My 1001 Albums Journey

Album	You	Global	Diff
Dog Man Star Suede	5	3	+2
Music For The Jilted Generation The Prodigy	5	3.07	+1.93
Astral Weeks Van Morrison	5	3.26	+1.74
You Want It Darker Leonard Cohen	5	3.33	+1.67
Songs Of Leonard Cohen Leonard Cohen	5	3.38	+1.62
My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy Kanye West	5	3.41	+1.59
Blonde On Blonde Bob Dylan	5	3.49	+1.51
Stankonia OutKast	5	3.55	+1.45
In The Court Of The Crimson King King Crimson	5	3.6	+1.4
To Pimp A Butterfly Kendrick Lamar	5	3.62	+1.38

Album	You	Global	Diff
Rage Against The Machine Rage Against The Machine	2	3.99	-1.99
Who's Next The Who	2	3.91	-1.91
White Light / White Heat The Velvet Underground	1	2.89	-1.89
Let It Bleed The Rolling Stones	2	3.82	-1.82
Is This It The Strokes	2	3.81	-1.81
At San Quentin Johnny Cash	2	3.8	-1.8
Graceland Paul Simon	2	3.74	-1.74
Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not Arctic Monkeys	2	3.73	-1.73
Grace Jeff Buckley	2	3.72	-1.72
Boston Boston	2	3.71	-1.71

Artist	Albums	Average
Leonard Cohen	4	4.5
Beatles	6	4.17
Bob Dylan	3	4.33

Artist	Albums	Average
The Who	4	2.25

The Killers

3/5

1 full listen. Simple lyrics, poppy rock, energetic vocals/instrumentals. Great for superficial (intense if you're drunk or in an indie film) emotions and thrills. Peaks with the first five tracks, but tracks like Midnight Show are good too. Everything Will Be Alright is great switch of tempo in this context, and probably the note that the album should have ended on.

Young Americans

David Bowie

2/5

Scant history with Bowie: I've listened to Ziggy Stardust a couple of times, been exposed to some of his biggest hits here and there throughout the years (of which I've listened to Space Oddity quite a bit, out of my own volition), and listened to The Man Who Sold The World (the song) an endless amount of times. Outside of the latter song, I've not quite been smitten, and remain relatively cool about the artist even after this album. 1 listen (plus some repeats on the standouts). Best songs: Young Americans and Fascination. (The album's Disco-Funk-Gospel fusion is arguably at its best with Fascination, though I probably prefer Young Americans. On the other hand, I don't think that the overt funkiness of Fame vibes well with the contents of the lyrics at all.) Right is good but a little anticlimactic. Otherwise, despite how busy the album's soundscape is, that busyness is relatively "same-y" across the board. Not a big fan of Bowie's strenuous vocals here; his rendition of Across the Universe, with the overwrought vocal inflections - particularly the "sonorous" parts - feels a bit comical in particular. And on the aforementioned best songs he is outmatched by the backing vocals. Admittedly not entirely in tune with his usual themes, so lacking that context probably doesn't help.

Deja Vu

Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young

4/5

I was initially underwhelmed when I got unduly excited by the opening track which the rest of the album never quite matched or even came close to. Listened casually a couple of times thereafter and one final closer inspection and found myself in love with it. Carry On + Teach Your Children + Helpless (Look Down From The Bridge by Mazzy Star much??) + Woodstock + Our House (though the chorus and the la-la-las are a bit too childish even for that song) are all good-to-great-to-fantanstic. Tapers off just a bit in the second half but even there most of the songs are growing on me.

Birth Of The Cool

Miles Davis

3/5

This is very enjoyable but not quite as gripping as the more dramatic Jazz stuff that I've heard from Davis (Sketches in Spain) or more trippy/psychedelic stuff that I've enjoyed in general (Journey in Satchidanada), though I'm no Jazz aficionado by any means. Growing on me though... it's very infectious and fun. Move in particular is fantastic.

Transformer

Lou Reed

2/5

The vocals throughout… ugh. Only on some emotional songs - Perfect Day; Walk on the Wildside - do they sound anything substantially more than amateurish and awkward; otherwisw they just sound perfunctory. And then from just glancing at the lyrics the writing is hardly a strength. Some fun instrumentation throughout, and outside of the two aforementioned songs Satellite of Love is pretty good, and Vicious grew on me a bit (even though it is exemplary of my issues with his vocals), but otherwise this isn’t quite it. (Though New York Telephone Conversation is some childish and stupid fun.)

Music in Exile

Songhoy Blues

3/5

3.5★ What a banging album. There’s one value in listmaking and it’s to discover material that you otherwise wouldn’t have come across or given a spin, which is very much the case with me and this album. Not sure how much the lyrics have to do with the titular theme but I do feel that understanding them would probably help the resonance, as opposed to the songs sounding like similar variations of the same thing. Nonetheless I really liked it. Favorites: tracks 1-5 (Soubour, Iraganda, Al Hassidi Terei, Sekuo Oumarou, Nick) + Wayei + Petit Metier (this plus the opener probably being the favorites among the favorites). No obvious skips on the first few listens, though the last two tracks are notably weaker.

Le Tigre

2/5

Some interesting/fun instrumentation that is let down by the continually screechy or otherwise infantine vocals and, indeed, the occasional lyrics that are "dumb like a linoleum floor” (not really, but I couldn't pass up on the opportunity; that said, they are mostly unexceptional). Deceptacon and The The Empty grew on me the most (funnily enough the two tracks most exemplary of the "screechy" vocals), and along the unexpectidely soft/vulnerable Eau d'bedroom Dancing (my favorite among the bunch) are good/great. (Phanta is decent as well, and I wish that "Slideshow at Free University" was not an interlude/had actual lyrics/verses; it sounds like something that MF Doom would use to great effect.)

Shake Your Money Maker

The Black Crowes

2/5

”Bar Rock” indeed. Sounds mostly like inoffensive pop and lyrics to be tolerated only as bland backgrounds. Monotone. And there’s Almost no energy to this thing—it’s downright soporific for a ”rock” album. She Talks To Angels the only notable track, and the ending of stare it cold I guess.

Hot Rats

Frank Zappa

4/5

Some fun, funky jazz. Fun progressions throughout, and the instrumentals seem to be in dialogue with each other, whether harmonious or bickering; "a movie for your ears" indeed. (Peaches En Regalia practically sounds like a precursor to many videogame tracks.) Have listened to this a couple of times now and it's grown on me quite a bit. Every song seems to have its intrigue (whereas initially the first two tracks seemed to stand out), though The Gumbo Variations sort of peters out towards the end (it'd probably be better as 9 minutes, rather than 12), and It Must Be A Camel is weak as a stand-alone (but functions fine as a more laidback Coda).

Chris

Christine and the Queens

2/5

Listened to the English half/version. Inoffensive, bland, with little (sonic, lyrical, tempo or tonal) variance throughout. A pop record that never pops, too constipated to dance or cry.

Africa Brasil

Jorge Ben Jor

3/5

Took a couple of listens to grow on me. Thoroughly enjoyable Vibes but nothing mindblowing or incredibly hypnotizing. Opening track (Ponta de Lanca Africano) + Taj Mahal are the standouts; Xica Da Silva + Camisa 10 Da Gavea (and, to a lesser degree, Hermes Trismegisto Escreveu) are nice too.

Foxbase Alpha

Saint Etienne

2/5

Only Love Can Break Your Heart + Carnt Sleep are good, and Like the Swallow is incredible (though it feels incredibly short despite being 7-minute, mostly due to the fact that the short verse is preceded and followed by minimalistic instrumental work), but otherwise not much here grabbed my attention.

We Are Family

Sister Sledge

3/5

Some fun, soulful tracks. Opener is comfortably my favorite.

AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted

Ice Cube

2/5

Starts strong with Ice Cube’s ferocious energy but said energy becomes numbingly monotone with how uniform it is throughout the album. More laid back storytelling is applied in e.g. Once Upon a Time In The Projects and A Gangsta’s Paradise, offering some nice variation, but for the most part the album just devolves into these for some reason increasingly mysogynistic digressions and stories that take up the forefront.

Is This It

The Strokes

2/5

1 full listen (+ some casual repeats of a couple of songs). Sounds mostly fluffy to me. Like if The Killers’ Hot Fuss (which I assume was inspired by this/the band) was robbed of its infectous energy. Not sure if the distorted vocals are a feature or a fault but they don’t exactly help its case, in any case. Some decent songs (The Modern Age, Barely Legal) but overall just so monotone—lyrically, vocally, sonically.

Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness

The Smashing Pumpkins

3/5

3.5★ Not exactly 2 hours of nonstop Greatness but there is indeed lots to like and at times even love about this. Certainly easy to admire the sonic eclecticism, though I personally prefer the poppier/dreamer/rockier stuff to the more metallic songs (Tales of a Scorched Earth in particular is quite woeful, though X.Y.U is decent). My biggest reservation lies in the vocals, vocals which are often unable to hit high enough registers when trying to be emotional and sound rather Billy-from-across-the-street type of unexceptional in the heavier material, though not without their moments. Lyrics aren't always a strength either. Too many songs liked to list but the ones that really knocked my socks off are Tonight, Tonight, To Forgive (this one in particular hit me hard), and Thirty-Three.

Ray Of Light

Madonna

2/5

I suppose that the restraint, song lengths (shortest being 4:27, with an average song length of over 5 minutes), and the general production style (Middle Eastern sounds, and the general electronic instrumentations, etc.) served as some sort of Artistic Statement™ for Madonna, at the height of her popularity. I can only shrug at this though, because the restraint mostly results in a flatness, and, consequently, in the feeling that the songs are overlong, given that they never build up towards any sort of cathartic climax or culmination (individually or collectively). I like Frozen and The Power of Good-Bye well enough (particularly Frozen) but for the most part the album just sounds like it's doing a variation on the same boring song that it starts out with.

Doggystyle

Snoop Dogg

3/5

3.5★ Thoroughly fun. The production is the MVP, and Snoop's flow is inexhaustible. The features are weak/nothing to write home about, and the content/lyrics are unfortunately fairly fluffy/vapid so I doubt it can sustain many relistens before growing stale, even though I like most of the songs here. Still, very enjoyable.

The Libertines

2/5

Can barely even remember anything about this, just a few hours later. Decent instrumentals I guess but weak vocals and empty lyrics* and an overall sound that resembles that of teenage rock aspirations (I guess you have to pad this 1001 albums list with some of these, every now and again, though surely not if you expanded beyond a very basic UK-US and Rock demographics). *What I assumed to be an exception: the phrase "A Web of Sound", only to discover that it is the name of a 60s Psychedelic Rock album by the Seeds. So much for good writing!

Happy Trails

Quicksilver Messenger Service

2/5

Some cool moments on the A side and in Cavalry, but the most part this is just an album of sound and fury signifying not much of anything, with lots of (improvisational, from the sound of it) instrumentalization that goes nowhere in particular.

Technique

New Order

4/5

3.5★ Grew on me immensely just within the same day. Was initially put off by Fine Time and became somewhat resistant to the Synths-gone-wild/haywire (mostly in Fine Time, but still; I became almost instantly allergic to the idea of Synth as a result of that), and the strangely alternating sounds, e.g the contrast between the more laid-back rock of Love Less vs. Round and Round's more electric elements and bass emphasis, and as a result didn't really end up feeling strongly about any song except Vanishing Point (more on that one below). To a certain degree, this is still stronger to me when the synths and electric instrumentals are more subdued, when it is less disco-y; nonetheless, outside of the opener, which I'm still somewhat iffy on, pretty much every song here grew on me, with each revisit casting off the initial reflexive disdain/disinclination. And it also happens to be one of the rare albums that arguably gets better as it goes on, peaking with Vanishing Point, a multifarious track that’s somehow simultaneously deeply depressing, hopeful, and dance-inducing—a stunning song, in essence, and certainly far-and-away the highlight here, leagues ahead of the rest; I'm no expert of Joy Division, but from what little I've heard this song seems to me to contain that deep sense of pessimism and Doom that characterized that band's songs that I've heard (even though the lyrics to Vanishing Point offer a sort of lifeline). Still, lots of other great songs to enjoy here; Love Less and particularly Round and Round, Guilty Partner and Dream Attack are great.

Diamond Life

Sade

3/5

3.5★ Sensuous, seductive, somber, sober, subtle—suave and sophisticated even its most emotional—but also a little humdrum, both with the somewhat repetitive lyrics and the sonic flatline. I wish it was just a little darker—it would go a long way.

2112

Rush

2/5

Hard to care for an album when half the runtime consists of an overlong song with banal storytelling and bland sounds. The second side has some strong songs outside of that - though this seems to run contrary to the consensus - mainly The Twilight Zone, Tears and Something for Nothing.

Sea Change

Beck

4/5

Fantastic. Tapers a bit in the tail-end but it's such a great break-up album on the whole.

One Nation Under A Groove

Funkadelic

4/5

Drunk on Funk. (That said, "Promentalshitbackwashpsychosis Enema Squad (The Doo Doo Chasers)", fitting with its prolix title and lyrics references to shit and bowels, is basically just psychedelic verbal diarrhea.)

Scott 2

Scott Walker

4/5

Wowowow. Such maximalist production. Classical influences and Broadway-y vocal performances give the album a great deal of variance, and it covers a gamut of dramatic qualities that range from Operatic to Cinematic to Theatrical. Full-throttle Pasodoble (Jackie), Flamenco sounds (Next), a touch of fairytale (Plastic Palace People), sorrowful laments (Window of the World, The Bridge), more traditional crooning (Come Next Spring)—multivaried songs, in essence, and marvelously so. Even the worst song, the mindlessly chauvinistic The Girls and The Dogs, is musically galvanizing. It’s fitting that the album cover is that of the artist in the pose of a conductor, because thie album and songs flow like a wonderful, dramatic symphony. Great great stuff.

Bug

Dinosaur Jr.

2/5

Decent mesh of indie/shoegaze-y/metally*/grungy rock, but never quite coheres or builds up to a satisfying point, with the aggressive, abrasive Noiseness being more earshattering than galvanizing. *Or whatever the hell Don’t is. Transition from said song to Keep the Glove is also Beatles-esque, namely reminiscent of the transition from the heavy, abstract, lyrically sparse I Want You (she’s so heavy) to Here’s Comes the Sun.

Music From Big Pink

The Band

3/5

Enjoyable but very few moments that stand out as particularly extraordinary. Though I do love I Shall be Released. Checked out the Dylan version after I found out he originally wrote it, and, to my suprise, found myself prefering the cover* over the Dylan version, which I rarely do. *(Though their version was recorded earlier, so…) The Last Waltz’s live version with Dylan co-singing might be even better though… might actually check out that album and finally get to watching the Scorsese movie just for that moment alone.

The World is a Ghetto

War

3/5

Four Cornered Room, The World is a Ghetto, and, to a lesser degree, Beetles in the Bog, are great. The Cisco Kid is a decent banger, though repetitious and lacking in the narrative department of the usual Western/Cowboy songs. But "City, Country, City" lacks much emphasis and just aimlessly goes on and on and is therefore rather longwinded at 13 minutes; and Where Was You At is bland and forgettable.

Parachutes

Coldplay

3/5

Suprisingly decent. Tracks #1-5 in particular are really good. Don’t care much for the other half though.

Emergency On Planet Earth

Jamiroquai

2/5

And the award of Most-Black-Woman-Sounding-White-Guy goes to… *checks ”singer of Jamiroquai”*… Jason Kay! Anyhow, this starts out strong enough but becomes rather wearisome in its incessantly pop and nondescriptly fluffy politics. Lots of lyrics that don’t actually mean much, e.g. empty calls for revolution, or laughable revelations, like the fact that White getting two while Black gets five years apparently took the singer a while to ”suss out”, etc.

Blood Sugar Sex Magik

Red Hot Chili Peppers

2/5

Liked many of the songs and the sound in general but holy fuck there is not anything remotely fun or dense enough here to justify the double album length. Lots of repeating choruses and even verses. And the frivilous far outweighs the poignant (Breaking the Girl, I could have Lied, Under the bridge) which I assume is the band’s forté. The rapping is not exactly standout either, though decent.

Microshift

Hookworms

3/5

Probably 3.5★? Enjoyed this a lot, but less so on relistens.

A Rush Of Blood To The Head

Coldplay

2/5

I wasn’t expecting a single Coldplay album in this list, much less encountering two within a week(!). I definitely liked this one is much less—just lots of uninspired writing and sappy vocals that is better served as bland background noise than closely examined music, too inoffensive to even hate.

Second Toughest In The Infants

Underworld

3/5

Loved the first two tracks.

Brothers

The Black Keys

2/5

Pablum. Blues without much soul. Sounds like the soundtrack to mediocre TV. Not terrible, but fluffy and overlong.

Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers

3/5

Pretty decent. Although it probably sounds a little too much like the Beatles/Dylan/Bowie for its own good at various points, and offers few singular qualities that make it worthwhile to revisit.

John Prine

3/5

Pretty good, though a little too straightforwardly country for my tastes.

Cloud Nine

The Temptations

3/5

Too same-y, content wise, and not much sticks out as extraordinary, but it is thoroughly decent.

Wonderful Rainbow

Lightning Bolt

3/5

3.5★. Grew on my immensely on a second listen. Assassins/Dracula Mountain/2 Towers is peak.

The Infotainment Scan

The Fall

2/5

Whatever redeemable music and lyrics might be found (and there definitely seems to be some instrumental skill here) are utterly drowned by E. Smith's incongruous, drawling, rambly, perfunctory nonsinging. I mean seriously, what the fuck is he on about?

Doolittle

Pixies

3/5

Not heads over heels over it, as most others seem to be, but it is enjoyable. Hey is great.

Heroes

David Bowie

2/5

More consistent than Young Americans but the latter has the better - or rather more - highs. (Heroes is great but Fascination is on par with it and Young American + Right >> everything else on here.) Not enthused with either Bowie album encountered so far, in any case, and, outside of a few favorite songs (Deranged + The Man Who Sold The World, plus some of the mentioned songs) I remain lukewarm to the artist in general; remain mostly cold to his narrative style and theatrical vocals.

Modern Kosmology

Jane Weaver

2/5

Easily the most forgettable project I've come across on this list so far (for context: I've listened and rated 43 albums before this one), and the vocals in particular are painfully mediocre. Forgot about it as fast as it was "over" (I didn't even finish it was so bland, which makes a first DNF for this list).

Kenya

Machito

4/5

Great. Sounds like the fantastic soundtrack to a great noir film that unfortunately doesn't exist. Tin Tin Deo is out of this world. Really makes you wish you could be in a 40s/50s Jazz bar listening to a live band.

The White Album

Beatles

4/5

Ah, now that's a familiar one. If I’m being honest it's probably a little too indiscriminate for its own good, as if every Beatle became infected with Paul’s frivolous songwriting spirit. At the same time however, there is scarcely a single moment that I don't enjoy or vibe to on at least a superficial level, Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da/ Piggies/Rocky Raccoon and all. (Though this applies more strongly to Disc 1. That said, even Revolution 9 has its interesting spots.) And then of course you have the highs of Back in the U.S.S.R, Dear Prudence (a previous blindspot), While My Guitar Gently Weeps, Happiness is a Warm Gun, I'm So Tired, Blackbird, Yer Blues, Long, Long, Long (which was my favorite Beatles song for a long, long, long time). The diversity is a big strength, and the album is a rather delectable cornucopia, for the most part.

I’ve Got a Tiger By the Tail

Buck Owens

2/5

The mid ’60s seems rather late for Whams and Bams

Nebraska

Bruce Springsteen

2/5

Decent enough, but nothing stands out to me outside of Atlantic City. Springsteen sings about everything from hardened killers to family troubles to typical country ballads about how hard it is to find a job (applies to Atlantic City, ironically enough) with the same lugubrious tone.

The Real Thing

Faith No More

3/5

Hard Again

Muddy Waters

2/5

Why does every song sound nearly identical? Sometime it’s a little faster, sometimes slower, but it sounds like the same song over and over again with little variation. Maybe it’s a blues thing… maybe it ain’t an album friendly genre.

Nothing's Shocking

Jane's Addiction

3/5

Two very cursory listens. Sounded good based on those, but no song jumped out as exceptional. Will definitely revisit... someday.

The Contino Sessions

Death In Vegas

2/5

Starts really strong with Dirge’s buildup but everything else is just boring noise for the most part, something to put on the background than actively listen too.

Foo Fighters

2/5

Nothing that I’d care to revisit—though polished, it just sounds unexceptional.

In The Court Of The Crimson King

King Crimson

5/5

4.5★. Practically perfect outside of that dull dull section in Moonchild. The unmatched energy of the opener; the serene, elusive I Talk to the Wind; the dystopian, disarrayed augury of Epitaph ("Confusion will be my epitaph"); the fairy-tale quality of the first part of Moonchild; the combination of the rich storytelling, ritualistic bridges and galvanizing instrumentation of The Court of the Crimson King; it's all just so god damn great.

Junkyard

The Birthday Party

2/5

None of this sticks for me, but I have a strange respect for the ugliness, and, in a very general way, enjoy it somewhat.

3/5

Lots of fun music laced with immature lyrics/content. (At least three of the song-titles - and their lyrics - refer to penises and sex, but I guess that kind of puerile joke is someone’s idea of fun.) The Faith Healer is quite good. His rendintion of Scott Walker’s Next, not so much.

Surfer Rosa

Pixies

2/5

Really don’t care for these talking-for-singing vocals.

Green

R.E.M.

3/5

Mostly enjoyable.

Casanova

The Divine Comedy

3/5

3.5★. Scott (2) Walker-lite (bordering on rip-off), so I enjoyed it quite a bit. (Baroque pop ftw I guess!) particularly liked: Something for the Weekend, Becoming More Life Alfie, Songs of Love, The Frog Princess, and A Woman of the World.

You Want It Darker

Leonard Cohen

5/5

4.5★. Not the most musically interesting among Cohen's discography, but the stripped-down production only adds to the dirge-like quality. No skips as far as I'm concerned but Traveling Light is a particular favorite*; "Traveling light, it's au revoir / My once so bright, my fallen star / I'm running late, they'll close the bar / I used to play one mean guitar" ... "Traveling light, like we used to do / I'm traveling light" When it's time to go, we all do. *Though I do looove the violin on Steer Your Way, plus: "And say your mea culpa, which you gradually forgot / Year by year, month by month, day by day / Thought by thought"

Darkness on the Edge of Town

Bruce Springsteen

4/5

What a change of pace from the not-so-successfully somber (i.e. lugubrious) Nebraska. Sometimes the blue-collarism (Factory) and wild-life masculinity (Racing in the Street) can feel like phony affectations, but for the most part this is full of wall-to-wall bangers, with the exception of maybe Candy's Room.

Rum Sodomy & The Lash

The Pogues

3/5

Fun shanty tunes.

Haut de gamme / Koweït, rive gauche

Koffi Olomide

2/5

Each song is an enjoyable enough 3★ but this is a case of diminishing returns with how identical all the songs are.

Raw Power

The Stooges

2/5

Don’t care much for any of the songs here except Penetration (and I Need Somebody, to a lesser degree).

Fuzzy

Grant Lee Buffalo

3/5

3.5★. Tapers after the first three tracks but it’s consistent good, though rarely superlative.

Shleep

Robert Wyatt

3/5

Quirky, humorous, jazzy. Enjoyable, but I wish Wyatt's took the sounds further, as parts of the second half can be dormant.

Born To Run

Bruce Springsteen

4/5

3.5★. This thing is trying to make me a Springsteen fan, and, despite the rough first impression he made on me with Nebraska, it's kind of working... This one's not quite on the level of Darkness on the Edge of Town, but it's a thoroughly good album with some great highlights. Love the saxophones.

Bridge Over Troubled Water

Simon & Garfunkel

3/5

Was more or less unfamiliar with this album outside The Boxer (though I think I might have heard Cecilia while checking out the aforementioned song). Expected to like this a whole lot more based on my experiences with some of the duo's other songs, but was relatively underwhelmed instead. El Condo Pasa (If I Could) is an amazing revelation though (easily my favorite track here), and although a little melodramatic, Bridge Over Trouble Water is quite good as well. And of course The Boxer. Enjoyed this, but was not blown away by any means.

Bat Out Of Hell

Meat Loaf

2/5

That cover and Album name is certainly a choice for this music... Anyhow, it's fine, if not rather exhausting.

Close To You

Carpenters

3/5

3.5★. Some nice harmonies, and of course Karen's voice is quite heavenly—without being in love with its own beauty, crucially.

Abraxas

Santana

3/5

So many intriguing sounds but so little focused tension or release throughout the album.

The Clash

2/5

Boring poppy rock.

Gunfighter Ballads And Trail Songs

Marty Robbins

4/5

Love this album—great storytelling and Marty Robbins is able to get emotional without being sentimental. Particular favorites include Big Iron, They’re Hanging Me Tonight, The Master’s Call, and I generally don’t skip any tracks whenever I’m in the mood for it.

The Yes Album

Yes

2/5

Aimless, boring progressions (or lack thereof).

Moby Grape

3/5

Short and sweet tracks but everything so fleeting that nothing sticks.

Hms Fable

Shack

2/5

Captain’s Table is the only song that I cared for.

Goo

Sonic Youth

3/5

Grew on me on relistens, but still not crazy about it. Vocals are never a highpoint and at times the its sense of nonconfirmity can feel a bit childish. More interesting than not, though, though never as interesting as its cover is cool.

Blonde On Blonde

Bob Dylan

5/5

4.5★. A bit like the Beatles' White album in that it’s not the greatest collection of songs necessarily but it is a thoroughly enjoyable ride for me nonetheless. Moreover, this one happens to be one of my favorite favorite soundscapes in general. And besides the many fun songs you have the unimpeachable Vision of Johanna + Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again + Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands. (The latter two especially are some of my favorite songs of all time, with their swirling, dizzying, hypnotic repetition that just goes on and on and on in a wonderful crescendo.)

London Calling

The Clash

4/5

What a banging set of tunes.

Countdown To Ecstasy

Steely Dan

3/5

Fun instruments, somewhat bland vocals.

25

Adele

3/5

Baaarely three stars though. Adele got a tremendous voice (duh) and I like several of the songs, but holy hell does it get weary with how repetitive and melodramatic it is on the subject of love and about aging (from a 25-year-old!).

Sheet Music

10cc

3/5

Interesting instrumentals and not so interesting wacky lyrics/narratives, as is often the case in this list.

Duck Rock

Malcolm McLaren

3/5

Fun radio-show.

My Generation

The Who

3/5

Not A Hard Day’s Night or anything, but it’s a fun piece of early british rock-pop, though with dminishing returns.

Live At The Star Club, Hamburg

Jerry Lee Lewis

3/5

3.5★. A boisterous 22-minutes. Feels longer than it is, which I say as a good thing (mostly). A little samey (like all early, loud rock-and-roll) but rather fun and energetic.

Eagles

3/5

Much more country than I was expecting. I like Take It Easy, love Witchy Woman, and Take the Devil and Earlybird are good from the backhalf, but many of the songs are also bland.

Roger the Engineer

The Yardbirds

2/5

Starts strong with Lost Women and to a lesser degree Over Under Sideways Down but devolves into a long list of most "ok" and aimless songs thereafter.

Stankonia

OutKast

5/5

4.5★. It took 88 albums (including non-new albums) but I finally got to a new-listen 5-star. I had previously heard and loved several songs from OutKast, both on their own and partly sampling some of their albums, including Ms. Jackson and So Fresh, So Clean. Still, I wasn't expecting a 73-minutes of practically wall-to-wall bangers album, with no skips to speak of (not counting interludes obviously, which are short enough to never be a bother anyway).

Moon Safari

Air

4/5

What a fabulous album—mellow and beautiful.

...Baby One More Time

Britney Spears

3/5

Not exactly the most varied bubblegum pop, though it is fun. The fact that 18-year-old Britney (17 at the time of recording?) was likely inexperienced in any matters of adult relationship also comes across in the shallow/nondescript lyrics, but again, this is catchy and fun and she has some great performances and I’m feeling generous because HIT ME BABY ONE MORE TIME

The Who Sell Out

The Who

2/5

Can’t tell if the title is an ironic deflection or just an unintendedly ironic. Either way, it fits, though from what I’ve heard of them (My Generation, which I enjoyed well enough) The Who were never exactly the most boundry-pushing band to begin with. This gets a little better in the second half, but for the most it sounds like tepid background music—decent enough as that but not particulary captivating.

Power In Numbers

Jurassic 5

4/5

The kind of conscious-rap that could easily feel dorky and cringe but this is assuredly not that. Pretty amazing in fact. Neither the production or performances are showy or gaudy but they are so consistently great. Many great songs (though the last few don’t do much for me, unfortunately) but Thin Line takes the top spot in the first few listens.

Killing Joke

2/5

Half-interesting sounds that go nowhere interesting.

All Mod Cons

The Jam

3/5

Decent pop-rock, though nothing I’d care to revisit based the first impression (or lack thereof) tbh, and that includes the individual songs. (So maybe it should be 2 stars instead.)

Blackstar

David Bowie

4/5

3.5★. Third Bowie prompt on this list so far (The other two being Young Americans and Heroes) and it's easily my favorite of the small bunch. Not a revelation by any means though as I've listened to it a couple of times before. It's not an album that admittedly moves me deeply like it undoubtedly does many Bowie fans (and it's easy to see why, Cohen's last album does the same thing for me) but it's an album I enjoy/admire a lot, and I love how dire and grave it sounds.

The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn

Pink Floyd

3/5

A fun album but nothing major. I’ve given it a handful of listens throughout the years but I can never fully get onboard with the vision, which seems to me split between the psychedelic, childlike, and astronomical, elements that don’t combine in reverberating ways.

Trout Mask Replica

Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band

2/5

A squid eating dough in a Polyethylene bag Is fast and bulbous, got me?

Peter Gabriel

3/5

Peters out in the middle (I don't care for the Moder Love-Excuse Me-Humdrum run) and it’s not exactly the most cohesive of albums, but pretty decent overall with some standouts (Solsburry Hill in particular).

Live At Leeds

The Who

2/5

Nothing particularly exciting.

Follow The Leader

Korn

2/5

Only listened to a couple of songs, having been turned off by the lazy vocal work and mixing.

Funeral

Arcade Fire

3/5

3.5★. Wears its heart on its sleeves but I’m admittedly partial to it in this case.

Sunday At The Village Vanguard

Bill Evans Trio

3/5

But like two stars if we're judging based on its ability to captivate and hold one's attention, a criterion which it is too dormant and too genteel to meet. Pleasantly tingling and sophisticated background music otherwise.

The White Room

The KLF

3/5

Beep boop

Live Through This

Hole

2/5

Sounds fine - good even - but there's something adolescent about grunge rage that I just can't get into.

The Man Who

Travis

3/5

A little one-note but decent. The hidden track is one of the best.

Tres Hombres

ZZ Top

2/5

Not much that stands outside of Waitin’ for the Bus.

The Colour Of Spring

Talk Talk

2/5

Most of this sounds like ponderous nothingness

If You Can Believe Your Eyes & Ears

The Mamas & The Papas

3/5

POV: you're a hippie taking a roadtrip throughout the US in the late 60s/early 70s. Favorites: California Dreams and Spanish Harlem. Monday, monday is good too.

Wild Is The Wind

Nina Simone

3/5

Whole lot more gooey daddy/baby singing than one would expect or hope for from Simone. Some good songs here but it’s also a somewhat disparate collection.

Only By The Night

Kings of Leon

2/5

Toothless.

Gorillaz

2/5

A little soporific. Tries out some different sounds but does justice to few of them (though Latin Simone was a pleasant suprise).

Chirping Crickets

Buddy Holly & The Crickets

2/5

Some decent enough songs but nothing stands out.

Boston

2/5

Populist rock; empty energy.

Electric Music For The Mind And Body

Country Joe & The Fish

3/5

3.5★. Eclectic and pretty rad.

Paris 1919

John Cale

3/5

Enjoyable as a whole, though I'm not crazy about any of the individual songs outside of the opener.

Buena Vista Social Club

4/5

3.5★. Now that's a club one would have liked to have visited. (Apparently Wim Wenders has a documentary on the group from around the same time, so some sort of visit is possible!)

Otis Blue/Otis Redding Sings Soul

Otis Redding

3/5

A mighty tool (Redding’s voice) used for less worthy material (frivolous lyrics), not too different than the case of Nina Simone and Wild Is The Wind (which I got not too long ago), though in both cases the material is nonetheless elevated by the artists.

Pills 'n' Thrills And Bellyaches

Happy Mondays

3/5

Better when the vocals are off though...

Smash

The Offspring

2/5

Vapid energy - lacks any artful contrast or dramatic tension

The Bends

Radiohead

3/5

Always found this one a little on the sappier side, especially compared to their later output which is infinitely more interesting from a musical, lyrical and vocal standpoint. This still contains several good song though and Street Spirit (Fade Out) remains an S-tier Radiohead song.

Heavy Weather

Weather Report

3/5

Decent Electric Jazz

Orbital 2

Orbital

3/5

The songs on the electronic albums that pop up on this list tend to be hit or miss (miss in the sense of indifference) for the most part; but man, when they hit, they tend to hit hard. Lush 3-1 and Halcyon and On and On hit hard. (The rest is fine too, as background noise, with rare moments stealing your attention.)

Sheer Heart Attack

Queen

3/5

A little frontloaded for me, and the baroque elements are a bit monotone.

Vulgar Display Of Power

Pantera

2/5

Listened to two songs before I grew tired of the screeching vocals. Totally melodramatic.

Introducing The Hardline According To Terence Trent D'Arby

Terence Trent D'Arby

2/5

Some enjoyable tracks here but the project is predicated on being an one-man anthem and there is not enough soul here to counteract the impersonal production.

Talking Timbuktu

Ali Farka Touré

3/5

Decent, if not a bit too monntone and lowkey

Pretenders

3/5

Fun.

Smile

Brian Wilson

2/5

I could not get into Pet Sounds when I tried years ago, so a discount Beach Boys album is obviously not going to be epiphanic. (Though I remain slightly hopeful for when the former inevitably shows up for me on this list.)

Snivilisation

Orbital

3/5

3.5★. Liked this a lot, and more than Orbital 2. A little too repetitive to be actively listened to in its entirety, but at the same with enough flashes to steal your attention at intervals.

Abbey Road

Beatles

5/5

4.5★. I mean, it's Abbey Road... Harrison is still getting the short-shrift here with only two songs, but they proved to be the two biggest hits (though I guess Come Together could also lay a claim to a spot) so there's that. Meanwhile, McCartney's talents seem to be applied to their ideal state in that endless medley of songs (his vocals on the initial section of You Never Give Me Your Money are enough to make me cry, even though the lyrics are so insignificant). And John is John. Because is wonderfully elusive, and a masterpiece of harmonies. And I Want You (She's So Heavy) is not only the greatest love song ever made but maybe the greatest song. And while the transition from that to Here Comes the Sun is more notable, the transition from the lighthearted instrumentals of Octopus's Garden to the heavy Bass of I Want You has an equally transformative effect on me. In essence: it's alright.

Time Out Of Mind

Bob Dylan

4/5

3.5★. I was unfamiliar with this album outside of Highlands, which I've listened to many times. (In fact, outside of Blood on the Tracks I'm completely unfamiliar with post-'60s Bob Dylan albums.) I was pleasantly surprised. These are obviously not his greatest lyrics but they are fittingly pared down to fit the moody atmosphere. This feels like a great complement to BOTT, a darker and more hopeless resignation compared to the more energetic, half-sneering tones of the earlier album. This is a break-up with no new roads in sight. Standing in the Doorway and Love Sick are the standouts on the first few hasty listens (outside of the aforementioned Highlands).

Don't Stand Me Down

Dexys Midnight Runners

2/5

Annoying vocal/conversational style...

Fetch The Bolt Cutters

Fiona Apple

4/5

Dug this a lot. Listened to the first couple of songs a long while ago but never got around to listening to the whole album, so I'm glad it showed up on this list. It never quite stays on the same track for too long which is nice as it keeps you on your toes.

Urban Hymns

The Verve

2/5

Not enough stands out for the lengths... still some decent stuff though.

good kid, m.A.A.d city

Kendrick Lamar

4/5

Thought it was an automatic 5-star when it popped up but landed on 4 instead. Can’t tell if I’m just a too used by it to be amazed or what… I will say that some of the placements are weak. Compton in particular (Real is the real closer) but also Poetic Justice, which while a good song, never actually fits the album space, and is ill-fitting after the hopeless day-dreaming of Money Trees. Plus I’ve never too big a fan of the reliance of interludes (baked into the songs in this case) as a storytelling device. Otherwise this is still full of bangers, obviously, with Money Trees, the two title songs (good kid is by far the most underrated song) and SAMIDOT hitting the hardest. Still probably a weaker 4.5★.

Hunky Dory

David Bowie

4/5

3.5★. First half starts out strong with songs like Changes, Oh! You Pretty Things, Life on Mars? and Quicksand, but the second doesn't maintain that level of, uh, fascination. But then the album closes with The Bewlay Brothers, a superstellar closer with a mysterious power that redeems the entire thing (WE WERE SO TURNED ON... by your lack of conclusions...!!!)

My Aim Is True

Elvis Costello

3/5

Decent, but not much stood out

Histoire De Melody Nelson

Serge Gainsbourg

2/5

Why is this French dude whispering indistinctly into my ears? Don't care about it enough to give it 1 star but it might be the empties thing I've come across on this list so far (137ish albums in).

Club Classics Vol. One

Soul II Soul

2/5

Must be some pretty dull clubs. Backhalf has sole decent moments that incorperate female vocals. But mostly it’s just vaporous.

Lupe Fiasco's Food & Liquor

Lupe Fiasco

2/5

Sounds so poppy, pander-y, borderline childish. What little I've heard of his later (post-2018) output sounds much better.

At San Quentin

Johnny Cash

2/5

Hey I think somebody is smuggling in music in this standup special! (Not that I cared for the music.)

Meat Puppets II

Meat Puppets

2/5

How to ruin some otherwise decent music with some terrible vocals 101. It's no surprise then that the instrumental-heavy second half is better than the first half.

Risque

CHIC

3/5

Some Good Times indeed. Some of the tracks are so long and repetitive that it's kind of a miracle that they don't particularly feel it.

Illmatic

Nas

4/5

Lives up to the hype, though I will need to relisten and dive deeper to fully appreciate.

Purple Rain

Prince

4/5

Glad I gave this another full listen. Pretty fantastic record, particularly when Prince pushes his vocal cords to the extreme. The Beautiful Ones is my favorite, but there are several songs that I’m fond of.

American Beauty

Grateful Dead

3/5

Decent.

Nowhere

Ride

4/5

Pretty great. Wasn't the biggest fan of the vocals at the start but they employ a different style as it goes on (if not a different vocalist altogether). Some beautiful, busy music, in any case. Dreams Burn Down is fantastic.

Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

Beatles

4/5

3.5★. A seminal album partly because it's one of the earlier concept albums... except of course there is no overarching thematic or sonic ideas here, the Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band framing device being employed only to open and close the show (and not even that, given that A Day in The Life is the actual closer). Anyhow, this is probably the most overrated Beatles album; I haven't listened to Let It Be sufficiently but this seems comfortably to be the worst collection of McCartney song, and he seems to be disproportionately represented here compared to the other albums. She's Leaving Home is the only songs of his that I like, and that lonely exception isn't exactly a career or album defining song. Nonetheless, an overrated Beatles album is still a pretty good one. With A Little Help From My Friends is a lovely song (and credit where credit due, McCartney was the primary writer); Within You Without You is one of the most singular and wonderfully out-there Beatles songs; and when all else fails, Lennon is at the rescue, creating carnivalesque psychedelia (Being For The Benefit of Mr. Kite!) and everyday surrealism (the inimitable A Day In The Life) from, we are told, newspaper clippings. No one will ever convince me that they were comparable songwriters, whatever else musical talents Paul might have (had). (Which isn't to say that he isn't a great songwriter in his own right, there's just levels to it.)

Rumours

Fleetwood Mac

4/5

Even regarded as only a fraction of its reputation it’s still pretty damn good.

Ambient 1/Music For Airports

Brian Eno

4/5

Like a pleasant, comforting coda played at the end of the line. The irony of the title (and the album's intent, I suppose) is that no airport would actually play this eerily calm music (though parts of e.g. 2/1 are more ”active” and heightened, for lack of better words); Eno's sounds are meant for a far stranger terminal, a transitional limbo to an alien country.

Pet Sounds

The Beach Boys

4/5

Have had some false starts with this prior but never been able to get into it... this time (or rather times) I was quite taken. I like many of the songs but I like the album even more as a one giant orchestral piece with many movements. It's just so luscious and multilayered, like a harmonic trip for the ears. And all this for what? For aw-shucks Americana, simple boy-meets-girl (or boy-pines-after-girl) mawkishness. Quite funny. (Pretty incredible that I almost got this, Sgt. Pepper's, and Rumours in a row, interrupted only by Eno's Music For Airports. Would it be blasphemous to say that I like Eno's ambiance album as much as the others? Well, that's the case anyhow.)

So Much For The City

The Thrills

2/5

Man, getting Sgt Pepper's, Rumours, Eno's Music For Airports, and Pet Sounds in a row (not to mention Prince's Purple Rain and Nas' Illmatic the previous week) spoilt me and made me forget how mediocre most of the list actually is. This is not totally irredeemable - I enjoyed it for its first two tracks - but the combination of the nasal voice and juvenile love lyrics just sounds stupid after a while, though in a ho-hum rather than offensive way.

Raw Like Sushi

Neneh Cherry

2/5

Decent first song and nothing else

Exile In Guyville

Liz Phair

2/5

Decent music, mediocre lyrics, bad vocals.

Master Of Puppets

Metallica

3/5

Battery is great, the rest is decent, give or take. This type of metal tends to have dimishing returns for me.

Superunknown

Soundgarden

2/5

Listened only to 5 songs here (i.e. a third) before dipping to spare myself from the boredom.

The Renaissance

Q-Tip

3/5

3.5★. Consistently good, but that praise is double-edged and might serve as an indictment given that its consistency also amounts to a monotonousness. (Still really good though.)

Document

R.E.M.

2/5

I just can't get into the stilted, stuffy, self-serious vocals…

Sound of Silver

LCD Soundsystem

3/5

3.5★. A bit of a hit-and-miss. The good stuff (Get Innocuous, Someone Great, All My Friends, New York, I Love You but You're Bringing Me Down) is great but I don’t care much for the rest.

Deep Purple In Rock

Deep Purple

4/5

That was pretty great.

Fisherman's Blues

The Waterboys

3/5

3.5★. Hey, why does Paul McCartney have writing credit on this song? (Sweet Thing) *Dude starts singing Blackbird out of nowhere* Oh. Fisherman's Blues and When Will We Be Married slap. Something about We Will Not Be Lovers just hits deeply (it's probably my favorite song of the bunch). And The Stolen Child is powerfully suggestive and elusive.

Hot Buttered Soul

Isaac Hayes

3/5

Will need to revisit but for now I enjoy this and nothing more. The middle parts of the second track drags with little progression and the 9-minute preamble to 18-minute By The Time I Get To Phoenix (so that's where Injury Reserve got their album title from) doesn't exactly endear it in my eyes. So really the opening track is doing a lot of the heavy lifting here.

Tusk

Fleetwood Mac

3/5

3.5★. A little long and soft but still lots to like here.

Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music

Ray Charles

3/5

Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music transformed into Love Songs to Slow Dance To. Too respectable and inoffensive to fully embrace at such a length, especially given the lack of variation. The backing choir on I can’t Stop Loving You sound incredible though.

Dummy

Portishead

4/5

I've listened to Glory Box and Roads many many times now but only listened to this album for the first time a few months ago (and didn't revisit it much either, knowing that it'd eventually pop up here anyways). It's pretty much the epitome of embodying a mood and sound, with the doomed, dark romance thoroughly permeating the entire thing. "Give me a reason to love you Give me a reason to be a woman I just wanna be a woman"

The Next Day

David Bowie

3/5

"Surprisingly good" is what'd I say if Blackstar didn't literally come out after this but this does surprisingly sound very close to his earlier materials - I guess the Blackstar voice was more affected than premused. Similarity with his early material is not a guarantee of success or resonance with me but in this case I enjoyed the album as a whole, even if there weren't too many standouts.

Green River

Creedence Clearwater Revival

3/5

Decent/fine/whatever-lukewarmly-positive-adjective-you-wanna-use.

Suzanne Vega

2/5

Sleepy and bland vocals.

Fear Of A Black Planet

Public Enemy

2/5

Having only listened to Harder Than You Think (which is an incredible banger) and Fight The Power, I was excited to finally check out some more Public Enemy. Unfortunately I didn't end up liking this; I found it unvarying in its raps and flows, which makes the length feel even more interminable.

The Hissing Of Summer Lawns

Joni Mitchell

3/5

Many interesting and pleasant sounds here but Mitchell's vocals isn't one of them. Edith and the Kingpin is a great track.

Live At The Harlem Square Club

Sam Cooke

3/5

Barely three stars just for Sam Cooke's energy, though I was not crazy about the songs themselves. More importantly, live albums are just an awkward middle ground that I find hard to appreciate since the thing that makes live performances special is actually being there (says the man who has never gone to a concert!).

Black Holes and Revelations

Muse

4/5

Ah, it’s been a couple of years since I listened to this, so pleasant to encounter it here. Never understood all the Radiohead comparisons but it seems more obvious now, though most of the similarities seem to me in the vocals rather than the music. In any case, this album has plenty of lovable bangers, and I don’t recall finding Take a Bow to be one of my favorites, but now it definitely is.

All Directions

The Temptations

3/5

Strangely restrained for being so funky, which I found really interesting even if I couldn’t get into the album fullt. Need to give this some more closer listens as I didn’t give it the best of circumstances to impress even if I listened to it twice though. Still liked it.

Copper Blue

Sugar

2/5

Sounds like R.E.M., which is not a good thing in my case… though I probably actually prefer this - which is far more energetic/less self-serious - to R.E.M.

Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots

The Flaming Lips

2/5

Sorry but I don’t care about your sad songs about a robot-fighting anime girl or whatever.

Moondance

Van Morrison

3/5

3.5★. Very enjoyable (though a bit same-y) and nothing more.

Juju

Siouxsie And The Banshees

3/5

3.5★. Really enjoyed this.

Crosby, Stills & Nash

2/5

Pleasant enough harmonies but with nothing else to latch onto the album ends up being sleepy. Don't think I will be revisiting anything here beyond the opener. Crazy to think that they would go on to make Deja Vu just a year later (maybe Y is the missing ingredient).

Ellington at Newport

Duke Ellington

3/5

Sorry Seb, but I listened to this passively, as elevator music that was free to catch my attention here and there whenever it felt like it. And it did, here and there. Three stars is probably generous, but whatever. I hate live albums and those aspects here don't exactly entice, but I've also loved what little Duke Ellington that I've heard (mainly his soundtrack for Anatomy of a Murder) and the livelier aspects of this set reminded me of that.

1984

Van Halen

2/5

Sounds like the soundtrack of a film that became dated the minute it dropped.

Moss Side Story

Barry Adamson

2/5

Cool idea, but 1) it doesn’t actually sound like a soundtrack, and 2) it’s not particularly interesting anyways

School's Out

Alice Cooper

3/5

Lukewarm rock. Indifferent to most of the songs but liked some enough that I'll let my temporary generosity win out.

Zombie

Fela Kuti

2/5

Stuck between reserved respect and sheer indifference. Nothing this jazzy could be totally boring but not only do the songs linger on but they all sound the same/follow the same structure…

Let's Get It On

Marvin Gaye

3/5

Sounds good but there’s only so much oozy babying that one can take.

British Steel

Judas Priest

2/5

Starts decent enough but like most metal from this era I simply find it interminably boring.

Can't Buy A Thrill

Steely Dan

3/5

Once again I have been deceived by a great opening track that the rest of the album doesn’t remotely live up to.

Fever To Tell

Yeah Yeah Yeahs

3/5

Will have to revisit but I liked this. Maps is definitely the best track here like everyone and their mother points out but the other songs are decent too.

Time Out

The Dave Brubeck Quartet

3/5

A little too pleasant on the whole but does have its magical moments.

Rust Never Sleeps

Neil Young & Crazy Horse

4/5

3.5★. Sad boy winter.

Electric Warrior

T. Rex

3/5

Contains some nice songs but a little too mellow overall. Mambo Sun rules though.

Close To The Edge

Yes

3/5

Supposedly one of the great prog albums, on par with the best of King Crimson and Pink Floyd, among others. In that case, I'm a man of poor taste because I was neither that impressed nor moved by this.

Superfly

Curtis Mayfield

3/5

Cool but mostly just decent. (What's the rationale for choosing which soundtracks to include into this list anyhow...?) The first track (Little Child Runnin' Wild) blows everything else out of the water.

Bryter Layter

Nick Drake

2/5

Sad sleepy boy winter… nothing here (lyrics, vocals or music) grabbed me.

Let's Get Killed

David Holmes

2/5

A pack of emptiness, a big nothingburger.

Locust Abortion Technician

Butthole Surfers

3/5

Thought this would be my first 1-star based on the first few minutes of the first song but I actually ended up enjoying it - decent noise.

They Were Wrong, So We Drowned

Liars

3/5

Somehow brought to mind both Swans and Sonic Youth - no small task. Pretty cool project. Probably a 3.5★.

Tidal

Fiona Apple

3/5

Didn’t hit as hard as Fetch the Bolt Cutters. It’s less fierce and more drawly. The First Taste slaps though, and I did enjoy the album in general more on the second listen, so maybe it's a grower. Will revisit eventually anyways.

Siembra

Willie Colón & Rubén Blades

3/5

Decent. *shuffles away playing maracas*

Sometimes I Wish We Were An Eagle

Bill Callahan

3/5

Hey, it’s that dude from Joanna Newsom’s Only Skin! I enjoyed this well enough but tbh the lyrics sound like discarded poetry, at best.

Violator

Depeche Mode

4/5

Pretty incredible. Out of the ~200 albumsd generated so far it might be my second favorite new-listen (after Outkast’s Stankonia). Almost thought about giving it 5 stars but the tailend is a weaker for me (including Enjoy The Silence, though the start of that song reminds me of New Order’s Vanishing Point, which is one of my favorites), Policy of Truth notwithstanding.

Suede

4/5

Beautiful... So Young is sooooo Gorgeous.

Californication

Red Hot Chili Peppers

2/5

First half is decent enough, but there's just something deeply unserious about RHCP, particularly whenever the lead singer decides to start rapping.

Billion Dollar Babies

Alice Cooper

2/5

Bland rock… I Love The Dead is not exactly a good song but at least it features some exciting instrumentalization. (Also, Cooper sounds so much like Paul McCartney on Mary Ann.)

The Cars

3/5

Decent operatic rock. Sounds like discount Queens.

From Elvis In Memphis

Elvis Presley

3/5

Enjoyable. Was not expecting to encounter a '69 Elvis album on this list.

Live And Dangerous

Thin Lizzy

3/5

Sounds like a good show. One of the few times where I'd probably enjoy live renditions more than studio versions.

Seventeen Seconds

The Cure

3/5

Pretty good Ambient Rock, if that’s a thing. (It should be.) Will revisit.

Brothers In Arms

Dire Straits

3/5

3.5★. Really good. Will revisit.

Dirt

Alice In Chains

2/5

Did not give this the most attentive listen, so this should be taken by a grain of salt, including by my future self, but this is decent-but-nothing-extraordinary, a bit boring.

Cosmo's Factory

Creedence Clearwater Revival

3/5

A 1970 album that sounds like ’50s Rock, Blues and Country, and somehow less progressive. I guess it was a nostalgic throwback. Decently enjoyable still (the second half might be stronger, which rarely happens), thought I’m unlikely to revisit any of this material.

L.A. Woman

The Doors

4/5

3.5★. A great mix of boggy, swampy blues, traditional rock 'n' roll and the more surreal/somber psychedelia that The Doors are famous for.

Elephant Mountain

The Youngbloods

2/5

Imagine you’re 83, on your deathbed, you finally get to the last album of 1001 Albums You Must Listen To Before You Die, and it’s this. You pass away listening to this. That scenario should serve as a litmus test for whether items are worthy of being included into these lists by listmakers. That is after all what the title suggests. Needless to say, this does does not pass said (imaginative) test.

Nighthawks At The Diner

Tom Waits

2/5

Good music and nigh unbearable logorrhea. Tom Waits seems like one of those dudes who’s drunk on his own shoddy poetry.

She's So Unusual

Cyndi Lauper

4/5

What a banging set of pop tunes.

Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere

Neil Young & Crazy Horse

4/5

3.5★. Had a lukewarm reaction initially but fell in love with the last two songs (particularly the last - Cowgirl in the Sand) and gave it another listen and ended up liking it a lot more.

A Christmas Gift For You From Phil Spector

Various Artists

3/5

Merry Christmas.

Led Zeppelin III

Led Zeppelin

3/5

Nothing comes close to Immigrant Song + Since I've Been Loving You.

Morrison Hotel

The Doors

3/5

A stepping stone for the more adventurous L.A. Woman. Waiting for the Sun is great though.

Born In The U.S.A.

Bruce Springsteen

4/5

3.5★. Not quite DotEoT but really good. Against my better judgment I find myself helplessly enjoying Springsteen's catchy, commercial Americana. Love love I'm on Fire.

Joan Baez

3/5

I don't know if album-length Joan Baez (and a long one at that) is something that I'd casually engage in in my free time. Her voice is "beautiful" but almost a bit much, though I generally like it here. (When I don't it's usually in material that I'm more familiar with, e.g. renditions of Dylan songs.) Donna Donna is a wonderful wonderful discovery from this album.

Tapestry

Carole King

3/5

3.5★. Very cozy and a little dozy. Didn’t get to relisten

Vulnicura

Björk

3/5

I enjoyed it more musically than vocally or lyrically, but then again I didn't understand most of what Björk was singing.

Here's Little Richard

Little Richard

3/5

3.5★. Imagine how hard this must have slapped on the jukebox.

Myths Of The Near Future

Klaxons

3/5

For all the hints of mysticism and the estoric this remains rather poppy and clean in its soundmixing and playing.

Amnesiac

Radiohead

3/5

It seems I remembered this more fondly than I actually appreciated it. I thought I liked it a lot but now it just feels like the leftovers of Kid A. Maybe I did actually like it more a couple of years ago but then again the fact that I didn't relisten to it a lot or often is probably indicative of my never being fully taken with it. Packt (opening track), You and Whose Army?, I Might Be Wrong and Life In a Glasshouse are all great, but the rest I pretty much could do without. (Pyramid Song and Knives Out are also decent, but just sound so generically Radioheady.)

Ocean Rain

Echo And The Bunnymen

3/5

Decently fun.

Hotel California

Eagles

2/5

Was lukewarm on their self-titled but I just don’t care one iota about this one.

Raising Hell

Run-D.M.C.

2/5

Obviously dated, and while fun, my potential enjoyment for this era of rap is pretty limited - the rapping tends to be too monotone, for the most part.

Music Has The Right To Children

Boards of Canada

3/5

Rather repetitive. Would make for decent background music, even to relax to, which I’m sure is what every musicians wants to hear about their music.

Darkdancer

Les Rythmes Digitales

2/5

I feel like you could find 1001 electronic albums more worthy of inclusion if you really tried.

The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan

Bob Dylan

4/5

Great album, but probably a slight step behind The Times They Are A-Changin’ (though it’s been a while), and at least two behind Bringing It All Back Home, Highway 61 Revisited, Blonde on Blonde, and Blood on the Tracks. But that’s not saying much. It had been a while since I listened to this and the less famous second half is suprisingly funny.

Rock 'N Soul

Solomon Burke

4/5

3.5★. This stuff is good for the soul.

Sound Affects

The Jam

3/5

Some fabulous music that to mind is held back by often mediocre vocals and lyrics.

Bluesbreakers

John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers

3/5

First song is the only exceptional one.

MTV Unplugged In New York

Nirvana

3/5

Decent set.

The Rising

Bruce Springsteen

3/5

3.5★. Enjoyed this a lot in sections but it's probably a bit too long.

Post Orgasmic Chill

Skunk Anansie

3/5

Decent. The Skank Heads is a banger.

Highway to Hell

AC/DC

2/5

There is probably White Girl Pop that goes harder than this.

Exodus

Bob Marley & The Wailers

3/5

Nothing remotely as powerful as Natural Mystic but I liked it on the whole.

Emperor Tomato Ketchup

Stereolab

2/5

Fluffy enough that you’ll often forget that you’re listening to music, interesting enough that you’ll be drawn back into it here and there. Just not often enough.

Slipknot

2/5

"Maybe if we scream incessantly and loud enough it will seem intense and interesting." No.

Arthur (Or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire)

The Kinks

3/5

3.5★. Liked some songs (Brainwashed, Australia) a lot. But something kept this from sounding more than Beatles-lite.

Let Love Rule

Lenny Kravitz

2/5

One of the more amateurish-sounding records I’ve encountered on the list so far (from lyrics, singing, production) and I’m 240+ albums deep into it.

Shaka Zulu

Ladysmith Black Mambazo

3/5

3.5★. Nice harmonies, but very repetitive. Still, it’s a pleasant repetition - like attending a beautiful church service that you can zone out to.

Reign In Blood

Slayer

2/5

Again, the sort of continually and artlessly loud metal that turns (mostly) dull within a minute, and this one has some cringeworthy emo lyrics to boot.

Aladdin Sane

David Bowie

2/5

David Bowie songs tend to be hot or cold for me and this album is mostly full of freezing ones.

Axis: Bold As Love

Jimi Hendrix

3/5

Don't think I ever listened to this in its entirety, despite loving Little Wing + If 6 Was 9 + Castles Made of Sand (to a lesser degree). Unfortunately this dive didn't end up resulting in the discovery of any other truly strong songs. Maybe One Rainy Wish, but that's about it.

My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

Kanye West

5/5

4.5★. No longer my favorite album, as it once was, nor even my favorite Kanye (College Dropout and Yeezus share that honor), and although there are some bathetic blotches throughout (black balls lines in Gorgeous, "picture of my dick" line in Runaway, that entire Chris Rock voice message on Blame Game, even though it's hilarious) this is still 13 tracks with not a single miss as far as I'm concerned. It's like Outkast's Stankonia in that sense, and while Kanye's rapping - outside of Gorgeous - isn't anywhere as impressive, the maximalist production is incredible.

Siamese Dream

The Smashing Pumpkins

3/5

Not too crazy about any of the songs.

Dig Your Own Hole

The Chemical Brothers

2/5

So subdued that I can't imagine it functioning as background music, much less being played at clubs - I pretty much forgot I was listening to it early on.

Kind Of Blue

Miles Davis

3/5

3.5★. Kind of Subdued. Still, what a mood.

Lazer Guided Melodies

Spiritualized

3/5

Pleasant but too fluffy to truly affect.

With The Beatles

Beatles

3/5

Love the Beatles but this is one too much of the same love song.

Head Hunters

Herbie Hancock

2/5

Maybe that’s part of the intent, but it’a hard to take this ”seriously” - there’s just something unserious about the sound. (And no, it’s not because it’s funky, which is usually ”fun” and not necessarily comedic.)

What's That Noise?

Coldcut

3/5

Sounds fun. Wish it was on spotify.

Debut

Björk

3/5

Björk's vocals - or the music itself - don't resonate often enough for me to love this, but this is undoubtedly singular and when it does strike a cord it strikes a totally unique one.

The Downward Spiral

Nine Inch Nails

3/5

I became aware of Reznor (& Ross) through his soundtrack work, which I admiteddly like and love much more than the personal/NIN releases that I’ve heard. But while I’ve listened to this once or twice before, albeit not so carefully, I’m suprised that I didn’t previously realize just how much of a precursor this is to his scores in terms of the techno-y sound. That’s unfortunately not enough of a strength to love this, as much of the edgy lyrics and emo singing is just the type of music that’s bound to fall flat for me. Between the opening and closing tracks only two songs stoos out to me, and one of them is the completely instrumental A Warm Place.

Bert Jansch

3/5

Sleepy blues. Decent.

A Girl Called Dusty

Dusty Springfield

3/5

Decent enough, but just not that interesting to listen to.

Who's Next

The Who

2/5

Don’t really care for any of this.

Dog Man Star

Suede

5/5

4.5★. An improvement on their already fabulous self-titled debut... Just thoroughly and absolutely gorgeous and beautiful. 261 albums in and this is my second first-listen five-star album (after Stankonia). Love it love it love it.

Imagine

John Lennon

3/5

Imagine all the Beatles… It’s easy if you try.

This Year's Model

Elvis Costello & The Attractions

3/5

Pretty fun. But like with My Aim Is True only one song stood out (Lipstick Vogue in this case, Miracle Man in the other).

Time (The Revelator)

Gillian Welch

3/5

Decent.

Steve McQueen

Prefab Sprout

3/5

3.5★. Really liked the first half, but the second does take a drop, although nothing bad.

The Holy Bible

Manic Street Preachers

3/5

Lots of indecipherable singing. Liked the first two songs.

The Gershwin Songbook

Ella Fitzgerald

3/5

That’s a lot of songs! (Strange how they slapped on the purely instrumental ”disc” 6 as well.)

Bookends

Simon & Garfunkel

2/5

Didn’t care much for any of this.

Infected

The The

3/5

Starts strong, diminishes as it goes on. Decent.

The Atomic Mr Basie

Count Basie & His Orchestra

4/5

Really landed for me on second listen; brings to mind the atmosphere of a sleazy noir.

Pacific Ocean Blue

Dennis Wilson

3/5

Listened to the whole two-hour deluxe, though the rating is only for the actual album, which is decent.

Aftermath

The Rolling Stones

2/5

Some incredibly repetitive and not particulary interesting blues. (UK version.)

Crocodiles

Echo And The Bunnymen

3/5

Vaguely attractive.

1999

Prince

2/5

Practically every song - and consequently the album as a whole - is incredibly long and repetitive.

Get Rich Or Die Tryin'

50 Cent

2/5

While I admit that there are many bangers here, I also don’t really care much for most of them, at least when taken together. For one thing 50 is not that great of a rapper, for another the songs don’t exactly offer any variation in terms of music, rapping or lyrical content.

Step In The Arena

Gang Starr

2/5

Again, like most old school rap I just finf this monotone.

Innervisions

Stevie Wonder

5/5

Might be one of the most beautiful albums that I’ve listened to. (Visions is like the platonic ideal of what Imagine was trying to be, and I say this as a huge Beatles/Lennon fan.) Just wonderful. Never really listened to Stevie Wonder and I love his young voice here.

Kick Out The Jams (Live)

MC5

2/5

Forgettable, indistinguishable noise.

Let It Bleed

The Rolling Stones

2/5

Much like Aftermath (both versions) this is one good song followed up by a bunch of not-so-good ones, in this case not-so-good blues imitation.

Lady In Satin

Billie Holiday

2/5

It sounds like the same song over and over again, and if I’m bring honest Holiday’s voice doesn’t exactly enchant in this album. (If I’m being doubly honest it often sounds like Louise Armstrong, and since Holiday is attempting to reach traditional Beauty rather than any other quality there aren’t many charms to the guttural.)

Getz/Gilberto

Stan Getz

4/5

That was wonderful.

Rio

Duran Duran

2/5

Decent enough, but it’s just too poppy in a repetive and not particularly fun way.

The Beach Boys Today!

The Beach Boys

3/5

Listening to The Beach Boys is like watching a world-class chef choosing to work in fast food, carefully constructing the same shitty ingredients into the something more delectable. Sure, it’ll improve the product, but why waste your talent?

Out Of The Blue

Electric Light Orchestra

3/5

Sweet… maybe too sweet. A little long and same-y throughout.

Future Days

Can

2/5

Hardly anything exciting, though it’s decent enough in spots.

Felt Mountain

Goldfrapp

3/5

Not the strongest impression (it sort of fades into the background, especially when not paying strict attention to it) but an impression nonetheless, and a decently moody one at that. Will need to revisit.

Ten

Pearl Jam

3/5

Decent music, meh vocals.

Songs Of Leonard Cohen

Leonard Cohen

5/5

4.5★. Ever since I heard The Stranger Song (and some other songs from this album) in McCabe & Mrs. Miller Leonard Cohen has been one of my favorite artist (and that song one of my absolute favorites). Though I didn’t like the surrounding songs as much when I listened to the album the first few times, but it has grown on me over time and now I more or less thoroughly adore it.

Like A Prayer

Madonna

3/5

Decent fun with some standouts (Like a Prayer, Till the Death Us Part).

Feast of Wire

Calexico

3/5

A smörgåsboard of sounds and genres that, like the chosen metaphoric image would suggest, does not necessary amount into a cohesive meal, though each one is good enough on its own.

Iron Maiden

4/5

4.5★. Man, if more Metal had this kind of beauty, this kind of oscillation—this kind of music—I would be such a huge fan. (Though I see that some question whether this is even Metal or just ”hard rock,” which also came to mind while listening.) The hideously grisly cover (seems to be the band’s m.o.) is totally misleading from the kind of refreshing energy and poetic flourishes that can be found in this thing.

Definitely Maybe

Oasis

3/5

3.5★. Thoroughly fun, although relistening to the first half again and the magic seems to be fading already, so who knows if Oasis (or this album) will become something that I revisit more than once.

Tonight's The Night

Neil Young

2/5

Pretty much nothing here caught my interest. Sounds like the background atmosphere of a dingy, drab, dismal bar.

Guitar Town

Steve Earle

3/5

Decent.

(Pronounced 'Leh-'Nérd 'Skin-'Nérd)

Lynyrd Skynyrd

3/5

Alright.

I Want To See The Bright Lights Tonight

Richard Thompson

3/5

I like the bit where they turn Irish.

Ritual De Lo Habitual

Jane's Addiction

2/5

Decent music, not so decent vocals, a tale as old as, well, instruments…

Court And Spark

Joni Mitchell

3/5

Thought I had acquired the Joni Mitchell taste after the first couple of songs, but my appreciation waned to the sameness of the songs throughout.

Ananda Shankar

3/5

Very cool. Listened to Sagar practically all day (I wish the last part of it took a larger portion of the song or was extended).

Antichrist Superstar

Marilyn Manson

2/5

Not all of it is as cringeworthy as the first song’s lyrics would suggest, but Manson’s edgy posturing is never remotely enticing nonetheless, even though the instrumentals are actually strong.

Oar

Alexander 'Skip' Spence

2/5

Listenes to about a third. Not unlistenable by any means but it is nonetheless the kind of dull that gives you an irresistable urge to change the channel.

Heaven Or Las Vegas

Cocteau Twins

4/5

Fabulous, liked it even more than previous times.

Vauxhall And I

Morrissey

3/5

Decent, though Morrissey’s lyrics can often feel slapdash.

NEU! 75

Neu!

3/5

Like the proto Music for Airport bits more than the ”rockier” parts.

Revolver

Beatles

5/5

4.5★. Hard to find another album outiside of Abbey Road (and, to a lesser degree, the white album) in which all three of the singer-songwriter trio are *this* on. For No One is easily my favorite McCartney song, and it comes right after the FABULOUS And Your Bird Can Sing (will never not be funny to me how Lennon was dismissive of this song while praising Doctor Robert). Always get annoyed with how the album starts Taxman, but the day I learned that ”1 for you 19 for me” was not an exaggeration I suddenly had more sympathy for Harrison. Anyhow, this is really good album.

Yankee Hotel Foxtrot

Wilco

2/5

Pretty monotone music, some mediocre lyrics and not-so-great vocals.

Supa Dupa Fly

Missy Elliott

2/5

Don’t care for the rapping whatsoever. Production’s great.

The Scream

Siouxsie And The Banshees

3/5

Grew on me - or rather I grew into it - as it went on, sort of, but still never grabbed me in any meaningful way.

People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm

A Tribe Called Quest

2/5

Corny rhythms. The best song here - Can You Kick It? - derives all its power from the Lou Reed sample.

Rage Against The Machine

2/5

What if mediocre rock but we slapped on terrible rapping on top of it? Hmmm.

Hybrid Theory

Linkin Park

3/5

First half >

At Fillmore East

The Allman Brothers Band

2/5

Forgettable blues (though the last - 20-minute! - song is actually quite good, or at least the first - 16ish minutes - part of it).

GI

Germs

2/5

Crummy noise

Teen Dream

Beach House

4/5

”Every Beach House song sounds the same” Yeah but have you considered that that sound fucking rules? Play it again Sam.

Be

Common

3/5

Kanye’s amazing production (feat. Common’s mediocre rapping) ”Let be,” as Shakespeare would put it.

Blue Lines

Massive Attack

3/5

Pretty cool, but if I’m being honest I’d probably prefer the instrumental version of this album, even if not by much.

Unknown Pleasures

Joy Division

3/5

Less taken by it than I would have presumed to be based on the (admittedly little) Joy Division (and even more New Order) that I’d heard prior.

Tanto Tempo

Bebel Gilberto

3/5

Starts strongs but dwindles a bit as it goes on (or maybe one just gets used to the sameness). Pleasant discovery nonetheless.

Blunderbuss

Jack White

3/5

Decent, if not overripe in its sounds. Will neeed to revisit though.

Blood, Sweat & Tears

2/5

Not uninteresting but it's mostly aimless, all over the place without much cohesion.

Sail Away

Randy Newman

3/5

A little too close to sounding like Live Laugh Love populism but it sounds good enough for the most part.

Tracy Chapman

3/5

”Don't ya know They're talking about a revolution? It sounds like a whisper” I mean yeah, it describes itself perfectly. A pleasant whisper I suppose, but then again that might be counterintuitive.

A Hard Day's Night

Beatles

4/5

Maybe too many samey love songs (is there even an exception to that label?) to take in at once but it's still loaded with great songs. I'm Just Happy To Dance With You remains irresistably spirited. And holy shit I forgot what a BANGEEEER Any Time At All is.

War

U2

3/5

Decent. Sunday Bloody Sunday and New Year's Day stand out.

The Dark Side Of The Moon

Pink Floyd

4/5

"All you touch and all you see is all your life will ever be” Hmmm… not much to say about *the* great existential music album, though I must say it didn't quite hit as hard as I expected given that I haven't listened to it in its entirety in years. Conservative 4-star it is (I will regret this in a few months).

More Songs About Buildings And Food

Talking Heads

3/5

Enjoyable but the songs rarely build to anything meaningful and mostly just meander.

High Violet

The National

2/5

Not terrible (well, outside of "I was afraid I’d eat your brains, caaaause I'm evil" anyhow), but utterly forgettable.

Maverick A Strike

Finley Quaye

2/5

Sounds like they took the first guy off the streets.

Destroy Rock & Roll

Mylo

3/5

I concur with the top comment: "There's no chance of this destroying rock & roll. It doesn't have the energy for that. It's just going to sit on the couch, baked out of its mind, and talk shit about rock & roll instead." Decent listen.

Moving Pictures

Rush

3/5

Better than 2116, and pretty good instrumentation. Still, the lead singer's vocals and lyrics are rarely that interesting.

At Mister Kelly's

Sarah Vaughan

3/5

Beatiful voice but live albums are almost always voyeuristically dull. Will need to relisten though, I was quite distracted.

McCartney

Paul McCartney

3/5

First McCartney solo album that I've listened to fully. Really good at times but never quite packs a punch. (Maybe I'm a Man attempts, but no beuno.) Holy hell is Junk amazing though. It was the only song from this album that I had heard before (and not ong ago at that) but had forgotten about it.

Electric Ladyland

Jimi Hendrix

3/5

Somehow never struck me that the "Slight Return" part of Voodo Child was quite literal. It's the better much song in any case. It's sad to slowly but surely find out that one loves Jimi Hendrix for certain songs rather than entire albums… Though this is one of those rare cases where the album gets better and better as it goes on; with the exception of Crosstown Traffic, all the highlights are in the second half, with All Along the Watchtower and Voodoo Child notably closing the album.

Throwing Muses

3/5

Instrumentals >> vocals/lyrics (which sound like Siouxsie, the vocals that is).

Dookie

Green Day

3/5

Alright.

American Idiot

Green Day

3/5

Two Green Day albums in a row… I have nothing useful to say about them; it's not bad, just not something that I'd care to actually revisit, or even inspect more closely.

Back In Black

AC/DC

3/5

The iconic vocal style does absolutely nothing for me…

Peggy Suicide

Julian Cope

2/5

Good for Cope (lol) for being included in this list I guess. Liked Safesurfer.

White Light / White Heat

The Velvet Underground

1/5

Did not think my first 1-star (after~338 albums) would be a Velvet Underground album. A bit anticlimactic as it's not exactly something I loathe with all my being but it also just contains nothing reedemable outside of the first track.

Dire Straits

3/5

A bit mellow compared to Brother's in Arms, and doesn't exactly excite outside of a couple of songs…

I Should Coco

Supergrass

3/5

Decent if not typical brit pop/rock.

Picture Book

Simply Red

2/5

Not much that stood out outside of the first song.

Songs From A Room

Leonard Cohen

4/5

"And I choose the rooms that I live in with care The windows are small and the walls almost bare There's only one bed and there's only one prayer I listen all night for your step on the stair"

Red Headed Stranger

Willie Nelson

3/5

Didn't pay enough attention to the (seemingly continuous) lyrics/storytelling to appreciate this fully

LP1

FKA twigs

3/5

Decent (different) pop

Solid Air

John Martyn

3/5

Solid Air feels like a good description.

Disraeli Gears

Cream

4/5

My type of psychedelic jam (or Cream I should say, I suppose).

The Modern Dance

Pere Ubu

3/5

I don't know what this is (mating rituals for the modern age?) but I kinda like it.

Street Life

The Crusaders

3/5

Fizzles out from Disco to Jazz, not that I neccesarily prefer the former to the latter.

The Predator

Ice Cube

3/5

Faded in my memory, good energy and beats though. Will need to revisit.

Talking Book

Stevie Wonder

3/5

Considerably less potent than Innervisions, but then again that's a very high bar. Still would rather listen to a middling Stevie Wonder album than most other music ever produced though (probably).

The Grand Tour

George Jones

3/5

Decent country.

Pictures At An Exhibition

Emerson, Lake & Palmer

3/5

Thought I was imagining things by hearing King Crimson—I guess Greg Lake was busy diring those years. This is no Court of the Crimson King though, I'm afraid to report, though it's interesting enough to not be a total dud (in fact it's sounds like fun soundtrack at times).

Songs In The Key Of Life

Stevie Wonder

4/5

Four stars, but more of a really-begrudging-3.5-rounded-up-to-4-stars four stars. There's so many good songs but it can be toothachingly sweet on the whole.

461 Ocean Boulevard

Eric Clapton

2/5

Mostly weightless.

Another Green World

Brian Eno

3/5

I prefer the longer, purely instrumental tracks of e.g. Music for Airports, as far as ambient Eno is concerned, but this is good too.

Water From An Ancient Well

Abdullah Ibrahim

4/5

Great jazz.

To Pimp A Butterfly

Kendrick Lamar

5/5

WE WANT THE FUNK (Loving you is complicated…)

Fire Of Love

The Gun Club

3/5

Fun.

Thriller

Michael Jackson

4/5

Billie Jean still remains one of the most ??? huge singles to be released lmao.

Grace

Jeff Buckley

2/5

Obviously not that bad, but this type of saccarine sadness always feels like putting a hat on a hat—tone it down a little, imo. (Shout out Dream Brother though.)

The Low End Theory

A Tribe Called Quest

2/5

Obviously not two-star quality (like many other albums that I've rated here), but I just find the monotone rapping (I think I've used this term for almost every 80s/90s conscious rap album that I've gotten so far) to be incredibly dull.

The Stranger

Billy Joel

3/5

Some bangers.

Songs The Lord Taught Us

The Cramps

3/5

Fun.

Neon Bible

Arcade Fire

3/5

Doesn't quite strike the nervecords that it obviously is going for, but I do enjoy Arcade Fire's general style.

Rings Around The World

Super Furry Animals

2/5

Never quite took for me.

Here, My Dear

Marvin Gaye

2/5

Insomnia killer. A tepid vibe.

Lost In The Dream

The War On Drugs

3/5

Starts strong.

Rattus Norvegicus

The Stranglers

2/5

Not much outside of Sometimes, Princess in the Streets and the proggy outro of Down in the Sewer that intrigues, and that's unfortunately a relatively small part of the whole album.

The Suburbs

Arcade Fire

4/5

The financial crisis really hit millenials hard, huh?

The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter

The Incredible String Band

2/5

A lesser The Piper at the Gates of Dawn

The Score

Fugees

4/5

Wonderful

Immigrés

Youssou N'Dour

4/5

I hate to use the same one-word-description two times in a row (the previous being Fugees' The Score), but this is simply: Wonderful.

Fuzzy Logic

Super Furry Animals

2/5

A boring 70s album released in the 90s.

The Köln Concert

Keith Jarrett

3/5

Hmmm…

Public Image: First Issue

Public Image Ltd.

2/5

"I want to die..." (10x) Get in line buddy.

Joan Armatrading

4/5

What a wonderful discovery.

Devil Without A Cause

Kid Rock

2/5

Emphasis on "Kid." The vapidity is fatiguing, but still, I’ve heard worse on this list. Bawitdaba in particular is quite good.

Physical Graffiti

Led Zeppelin

3/5

When in doubt, kill your darlings. While it contains many great songs, the album is a bit too long and fluffy on the whole.

It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back

Public Enemy

2/5

It all sounds very similar and I found none of it particularly galvanizing, unfortunately…

A Wizard, A True Star

Todd Rundgren

3/5

Wild and fun, even if doesn't always land. Will need to revisit.

So

Peter Gabriel

3/5

Gabriel's style can be a tad melodramatic at times. Borderline two stars but it's not bad.

Roxy Music

2/5

Listened twice, but not much stuck out in either listen.

Kala

M.I.A.

2/5

That was... not very good.

Surf's Up

The Beach Boys

3/5

Beautiful, but fluffy, which might as well be the Beach Boy's motto. Talk about an overkill poster—it's hard to live up to that one.

Ágætis Byrjun

Sigur Rós

3/5

Liked it, and would probably have liked it even more if I gave it my full attention/could understand what is being sung.

Blue

Joni Mitchell

3/5

Something about Mitchell's vocals that keep me from totally falling in love with her music.

Southern Rock Opera

Drive-By Truckers

2/5

Alright music stretched incredibly thin. Love Three Great Alabama Icons, though it's less a song than a narrative.

The Number Of The Beast

Iron Maiden

3/5

Disappointing compared to their self-titled debut: less varied and more mainstream/typical metal. Borderline two-stars, with barely enough saving graces to save the day.

Get Behind Me Satan

The White Stripes

2/5

Meh.

It's Too Late to Stop Now

Van Morrison

4/5

A live double-album sounds like the stuff of mediocrity (at best), but I listened to this on my (fittingly two-parted) long walk and it made for a fabulous companion.

OK Computer

Radiohead

5/5

Forgot how insanely, unbelievably good this was.

Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea

PJ Harvey

3/5

Sounds good, but not much that sticks out as exceptional. Unexpected Thom Yorke is a nice surprise.

Mama Said Knock You Out

LL Cool J

2/5

Mediocre.

Natty Dread

Bob Marley & The Wailers

3/5

Some decent tunes.

Madman Across The Water

Elton John

3/5

Tiny Dancer, title song, Indian Sunset are the standouts.

Want One

Rufus Wainwright

2/5

Feels a bit like listening to a musical soundtrack without context.

In The Wee Small Hours

Frank Sinatra

2/5

A drag, on the whole, with no highlights to speak of.

Femi Kuti

3/5

A bit long and repetitive. Pleasant overall but tbh I prefer the instrumentals without the (main) vocals/singing.

Straight Outta Compton

N.W.A.

3/5

Misogyny wins over anti-police sentiment, apparently. First half is full of bangers, the second half drags the album down.

Phaedra

Tangerine Dream

4/5

Electrifying would be the wrong adjective to use (though tempting for the pseudo-pun), but it's certainly evocative, haunting, uneasy. My mental library of ambient albums is very small so the comparison might not mean much, but it brings to mind Eco's later Music for Airport (discovered also through this list), though this one seems even more "dramatic", has more arcs, even if it is so translucent that one might miss it all. Transformative in the best possible manner, all in all; Phaedre and particularly Mysterious Semblance At The Strand Of Nightmares are incredible.

Different Class

Pulp

3/5

"We have David Bowie at Home" (Though more so early on) Maybe four stars - will need to revisit.

GREY Area

Little Simz

2/5

Nothing about Little Simz's voice, cadence or pen is particularly interesting, and I'll honest about my predjuices and say that it's hard for me to take brittish rapping seriously.

Penthouse And Pavement

Heaven 17

2/5

"We got Depeche Mode at home"

Since I Left You

The Avalanches

4/5

"You're nuts! You're crazy in the coconut!" The "schtick" can become exhausting/tired at points, but it is the opinion of the of this humble listener that Since I Left You is criminally fun.

Graceland

Paul Simon

2/5

Are we sure that Garfunkel did not write the early Simon & Garfunkel songs…?

Suicide

2/5

So… when does the album really start?

Under Construction

Missy Elliott

3/5

Pretty good—a big improvement from Supa Dupa Fly

Aqualung

Jethro Tull

3/5

Probably rewards relistens.

Faust IV

Faust

3/5

Krautrock and Jennifer (the latter of which I had heard before) rock, the rest not so much.

There's A Riot Goin' On

Sly & The Family Stone

3/5

I feel like this would be enhanced by a lazy autumn day (though it is actually raining as I type this) and some substances being passed around while it plays on speaker.

Off The Wall

Michael Jackson

4/5

3.5, rounded up because the first half is great.

Duck Stab/Buster & Glen

The Residents

2/5

"Bach is Dead" You don't say? Songs to play when brewing witch soup.

Logical Progression

LTJ Bukem

3/5

Listened to a rough approximate playlist on spotify, given that the album/not all the songs were there. Decent, from what I remember, although monotonely so.

Everything Must Go

Manic Street Preachers

3/5

Grew on me as it went on—decent.

John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band

John Lennon

3/5

3-bordering-4-stars. Big fan of the visceral, primal bits.

Bizarre Ride II The Pharcyde

The Pharcyde

3/5

Fun, but it's so obviously meant to be played loud at a party gathering that it seems useless to talk about it in the context of listening to it while wearing headphones.

The Coral

3/5

Fun, but much better first half than second.

Bitches Brew

Miles Davis

4/5

It was hard to resist giving an album titled Bitches fucking Brew and has that fucking cover(!!!) 5-stars, but I am going with my better (conservative) judgement. Anyhow, this rocks, and I'm sure this will only rise in my estimation with time and relistens.

16 Lovers Lane

The Go-Betweens

3/5

Pleasant.

3 Feet High and Rising

De La Soul

2/5

Great beats/sampling vs. Boring rapping/skits (The latter wins handedly, alas)

Armed Forces

Elvis Costello & The Attractions

2/5

It's alright—it's decent—I’m just never revisiting any of those songs if I'm being honest, much less the album. (Unlike This Year's Model and My Aim Is True, which both had at least one or two bangers that I repeated for a good while.)

Imperial Bedroom

Elvis Costello & The Attractions

2/5

Lol, I got this back-to-back with Armed Forces. This is marginally better, but not enough to upgrade the score—like the previous album, I will most likely not revisit any of these songs. All in all I've gotten four Costello albums on this list so far, and I'm not even half way through yet (though one hopes that those are all). You'd think he was the Beatles or something.

Miriam Makeba

3/5

Beautiful vocals.

Remain In Light

Talking Heads

4/5

Borderline 5-stars. This is an album that has grown on me over the years. Not that I ever disliked it—on the contrary—but it has an obviously unusual rhythm snd structure to it, evenif you've heard some other Talking Head stuff. In Ny case, a great album, and Born Under Punches in particularly is fucking fantastic.

Paranoid

Black Sabbath

4/5

Not often you encounter a skipless album (though obviously no coincidence). Great banging tunes.

Are You Experienced

Jimi Hendrix

3/5

Like the other Hendrix albums that I've listened to: a lot of fluff held afloat by some bangers.

Crazysexycool

TLC

3/5

3.5★ Title checks out.

...And Justice For All

Metallica

2/5

Stopped listening after the first four tracks—it's by far one of the most supremely boring albums that I've encountered on this list.

Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not

Arctic Monkeys

2/5

Listened to about half the album. It all sounds very unserious, not-so-good, and very very mediocre.

Something Else By The Kinks

The Kinks

3/5

Now I wish I hadn't given Arthur or the Decline… 3 stars because that one is better. Anyhow, this is decent enough, but it's a bit disappointing given that the talent level seems higher than the actual output. (Except Waterloo Sunset that is, which is lighyears ahead the rest of the songs.)

Underwater Moonlight

The Soft Boys

3/5

Tbh I've forgotten all about this in a couple of hours—literally cannot say anything about it except that I remember that it sounded decent...

Bummed

Happy Mondays

2/5

Meh.

Heartattack And Vine

Tom Waits

2/5

Not exactly going to be original here by pointing out that Waits' vocals are just too goofy and parodic, and I say that as somehow who loves Cohen and Dylan even at their most extreme gruffy old man voice.

Before And After Science

Brian Eno

4/5

One of those few albums that gets better as it goes on (highlight run: from King's Lead Hat til the very end). The first track instantly reminded of Talking Head, and what do you, they showed up later on! I wonder how the circle of influence was between them and Eno. (Also, TIL: Eno produced Remain in Light, and I'm sure he produced others as well.) Really really good, in any case, and I can't help but mention how magical By This River still remains a million listens later (forever thankful to Y Tu Mamá También for introducing it to me some 6-7 years ago.)

At Budokan

Cheap Trick

3/5

Sounds like a fun concert.

Bad

Michael Jackson

3/5

Starts and ends strong, middle is a bit weak.

Music For The Jilted Generation

The Prodigy

5/5

Nominated for etafb (every track a fucking banger)

Come Away With Me

Norah Jones

2/5

Pleasant, forgettable. Not too bad, just a bit bland…

Pearl

Janis Joplin

4/5

Rocks.

Cupid & Psyche 85

Scritti Politti

2/5

What if not good, not unique, and not influential? (You make it into a must-listen-before-you-die list, apparently.) Brother what are we doing here lol.

São Paulo Confessions

Suba

3/5

First half is pleasant but boring, the second has more of a pulse.

All Hope Is Gone

Slipknot

2/5

Pretty boring. Listened to about half.

Take Me Apart

Kelela

2/5

Sounds more like stuff you'd find on spotify top X lists than a book supposedly bookmarking notable music.

Lady Soul

Aretha Franklin

3/5

That's a nice voice.

Strangeways, Here We Come

The Smiths

3/5

Some good stuff, but not necessarily (at least consistently) the same quality as their more popular tracks (though this is the first album that I'm listening to, so I have no yardstick to judge by as far as that's concerned).

Golden Hour

Kacey Musgraves

2/5

Man, they really letting anything through on this list, huh…

Francis Albert Sinatra & Antonio Carlos Jobim

Frank Sinatra

2/5

Pleasant, which is another way of saying not that exciting.

Ghosteen

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds

3/5

Some of this sounds like bad poetry, Cave's vocal performance isn't always the strongest, and yet some of it (the first few tracks in particular) is some of the most affecting music I've heard.

At Folsom Prison

Johnny Cash

3/5

Sir, another Johnny Cash prison album has hit the list.

KE*A*H** (Psalm 69)

Ministry

4/5

Great music that is admittedly tainted by puerile tendencies.

La Revancha Del Tango

Gotan Project

4/5

Great stuff

Cut

The Slits

3/5

Enjoyable. Had a hard time accepting that it was not Siouxsie "singing".

Hearts And Bones

Paul Simon

3/5

Better than Graceland I guess.

Astral Weeks

Van Morrison

5/5

Kinda perfect. (I can see how much this must have inspired the Waterboys' Fisherman Blues, even beyond the obvious cover of Sweet Things.)

Hejira

Joni Mitchell

3/5

As always with Joni Mitchell: I like it, I'm not crazy about it.

Welcome to the Afterfuture

Mike Ladd

3/5

Listening on a car ride while tited so was a bit distracted. But that which catched my attention sounded good (but that's also a case of survivor's bias). Can hear both Run the Jewels (mostly El-P) and Injury Reserve; I wonder if those "similarities" are coincidental or if this was an inspiration to those artists.

Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This)

Eurythmics

3/5

A bit weaker towards the end, unfortunately, but mostly sweet still.

Machine Head

Deep Purple

3/5

Much lesser than Deep Purple In Rock, being rather repetive and boring at times, though also pretty good at others.

The Last Broadcast

Doves

3/5

Decent. A bit too Radiohead-lite at times (and not reminiscent of the best Radiohead albums at that). Though as someone pointed out they also sound like Coldplay at other points. (Then again, Coldplay are often said to have been Radiohead-lite in their earlier years, so it's an almost redundant point I guess.)

Will The Circle Be Unbroken

Nitty Gritty Dirt Band

3/5

Cozy.

Street Signs

Ozomatli

3/5

Not every song was available on spotify/youtube (though 90% were), but I liked it based on the ones that were.

One World

John Martyn

3/5

Fun sounds. An unusual mix of jazz, electronic elements and funk.

Bandwagonesque

Teenage Fanclub

3/5

Decent. End-of-the-party vibes. Sounds like Sonic Youth at times, but not as ”out there”, which is both to its benefit and, arguably more so, to its detriment.

Out of Step

Minor Threat

3/5

A bit minor indeed. Not bad though.

Sister

Sonic Youth

2/5

A bit of a damp squib - certainly doesn't contain anything on par with the best of Goo.

The Pleasure Principle

Gary Numan

3/5

HMmm not quite Talking heads...

If I Should Fall From Grace With God

The Pogues

3/5

We going to the pubs with this one

The Soft Bulletin

The Flaming Lips

3/5

Better than Yoshimi

Searching For The Young Soul Rebels

Dexys Midnight Runners

3/5

Fun trumpets but nothing exceptional outside of I'm Just Looking (holy hell what a song that lne is though) and, to a lesser degree, I couldn't help it if I tried.

Horses

Patti Smith

3/5

Rad.

The Velvet Underground

3/5

Pretty good (much better than White Light / White Heat, though that's not saying much), if not a bit light.

Car Wheels On A Gravel Road

Lucinda Williams

2/5

Sounds like a parody of country…

Hail To the Thief

Radiohead

4/5

Probably their best outside of the big three. Not sure why I don't revisit it more often (exception being Where I End and You Begin at least, which is one that not so inoften crops up in my rotation.)

Winter In America

Gil Scott-Heron

4/5

Wonderful. Wish it was on spotify.

I'm Your Man

Leonard Cohen

4/5

Everybody knows this is a great album... ah, give or take a song or two…

E.V.O.L.

Sonic Youth

3/5

Cool, though I find that Sonic Youth hits better as a fleeting mood rather than whole album pieces.

90

808 State

3/5

Good tututututus

Selected Ambient Works 85-92

Aphex Twin

4/5

There is nothing else like Aphex Twin at his best.

The Bones Of What You Believe

CHVRCHES

2/5

Nothing special.

Venus Luxure No. 1 Baby

Girls Against Boys

4/5

Uhm, I'm a fan of Grunge now I guess.

1989

Taylor Swift

3/5

Actually decent, even if it's unlikely that I give this another spin.

Henry's Dream

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds

4/5

Great stuff.

Talking With the Taxman About Poetry

Billy Bragg

3/5

Decent.

Soul Mining

The The

3/5

Decent, though This is the Day overshadows everything else.

Planet Rock: The Album

Afrika Bambaataa

2/5

Does everything, and none of them well. A slop of sounds.

Strange Cargo III

William Orbit

3/5

Reminds me of Ross and Reznor's The Social Network score at points, which is obviously great. Will need to revisit though, as instrumental albums tend to recede to the background when not paid sufficient attention. Heding with a 3.5 3-star for now.

I’m a Lonesome Fugitive

Merle Haggard

2/5

Alright.

xx

The xx

2/5

Huh, so that's where that's from.

Protection

Massive Attack

3/5

Pretty good. Came out the same year as Portisheads' Dummy, apparently, and it did remind me of it at points.

Music for the Masses

Depeche Mode

4/5

If only the masses were that tasteful!

Chocolate Starfish And The Hot Dog Flavored Water

Limp Bizkit

2/5

Not that bad, tbh, but it's also too juvenile (or I too old) to really hit home.

Headquarters

The Monkees

3/5

Not gonna pretend like this isn't a really charming aping of the Beatles in their poppier era (though there are no John and George vocal copycats here), plus harmonies that remind of the Beach Boys.

The College Dropout

Kanye West

4/5

I don't know if it's an overt familiary that leaves me less than stunned (a reaction that I also inexplicably had to The Dark Side of the Moon and Good Kid, Maad City), it didn't quite seem like one of my favorite albums of all time. (Though the best songs - Two Words, Family Bussknes, just to name a few - remain as strong as ever.)

The Psychedelic Sounds of the 13th Floor Elevators

The 13th Floor Elevators

2/5

Didn't impress too much.

Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables

Dead Kennedys

3/5

Fun stuff.

Let's Stay Together

Al Green

4/5

One of those rare cases where a record is stronger as an album than as a collection of songs.

Merriweather Post Pavilion

Animal Collective

2/5

Reminds me of Hookworm (also in this list). Gets a bit annoying as it goes on.

The Band

3/5

Decent. The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down is clearly the superior song out of the bunch though.

Made In Japan

Deep Purple

2/5

Child In Time is always a pleasure to listen to, but this mostly sounds like pointless fiddling after the first few songs

Pornography

The Cure

4/5

More apocalyptic than emo. One Hundred Years is an unbelievable track.

New Wave

The Auteurs

4/5

Really really liked it.

Endtroducing.....

DJ Shadow

3/5

Liked it quite a bit on first listen, and was further intrigued by it upon learning that it was nothing but samples. Fascinating project.

Untitled (Black Is)

SAULT

2/5

Lol. Stopped listening after Don’t Shoot Guns Down. Almost a comical exaggeration a of everything farcial about American racial politics, amounting to something akin to nationalistic propaganda. Victomhood doesn't equate to interest or innocence or anything close to perfection, and this album (everything from that cover to the name to the title of every track) is nothing more than a laughably superficial collection of tepid political comments (though some of the early music is certainly not bad).

Smokers Delight

Nightmares On Wax

3/5

Decent.

Gasoline Alley

Rod Stewart

3/5

Decent. Lady Day and Jo's Lament are pretty good.

The Lexicon Of Love

ABC

3/5

Not bad. Hints of Bowie here and there, though it's ultimately poppier. 4 Ever 2 Gether is a banger (though a terrible title).

Run-D.M.C.

2/5

I think I've said this at least half a dozen times by now, but almost all the old hip hop (pre '90s, let's say) on this list is incredibly dated in how monotone the rapping is, and this is no exception. Crazy instrumentals on Rock Box and 30 Days are the only memorable parts of this, at the end of the day. (Thankfully instrumental versions of both exist on YouTube!)

Something/Anything?

Todd Rundgren

2/5

Starts strong but becomes exhausting really fast.

Life Thru A Lens

Robbie Williams

2/5

Imagine thinking people NEED to - much less MUST - listen to Robin Williams before they die.

Broken English

Marianne Faithfull

2/5

Goes nowhere interesting and is very repetitive. Came out a decade before Cohen's I'm Your Man (which it reminded me of) but nowhere near as good.

Violent Femmes

2/5

Sounds unserious.

Aha Shake Heartbreak

Kings of Leon

2/5

Alright.

Sulk

The Associates

3/5

Got some decent bangers.

Brilliant Corners

Thelonious Monk

3/5

Love it in parts, like it on the whole, like most jazz.

Savane

Ali Farka Touré

3/5

Not many songs here that I wouldn't enjoy more if they were purely instrumental instead. Decent overall still.

D

White Denim

3/5

Nice 70s callback.

Music From The Penguin Cafe

Penguin Cafe Orchestra

2/5

Meh. Been getting a lot of nothing burgers lately…

The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars

David Bowie

4/5

Pretty good album, to state the obvious understatedly.

Achtung Baby

U2

3/5

Pretty good. Reminds me of Radiohead and Oasis at points, but maybe I'm just casting a wide net with that statement.

Chore of Enchantment

Giant Sand

2/5

Often boring, at times interesting, rarely (though not never) enchanting.

Back To Black

Amy Winehouse

4/5

All this time I thought Amy Winehouse was "just" a popstar and meanwhile she was making blues and soul music… Is it pastiche? Of course. It is also pretty damn good all the same.

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