High Violet
The NationalI just think the national is the most boring and inoffensive band around ... just middle of the road - it's not even bad! it just does nothing for me
I just think the national is the most boring and inoffensive band around ... just middle of the road - it's not even bad! it just does nothing for me
Although I would have Imagine as the fifth best post-beatles album, Jealous Guy and Oh Yoko are possibly the two most affecting songs for me in the post-beatles catalog. John was always the edge in the Lennon-McCartney pairing and his songs have a way of slicing so deep for me... Imagine is extremely corny (but I can't help but sing along) and How Do you Sleep is the like first rock music diss track from what I can tell! The issue is that none of the other songs are particularly memorable... but man does Oh Yoko! fuck my shit up every time
happy to see some road bike appreciation on this album cover - but the bike looks like shit... stu cook is looking absolutely zooted and like a st8 chiller ... music rocks, coolest dudes ever
first off - album artwork is just undeniably epic... dude is singing his heart out, artwork looks extraordinarily modern considering this thing is 68 years old, love the colorway ... I am pretty shocked to see that most of these songs clock in at 2mins & something as I see a frequent criticism of contemporary rap music and 'tik-tok era music' that the songs are too short! Meanwhile this guy singing standards is left unbothered with his 2min long songs... I am curious to know when we got it in our heads that a long song = a good one because clearly that is a post 60s idea, however I feel very comfortable blaming prog rock for this. I was trying to parse out why old people like Elvis so much, beside the fact that he reminds them of their youth... in my teens I was searching for the most abrasive and offensive music I could find, so far in my twenties I have been interested in coming back to earth through calming music, now that I near my thirties, I have been increasingly searching for the sublime, looking to classical music and opera to find the most beautiful music my ears can hear... while I find Elvis to be generally deplorable - there is moments of devastating feeling in this album, deep seeded emotion and undeniable beauty... it feels as if he's singing right to you and I found many of these songs to be deeply moving and heartbreaking. bad man, okay album but some really beautiful moments ...
tracy chapman is looking like a ghost on this album artwork - kinda matches the sad ass proletariat music in which it contains!!
my lord ... i haven't heard this since it came out and really enjoyed it at the time ... i found it to be incredibly grating and irritating music. I had hoped that Tightrope was a misnomer on this album as far as annoying tracks go but the whole thing is annoying as absolute hell ... theatre kid with a budget.
As a noted Beatles fan the Stones were always a bit too crass and vulgar for me. The Beatles are undeniably dorky and their music generally sounds like it was made for children - this could not less true about the Stones who ooze sexual energy. I would feel comfortable calling them criminally horny. Just an aside but I actually have no frame of reference for why the blues are so popular with white people... anyways the music was fun and I like this album artwork a lot even tho some of the pics are racist.
Hate the album art, pastiche music. Really boring
While I think it pales in comparison to the Powerslave-Somewhere In Time-Seventh Son of a Seventh Son era of Maiden which is when they start to incorporate prog metal aspects into their albums this album undeniably kicks ass and the art is super epic... do wish it was more thrashy tho but this is the defining album of NWOBHM
Real chiller music ... vibes are absolute perfect. this is the vibe im on this summer
The White Album is an absolute freakfest. Especially compared to the beatles preceding album Sgt. Pepper's which is so sunny and schmaltzy that it sounds like children's music... Listening to the The White Album to me has always felt like you can hear the seams of the 60s unraveling and the hippie movement collapsing in upon itself. It's very raw and frantic at points, it veers into a psychedelica that borders schizophrenic and Revolution 9 will always stick with me for what it meant for the most popular band on earth to put out a Fluxus-esque piece of music concrete at the height of their fame... it would be the equivalent of like if one direction made a collab album with merzbow in 2014.
Was really excited for this & expected to love it but I unfortunately did not find the music particularly fun or interesting
Extremely epic and badass album. Anytime kate bush is on an album… i love it!
The more Metallica I listen to the more i may just have to admit to myself that they are my favourite band. No music energizes me more than trash metal and I think Metallica is the best at it. This is likely my second favourite album by them but it is always a treat to listen to and I love the classical guitar influences on the album.
Just an absolute joy to listen to. Really fun and enjoyable - had a wonderful time with this one!
This is exactly the kind music I love but something about this duo has never sat right with me... i just think i am sadly a paul simon hater but the music is very pretty and sweet
Pretty solid but ultimately not my style!
have never known the difference between this band and alexisonfire ... did enjoy this tho felt extremely 90s.. i liked the grunge and metal mix more than I thought i would!
i don’t quite know how to explain but there’s nothing that recaptures the angst and heartbreak of being a teenage for me than folk punk…
Album rocks and its deranged but also epic to put an interlude between every track
imho he should change his name to jeff wilco... also i like songs that bring up KISS because they remind me of weezer so heavy metal drummer got a big thumbs up from me
had never heard of this or really encountered it! Fun but kind of a bummer!
Obviously i know these blokes from the Magnolia soundtrack. I was shocked to learn that they are from the uk tho. They have a real American sensibility … anyways. I enjoy their vibes and am gonna check out more trax
This has to be the most obscure album on this entire list! I guess we were due for some Honky Tonk representation .. pretty okay album - still scratching my head at this one's inclusion ...
Some of the absolute coolest music ever recorded. the only reasonable complaint one could make about this album is that it's too damn funky!
just unreal - tunes rock and the setting is perfect. really one of the coolest and most badass albums ever
Pretty enjoyable but I wasn't struck by anything special here! Usually when I listen to lesbian music I like it to be a bit sadder ...
Monk's 50s works have never been my favourite - partially because he never quite got weird in the way that I appreciate from his contemporaries (Mingus, Coleman and Cecil Taylor specifically) - Not to sound like a pretentious dickhead but I like the freak side of jazz - and at the end of the day I'm a spiritual jazz head more than any other movement in jazz (altho i have embraced third-stream in recent years) I like Monk's 60s ragtime-y stuff which is weird, but only weird because it's incredibly normal. Anyways, this dude was pretty normal at the end of the day and I guess it seems like that was my basic issue with him. But I also think hes epic and he rocks.
Very beautiful album that feels to be entirely about Cash’s faith and mortality. Really incredible stuff on here, I can say with confidence that these two Cash albums have made me a fan for sure!
this is like the textbook definition of dad-rock, laid-back, lowkey and dope as hell
The beards might be long but the songs are short! These are fun and playful tunes but these guys have never been my fav
Most certainly in the canon of "awesome" music... my main issues is that I felt it made mistakes that a lot of "made it" albums have where the album is too dang long and the band is attempting to show their versatility as group by making music in many styles... i think theres a really good 40min album in here without the slow songs if you just kept the rift-heavy nu-metal tracks... anyways, album is badass and these dudes rule
So... this should come as no shock - but I am a bit mentally ill. and one of the ways in which that manifests is that I am obsessive with musician discographies... that being said I have listened to 43 Fela Kuti albums in the past two years and Zombie is by my measure one of the three best albums he ever recorded (Expensive Shit & Gentleman being the other two). What makes Fela's 70s so damn good is his band, Africa '70 and specifically Tony Allen, his percussionist who is really the driving force behind the success of this era, which is by my count the most successful and consistent era of any musician in recorded history. Afrobeat is a genre with a lot of variation but what I really appreciate about Fela's music is how consistent it is. You can listen to any of the Fela & Africa 70 albums that came out in the 70s and have a rough idea of the music you are about to hear. He created a sound that is absolutely timeless, unparalleled in its consistency and good as hell every damn time.
I really liked this album in high school and haven't revisited it in a long time... its really great! what a delight
Generally a fan of super rift heavy music - this album fell a bit flat for me. It was certainly one of my favourite albums when I was 12 due to learning the Smoke on the Water rift on guitar and playing Guitar Hero at my friend Shayan's house. I always loved Highway Star which I still think is very good. I almost feel like the songs are a bit long and drawn out and it made the album feel much longer than it actually was.
When I was more of an avid shoegaze head this album was pretty big for me ... it's still a really nice and pleasant album ... but i remember it a bit more fondly... alas
Famously my least fav band, I was shocked by how many of these songs I did remember from the last time i listened to this album (i must have been nine years old?) I will at a later date maybe try and do some research about the best art made during the bush era of political activism (there was basically nothing good made tho...) Anyways still think it sucks :)
the concept is nice and I have affection for this album from my youth but it is extremely long and can be a bit tedious. This thing basically singlehandedly got me four albums behind on our listening journey so that was also extremely annoying
Liked it more than i remembered but i do not really enjoy these guys and their weirdo concept
very fun and super enjoyable pop bangers on here - album was a bit long for my tastes but did not really overstay it's welcome
Really fun and cool album, I remember when I was like 12 I really felt like I would never understand music until I 'got' this album... still haven't quite gotten it but I really enjoy it, especially the free jazzy breakdowns
Very pleasant and enjoyable… i guess i like it when spouses make music cuz i can think of like 4 other albums i like where a couple made the music
Never really been a Nirvana fan but this one has always been my fav of theirs… i really appreciate the hardcore breakdowns and noise rock influence on this thing. Really makes ya wish they made some more music cuz they were headed in a really interesting direction
I have always been a bit weary of this album because I’ve always felt like McCartney’s schmaltz goes unchecked and borders upon a sorta cringy over-earnestness... Paul’s post Beatles albums are all really strange in a way I really appreciate because they are just him tinkering around in his farm house (at least the McCartney series) so the operatic scale that comes with a backing band is ultimately not my favourite Paul. The album is really non-stop fun and has some all timers on it (Let Me Roll It is a personal fav) but it doesn’t reach the heights that albums like McCartney II and especially Ram do.
Pretty long and dense album - I was complaining that this feels pretty empty in it's anti-authority stance and doesn't really saying much considering that Roger Waters is one of the most political and vocal rockers of this era now...
I sorta have nothing to say about this one other than it is some perfectly serviceable indie rock music, not a huge Albarn fan - but of course my fav drummer Tony Allen shines on this thing and it was pretty fun overall!
Van Halen is super fun and I am especially partial to this early era of theirs... never been my fav band but its fun... kinda perfect watching hockey in the garage music
Never been a big The Who fan and kinda lean toward thinking they suck, but I am glad for a classic rock album that doesn't fall into the "blues rock" genre (altho i think theres two tracks on this album that would be categorized as that. Anyways it's pretty decent for a debut and the title track is a fav from childhood.
Ultimately I felt this album was a bit generic and overly western compared to the Bollywood soundtracks we listened to around the house when I was a child. It was very jarring to hear an English language sung tune too... I was a bit disturbed by the music here and generally confused at this album's presence as this album's inclusion on this list seems to be the only noteworthy thing about it... some of the instrumental tracks were pretty good and I enjoyed the Hindi sung songs but One Two Cha Cha Cha was maybe the most grating and perturbing song I have heard in a long time...
Hard to talk about this album objectively because it is by my count one of the three 'all-around' best albums of all time (Pet Sounds & Songs in the Key of Life being the other two.) It is otherworldly in its grace... makes me wanna yearn and pine, but also marked by some incredibly thoughtful lyricism and orchestration... It's really hard for me to quantify but I just really adore this album and think it's unbelievably special. When I was 16 I bought the vinyl and would lie on my floor in the centre of my bedroom and be brought to tears by this album's beauty. Some of the most sublime music I've heard and it was a blessing to be able to listen to this today...
Always been taken by the background of this album? Very much has the air of a musical theatre album... written entirely by Steinman and preformed by Mr. Loaf... i think the real benefit that this album has is having Todd Rundgren producing it... it really is a convergence of a number of people at the height of their power which is impressive to me... that being said I have always found the music to be a bit too corny and never quite able to reach the heights it sets out to reach.
A perennial album for me, one I have loved dearly for my whole adult life. A one time 'favourite album' and joyous and funky celebration.
I just think the national is the most boring and inoffensive band around ... just middle of the road - it's not even bad! it just does nothing for me
I have always really enjoyed this album but never quite understood why it is so wildly popular compared to some of it's contemporaries that i've found a bit more enjoyability in. Regardless... its wonderful
Although I would have Imagine as the fifth best post-beatles album, Jealous Guy and Oh Yoko are possibly the two most affecting songs for me in the post-beatles catalog. John was always the edge in the Lennon-McCartney pairing and his songs have a way of slicing so deep for me... Imagine is extremely corny (but I can't help but sing along) and How Do you Sleep is the like first rock music diss track from what I can tell! The issue is that none of the other songs are particularly memorable... but man does Oh Yoko! fuck my shit up every time
Really, really great stuff - super vibrant and fun. Kinda shocked I had never listened to this before as I know Willie Colón to be kind of like the king of Salsa music!! Really happy to listen to this one!
i mean like I said in my first review, these guys kick ass and are one of the best bands ever. the music is so consistent and good - i love it!
exteremly funky and epic... loved it!
towards the sublime .......
One of the first forays into industrial music for me in high school, was a band that lead me to a lot of really amazing music... I really enjoy it but I feel that they're one of those bands who are a bit more influential than good
Sorta can't overstate how important this album was to me in youth, and I definitely have made and retained a lot of friends due to my early immersion in hip-hop music... it does seem in recent years that there has been a re-evaluation of hip-hop's greatest album, which would have been Illmatic basically since it came out in '92. it's sort of interesting listening to this as the 'old' best hip-hop album of all time (obviously, To Pimp a Butterfly is the new GOAT hip-hop album, although i don't even think it's Kendrick's second best album and I would place like 4 albums before it, including Illmatic) anyways, I don't understand the distinction of this as an "old school" hip hop album, to me it sounds incredibly modern and I do think from top to bottom it is a perfect album. I do wanna give a special shout out to the production on "The World Is Yours" - if there was any question that Pete Rock is the greatest producer in hip-hop history just that track alone would dispel any doubt.
Never been a big Dead fan but I do enjoy their live albums more than the recorded ones! This one has always stood out as my favourite of their recordings that I've heard. It's really nice, I love a meander-y guitar... fun zone for me
really enjoyed this gentleman's album titled Transa which i remember listening to vividly because it was the day after my birthday (may 20) in 2020 during covid lockdowns lol - anyways it was a bit funny to revisit his music as it kinda brought me back to at time and a place, BUT the album is really nice and pleasant - really enjoyable.
Truly juvenile, I find this album to be so sincere in a very endearing way… lots of very vivid imagery in these songs. Sorta made me nostalgic for a time when artists in the mainstream were murders and like actually ‘scary’ people? So much of the image of pop music is now manufactured. I guess it just felt good to listen to something ‘authentic’
Have always been a Zeppelin skeptic, this is the album I remember the most from childhood and I was shocked at how much I enjoyed this... generally speaking i am not a huge blues rock guy and this verges on the edge of being blues rock but generally stays in the Hard Rock genre, which is totally much more my speed. Thought the rifts and vocals were solid and enjoyed a lot of what i heard, excited to listen to more zeppelin as we do this challenge!
pretty fun! always knew of this band because of their epic name but now i know them for their new wave music
Always had a sweet spot for Mr. Prine, past TVZ and Lucinda Williams I always thought he was one of the best storytellers in the folk/country scene... the album is really fun and kinda zany - dude kicks ass!
Always been in awe of this one, incredibly powerful stuff... this album has sadly become a bit tainted in my brain because of the Jay-Z song that samples Four Women but then subsequently the beat of that Jay-Z song being used for that Pusha T song where he exposes Drake for having a child...
B.B. King is like one of those musicians that is totally ubiquitous but whose music ive never heard in my life.. it was more rock than i expected and really fun!
Pretty interesting and kinda all over the place, I enjoyed it enough altho I agree with the group that it was just fine for the most part
i do not understand this album or why its on this list and I wish i never heard it
Sorta always been skeptical of this album being considered the 'Best Album of All Time' - although that by my estimation is mainly because the Gen-Xrs and Millennials have aged into guiding culture since the 90s... not to say that I have a better alternative to suggest, but something about this being the best album ever doesn't sit right with me. That being said, I do have a very strong personal connection to this music as I listened to this a few times in my early teens and didn't quite get it. When I was 16 or 17 this album really connected and I would listen to it and The Blue Album every day. I owned this album on CD (one I inherited from my brother) and would lie on the floor in my room and pop this into the first slot of my 6 disc player. The summer of 2015 was one of endless rejection in my memory. I had a girlfriend who I loved very much and I often felt very dismissed by (nowadays, reflecting on my reactionary and uncontrollable temperament it makes total sense why someone would have kept a healthy distance from me) and I was a bit constricted by my mom who I was supporting through a painful divorce at the time. Oftentimes, it was expected for me to stay home for weeks at a time, and since we lived far from where all my friends lived (1hr-ish on transit) I obliged. I would go to the library and get stacks of DVDs to watch between the living room and the computer room (disc drives!!) It was not a good summer. I looked at my letterboxd (which btw I joined way later than Nick and Luke because I was for some reason really paranoid that those guys didn't want me on there - just to illustrate what was happening in my brain this summer) stats page and I was impressed to see that on July 17th 2015 I watched 7 movies in one day... which is a record for me I think... I mainly watched movies from Criterion, foreign stuff and would sort metacritic by what had the highest rating and watch whatever I could find... I guess this is all to say that this album reminds me of that summer because I spent a lot of time laying on the floor in my room between the two 4ft black floor speakers my parents bought in the 80s (they still sit on either side of me as I write this review!) listening to this album and weeping uncontrollably. Which I still find very funny because it's not even like I related to the lyrics THAT much - but there was enough pity in these songs to really get me going. I guess this is all to say that I have a bizarre emotional attachment to this album as it reminds me of basically the most mentally ill and depressed I ever was in my life 👍.
I was a big Peace Sells... But Who's Buying? fan when I was a teen but never branched out and listened to their other albums!! this kicked a lot of ass and was probably better than Peace Sells... who knew!
By my accounts the practical pick for Neil's best album, it kicks off maybe the most productive and prolific half decade any musician has ever had... my connection to Neil (my favourite artist) is kinda bizarre as I always liked him but his music never connected until I decided to put on Harvest when we were first renovating the garage that Hearth opened in October 2019... my motivation was actually to try and 'impress' or 'relate to' Rowan's dad who was helping us insulate the walls and rewire the lights... In retrospect it was kind of silly but it was the first time I actually listened to a Neil album and i was hooked right away... The timing was funny because once pandemic lockdowns started I was basically listening to Neil Young every day, other than my friends on discord his music was the most consistent 'relationship' I had in lockdown and I was often listening to him when I felt down and he always helped me feel better. I have become very endeared to this old ass man and I am very proud to call him my favourite artist. This album is one of two that never leaves my phone (with The Blue Album) and it is endlessly relistenable... the music on here was famously inspired by a screenplay that Dean Stockwell wrote with a guy who wrote lyrics for Captain Beefheart which is really cool cuz at times you can kinda tell its a soundtrack for a movie that doesnt exist... anyways, every track here is perfection for me and its the last neil album that Danny Whitten played on before he died (see: The Needle and the Damage Done) I'm sure I'll be playing this game for every neil album that comes up here but I do think this is ultimately his best album, but im sure I'll be saying something different when we listen to Rust Never Sleeps and On The Beach...
This album is good and I am a fan of the boss but knowing his contemporary context really puts the whole proletariat rock thing into perspective and makes these albums all a bit less believable
Sincerely, I need to find out where the hell the guy who made this list is finding these albums, the music here was completely fine, totally unremarkable - nothing about this album was influential, it didn't even get good reviews when it came out. Really the only thing remarkable about this album is that it's on this 1001 album list... basically sounded like a White Stripes cover band but a bit edgier and honestly not that good !
Read up on Billie Holiday's very tragic life... had never listened to her music, the songs were very pretty and this was a very nice album.
I am at a point in my life where I can enjoy things devoid of irony and expectation... this is like the biggest meme album ever and obviously its the t-shirt of the century... but I can say with certainly devoid of influence that this album is just okay! lol. I am a way bigger new order fan and always found joy division to be pretty underwhelming
kinda famously one of those bands that I love to hate - i was shocked that i enjoyed this as much as i did - it was really fun as far as the 'hard rock' genre goes (which i am seriously starting to dislike due to this list)
There are a few things that hold me back from giving this a perfect rating, but i have always really enjoyed this band and their messy dynamics. Goes without saying, this album has some massive bangers on it, shit kicks ass.
pretty teenage and angry but thats what makes punk fun! reminds of of being a teenage, wish I had listened to this while biking around because it was very energizing. Instead i listened while I answered emails at my work desk ... rip
Sorta a mixed bag of feelings on this one. For a long time it was my fav radiohead album and I think that’s mostly cuz Planet Telex was the theme song to Q on CBC radio... anyways - sorta their most successful ‘alternative rock’ album? And the britpop vibes really work on me, but i ultimately think it can be a bit tedious at times.
When I used to date Rowan, I was always so confused why her mom and all her friends loved the blues… it seemed so bizarre and random to me that southern ontario white hippies would be so obsessed with a genre that in my (clearly) limited prevue seemed so Black… this 1001 list has made it extremely apparent to me that I just haven’t heard a lot of the music that was popular in these white hippies’ youth… which seems to overwhelmingly be blues rock, which for the record, i think sucks. It sorta makes the white co-opting of Black music so much more apparent than i ever knew… like what does this white lady from texas know about ‘goin down to detroit’ … anyways this is my fav era of music generally but I mostly stick to the jazz, folk and modern classical music of the late 60s… which all feels a lot more authentic to me than whatever the hell this shit is. Anyways crazy joplin is still so revered when she died a year after woodstock with only one solo album to her name. I was surprised to learn this was a posthumous album! Its not even half bad i just dont believe anything shes saying and i don’t find her affect cool or charming
Now this is the kinda music white people should be making instead of pastiche-y blues.
As a childhood prog-rock fan this album was always one of my favs... i do think these days that prog rock is for loser nerds but I still have a lot of affection for the bands I liked when I was in grade 9 (king crimson, rush, yes, ect.) this album i think is really pretty and good - it never really allows itself to get boring and I think it's neat runtime accomplishes that.
band sucks, this is their only good album and you could argue that it's 'fun' but imo it's actually not fun at all and rather sucks shit
had honestly never heard of this band or project and really enjoyed it! very kickass
Very soft nd tender music, always liked these guys but seem to frequently forget they exist
lots of fun!! never really registered this band in my brain but knew a bunch of tracks
who's coming to Orillia with me to see these guys at casino rama on sept. 27th?