvana you need.

yeah this rule. fun to imagine being a cowboy while you listen. shout out to dj for mentioning big iron in an earlier review!

i mean it’s the dark side of the moon. i probably won’t listen again but yeah it was good! fun! would love to go to a laser light show!

i like this era of the beatles best but i don’t like the beatles. if i were being honest i would probably rate this 4 but i can’t bear to do it. please mister postman was my favorite cause it made me think of that one vine. what can i say. it’s good, it’s fine. i don’t want to listen to six more beatles albums.

I love The Smiths and Morrissey’s voice so I was surprised to not be as into this as I expected. The hits are the best tracks, but I’ll likely catch myself listening to this again.

i wanted to but i did not like it

When I was in high school, my mom got a new car that came with a Sirius XM subscription. Channel 33 was First Wave, which I became fanatic of. They regularly played REM singles, which I liked. I was also long into Hole and Courtney Love (who is a longtime friend of Michael Stipe), so I had heard a lot about REM. They were one of those bands I knew I would like if I gave them a chance. However, I torrented two best of CDs and it just wasn’t sticking. They didn’t sound like anything special compared to the grunge and post-punk and folk music I was otherwise into at the time. I didn’t get the hype, but felt compelled to figure it out. When I was in community college, I decided the time was right! I decided to go through their entire discography in chronological order until I found something I liked. For each album, I would make a list of every song I liked. I found that I liked them more and more with each album but it wasn’t until I hit Green (1988) that I felt like I really truly Got it. The three album run of Green, Out of Time, and Automatic for The People is an impressive near-perfect three album run (I also love Monster but it feels slightly less consistent to me, the highs sometimes even higher but the lows lower). While Automatic For The People wasn’t my favorite REM album at the time (Out of Time was), I feel like it’s grown on me more and more over the years. Everybody Hurts feels melodramatic in retrospect, but I think only because it’s become the kind of song that might as well have been playing during the prehistoric era— as in, it feels like it’s existed for all time. Can you imagine a world before that song??? My favorites are: The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite, Ignoreland, Man On The Moon, and Nightswimming (one of my favorite songs of all time and one of the songs I most commonly add to playlists). Ultimately, I love REM!!! And none of the current music I like would exist without them. Also, Michael Stipe is who everyone wishes Morrissey was. Hooray for REM!

This was perfect WFH music! I typically hate stuff without lyrics but actually really enjoyed this and wil likely return to it.

i used to be super into arctic monkeys and i loved this album very much.

i really like this!!!!! but it was too long hahahaha

good and feels kind of timeless

bad

I listened to this a lot back in the day but I never liked Nico’s voice with VU. Surprised O didn’t like this more

i like the smiths a lot but this is not their best