1001 Albums Summary

Kind of like New Wave David Bowie . . . but not as interesting.

Smooth and sexy!

This album has always seemed a bit overrated to me.

This was a seminal album of my college days, and the truly great songs on it remain truly great. But I'd forgotten the number of much less successful "filler" songs it includes. In some ways, it might be seen as a fine encapsulation of Sting's career. When he is good, he is so good that he makes you forget how often he could also be just plain mediocre.

This started out as an unexpectedly fun album that had somehow slipped my notice for many years. About halfway through, the shtick seemed to have run its course, though.

The poignancy of Bowie essentially writing his own requiem here will always be a huge part of this album's effectiveness. But it also seems like there's very little that's memorable enough here to to stand in the truly top tier of Bowie albums, especially to those who are not already huge fans. He was a genius, and this might very well be a work of genius. But it's also, sadly, largely forgettable when held up against the larger Bowie pantheon.

Not unpleasant, but I'm also not hearing much that's innovative. Pretty sure I'll have forgotten this album and group ever existed by next week.

Frank Zappa was certainly an innovator, and this album shows a lot of the ways he experimented with what could be done in popular music. But listening all these years later, I have to wonder: What was the point?

The joy that comes through early Elvis recordings is always palpable and infectious. This was a guy who was having the time of his life figuring it all out.

Seemed pretty generic to me. Is it really a top 1000 album of all time?

I remember when Lenny was the epitome of cool. This album shows just how much he deserved that reputation!

Still a lot of fun after all these years. And the lyrics remain virtually indecipherable!

"Greenman" is a banger! Otherwise, I was rather underwhelmed.

These guys just rocked!

It's ABBA. What is there that anyone can add to the discussion of ABBA and this late date. Back when they were big, I was always pretty indifferent to them, but "Fernando" (from this album) has always been my favorite song of theirs.

Some fun here, but not the Pixies best by any means.

Their one hit is on this album (in case you were wondering).

Generally uninspired background noise.

What a sweet voice! And great orchestrations of some classic songs.

Sweet, mellow and soothing. When Old Blue Eyes took his music seriously, he could create absolute masterpieces like this.

An absolutely singular voice in the history of music.

Even in this early cover-laden work, the Beatles are already showing the wide musical interests and influences that made them the greatest band of all time.

The voice was the voice, of course. But Sinatra was also great at picking the songs that always seem to take it to another level. This is plain and simple an album for ALL lovers, not merely the "swingin'."

For a little while there, these guys were absolute hit-makers.

I love Willie, and this was certainly a breakout album for him. However, I was struck hearing it again all these years later by how slim a lot of it is. Most of the songs are great, but they often feel a bit underwritten.

Not much memorable here.

I wanted to make fun of this when I started, but darned if it isn't quite infectious!

I was very underwhelmed.

Some infectiously catchy stuff on here. I liked it better than I thought I would.

\"Immigrant Song\" might be the best album opener ever. This remains a timeless classic for good reason. A complete banger!

Beautiful voice, but not seeing much point to the very safe arrangements of these songs. I suppose just not my cup of tea.

The man can play a horn!

Didn't see the point to this one.

This is no doubt the most overtold joke in rating this group, but I was NOT thrilled. In their best songs they sound a little like they're trying to be the Beach Boys . . . if the Beach Boys had been boring and predictable.

Yeah, they're a one-hit wonder, but this whole album brims with infectious enthusiasm.

Not bad as far as it goes. Sort of like a slow-down and less pithy They Might Be Giants.

These guys were a nice surprise! I'd rank them up there with Oasis.

Rather bland and one-note.

I was never much of a disco fan back in the day, but the talent here is undeniable.

This rocks pretty hard. Not sure why I'd never heard of this guy before.

Some super smooth easy listening here, if you're into that kind of thing.

Unmatched beauty in songwriting and performance have rarely (if ever!) been more clearly on display than in this album. Just sublime.

This was a surprising little gem!

This guy is great. Infectious and fun.

A decent album, but nothing I'm likely to be seeking out to listen to all that often.

They hit the ground running here, though greater songs were to follow.

An all-time classic for good reasons.

Smooth sound and a nice voice. Nothing overly memorable, though.

Some all-time great jams on here, but also a lot that feels like filler.

These guys seem to be somewhat forgotten or underrated in hindsight. Some great musical variety here!

Smooth and always surprising. David was the bomb, baby!

Felt generally kind of dull at first, but kept growing on me the more I listened to it.

"Hurt" was just about the perfect song for Cash at this late stage in his career, and his version here is wonderful. But with only a couple other exceptions, it is clearly an album recorded by someone being indulged because he is (obviously) an all-time great. I'm glad we have it, but it's not even close to most of his earlier work.

Interesting and competent, as always from Waits. Not one of his most memorable, though. A pretty spooky October listen, maybe!

For an album that seemed so much "of its time," this has held up surprising well over the past three decades.

Not a band I remember at all, but a fun, highly listenable LP.

Still enjoyable as far as it goes, but sounds very much of its time.

Kind of all over the place musically. Nothing I would call particularly memorable.

Fun, but also largely forgettable.

Enjoyable, but quite "of its time," in my opinion. There were a lot of groups that sounded pretty much like this in the late 80s.

This group's name should be My Boring Valentine. Mostly just a lot of vaguely rhythmic background noise.

At first I found this uninteresting, but it soon became actually irritating. Like she's trying to be Kate Bush but without Bush's sublime vocal talent.

Iconic.

My wife says he sounds like a goat. I say he IS the G.O.A.T.

Not typically my type of music, but generally infectious.

This rocks!

The songs are still delightfully infectious after al these years, and Cooke sounds like he's having a blast in this live performance. A great choice if you're ever feeling the least bit down!

I hadn't listened to this full album in maybe 30 years, and hearing it now was both enjoyable and a little bit sad. Some iconic VH songs of the David Lee Roth era here, of course, but it's impossible to listen to this without realizing that it was clearly the beginning of the end.

An interesting combination of styles and instruments here, but I think I would have enjoyed it more if I spoke French. The prevailing heavy metal vibe is not overly unique.

Smooth and mellow. Nice for quiet background music, I suppose.

This sounded like an instant classic when it first came out in 1985. Today, it sounds like a timeless classic. Bush is amazing! I can't think of any artist more deserving of the renaissance she got a couple of years ago.

Not anything I would turn off if it came on to a stream I was listening to, but also unlikely to be anything I ever seek out again.

There are almost certainly better rock and roll albums in history, but this is flawless in its execution of its scope. Rock and roll ain't noise pollution, baby!

I think I had seriously underrated this group. Very listenable music.

Bowie had really found his voice by this album.

Didn't do much for me. Mostly just dark and grinding.

Her sound and voice are so happy and upbeat that it's sometimes easy to miss just how angry a lot of these songs are about the double standard for women and men in 1960s America. Sadly, much of what she sings about is still relevant today.

I'd forgotten just how much energy they always brought to their music! Unfortunately, despite that energy, most of the songs are also individually forgettable.

I mean, it's U2, so there are some great songs here. But somebody needed to say no to the various versions and edits included.

Some smart commentary on life in America that still seems as timely today as it was over 30 years ago.

Not overly upbeat, so I have to be in just the right mood for this.

Infectious. "Shining Star" is an all-time banger, of course, but there's also a lot of "filler" here.

Mostly harmless.

Not disagreeable.

Sounds just like you expect it will: like a foundational work of blues-inspired rock and roll. Or like Eric Clapton, which is essentially the same thing.

Very much that mid- to late-80s sound, with maybe a bit of Frank Zappa influence mixed in. Mostly forgettable, though.

What a voice. Gone much too soon.

Holds up surprisingly well.

An incredibly eclectic mix of styles and genres, most of which ultimately hold little appeal to me.

I found myself largely indifferent.

His "Hallelujah" is quite good, of course, but for my money only the second or third best version of that song. Other than that, there's a lot of forgettable stuff here.

If not the best album of the 1990s, this is certainly in the conversation for that spot. Every track here is solid.

Smooth as butter!

Undoubtedly ground-breaking in 1969. Now, it sounds largely just self-indulgent, I'm afraid.

An all-time classic for a reason. The Beatles at the top of their songwriting and performing talents.

Cream at its best--which is very good indeed!!!

Really highlights the limited diversity of this band musically. Not quite as good as OK Computer, but it's sort of hard to tell the difference.

Largely forgettable.

Mostly harmless.

A generational voice, gone too soon.

Still musically solid (the title track is one of the all-time great bangers) and lyrically clever enough to surprise a laugh when you least expect it. A seminal album for good reason!

Still some fun here, and "Blister in the Sun" is a bop that stands the test of time.

Meh . . .

The guy was screwed up eight ways to Sunday psychologically, but man, he could write hit songs and sing. His voice on "Man in the Mirror" is just amazing.

Loud and fast, if you like that sort of thing.

Fun, but somewhat repetitive.

Decently mellow, but not overly memorable.

They had found their sound here . . . which never really changed much on subsequent efforts.

I guess My Chemical Romance would be the best comparison, though this album never hits the highs of the best of MCR.

Remember when dark and discordant was a thing? Then you might like this! Otherwise, not much to recommend.

Some great bangers here!

At best, some smooth but forgettable easy listening. At worst, so experiments with how much irritating noise a listener might be able to tolerate.

Some smooth-sounding jazzy riffs here.

Sometimes clever lyrically, but I always hope for more from this group musically. There's just too often a kind of slow, plodding sameness to the songs.

The virtuosity of Frampton's guitar playing is match only by the joyful energy he exudes on every track. There's a reason this was a seminal album of the mid-1970s.

A decent group that seemed dedicated to producing largely non-objectionable music. Their sound is definitely memorable, though very few individual songs are.

Decently listenable, but nothing really stands out here.

I'm sure there are fans for this kind of music out there, but to me it sounds like he's trying to perform the least memorable songs he can produce.

What a great album! Even if you don't recognize any of the songs by their titles, they're likely to set off memories as soon as you start hearing them. Prine was a terrific songwriter, and the number of artists who covered his work in the 70s and 80s would make up a long list indeed. These performances are sometimes rougher than the covers you might have heard, but they all highlight just how terrific the songs themselves are.

Not completely up to their highest standards, but everyone has to start somewhere. The sound is definitely already there in this debut.

Probably too much forgotten in terms of their influence on the music of that era. They certainly liked to experiment, but not everything they try here is successful.

Janis's voice is sublime on "Piece of My Heart," but though the group was clearly aware of her as a standout, they weren't quite ready yet to give themselves over to her completely yet. Thus, there's some unevenness of this album. (Though that might also be because it's a live performance).

These guys were having a lot of fun!

Feels like she had lost a lot of her early energy by this album.

The sheer artistry is absolutely undeniable, of course. But with only a couple of exceptions ("I Shot the Sheriff", "Let It Grow"), there's a lack of energy that I don't remember from when I listened to this album many years ago. The album hasn't changed, obviously, so it must be me.

Listening to this nearly 60 years after its release certainly confirms Haggard's reputation as the original outlaw of country music.

Hits all the right Pearl Jam notes, if that's your thing.

Some pretty orchestrations and a beautiful voice, but not really my cup of tea.

You can't spell "heavy metal head bangers" with AC/DC!

This is the album that made me a lifetime Rush fan (as it did for Dave Grohl, as well, apparently: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VTz2TDr79eI). It just simply rocks!!

Competent, but only sometimes interesting.

Really doesn't seem to hold up as classic after all these years.

The bluesy roots of so much of what was to come. A great album.

I don't think there's ever been a band whose sound is easier to define just from its name. This is exactly what you'll expect it to be. Skillful guitar work, and songs like "Peace Sells" almost rise to an Alice Cooper-esque level of songwriting.

Cute.

Not quite to the iconic sound that made up their greatest hits here.

Lyrically witty with over-the-top orchestrations? Must be Morrissey!

A very strong Christmas album, with versions of some classics that have really held up. Some very talented folks working here.

Surprisingly good! Walker had a smooth crooner voice, but his subject matter was surprisingly edgy. I'll be looking for more from this guy since he seems completely overlooked these days.

Kind of seems like they're trying too hard here.

A singular voice of her generation singing a fine selection of great songs from the 1960s. "Son of a Preacher Man" still bangs almost six decades later.

At least three all-time classic songs on this album, including the title track and "Everyday People." Though much of the rest feels like funkadelic filler, those tracks alone make this a great album.

Better as a middle of the road pop group than when they revert to screamo mode.

Some funny lyrics. Musically bland, but that's likely what they were going for in a generic love song kind of way.

Interesting, but largely forgettable, I'm afraid.

A very reggae-esque Clash sound. Not bad. But also not The Clash.

Well, yeah, an all-time classic. Very few albums ever made have this many good songs on them. What the Beatles were able to do musically is unlikely ever to be repeated.

Never has an album been more deserving of the renewed recognition this one is getting.

This generally rocked, but nothing really grabbed me and said, "You must hear more!"

This is the Bob Marley sound, all right!

There's a pretty voice here, but musically it often seems to be just making noise.

Some fun stuff here, from a group I'd never heard of before.

No one did prog rock like ELP.

A really great voice, and a fun live recording.

Mostly harmless.

All the great songs that you remember from the Monkees are NOT on this album. But it does show that they were actually musicians who put out a lot of music worth listening to.

A classic. Bowie at one of the several distinct peaks he reached in his career.

Rocks pretty hard. Not for the faint-hearted.

Otis is still remembered primarily as one of those singular talents who died way too young (at age 26), about a year before his biggest hit--"(Sittin' on) The Dock of the Bay"--became his only #1 single. But this album, released two years before his death, really highlights just how great and versatile he was. Chances are you will recognize every song here--though usually from a version by another artist. Otis makes each of these great songs his own, though. A really terrific record!!!

Some really beautiful stuff hear, though sometimes marred by less successful sound experiments.

This guy was having so much fun! An album to listen to if you need an instant shot of pick-me-up!

I was 40 years old when this album came out. A white guy. I can't imagine I was any kind of intended audience for this. But listening to it now has been a lot of fun.

Not among Bowie's top works, but he certainly showed he could still make interesting music well into his 60s. He was definitely taken from the world too soon!

Seven songs all nearly perfectly made. One of the great albums of its time, and it hasn't lost any of its luster.

The closest equivalent is probably DEVO. Some fun stuff on this album, but ultimately less cutting than that ground-breaking group.

Like very few groups, Oasis seemed to emerge fully formed with this debut album, and only got better on the efforts that followed! It now seems sort of inevitable that something this good could only exist for a very limited time.

Some smooth, easy-listening here.

A truly wonderful songwriter, but definitely more "vocal stylist" than "singer" as a performer. :-)

Much more my daughters' jam than mine, but three obviously talented ladies.

A great example of how anger and vitriol can be turned into timeless art! Still fun to listen to more than a quarter century after its release.

Absolutely beautiful.

Absolutely a sound of their time in the early 1980s, but still upbeat and fun to listen to more than four decades later!

Highly innovative in their time, of course; but what stands out about listening to this album now is how comfortable and familiar it all seems.

Some great Dylan covers on here, among other songs. A beautiful voice, reminiscent of Joni Mitchell.

An amazing number of great songs here, especially considering it's a debut album. Crow definitely hit the ground running!

Upbeat and generally fun. A terrific voice.

A high-energy performance of some of their greatest hits.

This is going to be exactly what you expect: high-speed riffs and screaming guitar wails. Great for what it's doing, but limited, of course.

Smooth and easy to listen to. Not particularly memorable.

Wow, this takes me back to my college years! As fun and infectious as I remember it!

Infectiously fun.

One of the greatest songwriters of the rock era. This is an often overlooked gem from Young.

"Sound and Vision" is among the second-tier Bowie songs that 95% of that artists out there would probably kill to have written. It kind of sums up this album, which is experimentally instrumental in its second half in ways that Bowie returned to on parts of Blackstar.

I've always had a soft spot for this one, though I get the impression true R.E.M. fans might be a little embarrassed by it. "Stand" is one of my all-time favorite bops!

A very smooth, jazzy sound from this group I don't think I ever heard of. Really like the often tongue-in-cheek titles, like "The Whole Point of No Return."

One of the greatest albums of the early 90s; U2 at their best. If you haven't ever heard this album, why not?!

Kind of a fun late-70s sound, anticipating groups like Shriekback from a few years later (though not nearly as hard rock as that example).

Seems almost the definition of a sophomore slump after the wild success of her first album, but there are some decent tracks here and her voice is beautiful.

Very much of their time, with a bit of an Oasis vibe. Entertaining to listen to, but not all that memorable for me.

It's Bob Marley. Anyone who can't find joy in this needs to reexamine many things about their lies. Possibly at his most political here, but you're hardly going to notice as you bop along with him.

Listening to it now, this is something of a mess. There's nothing NOT to like here, specifically, but somehow it doesn't really add up to anything.

Mostly harmless.

Morrison is a generational talent, no doubt. But this is a surprisingly low-energy set.

This album shows both the strengths and weaknesses of The Byrds. Tremendously innovative, and when it works (Eight Miles High), it's absolutely iconic. When it doesn't work, it's largely forgettable.

"Heavy" is the word here. If you like metal, it's not going to get much better than this.

Wonderful.

An important transition album for the group with a couple of songs that have become iconic. But not the first Beach Boys album anyone is likely to turn to when they want to listen to them, I think.

I don't remember this group, but, yeah, they sound a lot like my college days.

A transformational figure in the history of rock. And still a pure joy to listen to today!

A wonderful voice and talent. In addition to the classic, "Let's Stay Together," this album also includes a pretty great cover of the Bee Gees "How Can You Mend a Broken Heart"!

I've long argued that song for song, this is the greatest album of the rock era. This is obviously a subjective judgement, but break breaking it down by track makes it hard to argue, I'd say. It includes three all-time classics in "Baba O'Riley," "Behind Blue Eyes," and "Won't Get Fooled Again." It's "middle three" tracks, quality-wise--"Bargain," "Love Ain't for Keeping," and "Getting in Tune"--would almost certainly be the top songs on about 90% of the albums ever released. And even it's "bottom tier" is a terrific mix of tracks, with "My Wife," "The Song Is Over," and "Going Mobile." There is absolutely no filler here! This is my go-to for solid greatness all the way through! It gets five stars only because I can't give it six.

I've always wanted to like this album more than I do. An early-thirties father of three young girls when this came out, I wanted it to give me insights into what I myself had always done wrong as a man and use this knowledge to help my daughters not become the disappointed women Phair so often writes about here. Alas, though I can see certain flashes of brilliance, instead of insights, I've mostly only ever heard anger. Instead of guidance, grievance. I still blame mostly myself for my lack of understanding. But after more than thirty years, I'm resigned that I will never change enough to truly appreciate what others see here. My daughters have turned out fine despite those limitations on my part, thank goodness.

Upbeat and not hard to listen to, but highly derivative of stuff Stevie Wonder was doing much better roughly a quarter of a century before this came out.

This feels like the album where Randy Newman fully found his folksy, R&B infused, political commentary voice. "Rednecks," "Birmingham," "Marie," and "Louisiana, 1927" are all essential tracks in his discography. Somehow, messages that would feel strident from other artists always invite a sharp laugh of recognition from Newman. He'll give us a moment to feel superior, then quickly pull it out from under us. A wonderful talent.

I've always wanted to like this group more than I do. There's nothing wrong with what they're doing. I just never find it all that compelling or memorable.

Surprisingly hard to rate this one. By my count, 5 or the 13 songs here are among the greatest written in the past sixty years or so. But (not surprisingly, I guess) there's a pretty big drop-off from the best of those to the filler. Still, this is an essential album for everyone to listen to if they care at all about popular music is the second half of the 20th century.

Some timeless stuff here.

My wife says Neil's voice is the Greatest Of All Time! Or maybe she's just saying he sounds like a goat. Either way, a fantastic songwriter and performer.

Yeah, this one just didn't do anything for me.

Still pretty rough and unformed here, without the smooth polish that would characterize the later stuff that they are still primarily known for.

A surprisingly fully formed debut album that includes all-time Petty classics "Breakdown" and "American Girl." Most of the other tunes feel less polished by comparison, but still a great listen nearly fifty years after its release.

Groundbreaking in its day, of course, but still surprisingly listenable today in a way that most of the "experimental" efforts of the late 60s are not. Lou Reed anchors it with a keen awareness of how to prioritize the music and assure the shock of the experimental parts are not overshadowing.

It's almost impossible to listen to this while you're trying to do something else. Parton tells stories that just suck you in.

I've never been a big country music fan, and 80s country usually sounds to me like the most generic, cliched version of the genre. I'm glad Buck Owens got another hit with his duet with Dwight on "Streets of Bakersfield," but this version is almost laughable if listened to back-to-back with Buck's original. Just not much here for me, I'm afraid.

Entertaining, with some fun takes on a couple of classic songs from the seventies. Parts feel overindulgent in the way a lot of rap from the nineties can feel today.

It was great that Raitt finally received some long-deserved accolades and financial success from the album.

This is certainly where they found the sound we still remember them for. But better albums were to follow.

My second Talking Heads in a row! That's not a bad thing, I guess. They were building their canon here by adding all-time classics "Life During Wartime" and "Heaven." And they had definitely discovered their signature sound in this second collaboration with producer Brian Eno.

I was all set to really ravage this one, because these guys were not much more than a joke to me back in the day. But unbelievably, I found it much more entertaining than I thought I would. Never underestimate the power of nostalgia!!

This is a guy in peak form after nearly two decades of great songwriting. While his vocal styling could be off-putting, the man could make music!

I wonder if albums haven't been added to this list just for their irritation value. Given the sound and the time period, this was probably an inspiration for groups like Devo and the Talking Heads, but it shows little of the musical skill and only some of the humorous charm of those groups. A six-minute noise experiment that serves as the album's penultimate track (and roughly one-sixth of its total running time) feels like time I'll never have back in my life now.

This is the sound of it all coming together, man! Fifteen years after being discovered by Buddy Holly, Waylon finally found the sound here that he would ride to superstardom in the '70s and on into icon status for the final decades of his life.

This sounds exactly like you'd expect an album from a British new wave group of the early 80s to sound. I wonder if their band name might have inspired all of those "number" band names from the next decade: Sum 41, Matchbox 20, Blink-182, and the like. :-)

No one did R&B any funkier!

It doesn't get much more metal than this!

These guys immediately sounded so good harmonizing together that it's sometimes hard to remember that each of them were actually already established stars with other groups. Some beautiful, timeless stuff here.

A fun band.

A nice sort of folky rock collection that seems like it might have set the stage for later, more successful groups like Counting Crows. An easy listen.

Mostly harmless.

Much of it sounds as cheesy as you remember most British Invasion songs of the early 60s sounding. Then comes "Time of the Season."

I think of this as heavy metal in its purest form. Listen only if you're ready to rock!

I have no memory of this album (or any of Gene Clark's other solo efforts after the Byrd's disbanded), but I was pretty young at the time. After listening to it, it strikes me as a quite competent collection of songs that have kind of a mellow Grateful Dead vibe. It's certainly much better than you might expect an album so thoroughly ignored by the American audience to be. But neither does it rise to the level you might imagine from the Album of the Year award it received in the Netherlands.

As heavy as you imagine it to be.

Kind of like if the B-52s married the Ramones. Only now that I've typed that, it sounds way more interesting than the songs on this particular album.

This is the sound I think of when I think new wave/punk of the late 70s and early 80s.

Starts with one of the greatest songs ever written and it doesn't decline much from there.

A hallmark of Bowie's career was his ability to keep reinventing himself. This album falls pretty much in the middle between those early harder rock hits that I still like the best and his later, more commercial pop-synth mega-hits that took him to a whole new level of superstardom and brought him an entirely new generation of fans. But even in leaving one phase behind on his journey to a new, he was writing classics like "Beauty and the Beast" and "Heroes." Just a truly singular talent.

Iconic.

A solid bop!

The musicianship is fine here; the songs well-chosen and well-performed. But hard to hear this as a seminal Byrds album.

Not even close to my usual jam, but not painful to listen to.

Hard to imagine a better debut album than this. They would have greater commercial successes, of course (particularly after Morrison's death), but it really feels like they could only repeat themselves of go downhill from here.

Sometimes, I forget that there are entire genres of music--enjoyed by millions--that have touched me only obliquely. How do I rate albums like that? Objectively, I know many people love to lose themselves in the kinds of beeps and squeaks of electronica ably showcased here. Subjectively, I'm not typically one of those people.

Joyful and upbeat.

Two Becks in three days is at least one too many! This one felt tired and repetitive, not nearly as fresh and upbeat as Odelay (my other recent Beck selection). Both Odelay and Sea Change apparently came out of periods of personal loss and change, but in the former, life events lead to interesting insights and musical inspiration, while the latter just seems to focus on bleak feelings in the bleakest manner imaginable.

A sound that underwhelmed me in my high school/college days. Apparently, not much has changed in my musical tastes since then.

A lot of sly wit and sneaky energy in these songs.

The man could do fascinating things with a guitar. There's no doubt about that. And some my find this an interesting exploration of the variety of sounds possible when our traditional concept of "blues" music interacts with certain varieties of world musical styles. But it doesn't feel like anything I'm going to deliberately come back to revisit.

Chaotic and not always easy to listen to. Probably the point, but needs a very specialized and committed audience for appreciation I'd say.

A pure gem from an artist too much forgotten. A wonderful voice in the manner of Otis Redding or Percy Sledge.

This is one of those groups I've always wanted to like more than I actually do. I love that they experiment with incorporating so many different elements into their music, , but the results often seem more incoherent than innovative to me.

Really quite listenable despite the general pretentiousness and self-importance of its lyrics.

Nothing here should make your ears bleed, either literally or metaphorically.

Quite delightful, though it's likely to disappoint those who come to it from the over-hype of the several "rediscoveries" it has experienced over the years. If you go in expecting something like a cross between a lost final Byrds album and a George Harrison solo effort, that seems to hit it about right, I'd say.

This one surprised me! I was doubtful that an album from a one-hit wonder that came out two years after their one hit and never even made the Billboard top 100 should be on a list of 1001 great albums of all time, but there's some good stuff here. "Darkness, Darkness" is the real deal, as about two dozen covers over the years has shown.

This album is a total banger! I can't believe these guys were never bigger than they actually got.

Solidly produced and performed bubble gum pop. If you expect neither more nor less than that, you won't be disappointed.

Somehow, this still doesn't seem to get the same kind of love as Nevermind, but it definitely rocks! Parts feel like an attempt to over-correct the sense that the band must have been selling out in some way to achieve their success, but more than three decades after whatever may have influenced the choices Cobain and the band made, it still mostly just sounds like a flat-out work of genius.

Mostly harmless.

Includes one of the most iconic songs of the rock era, of course, in "Smoke on the Water." But "Highway Star," "Space Truckin'," and "Never Enough" are also great tracks.

Some easy-on-the-ears late-70s jazz/soul fusion.

I'm clearly not the intended audience here, so feel free to disregard this rating. All I can give is my gut reaction, which is to hope I'm never forced to listen to this again. I hope others enjoy it, though.

Undeniably one of the most influential albums of the rock era, but what struck me most on this listen was how really just three songs here managed to seep into the consciousness of the general public and remain more than six decades later. As revolutionary as it was for its time, most of the tracks here seemed to serve as pointers for what others (most notably the Beatles, of course, on Sgt. Pepper) would quickly be doing much better.

Remember that hot minute in the summer of 2008 when Kings of Leon seemed destined to become kings of everything? If you were alive and paying attention then, this will take back to those days. Subjectively, "Sex on Fire" never really worked for me, and it seems even lamer all these years later. I can still listen to "Use Somebody" and "17" though.

There's a golden age for works like this. I'd say it's probably about 13.

An album that proves (if proof was needed) that great music is great music and great artists are great artists. I can still remember just how crazy it seemed that Willie Nelson of all people, Mr. Country Outlaw, had done a record featuring romantic standards from decades past. But every song and performance here is amazing. You can not like the type of music; that's just a matter of personal preference. But what can't be denied is the quality and beauty of the performance.

Is it possible for an album to sound paradoxically timeless and completely and totally "of its time"? If so, I'd say that description is perfectly apt here. Fleet Foxes were at the forefront of that hugely popular turn in music that would soon bring us Mumford & Sons and The Lumineers, with a sound strongly influenced by traditional folk with a mix of features that seem to go all the way back to the Renaissance. "White Winter Hymnal" is an amazing song, with a video that's probably the most heart-breaking animation you've seen since the first ten minutes of Pixar's "Up."

A sweet voice and pleasant bossa nova beats. Mostly harmless.

A beautiful voice singing timeless songs.

Is there anything to say about this one? It's Isaac Hayes singing/speaking soul in his uniquely Isaac Hayes style. Even if it's not the kind of music you typically like, it's hard not to have fun with him.

Some skilled musicianship put to use in largely unmemorable songs. It was easy to see The Hives as a next generation Sex Pistols back in 2001, but now that a whole 'nother generation has passed, they really come off the worse for the comparison, possibly due to a sense they became a phenomenon more manufactured than organic. To be sure, there are probably no songs here that you WON'T like. But 25 years later, there are also no songs we're still rocking to in the same way as we rock to "God Save the Queen" and "Anarchy in the U.K." nearly 50 years after they came into existence.

Well, they certainly succeed in the "loud and chaotic" department, which seems to be what they are going for. If that's the kind of music you're wanting to hear, they will not disappoint.

Not a big fan of rap music in general or Eminem in particular, but there's some funny shit here.

Don't quite see the appeal of this one.

For me, one of those albums that's more fun to think about in terms of its influence than to actually listen to.

I guess I had gotten too old and dismissive of the Beach Boys as a 60s phenomenon by the time Brian Wilson got around to "finishing" this album twenty years ago, nearly four decades after he started working on it as his perceived ultimate masterpiece. I vaguely remember it coming out, but I honestly don't think I ever listened to it fully until today, the day after his death. It's really quite amazing, and I had a far more positive reaction to it than to a coincidental re-listening to Pet Sounds a couple of weeks ago. The songs of that LP have been just a part of my life since before I was even aware of music, so they tended to underwhelm. This album, while maybe a bit too "slick" at times in its efforts to provide cohesion to some songs that were first written and recorded at a time when Wilson himself lacked complete mental cohesion, really feels like the revolutionary effort Pet Sounds was in its own time. Not perfect, by any means, but really quite great.

These guys slipped under my radar back in 1980, and it's kind of easy to see why. Nothing wrong with the tracks here, but nothing all that notable either. I'd say they're comparable to The Tubes and Gary Myrick and the Figures, both groups I enjoyed back in the day.

I can't imagine a rawer, more moving album. She had been through six kinds of hell by this point in her life, and she turned it into true art.

A truly amazing voice that peals the layers beneath every possible emotion.

Not quite sure what the attraction is here. I guess some people must like what these guys are doing, but it all seems very generic and forgettable to me.

All the fun sound and upbeat humor that were the group's signature style feel fully formed in this debut.

This one raises an interesting question. Is paving the way and serving as an inspiration for some great rock operas that followed it enough of a reason to include an otherwise pretty pedestrian album like this on a list with the greatest albums of all time?

One all-time classic song surrounded by a lot of very competent but otherwise unmemorable tracks. There are worse things to listen to if you just want to have some fun.

My wife always says that Neil Young is the greatest of all time. At least, that's what I think she means when she says he sounds like a goat! :-) Whatever you might think of his voice, the power of these songs is undeniable. Wonderfully written, produced, and performed, this album absolutely has to be in the conversation for greatest of its era.

This is Simple Minds finally sounding like Simple Minds. It will depend on your musical taste whether you consider that a good thing or a bad thing.

Sometimes somewhat self-indulgent, but always interesting, with humor and pathos perfectly blended. I always wonder if my tolerance for the albums over-indulgences comes from my own connection to the state itself and its rich variety of stories, both personal and public.

A rock and roll classic, now half a century old! If you haven't known at least half of these songs for most of your life, you haven't been listening to rock!

Yeah, we lost Janis just as she found her fully adult voice with this album. Some unforgettable renditions of some great songs.

I've never been a big Cars fan, but I have to admit this album has stood the test of time as one of the great debuts, right up there with Boston The Doors, and The Killers. Iconic songs that you can't get out of your head if you try (and believe me, I've often tried!).

I remember when this album came out, and a band that had been just sort of an interesting piece of background noise in most people's musical perception became suddenly omnipresent. The hot women in their music videos were a big part of that, I suppose. But the songs themselves are just plain fun to listen to, even forty years later.

Man, this is fun! Just sit back and take the ride of a lifetime.

Some pretty iconic stuff here. The title track alone pushes this into the "above average" range, but pretty much every song is groovin'.

This was an easily dismiss-able group in the 80s, so I was anxious to see if they might have been better than I remember. Not really, though I did gain a slightly higher level of respect for the variety of music on this album and the musicianship itself.

An absolutely singular voice and an album where we can listen to a performer reaching musical maturity.

An all-time classic. This is one of those albums that showed us that most of what we thought was good music was really just crap and that there were a lot more possibilities out there. Great writing, great performances, the perfect capture of the mood of the nation at a particular moment in time.

A group I'd never heard of before, and an album that's fine. "Mansize Rooster" and "Alright" are two pretty nice bops. Coincidentally, I had a Nirvana album yesterday. Though roughly from the same era, these guys are pretty much the opposite of that.

This was pretty clearly a group that was losing its direction by this time. Some decent track, but no real coherence to the music or approach here.

One of the most wildly entertaining albums ever produced. This is the Beatles at their best: and that's saying quite a lot, of course! There's nothing I could say here that would add to the voluminous commentary already written about this record, so I'll just note how much FUN they all seem to be having here.

Seems like a talented voice. Nothing really stood out for me, though.

Of the hundreds of albums I've listened to so far from this list, this was, without a doubt, one of the longest.

Very uncompelling, except for some great wordplay in a few of the tracks and titles.

This is the album where, in my opinion, Rod Stewart discovered his best voice. Later in the decade, of course, he would become a megastar with albums and singles selling far more than this. But if you listen to those later songs now, they seem very jokey: like Stewart is parodying himself. The songs here, especially "Maggie May," "I'm Losing You," "Every Picture Tells a Story," and "Mandolin Wind," still feel fresh and timeless with each new listen.

Great opening riff on "Soubour," the first song! Mostly infectious fun throughout, but one day after listening to it, I can't say I specifically recall any of the songs.

I suppose that until I come up with my very own list of the 1001 greatest albums, I should stop making comments like "How is THIS one of the 1000 greatest albums of all time?!" Certainly, there has been an effort to include a diversity of musical styles on this list, and this is absolutely a decent example of heavy metal machine-blasted music from the 1990s. I suppose if I had heard it at just the right age in my emotional/musical development, I might even have found myself smitten by it like I was with Shriekback a decade before this came out. But hearing it now leaves me just pretty much "Meh [shrugging emoji]." I don't know. Kind of like Rage Against the Machine without the thoughtfulness or the really terrific guitar shredding?

This album rocks, now and forever. RIP Ozzy! Or maybe I should say Rest in the Joyful Chaos you were so terrific at creating!!

Really not much memorable here, despite the efforts of Jim Steinman, who was a god of rock and roll melodrama.

This is another one of those albums that I just plain missed because my kids were growing up and I guess I was just getting old. But while I was a bit dismissive of it through the early tracks, when "All My Friends" came on, it just knocked me out! Am I the last person over 30 in the English-speaking world to find this truly terrific song?! In fact, it made me go back and listen to the earlier tracks again with a much greater appreciation. This is definitely worth a spin or three.

Every once in awhile, I think about how many women like this with beautiful voices and remarkable talent have flickered through the musical world, then quietly disappeared. Nothing wrong with this album, but also nothing remarkable memorable either.

Some fun songs, but often problematic thematically in our more politically correct times. This one really shows its age both musically and lyrically.

Here's U2 coming into their own with confidence and energy.

Yeah, every group started somewhere, and I suppose it's still interesting to look back at Queen as they were figuring out who they wanted to be. Obviously skilled musicians by this point, but the song-writing feels almost painfully young.

Entertaining and well performed. Mostly forgettable if you're not a tango fan, though.

Like almost every double album I can think of (Pink Floyd's "The Wall" might be an exception), this one suffers from unevenness. There are enough great songs to have been at least a 4 (and a serious candidate for a 5) if they had been on an album with half as many tracks. But there are also plenty of songs to place this in the 2-3 range if they had been the sole material on the album. The result is something more like a 3.5+ effort, so I'll go ahead and round up for the sake of those great songs, but if I consider the experience of sitting through the entire album every time I listen to it, this should probably be a 3.

Starts out incredibly strong, but fades in the final few songs. He's mostly trying to have fun and be dance-y here, which is fine. But in hindsight, this is an album that has to be seen as just starting to hone the genius that would come a couple of years later with Purple Rain.

A fun album from an iconic artist.

Sonic Youth has never really done much for me, so I have to resist the urge for rating them lower than they probably deserve simply because we've never clicked for some reason. Still, much of this album seems self-consciously noisy and messy, an attempt to avoid seeming "too mainstream." I can't imagine ever wanting to listen to any of these songs again.

This album truly begs the question: Can a single indisputably outstanding song lift an otherwise mediocre collection of songs into the realm of greatness? The other songs on this album are certainly serviceable. While taking part in this project, I've listened to dozens of albums (possibly over 100 of the 350 I've rated so far, actually) filled with songs just as competent but forgettable (and occasionally embarrassingly cringe-worthy) as most of the songs on this album. What those other albums lack, of course, is their very own "Bohemian Rhapsody." If two or three other songs here were even one-quarter as good as that song (almost certainly a consensus top 5 of all time, so a big order, admittedly) this is a slam dunk 5 instead of a 4 rating. Or, looked at another way, this would have been Led Zeppelin IV instead of what it actually is. One more note. A couple of weeks ago, I got Queen II, and commented on how it reflected a very talented but ultimately immature group, with somewhat embarrassing tracks about evil trolls versus white queens and other such clearly Tolkien-inspired lyrics not uncommon for the era. The band had largely (but not completely) moved away from that by this point (two albums later), but "The Prophet's Song" is clearly still revisiting that phase of their development. On this listening, though, I came to realize that "Bohemian Rhapsody" is also a song like that. Or a parody of a song like that which somehow spirals into a greatness that a more straight-laced approach could never have achieved.

Perhaps this was ground-breaking in its day (though I question that assertion a bit, since it largely mixes a lot of bits and pieces that others were already doing in more interesting ways), but it doesn't feel all that relevant anymore. It generally just feels scattered and unfocused.

No surprises here. This album will sound exactly like you expect it to.

I have mixed feelings about Steely Dan. Their songs are typically smooth and easy to listen to, but almost aggressively so, if that makes any sense. There's nothing NOT to like here. "Rikki Don't Lose That Number" and "Pretzel Logic" are the standouts. But there are better overall choices (just about every song on AJA, for instance) if you really find yourself needing a Steely Dan fix.

Some all-time greats here, which still sound just as good as you remember them: "Wanna Be Startin' Something," "Thriller," "Beat It," "Billie Jean," "PYT." And some songs like "The Girl Is Mine," which sounds even hokier than you probably thought back then. On those great songs alone, there's probably an argument that this is one of the best albums of all time, and I can objectively understand that argument. But music is ultimately subjective, and while I might smile nostalgically when I hear a line like "Show them how funky and strong is your fight," Jackson just never did it for me. And besides, he stole that tune from poor, long-suffering Weird Al Yankovic! ;-)

Some powerful tracks on here, and it was a great return to recording for Bruce and the E Street band. Not quite in his top tier of work, though.

One of the few double albums that is not too over-bloated to deserve a top rating. Sure, there are some songs here that are a bit weak, but in many double album playlists, you'll find enough dross that you wonder why the artist didn't just go for a single, really great album. Here, a single album would almost certainly have left out too many terrific tracks.

This albums moves along nicely, if not spectacularly, through most of its tracks. Then we get to those final two!

It's easy to see why these guys are still beloved by so many fans. And just as easy to understand why the rest of us remain staunchly indifferent. Nothing here nearly as fun as "Alright," from an earlier album of theirs I reviewed for this 1001 albums project.

Maybe if I was still 14 years old? "Halfsharkalligatorhalfman" is kind of fun, I guess.

I've been trying to figure out what's missing here. The song-writing and production are outstanding, and Williams has a voice that can soar or ache as the situation warrants. I'm old enough to remember the acclaim this album received when it came out nearly three decades ago, and it certainly deserves all the plaudits. But it never really grabbed me emotionally, so it's not a recording I've thought about in at least fifteen years. This latest listen didn't move the needle at all. Put it down to the subjectivity of musical taste, I guess.

Often quite delightful.

The title pretty much says it all here. It doesn't get much jazzier than this!

Not something I would have chosen for my own personal top 1001 albums list, but I'm sure it must have its fans.

Can a band be both over-hyped and absolutely magnificent at the same time? That's been my assessment of Arctic Monkeys for a long time. Man, they are talented, but I just can never get my head around the idea that they are as good as their many fans say they are. Then again, listening to an AM album is NEVER a bad experience. And this album certainly belongs in the conversation when you're talking about greatest debuts of all time.

Nothing here as iconic as "Hey Joe" or "All Along the Watchtower" (with the possible exception of "Little Wing"), but this is definitely an album that shows off Hendrix's range and sublime virtuosity.

Smooth and very easy to listen to.

A decent escape from his Beach Boy roots, with some stuff that shows a clear influence from all that early-70s Topanga Canyon renaissance. Kind of surprising that he never really followed this up.

Mostly harmless.

Interesting, but this seems like it's ultimately going to be just forgettable. Nothing I hated here, but also nothing that stood out and made me say, "I gotta listen to that song again!"

I've never been much of a KISS fan, but it's hard to deny that they were very good at doing just what they aimed to do.

On a list of Dr. Demento's top 1000 albums, yeah, I could see this.

Remember 2004, when everyone sounded just a little bit like The Killers, but not quite as good? Ah, good times!

An incredibly strong debut album. Do you suppose they knew it was going to be the high-water mark of the group?

It's nice to go back to this Iggy debut from time to time and realize that he has now spent five decades just being true to himself. Side Two has always been something of a snoozefest to me due to its emphasis on experimentation over entertainment, but of course that was Iggy's choice and he stuck with it.

There must have been a process people went through before experiencing an Allman Brothers concert or live album that made them seem awesome. Unfortunately, I had no mind-altering substances before this listen, so they sounded talented but mostly pretty average.

A decent amount of fun.