First thoughts, like before: if it's so great, why haven't I heard of it, or them before? On listening: this is very interesting indeed. The phrase "electronic music" worries me but this is a clever use of technology and samples. It's effective.

Reading previous reviews, I see a lot of people not getting this record at all. I presume they did not live in early 1980s UK. Upbeat jazzy pop accompany bleak lyrics of alienation, political, social, and personal. Which, apparently, I can still remember.

Still pretty good, although I don't really listen to The Smiths now Morrissey is out as a horrible racist. Best tracks? Cemetry Gates, Bigmouth, There Is A Light.

Flawless and timeless classic.

Obviously the big hits still get quite a lot of radio play but as it's been a while since I last listened to the whole album, I'd forgotten how good the rest of it is.

What a voice! What great songs. What might have been? I was slightly disappointed by the recording and production, all the character in the brass and strings has been "filed down" somehow, leaving just the sound with none of the transients. Could have been virtual instruments for all you can tell.

Bloody hell, some of these reviews! You'd think Green Day were the Second Coming! In fact, the singles are okay but the rest of it gets pretty dreary.

The second day on the trot I've read some reviews and thought, "Bloody hell" but for different reasons. I admit that I was a bit apprehensive. The Residents are, after all, one of the foundations of avant-garde art-rock; it might be unlistenable. But it's not, it's definitely at the easy listening end of avant-garde. And quite pleasant.

It's genius.

It's pretty good, obviously Proud Mary went on to be a classic. I've always preferred CCR's version. I don't think it's their best work though.

Not my favourite KC album especially not the title tracks but it's not terrible.

The title track is good but like everything else, at least twice as long as it needed to. The rest, that I could bear is self-indulgent twaddle.

I'd be lying if I said I either understood jazz improvisation or listened to a lot of it. You can tell everyone playing is good and at the top of their game though.

Entirely justifies its classic status.

Very good. Sympathy For The Devil has always been a favourite.

It's beautiful but not my usual taste. I also suspect the songs are way more religious than I usually play (just going by titles I can read).

Not sure if I've ever listened to all this before. I really enjoyed it.

This is the first of these that I've owned since it came out, more or less and it still sounds fresh. It's a masterpiece.

I don't know a lot of Joni's albums all that well. I need to play through them all because this proves that I'm missing a lot of good music.

My dad is still a big fan of Sinatra and I was brought up listening to his music. This is pretty much perfect.

Not sure what this album or band are doing in a collection of all time greats. I'm sure it was fine at the time and it still is. But a must listen before I die? Laughable.

I can't help thinking that I should, at least, have heard of all the artists on a "must listen" list but Solange is completely new to me. That's not to say it's bad, quite the opposite. It is a bit overlong though. Some of the "interludes" could vanish without hurting it.

Really beautiful singing but such a shame that her life was taking its toll.

One of the great albums of the 1980s. It's pretty much perfect.

Funky as all hell! Love it.

This stands up pretty well to the forty odd years of history under the bridge since its release. Wordy Rappinghood and Genius of Love still stand out but it's all good.

The music is still damned good. Some of the lyrics are preposterous. Still fun.

One of my friends said of this, when I told them which album I'd been given, "it's one of the good ones." He's right, it's one of the best.

I'd never even heard of Jorge Ben before I was assigned this album. After listening, it's clear that I have some more research to do.

Do we all know how good James Brown was? This is an interesting document but not really the best introduction to his work.

This is a fantastic album!

Mature Elvis. Fantastic singing, fantastic playing. Songs maybe not quite so memorable. Although his version of Fever seems almost as well known as Peggy Lee's.

First thoughts, like before: if it's so great, why haven't I heard of it, or them before? On listening: this is very interesting indeed. The phrase "electronic music" worries me but this is a clever use of technology and samples. It's effective.

Six stellar musicians at the height of their powers. Absolutely deserving of its classic status.

It's fine. The singing and the playing is lovely and all. The singles are great. The whole album goes on a bit. Do I think it's a must hear album for all time? No way.

A masterpiece of disco. The singing and playing are both brilliant. It's astonishing that Rogers and Edwards had never met the Sledges before writing these songs.

I'll be honest, I found this rather hard work. But I've listened to it now and I doubt I'll ever feel the need again.

I've never listened to this outside of the context of the film before. While some of it is slightly dull film music, parts are absolutely amazing.

This is a go-to album for me. I've heard it so often but another listen never hurt.

Weird for a bloke who stole his act from black musicians to be such an unrepentent racist. Hateful man.

Why does anybody think that this is a must-listen? This is okay but no better than that. I'm sure it works well with the film but not independently.

I've come late to Bill Callahan; I'm catching up gradually. This was new to me but it's lovely.

It's okay. Its problem is that, being old and having listened to lots of things, I remember the bands from where they took their inspiration, some of whose work will probably be on this list somewhere. If I were younger and didn't know those influences, I'd probably be more impressed.

One of the best albums ever released.

Not my favourite Dylan album. A fair number of the songs are very good but they go on a bit.

Not my favourite Maiden album (I hope Number of the Beast is on this list) but haven't not listened to the whole thing for ages, it's pretty bloody good. This time around, I was slightly surprised to discover that the prog element has been there since day one.

Even after reading the Wikipedia entry, I'm struggling to understand why this album is on the list. There's nothing wrong with it, it's fine, enjoyable even but it doesn't seem essential.

Another pleasant album with two or three cracking good songs. But it's another where I'm left wonder if it's really deserving of its place here.

I like Beck; I've got a couple of his records but not this one. It's okay, seems like more of the same kind of stuff. Nothing particularly stands out and, once again, I'm wondering why it's on this list.

My thesis is been that this album is a shibboleth for genuine Goths. Genuine Goths all LOVE it. People, who just like The Cure a bit (even the early stuff), like me, don't. I think it's okay. I like Lullaby but I also think it's overlong and more than a bit self-indulgent.

Beautiful songwriting, beautiful playing, beautiful singing, beautiful harmonies. This might be a textbook for singer/songwriters, if only it was that easy! They even manage to out-Dylan Dylan on A Simple Desultory Philippic.

More beautiful songwriting. A couple of stone cold classics and a couple more that deserve to be better known than they are.

If I were 20 years younger, I'd almost certainly have bought this on release and loved it. As it is, even though I don't hate Doherty like a lot of my friends seem to, I can see it's a game of two halves. There are a few songs I really like (The Man Who Would Be King, What Became of the Likely Lads for example) but a lot that sound more like rehearsals than performances. I assume this is by design, whether theirs or the producers. Ultimately, it's mostly filler.

Three brilliant songs bookend this album but the songs in between aren't as well known for good reason. They're not terrible but they're clearly not as good.

The second album in a row with strong start and finish. The rest is pleasant but not the same league.

Reading previous reviews, I see a lot of people not getting this record at all. I presume they did not live in early 1980s UK. Upbeat jazzy pop accompany bleak lyrics of alienation, political, social, and personal. Which, apparently, I can still remember.

Obviously Cloud 9 is the big hit but the whole album is really good. I like their cover of I Heard It Through the Grapevine and Runaway Child, Running Wild is amazing.

People who rated this only 1 star are idiots. Randy Newman is without doubt one of the world's greatest ever songwriters. Witty, funny, bitter, biting satire coupled with tunes of genius.

Christ but it's long. Even the title is long. Too long. Nobody needs a 2 hour + double CD on a list like this, i don't care how many it sold. But is it any good? Mostly. The singles are fine, if a bit pretentious: grunge tending to generic rock. Well, so are the non-singles, despite Wikipedia's insistence on the variety of styles. What this really is, is an album for playing on long (in UK terms) drives.

Not my favourite CCR album. A couple of nice covers but not even my favourite cover of I Heard It Through The Grapevine despite the nice guitar solo. Up Around The Bend, Who'll Stop The Rain, and Long As I Can See The Light are all great tracks though.

Absolutely nuts! But so engaging. It is a marathon at almost 3 hours. This time we played every song; unfortunately, I napped through about half an hour of the last third 🫤 Not every song hits, some are only fragments but a lot are worth listening to and a few (The Book of Love being the best known) are brilliant.

Very coherent album, clearly focused and obviously belonging together. Strong songs too.

This style of music isn't really stuff I choose for myself. However, there's no doubting the talent on display. I found myself really enjoying it.

A cast-iron classic! Was it the first pop music expression of a yearning for a semi-rural golden age that never was? Slightly satyrical and all brilliant.

Is it finished yet? Lauryn Hill has an absolutely amazing voice: beautiful golden, velvet. But every song is like being beaten senseless by that voice. Individually, each song is great but the cumulative effect is, to me, unlistenable en masse. From about four songs in I was counting the number of tracks remaining. It decreased very slowly.

Dull and overlong

God is this 34 years old? I haven't listened to anything by LL Cool J for years and years (never really a big rap fan) but he's quality isn't he? Little of the dick-waving self-aggrandisement of modern times.

A classic!

A perfect indie pop record. Still sounds fresh.

I've heard some of these songs before but I don't think I've played the whole thing. The playing is lovely but it feels like watching a film rather than experiencing the real thing. Oddly uninvolving.

Very strong debut, Knopfler knew what sound he wanted and got it from the start.

Individually the songs are okay. It's only when listened to all the way through that the full banality becomes clear.

I suppose at the time it came out, it must have been quite the thing, now, if I'm honest, it sounds quite tame. There are some good songs here though.

This doesn't do much for me except reinforce why I think of Depeche Mode as a singles band,

Enjoyable but not great. Except for Sun Hits The Sky, which is.

I can only speculate about what drugs makes this sound good. Definitely none of the ones I'm taking!

This still sounds bloody good.

I've never really liked the Pixies but you can see why this was popular and inspiring to so many bands.

Whether it's the politics or the hits, an absolute classic!

I've never seen the film and I can't imagine how well Darling Nikki fits into it but the album is brilliant.

Not my favourite genre of music but as it goes, this is not half bad.

Daft if you stop and think about what he's singing but the music largely carries you along.

He's an arsehole. Enough.

Not bad but it didn't really hold my attention

This is okay, pleasant even but I'm not convinced it's that special.

Stone classic. Not a bad track here.

I bought this when it came out and liked it a lot. Now, thirty years on, and having listened to a lot more and more varied music, I can hear how basic, plodding and dull it is. I remember it was a double LP but really, it wastes an awful lot of space on that format (each side is only about 15 minutes rather than pushing 25). I can't help thinking they could lose a song or two and definitely lose a minute or two of uninteresting music from each of the songs.

I hope the world does not need me to tell it how good this album is.

I can almost understand why people downrate this with its jazzy noodling bits. Almost.

I'm just going to say it: this should not be on a list entitled 1001 you MUST hear before you die. It's too long and too dull.

I don't get post-rock. I can hear the talent on display but none of it affects me in the slightest, except for the eventual boredom.

James Taylor can do no wrong in my book.

A great album, several songs are personal favourites.

I've never listened to this; I went off Radiohead before this. Some nice stuff but, mostly they're still up their own arses. And to the reviewer who suggested watching their 2003 Glastonbury performance. I did, live — had a miserable time watching guitarists play their effects pedals while refusing to play a hit.

Disappointing background music. Mostly did not involve me at all.

Wow! I know that the Bee Gee's output before the mid-70s could be unusual to say the least but I wasn't expecting this strange! Not entirely dreadful but not great either. It is, at least, interesting.

It's hardly bad when it has two absolute classic songs on it but it's not my favourite Stevie album.

I bet there are a bunch of idiots reviewing this and saying how similar all the songs are. This is foundational stuff: Rock'n'roll would not be the same without Little Richard.

Every track is way too long for the content. Can only see this being interesting if you're on drugs.

Largely dull, definitely overlong. If I could have any time back, I'd be requesting this 75 minutes.

It's an odd one. There are some good songs but a lot of it feels a bit self-indulgent. I can't help thinking that history might have been different if everybody involved had pulling in the same direction.

I'm not sure exactly what I think of this. The music is beautiful and Sinatra's voice is still good but they don't really fit together and the whole thing is unnecessary.

A quality performance from Muddy.

Never my favourite Smiths album. Too many dull tracks.

This is pretty good but nothing particularly stand out for me.

Foundational record for gen-X brits. It's all brilliant but side 2, especially, is a run of absolute masterpieces.

I suspect that Baaba Maal was one of the first Worldbeat acts I heard but only in fragments on odd radio programmes. This is very good.

I can see why it sold bucketloads. The songs are catchy, the playing is good, the singing is, at least, interesting. However, it remains manufactured pap of the worst kind.

It's a classic. I don't know if it's possible to dislike those harmonies.

It's not even the hits, although they are stellar, it's the playing that gets me, especially Manzarek. Just brilliant.

This holds up well in comparison with newer stuff I think. Definitely not a pop Cure album.

Despite the argument about how much of this was actually recorded live, it holds up really well. Fantastic versions of the songs.

I can't help feeling that this is weaker for Stevie, merely brilliant in a run of masterpieces.

I feel sorry for those dimwits on here who can't manage to listen to an introduction to Indian classical sitar from the acknowledged master.

This is really enjoyable even past the hit singles.

My dad bought this on release. I'm not sure why, I think he only played it once. I played it a lot, still play it occasionally. I absolutely love it. Favourite songs have changed over the years, from Gudbye T'Jane or Mama weer Crazee Now to Look At Last Night.