510
Albums Rated
3.12
Average Rating
47%
Complete
579 albums remaining
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Rating Timeline
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1950s
Favorite Decade
Grunge
Favorite Genre
UK
Top Origin
Wordsmith
Rater Style ?
51
5-Star Albums
39
1-Star Albums
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By Genre
By Decade
By Origin
Albums
You Love More Than Most
| Album | You | Global | Diff |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Antichrist Superstar
Marilyn Manson
|
5 | 2.48 | +2.52 |
|
69 Love Songs
The Magnetic Fields
|
5 | 2.85 | +2.15 |
|
A Walk Across The Rooftops
The Blue Nile
|
5 | 2.86 | +2.14 |
|
Felt Mountain
Goldfrapp
|
5 | 3 | +2 |
|
Music From The Penguin Cafe
Penguin Cafe Orchestra
|
5 | 3.01 | +1.99 |
|
Emperor Tomato Ketchup
Stereolab
|
5 | 3.03 | +1.97 |
|
Kimono My House
Sparks
|
5 | 3.06 | +1.94 |
|
Treasure
Cocteau Twins
|
5 | 3.07 | +1.93 |
|
Ambient 1/Music For Airports
Brian Eno
|
5 | 3.07 | +1.93 |
|
Tubular Bells
Mike Oldfield
|
5 | 3.1 | +1.9 |
You Love Less Than Most
| Album | You | Global | Diff |
|---|---|---|---|
|
The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill
Lauryn Hill
|
1 | 3.63 | -2.63 |
|
Illmatic
Nas
|
1 | 3.6 | -2.6 |
|
The Chronic
Dr. Dre
|
1 | 3.33 | -2.33 |
|
Shake Your Money Maker
The Black Crowes
|
1 | 3.29 | -2.29 |
|
It's Too Late to Stop Now
Van Morrison
|
1 | 3.25 | -2.25 |
|
Time Out Of Mind
Bob Dylan
|
1 | 3.21 | -2.21 |
|
The Healer
John Lee Hooker
|
1 | 3.19 | -2.19 |
|
No Other
Gene Clark
|
1 | 3.18 | -2.18 |
|
Bluesbreakers
John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers
|
1 | 3.16 | -2.16 |
|
Golden Hour
Kacey Musgraves
|
1 | 3.09 | -2.09 |
Artists
Favorites
| Artist | Albums | Average |
|---|---|---|
| Beatles | 5 | 4.6 |
| Radiohead | 4 | 4.5 |
| U2 | 2 | 5 |
| David Bowie | 6 | 4.17 |
| Metallica | 3 | 4.33 |
| Talking Heads | 3 | 4.33 |
Least Favorites
| Artist | Albums | Average |
|---|---|---|
| Van Morrison | 2 | 1.5 |
| Creedence Clearwater Revival | 3 | 2 |
Controversial
| Artist | Ratings |
|---|---|
| Bruce Springsteen | 5, 4, 5, 1 |
| Brian Eno | 5, 5, 4, 1, 3 |
| Dexys Midnight Runners | 1, 4, 3 |
5-Star Albums (51)
View Album Wall
Popular Reviews
Bonnie Raitt
2/5
This has to be the kind of album "you had to be there" to appreciate. There's nothing here that makes it set itself apart from anything that ever was and has been since. Do we, in the year of our lord 2024, really need to hear this before we die? Probably not.
Key tracks:
Nick of Time
5 likes
The Libertines
1/5
This album completely baffled me. I quite the garage rock revival bands of the 00's like The Strokes, The White Stripes, etc., but this album is just so utterly bad I couldn't even fathom. The vocals are all over the place in the worst way, with the backing vocals clashing with the lead vocals as if these songs were recorded in just one take with very shitty equipment. The instrumental are not too bad, but they're so painfully generic. And I couldn't remember I single note of what I had just heard, only that I didn't like it. The kind of garage rock that should never have left the garage.
3 likes
The Blue Nile
5/5
Magnificent, stunning, the definition of a hidden gem. I had not heard of The Blue Nile before going through the book and they have since become a favorite of mine, too bad their output is so scant at only 4 albums. This one and their follow-up Hats (1989) are their best, with their city night atmosphere, impeccably written songs, and Paul Buchanan's tremendous vocals. There aren't many singers capable of tugging on my heartstrings quite like Buchanan does, and it's always a joy to hear him whenever he pops up on other artists projects, be them with Peter Gabriel, Craig Armstrong, or Jessie Ware.
Key tracks:
A Walk Across the Rooftops
Tinseltown in the Rain
Stay
Heatwave
Automobile Noise
2 likes
Electric Light Orchestra
4/5
So many songs, but so many highlights. I really enjoyed this one. It was a strange mix of prog and pop that works incredibly well. Great arrangements.
Key tracks:
Turn to Stone
It's Over
Sweet Talkin' Woman
Mr. Blue Sky
2 likes
Christina Aguilera
4/5
Despite being so long and having benefited from some trimming, this is actually a great pop album. Very cool application of older styles of music such as Jazz, Blues and Soul into a modern day Contemporary R&B and Dance Pop frame. Needless to say, top notch vocals too.
Key tracks:
Ain't No Other Man
Here to Stay
Candyman
Hurt
2 likes
1-Star Albums (39)
All Ratings
Bob Dylan
3/5
Not my favorite Dylan album, but definitely a very influential one.
Key tracks:
Like a Rolling Stone
Ballad of a Thin Man
Desolation Row
Johnny Cash
4/5
Great late career offering from Cash. Very interesting and varied song selection with arrangements that make them sound both band new but also like they have been around since the 50's.
Key tracks:
The Man Comes Around
Hurt
First Time Ever I Saw Your Face
CHIC
4/5
Probably the greatest disco album of all time. Filled with amazing songs all the way through, greatly balanced between dance numbers and ballads.
Key tracks:
Chic Cheer
Le Freak
I Want Your Love
At Last I Am Free
Arcade Fire
5/5
For some reason, this has a cozier vibe than their pervious albums, which makes sense given the concept. Still, Arcade Fire continue their perfect streak, although I do admit there is a fair amout of nostalgia at play here for me.
Key tracks:
The Suburbs
Ready to Start
We Used to Wait
Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)
Pearl Jam
4/5
Pearl Jam's debut is without a doubt a landmark album in grunge, as it served as the main blueprint for the terrible post-grunge bands that started appearing later in the decade. Thankfully it is way better than any of them.
Key tracks:
Once
Even Flow
Alive
Black
Jeremy
4/5
A great Muse record, with tracks taking cues from different genres. This was before Muse went completely downhill and became absolutely ubearable. There are a few traces of that here already but the true jumping the shark moment was still a couple of albums away.
Key tracks:
Take a Bow
Starlight
Map of the Problematique
Supermassive Black Hole
Invincible
Knights of Cydonia
Pretenders
3/5
It's not bad, but I definitely don't see the hype. I sound like perfectly standard early-80's New Wave to me. I guess I had to be there.
Key tracks:
Precious
Brass in Pocket
David Bowie
3/5
Not one of my favorite Bowie albums, but one I've grown to appreciate more over the years. I quite like the concept of a self-consciously artifitial soul album, like stripping the actual soul from the music that gets its name from it. In the end, the idea is better than the execution and also some of the best songs were unfortunatelly relegated as B-sides.
Key tracks:
Young Americans
Fame
Gang Starr
3/5
I'm not a hip-hop guy at all, but I don't mind this type of early-90's jazz-rap. It's pretty good.
Key tracks:
Step in the Arena
Nina Simone
3/5
I always found Nina Simone to be greatly overrated. Not as bombastic as a soul singer as Aretha Franklin, and not as sophisitcated a jazz singer as Ella Fitzgerald or Billie Holiday. Also, something about her persona is off-putting to me, not quite sure what it is. Still, there is great and undeniable talent at play in her music.
Key tracks:
Four Women
Lilac Wine
Wild Is the Wind
The Last Shadow Puppets
3/5
This one simply isn't very special. It is supposedly influenced by Scott Walker, an artist I absolutely adore, but I just don't ear it.
Key tracks:
The Age of the Understatement
Only the Truth
GZA
2/5
A classic of the genre, so it merits its inclusion on the book. Sadly, the genre just isn't for me.
Grizzly Bear
3/5
Grizzly Bear have never been one of my favorite big Indie acts of the 2000's. That being said, this is without a doubt their best album, even if it is not very memorable outside of its big hit "Two Weeks".
Key tracks:
Two Weeks
Bonnie Raitt
2/5
This has to be the kind of album "you had to be there" to appreciate. There's nothing here that makes it set itself apart from anything that ever was and has been since. Do we, in the year of our lord 2024, really need to hear this before we die? Probably not.
Key tracks:
Nick of Time
Stan Getz
3/5
It's and alright sounding album, but it presents an incredibly gentrified version of Bossa Nova. I can't think of a situation I would pick this up over the real thing whenever I want my fix of 60's brazilian music.
Metallica
5/5
Absolutely phenomenal! This may be my favorite live album of all time, and I'm not even that big a Metallica fan. However, I do love Symphonic Metal as a genre, and although this isn't quite that, it is the closest we get in this book. Fantastic perfomances all around, amazing larger than life arrangements, great setlist. No flaws.
Key tracks:
Master of Puppets
No Leaf Clover
Nothing Else Matters
Sad But True
Brian Eno
5/5
A transitional album between Eno's more glam-inspired early solo albums and his later, ground-breaking ambient work, however it's probably the best transitional album ever made. The ambient tracks really work to highlight the vocal songs and the bright, airy atmosphere is undeniable.
Key tracks:
St. Elmo's Fire
The Big Ship
I'll Come Running
Zawinul/Lava
Digital Underground
1/5
I didn't enjoy this one at all. Very dated, very same-y, and needlessly long.
Janis Joplin
3/5
I enjoyed this, I didn't love it. The vocal talent is obviously there and the context behind the album's recording and release is still poignant to this day. Besides all of that, it is just an above average blues rock record.
Key tracks:
Move Over
Cry Baby
Me and Bobby McGee
Mercedes Benz
Thundercat
3/5
This was fun, not sure if it's really essential but it's alright.
Key tracks:
Tokyo
Friend Zone
Cheap Trick
3/5
I had never heard any of these songs' studio versions, but I still enjoyed this album a lot more than I was expecting.
Key tracks:
I Want You to Want Me
Surrender
R.E.M.
3/5
Good, but not my favorite R.E.M. album. I feel like this album is all about the big singles and the deep cuts are rather lacking and forgettable.
Key tracks:
Finest Worksong
It's the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)
The One I Love
The Rolling Stones
2/5
The Rolling Stones' debut doesn't seem like an essential listen to me. Sure, it has historical significance but stylistically it is not any different from the dozens of other british guitar bands of the times, and it only sets itself apart retrospectively because of how big the band would become.
Marvin Gaye
3/5
I'm not really a Soul kind of person and this it a bit too long, but I can't deny the artistry.
Key tracks:
When Did You Stop Loving Me, When Did I Stop Loving You
The La's
3/5
This is a pretty fun a low stakes indie album, as most jangle pop tends to be. I have no idea if this is influential of significant in any way, as I have hardly every heard about it outside the discourse around this book.
Key tracks:
There She Goes
Feelin'
Stan Getz
5/5
Absolutely stellar! This type of authenticity the other Stan Getz bossa nova release on this book was lacking.
Key tracks:
The Girl from Ipanema
Doralice
Desafinado
Corcovado
Vivo Sonhando
Pixies
4/5
I didn't find the Pixies to be particulary impressive at first, but then it clicked. I can't say I listen to them all that often but whenever I do, I like them a lot.
Key tracks:
Bone Machine
Gigantic
Where Is My Mind?
Isaac Hayes
2/5
Never saw the film so I don't have any context for the soundtrack. It sounds very stereotypically 70s in an almost funny way.
Key tracks:
Theme from Shaft
The Temptations
3/5
Very smooth, atmospheric even. Pretty good.
Key tracks:
Papa Was a Rolling Stone
The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face
4/5
Very fun and at times even funny. These guys fire in all sorts of directions and hit a lot more than they miss. Still hadn't come up with their iconic hats yet.
Key tracks:
Uncontrollable Urge
Mongoloid
Jocko Homo
Shrivel Up
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
4/5
I really enjoy this one. Great pop songwriting, very ecletic and original.
Key tracks:
Zero
Heads Will Roll
Soft Shock
Hysteric
Rahul Dev Burman
2/5
I truly appreciate the variety this album brings to this list, I wish there were more non-anglo records represented. However, this type of music just isn't for me at all.
Jeff Buckley
5/5
This one is simply amazing. Some of the best male vocal performances ever recorded. Even tough it's a cover song, this is where all the endless versions of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" stem from, as hardly anyone has heard the original and you can practically hear Coldplay being born while listening to songs such as "So Real" or the title track. I do wonder, however, whether this would be held in such high regard had Buckley not tragically died before being able to finish his second album. I think it's great regardless of that, though.
Key tracks:
Mojo Pin
Grace
So Real
Hallelujah
Lover, You Should've Come Over
Dream Brother
The Notorious B.I.G.
2/5
He really was ready, wasn't he?
Traffic
2/5
There are so many random 60's and 70's UK rock albums on this list, do we really need to listen to all of them? Wouldn't it be nicer if we got more variety of genres and a greater number o more recent releases? Instead we are recommended all of these cookie-cutter bluesy and/or folky psych rock records.
The Cure
4/5
This album is all about the atmosphere. Brooding, eerie, and cold. It sounds just exactly how the cover looks.
Key tracks:
A Forest
M
ZZ Top
2/5
I don't know about this one. I feel there's a cultural barrier at play here. This is SUPER AMERICAN and not in the way country or bluegrass are, so it lacks the regional folky charm of those releases.
Wire
4/5
Great listen! Incredibly energetic and original take on punk music. The tracklist format of short songs but many of them works wonders here.
Key tracks:
Reuters
Three Girl Rhumba
Ex Lion Tamer
Mannequin
Public Image Ltd.
3/5
I liked it. It's a bit chaotic, though, but I think that's the point of pretty much all post-punk, especially in its early days.
Key tracks:
Annalisa
Public Image
Joni Mitchell
3/5
I was never a big Joni Mitchell fan, but I love a lot of the artsy female singer-songwriters she inspired. So I'm always somewhat surprised by how underwhelmed I get by her albums. In theory I should love this, but I find it to be just ok.
Key tracks:
Help Me
Free Man in Paris
Soundgarden
4/5
Very grand and moody. One of the best grunge albums of all time. Killer vocals.
Key tracks:
Let Me Down
Black Hole Sun
Spoonman
4th of July
a-ha
4/5
I went into this expecting it to be all about the big hit single "Take On Me" and nothing else would measure up, but actually I was impressed at how great a lot of these songs were. Recommended.
Key tracks:
Take On Me
Train of Thought
Hunting High and Low
The Sun Always Shines on TV
Radiohead
5/5
Despite being sort of a transitional album, the band is able to come up with amazing songs all throughout. These songs and the ones on their next album completely re-wrote the rules for rock songwriting a lot of their influence can still be heard in music being released today.
Key tracks:
Planet Telex
High and Dry
Fake Plastic Trees
Just
My Iron Lung
Street Spirit (Fade Out)
Wild Beasts
4/5
Wild Beasts were, in my opinion, one of the best indie acts of the late-2000s/early-2010s. Massively underrated, and even if I think their best album is 2011's Smother, I'm very pleased they made the cut to begin with. Don't sleep on this band!
Key tracks:
Hooting & Howling
All the King's Men
We Still Got the Taste Dancin' on Our Tongues
This Is Our Lot
Cocteau Twins
5/5
I can't think of another album with such a singular vibe than this one. The washed out distant vocals, the shimmering guitars, the childlike melodies, the unintelligible lyrics. Even the tracklist has a specific vibe, with every song have an uncommon person's name. I guess this must have been the moment when dream pop really began, and it sure sounds very dreamy and otherworldly.
Key tracks:
Ivo
Lorelei
Persephone
Pandora (For Cindy)
Amelia
Domino
Curtis Mayfield
2/5
Somewhat similar to Isaac Hayes' Shaft, in that it is a funky soundtrack for a blaxploitation film I have never seen and it sound incredibly 70's.
Key tracks:
Superfly
Jimmy Smith
3/5
So many jazz greats are left out of this book but this one made it? Is this more essential than any Coleman, Blakey, Shorter or Dolphy? Definitely not.
The Everly Brothers
3/5
I liked this one, the close harmonies sound great. It's fun to imagine that this type of thing is the 50's/60's equivalent of the boy bands of the 90's-onward.
Key tracks:
Made to Love
That's Just Too Much
Love Hurts
Bad Brains
2/5
I couldn't connect with this at all. This pure Straight Man Music™. Nothing wrong with that, just not for me.
Eminem
3/5
This was huge back in its day, and it still is huge today. Not only is it huge, it is also long, and once you dig into it, the deeps cuts aren't anything that special. Overall, it is pretty fun and well-written and performed.
Key tracks:
Stan
The Way I Am
The Real Slim Shady
Joan Baez
4/5
Really liked this one. Like a bridge between pre-rock era traditional folk music and the more familiar contemporary folk stylings of artists like Bob Dylan or Neil Young. Lovely singing voice, too.
Key tracks:
Silver Dagger
East Virginia
Fare Thee Well (10,000 Miles)
Bob Dylan
4/5
The benchmark for divorce/break-up records. Very moving but not in your face like these types of thematic albums sometimes end up. This is also the album that usually gets compared to whenever Dylan releases new material, there's always at least one music journalist that declares the new album as "Dylan's best since 'Blood on the Tracks'". I find that vaguely amusing.
Key tracks:
Tangled Up in Blue
Simple Twist of Fate
Manu Chao
3/5
I enjoyed way more than I was expecting. Quite interesting mix genres, both traditional and contemporary.
Key tracks:
Clandestino
Desaparecido
Bongo Bong / Je Ne T'Aime Plus
The Who
4/5
Amazing album, a true pioneer in the Rock Opera format. The plot is actually not that hard to follow, as far as rock operas are concerned. And despite having a lot of tracks that don't stand on their own at all outside the context of the album, there are still plenty of great and memorable songs here.
Key tracks:
1921
Christmas
Cousin Kevin
Pinball Wizard
Go to the Mirror!
The Rolling Stones
3/5
This is where the Rolling Stones really became the Rolling Stones we came to know, with some absolute classic songs on here. With that being said, the Stones have never really appealed to me all that much outside of their most well-known material. This is one of their better albums, though.
Key tracks:
Paint It Black (only on the US version)
Lady Jane
Under My Thumb
Out of Time
John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers
1/5
Bluuuues. And not even American Blues, just a bunch of brits in cosplay. Not really worth your time, and definitely not essential.
Kate Bush
5/5
Undeniable masterpiece! Half the album has some of the most perfectly written pop songs of all time, the other half is a highly conceptual song cycle that keeps throwing new ideas and influences at the listener without every losing its focus or becoming cluttered. Truly remarkable in every possible way.
Key tracks:
Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God)
Hounds of Love
The Big Sky
Cloudbusting
And Dream of Sheep
Jig of Life
Bob Marley & The Wailers
2/5
I was never a big Bob Marley fan. I get the appeal, but it just come across as very sappy and also all Reggae songs kinda sound the same to me.
Key tracks:
No Woman, No Cry
Christina Aguilera
4/5
Despite being so long and having benefited from some trimming, this is actually a great pop album. Very cool application of older styles of music such as Jazz, Blues and Soul into a modern day Contemporary R&B and Dance Pop frame. Needless to say, top notch vocals too.
Key tracks:
Ain't No Other Man
Here to Stay
Candyman
Hurt
Minor Threat
2/5
I was never a big fan of hardcore punk so I knew exactly what I was in for. Thankfully, at only 21 minutes, this didn't overstay its welcome.
The Beach Boys
3/5
Absolute classic and influential album. Because of all that, I wish I liked it more than I actually do. The harmonies and arrangements are all pretty impressive but only a few songs really stuck with me, even after multiple listens. Oh well...
Key tracks:
Wouldn't It Be Nice
God Only Knows
1/5
I love Liars, they have several great albums, so I am baffled this is the one that was chosen. It is awful, completely tuneless and not in an interesting way. Why they didn't go with their following album, Drum's Not Dead, is beyond me. It's also pretty experimental, but unlike this one, that one is amazing.
Key tracks:
There's Always Room on the Broom
Megadeth
3/5
This one's not too bad, actually. The constant breakneck speed does get tiring towards the end, but there are some cool moments throughout. Probably not going to return to this a lot or at all but it definitely merits the inclusion on this list.
Key tracks:
Wake Up Dead
Peace Sells
Led Zeppelin
4/5
Great listen. It may not be as flash as their previous two album, or as epic as the few that follow it, but this record shows Led Zeppelin branching out and experimenting to very positive results. Don't go into this expecting banger after banger (even if there are a few of those here), this is a more subdued type of record that unfolds on repeat listens.
Key tracks:
Immigrant Song
Friends
Since I've Been Loving You
Out on the Tiles
Minutemen
3/5
I was surprsed by how dynamic this was, seeing as it is a 40-track album of a genre that I'm not fond of at all. Pretty interesting and engaging through its entire runtime.
Key tracks:
Corona
Nitin Sawhney
4/5
As far as somewhat random 90's electronic albums go, this one is up there with the best of them. Very cool mix of genres from around the world, very well written and quite catchy more often than you'd think. Perfect for an afternoon chillout.
Key tracks:
Broken Skin
Letting Go
Homelands
Nadia
The Velvet Underground
5/5
Incredible! Masterpiece! The precursor of pretty much all indie music, before that was even became a thing in the 80's. Perfect balance of immediately catchy tunes and off-the-wall experimentation. Lou Reed doesn't need to sing in tune to ooze coolness. A classic for a reason.
Key tracks:
Sunday Morning
I'm Waiting for the Man
Femme Fatale
Venus in Furs
Run, Run, Run
All Tomorrow's Parties
Heroin
The Doors
4/5
This one was pretty great too. Not every song is a winner here, but there are some amazing moments. Jim Morrison's voice is very commanding, even on a silly song like Kurt Weill's "Alabama Song". Great playing, particularly the keyboards, an instrument that doesn't usually get the spotlight in this kind of blues-y psych rock.
Key tracks:
Break On Through (To the Other Side)
Light My Fire
The End
Deep Purple
5/5
Phenomenal live album. I'm not a big Deep Purple fan, but this truly is a band performing at the top of their power. Every song on the set is improved upon. Full of memorable moments like the call and response between guitar and voice on "Strange Kind of Woman", the long keyboard solo with the Holst interpolation on "Space Truckin'", and many more.
Key tracks:
Highway Star
Child in Time
Smoke on the Water
Strange Kind of Woman
Space Truckin'
Bonnie "Prince" Billy
3/5
This is a nice little contemporary folk album. Very depressing, which is something I usually like, but found it to be just ok. I definitely had heard of this before, though, so it probably does warrant inclusion on the list.
Key tracks:
A Minor Place
I See a Darkness
Death to Everyone
Eagles
2/5
Really boring. No songs registered with me at all except the one I already knew from that one Seinfeld episode. I don't think we need to hear this one, Hotel California would suffice.
Key tracks:
Witchy Woman
Amy Winehouse
2/5
Let's be honest here. The only reason this album was included in the list was because at the time the book was first published (2005), this was Amy Winehouse's sole album, and for some reason they really wanted to include her. This is made even more obvious by the fact that by the second edition (2007), this album was already out of the 1001, rightfully replaced by its successor. In conclusion, we don't really need to hear this one, even the book's authors agree.
Slayer
3/5
Fast-paced, rocking, rolling, very fun, very heavy, influential, a bit same-y, quite good.
Key tracks:
Angel of Death
Raining Blood
Sonic Youth
3/5
Even though this came out in 1986, it sounds like the first album of the 90's, that alone is pretty cool. Sonic Youth would go to make better records after this, so I'm not so sure this one stands out enough to be essential.
Key tracks:
Star Power
Iron Maiden
4/5
Great album, even if the band hasn't found their signature sound yet. There are some absolute classics songs on here. I can only imagine how greater it would be if Bruce Dickinson was already the lead singer.
Key tracks:
Running Free
Phantom of the Opera
Iron Maiden
Kacey Musgraves
1/5
I've so many critics raving about this album when it came out that I was expecting something groundbreaking and unique. However, that is not what I got. Looking at the cover alone, I don't even know why I thought this could be remotely interesting. This is the most generic, dime a dozen, and anonymous country pop singer-songwriter music imaginable. Overrated to the moon and back.
Fiona Apple
5/5
Fiona goes in a very surprising Tom Waits-esque direction with all the pounding percussion and other strange sounds. Very pointed songwriting, with powerful imagery, intimate but surreal. Truly uncompromising record from a truly uncompromising artist.
Key tracks:
I Want You to Love Me
Shameika
Fetch the Bolt Cutters
Rack of His
Cosmonauts
Michael Kiwanuka
2/5
This is a true critics' album. I don't know a single person who listens to this nor do I ever see it being discussed in online music communities, or in the mainstream really. The kind of album you only hear about when the year-end list season comes around.
Arctic Monkeys
3/5
Arctic Monkeys was never my favorite 00's indie rock band, but their debut is still quite a good album, albeit nothing groundbreaking. Also impressive they became instantly as successful as they did considering the sheer amount of band of this genre existed at the time.
Key tracks:
The View from the Afternoon
I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor
When the Sun Goes Down
Jethro Tull
4/5
Very light and folky prog album, which makes it stand out in the genre. I liked it a lot. Memorable tunes and the flute throughout made it a very unique listen.
Key tracks:
Aqualung
Cross-Eyed Mary
Up to Me
Hymn 43
Black Sabbath
3/5
This one is fine, not as great as the band's first two records. I didn't find the songs to be generally as memorable, but stylistically they were definitely on par with their earlier material. "Changes" does stand out like a sore thumb, but I find the idea of having an Elton John-style song in the middle of a metal album quite funny.
Key tracks:
Changes
Snowblind
ABBA
4/5
It's ABBA, you know what you're gonna get. Big catchy hooks, great vocal harmonies, and very smart songwriting. They really could've have gone with almost any ABBA album and it would have been ok. Great stuff!
Key tracks:
When I Kissed the Teacher
Dancing Queen
Knowing Me, Knowing You
Money, Money, Money
Megadeth
3/5
Pretty similar to the other Megadeth album on this list, and that's not a bad thing nor a good thing. Some good songs, and several forgettable ones.
Key tracks:
Hangar 18
Poison Was the Cure
Big Star
2/5
I know this is a classic album by an influential band, and I have even listened to it more than once. I just don't get the hype, it just sounds like regular pop rock to me.
Key tracks:
Feel
Joni Mitchell
3/5
This is probably her best album. It does lack some of the jazzier and more inventive elements of her later albums, but this crop of songs is generally stronger.
Key tracks:
All I Want
River
A Case of You
The White Stripes
5/5
The White Stripes' best, and one of the best rock records of the 00's. Riffs upon riffs upon riffs. Great balance of immediate catchy tunes and experimentation. This is how you take sounds from old american rock traditions a successfully bring them into the 21st century to make a modern classic album. Jack White proves how genius he is as songwriter, even within his self-imposed limitations, and he also sounds a lot like Robert Plant sometimes. Weird.
Key tracks:
Seven Nation Army
Black Math
There's No Home for You Here
Ball and Biscuit
The Hardest Button to Button
The Air Near My Fingers
Girl, You Have No Faith in Medicine
Well It's True That We Love One Another
Robert Wyatt
4/5
The fact there is even one Robert Wyatt album on this list is amazing on its own. The fact there is a second one is even more amazing. Wyatt remains one of the great musical hidden gems, a musician's musician if you will. While I understand the general music listening public isn't really atuned to this type of left-field stuff, I'd say this album in particular is actually quite catchy and accessible. Sure it has its weirder moments, but it's just so fun and quirky and lyrically insightful and sounds totally unique. Love it.
Key tracks:
Heaps of Sheeps
The Duchess
Free Will and Testament
Alien
A Sunday in Madrid
Red Hot Chili Peppers
3/5
This is a fun album, albeit with bit too many filler tracks. It's probably the Chili Peppers best album, at least it seems to have the biggest amount of hit songs on it.
Key tracks:
Scar Tissue
Otherside
Californication
Road Trippin
Beatles
5/5
Absolute masterpiece. So many of these songs went on influence entire genres of music it's actually unbelievable. As amazing as the suite on side B is, I've always preferred the songs on side A. So many highlights. This is the perfect swan song from arguably the most influential band of all time. Their next album (recorded first) was kind of a let down, but that's fine.
Key tracks:
Come Together
Something
Octopus's Garden
I Want You (She's So Heavy)
Here Comes the Sun
Because
Yes
4/5
This is when Yes became the band they are known as. Long, multi-part epic songs, filled with moments of technical display of every member. This alone could be a recipe for a really boring wankfest. Thankfully the songs are all pretty great, and band would get even better right after this.
Key tracks:
Yours Is No Disgrace
Starship Trooper
I've Seen All Good People
Perpetual Change
Erykah Badu
2/5
It's very slick and smooth. For some reason, Neo-Soul vocals sometimes get very nasally and sound very goofy to me. Not really my thing.
Key tracks:
....& On
Bag Lady
Elton John
3/5
Looking over the tracklist, I was only familiar with one of the songs. This wasn't a good sign, as Elton John is all about the hits. However, I was pleasantly surprised at how well crafted and cohesive this album was. Not very many highlights, but a very good album listening experience.
Key tracks:
Tiny Dancer
Indian Summer
Jerry Lee Lewis
2/5
Very showy and energic live performance. Unfortunately, every song is pretty much the same standard 12-bar blues thing. As good as Lewis is at hammering that piano, he will always seem like a C-tier 50's rock & roller to me.
Key tracks:
Great Balls of Fire
Metallica
4/5
"Metallica sold out!" This phrase was probably uttered so many times since this album came out. But I wasn't even born then so I come to this album in a completely different context, in which Metallica were already the biggest metal band of all time. I couldn't care less if something is trve metal or kvlt or whatever, all I care about are if there are great songs, and there sure are great songs on this album.
Key tracks:
Enter Sandman
Sad But True
The Unforgiven
Wherever I May Roam
Nothing Else Matters
Of Wolf and Man
The Louvin Brothers
3/5
Surprisingly great! Love those harmonies. Although I can't help remembering their other album Satan Is Real, whose cover art became an obscure internet meme.
Key tracks:
Kentucky
Electric Light Orchestra
4/5
So many songs, but so many highlights. I really enjoyed this one. It was a strange mix of prog and pop that works incredibly well. Great arrangements.
Key tracks:
Turn to Stone
It's Over
Sweet Talkin' Woman
Mr. Blue Sky
Les Rythmes Digitales
2/5
I recognized "Music Makes You Lose Control" from being sampled on Missy Elliott's "Lose Control" and I recognize Stuart Price from producing credits on many records I like. Other than that, this album was fun and ok but not very memorable.
Key tracks:
Music Makes You Lose Control
Ice T
2/5
The beats are pretty run of the mill for the times and the flows are alright. I'm not a hip-hop guy at all, so this album isn't very appealing to me. I can't even tell if this is an essential release or not, it just sound like every other rap album of the era.
Key tracks:
Lifestyles of the Rich and Infamous
Metallica
4/5
This is Metallica's proggiest and most complex album. It is also the one with that muddy mix where you have to squint your ears to tell what's going on. That's not too big an issue to knock it down completely, though. It also features the song "One", which earned to band their first Grammy award and pointed them into their more streamlined and mainstream direction.
Key tracks:
Blackened
...And Justice for All
One
Laibach
1/5
This one is obviously silly tongue-in-cheek music. I do appreciate the variety and introduces into the list, but I can't say I liked it.
Aerosmith
2/5
It's alright. I don't think of Aerosmith as one the greats, they're just above average at best. The choice of this album seems a bit random to me, as the real late-80's comeback album from them is Permanent Vacation. There are some fun songs on here, but most of this is pretty bland and forgettable.
Key tracks:
Love in an Elevator
Janie's Got a Gun
Bob Dylan
4/5
This is the best Bob Dylan album, in my opinion. The songs are great, there is good mix of lyrica themes, even Dylan's singing is the best it's ever been. This is also, I believe, the firsr rock double album (of original music, that is) in history. Quite the achievement, considering it doesn't feel like it drags at all.
Key tracks:
Rainy Day Women #12 & 35
Visions of Johanna
One of Us Must Know (Sooner or Later)
I Want You
Just Like a Woman
Steely Dan
2/5
Steely Dan, and this album in particular, is something I have seen being given high praise in multiple music discussion sites. However, I honestly do see what the hype is all about. Sure it's jazzy and all, but it's also so boring. I get nothing out of this and I've given it multiple chances.
David Gray
2/5
I kinda liked this, but I don't think it's something you absolutely must listen. It's fairly regular 90's singer-songwriter stuff. Some good songs, some uninteresting ones. I have no ideia how big it was in its day, but certainly doesn't seem very relevant now.
Key tracks:
Babylon
This Year's Love
Joni Mitchell
2/5
Another Joni Mitchell album, and once again I feel I should enjoy it more than I actually do. Good jazzy arrangements, good vocals, good lyrics, but no melody jumps out at me. Maybe one day it will click
Key tracks:
In France They Kiss on Main Street
The Jungle Line
The Boho Dance
Nas
1/5
This is the exact kind of hip-hop I can't stand.
TV On The Radio
3/5
What a coincidence! This album was just re-released for its 20th anniversary. I've always liked TV On The Radio, they stood out for the crowd of 00's New York indie bands by bringing a fresh sound, with inventive arrangements, rather than simply falling into revivalisms like most of their peers. This is a very good debut, but I prefer their following couple of releases.
Key tracks:
Staring at the Sun
Dreams
Ice Cube
2/5
This one is not too bad, actually, but I'll likely never want to listen to it again.
Key tracks:
It Was a Good Day
Goldfrapp
5/5
Incredible and unique! The genre fusions at display here are unlike anything else in electronic music. Is this even electronic? I have seen this album described as downtempo or trip-hop. And sure a song like "Utopia" definitely falls into downtempo, but I think those descriptions don't make it justice. To me this is a sort of uncanny valley lounge music, something you will hear in your dreams and then wake up and wonder if it really exists. All tracks here are top-notch, even the weird circus cut "Oompa Radar". Goldfrapp's subsquent albums all sound different from this and from each other, going into Electropop, Folktronica, Synthpop, and Chamber Folk, and mastering every single one of those genres as well.
Key tracks:
Lovely Head
Paper Bag
Human
Pilots
Utopia
David Bowie
3/5
Bowie's big comeback after retiring from music in the mid-00's is a good, but not great, set of songs. In hindsight it feels more like Bowie is dipping his feet back into the creative pool, but it did feel like a major event back in 2013. I actually remember the day this album was announced, together with the release of lead single "Where Are We Now?". It was Bowie's birthday, sure, but it was also the same day Pokémon X & Pokémon Y were announced. Completely unrelated, but that always stuck with me. Still, it's a very safe record, more of a reminder to the public how amazing Bowie had been throughout the years, and there wasn't much of an indication of how amazing he would be still be.
Key tracks:
The Next Day
The Stars (Are Out Tonight)
Where Are We Now?
DJ Shadow
2/5
An album completely made out of samples is truly a remarkable achievement on a technical level, and it doesn't sound like a jumbled mess. However, this is an album I appreciate and admire rather than actually enjoy.
Key tracks:
Building Steam With a Grain of Salt
Stem - Long Stem
Midnight in a Perfect World
Death In Vegas
3/5
This one is ok. A very chilled-out take on trip-hop and downtempo. It does get a bit repetitive sometimes, which is not unusual in electronic music, but at least, at only 47 minutes, it doesn't overstay its welcome.
Key tracks:
Dirge
The War On Drugs
4/5
I really like this one. Initially I wasn't getting what it was going for, but then it became obvious it was supposed to be larger-than-life Springsteenian rock but for intimate venues rather than arenas. I do love larger-than-life rock music.
Key tracks:
Under the Pressure
Red Eyes
An Ocean Between the Waves
Massive Attack
4/5
I don't know if this is was the first trip-hop album, but it certainly was the one that defined what the genre was about in its early days. Hip-hop beats, gloomy atmosphere (although it would become gloomier in years ahead), soulful singing, and only occasional rapping. This last bit is relevant to me because, while I'm not a rap person at all, I love trip-hop. My parents were huge into trip-hop during the 90's when I was a small kid, so there is also a big nostalgia associated with this sound, if not necessarily with this album. Later Massive Attack albums are better but this one is an undeniable classic.
Key tracks:
Safe from Harm
Unfinished Sympathy
Lately
Hymn of the Big Wheel
The Verve
3/5
I do like this more chaotic and psychedelic take on britpop. Is this even britpop? Or is it more in the Spiritualized lane of neo-psych. Either way, some good songs, some forgettable ones. Overall pretty good.
Key tracks:
A New Decade
On Your Own
History
Elvis Costello & The Attractions
3/5
Despite not being an Elvis Costello fan, this album is actually pretty good, possibly his best. Lots of very hooky songs that will stay in your head for days.
Key tracks:
Accidents Will Happen
Senior Service
Oliver's Army
Queen
3/5
I see Queen as mora of a singles band rather than an album band, even if there are albums of their I do enjoy. This one is alright. It's more a Hard Rock affair than most of their later, better known material. Knowing what came immediately after, it does feel somewhat transitional in nature.
Key tracks:
Killer Queen
Now I'm Here
Kraftwerk
3/5
Very chill albu with beautiful soundscapes. It does sound like your cruising on the german autobahn, across green fields and under a clear blue sky. There are other tracks here which, while nice, can't stop this album from being all about the title track.
Key tracks:
Autobahn
Dolly Parton
3/5
A sweet and cute little country album from Dolly, who is a huge legend in America but never made a big splash over here in Europe. I think her 1974 album "Jolene" is even better. I wonder why that one didn't make the list.
Key tracks:
Coat of Many Colors
Bruce Springsteen
5/5
Phenomenal album! Great songs, huge arrangements, insanely catchy, enough variation in between tracks. There's also the political commentary aspect, which doesn't really help or detract from my enjoyment of the album. I don't what else to say, it's just great!
Key tracks:
Born in the U.S.A.
Cover Me
I'm On Fire
No Surrender
Bobby Jean
Dancing in the Dark
The Isley Brothers
2/5
Not really my thing, but I can appreciate the musicianship involved.
Key tracks:
If You Were There
The Dave Brubeck Quartet
5/5
One of the best and most inventive jazz albums of its time. By using uncommon time signatures, like 5/4 or 7/8, Brubeck and co. effectively break the conventions of what should sound like. Most impressively, the compositions never come across as impenetrable "high art" but are instead quite streamlined and accessible. A multi-layered masterpiece.
Key tracks:
Blue Rondo A La Turk
Take Five
Three to Get Ready
The Dandy Warhols
2/5
This one was ok. Not bad, simply not a lot of it stood out.
Key tracks:
Not If You Were the Last Junkie on Earth
George Harrison
4/5
Possibly the best album by a solo Beatle. Really massive sound, which makes sense given it was produced by Phil Spector. Harrison was probably sitting on these songs for a long time, so it's no wonder the album is so long. Even then, it more than justifies its length.
Key tracks:
I'd Have You Anytime
My Sweet Lord
Wah-Wah
Isn't It a Pity (version 1)
What Is Life
Dion
2/5
There was enough here to intrigue me, but while listening no particular songs stood out and I can't say I remember much specific either. I do wonder, how famous and/or critically aclaimed it was at the time and does that warrant an inclusion on this list.
Belle & Sebastian
3/5
A very and sweet album, but given the band released another, much better one later that same year that is also on this list, I don't think this is necessarily essential.
Key tracks:
The State Am I In
Guns N' Roses
3/5
I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this. This kind of ultra-macho guitar hero rock isn't even remotely my kind of stuff. But I have to admit, when it's well made, it's well made. Many great and iconic tunes here, and the deep cuts aren't too shoddy either.
Key tracks:
Welcome to the Jungle
Paradise City
Sweet Child O' Mine
Miles Davis
4/5
This is a great and classic jazz record, despite being a transitional album between Davis's Cool Jazz and Jazz Fusion periods. I don't have much else to say here other than I wish there was more jazz on the list.
Key tracks:
Shhh/Peaceful
Hole
3/5
Crunchy and heavy grunge record. I like it and it has grown on me a lot since I first heard it years ago. However I don't think it does that much to distinguish itself from the crop, other than having a female vocalist. The Kurt Cobain association definitely help, of course. And no, I don't buy into the conspiracy theories.
Key tracks:
Violet
Miss World
Jennifers Body
Doll Parts
Milton Nascimento
4/5
Great album, this one. A lot of variety throughout the tracklist, which is crucial for a long album like this one. Intricately orchestrated, psychedelic, folky, and all sorts of descriptors could apply here. I do understand the language, but I'm not brazilian so the political undertones are a bit lost on me. That's fine, it doesn't seem necessary to understand those things to thoroughly enjoy this.
Key tracks:
Tudo o que Você Podia Ser
O Trem Azul
Cravo e Canela
Um Girassol da Cor de Seu Cabelo
San Vicente
Blur
4/5
This album was hailed as Blur's pivot from Britpop into the Alternative/Indie territorry. However, when I first heard I couldn't really see the difference all that well. I was already familar with "Song 2" but the rest of the album doesn't sound anything like it. I actually think this is one of Blur's best albums, and it didn't need to disassociate itself from the Britpop scene, although I do understand why they did it, as the whole movement came crashing down after Oasis released Be Here Now.
Key tracks:
Beetlebum
Song 2
Death of a Party
Strange News from Another Star
The Divine Comedy
4/5
The Divine Comedy remain one of the most unfairly overlooked acts of their time. They were never as "cool" as some of their indie contemporaries, nor were they ever as widely popular as the Britpop bands of the time. Their Chamber Pop stylings and witty lyricism meant that their sound was often seen as pretentious by the larger public and relegated them to cult band status. Personally, I think they are absolutely fantastic. I love the arrangements, the humour and overall ultra-britishness of it all. The very pronounced 60's Scott Walker influence does help, as he is one my favourites, although I did discover Neil Hannon and co. first. This album is probably their most accessible and presents the greatest balance between their more poppy and baroque moments. Wholeheartedly recommended.
Key tracks:
Something for the Weekend
Becoming More Like Alfie
Songs of Love
The Frog Princess
A Woman of the World
Joy Division
4/5
Incredibly influential. The oppressive and claustrophobic atmosphere is palpable. Ian Curtis' not-always-quite-in-tune vocal delivery has been emulated countless times. The guitars were probably the first music critics described as "angular" (whatever that means). Truly iconic.
Key tracks:
Disorder
Day of the Lords
New Dawn Fades
She's Lost Control
Shadowplay
Yes
4/5
Fantastic album. As good as their previous one "The Yes Album", also from 1971. Between the long prog rock epic, the records find the time to include some oddities such as "The Fish" or "Cans and Brahms", which give it an odd flow. Nonetheless, very enjoyable.
Key tracks:
Roundabout
Long Distance Runaround
The Disposable Heroes Of Hiphoprisy
1/5
I had never heard of this group before going through the book the first time and never heard of them outside of that context since then either. While I applaud this list for highlighting what is seemingly an underground act, this sort of preachy hip-hop is definitely for me.
Key tracks:
Satanic Reverses
Pet Shop Boys
3/5
This is actually (hehe) a very good album. Endlessly catchy, high-octane dance pop containing some all-time classic songs. The deeps cuts get a bit lost in the mix, though. That is something their following album, Instrospective, solved tremendously by only having six tracks. But alas, that one is not on here, so this will have to suffice.
Key tracks:
What Have I Done to Deserve This?
Rent
It's a Sin
Femi Kuti
3/5
Very funky and energetic. Never quite reaches the heights of those 70's Fela Kuti records, but is great nonetheless.
Key tracks:
Survival
Frustrations
Plenty Nonesense
Buena Vista Social Club
4/5
Amazing album, every song at good and a lot of them are great. I'm not very familiar with this genre of music and given the whole project was lead by an american musician, I don't know how authentic it really is. Either way, I'm glad this was picked for the list and that we got a very well put-together album from a side of the music world not particularly focused on "albums".
Key tracks:
Chan Chan
De Camino a la Vereda
Amor de Loca Juventud
Orgullecida
Dead Kennedys
4/5
An all-out pummeling punk album. The social and political commentary may be too much sometimes but it's always delivered in this sardonic and cynical way the makes it more appealing for me. Surprisingly fun.
Key tracks:
Kill the Poor
California Uber Alles
Holiday in Cambodia
Spiritualized
3/5
Spiritualized's debut is expectedly hazy and spacy. Very much the kind of music to let wash over you. That also means a lot of the time the songs themselves don't necessarily stick with you and whole album is just one long mass of sound, which is not completely a bad thing in this context. Later on, the band would strike the perfect balance of hazy and memorable, but I'll get to that one some other day.
Key tracks:
I Want You
Run
Bob Marley & The Wailers
2/5
Another Bob Marley album, and again not bad but not anything too special here. It gets very funky at times, and very corny some other times.
Key tracks:
Jamming
Three Little Birds
One Love / People Get Ready
Pere Ubu
3/5
This is a very curious record. Very out-there rock music with a very unique blend of dance-y groove and punk-y vocals. Not very accessible, but quite the unique experience. Great choice to include this type of experimental rock music
Key tracks:
Nonalignment Pact
The Modern Dance
Various Artists
4/5
This may be the ultimate Christmas album, only the albums by some of the vocal jazz greats even come close. Phil Spector's Wall of Sound production really suits this type of music well and the soulful vocals set a new standard of how to perform these songs. Mariah Carey certainly listened to this album.
Key tracks:
Frosty the Snowman
Santa Claus Is Coming to Town
Sleigh Ride
Winter Wonderland
Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)
David Crosby
2/5
I liked this one, I didn't love it though. It's surprisingly dreamy for an early-70's record, but most of the songs didn't stick with me. I may revisit this at some point to see if I feel different about it.
Key tracks:
Laughing
Song With No Words (Tree With No Leaves)
Peter Gabriel
5/5
There was time during the 80's when a lot of artists released very corporate sounding records that all had a very specific aesthetic, very different from the synthpop/new romantic look from earlier in the decade, a lot of them even had a similiar looking black and white portrait picture of the artist on the cover. Sting, Bryan Adams, Robert Palmer are just some examples. Peter Gabriel also did one of those albums, but his release blows all and any competition out of the water. While it does sound corporate, Peter infuses some left field ideas across many genres into the songs, like Otis Redding-style funk on "Sledgehammer", ambient soundscapes on "Mercy Street", or the african tinged rhythms on "In Your Eyes", you know, that song from that movie. A pop masterpiece for the ages.
Key tracks:
Red Rain
Sledgehammer
Don't Give Up
Big Time
In Your Eyes
Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
4/5
At first, the prospect of this album was daunting to even consider. Almost two hours of bluegrass?! However, the more I listened to it, the more I was engrossed by the songs, the performances, and the overall feel of it all. It really does transport you into the deep redneck south of the United States, but does it in an endearing way, a depiction of that culture that is not ususal seen in American media.
Key tracks:
I Saw the Light
Lonesome Fiddle Blues
I'm Thinking Tonight of My Blue Eyes
Will the Circle Be Unbroken
The Libertines
1/5
This album completely baffled me. I quite the garage rock revival bands of the 00's like The Strokes, The White Stripes, etc., but this album is just so utterly bad I couldn't even fathom. The vocals are all over the place in the worst way, with the backing vocals clashing with the lead vocals as if these songs were recorded in just one take with very shitty equipment. The instrumental are not too bad, but they're so painfully generic. And I couldn't remember I single note of what I had just heard, only that I didn't like it. The kind of garage rock that should never have left the garage.
Jimi Hendrix
4/5
Before listening to this, I always I had the idead that Jimi Hendrix made very boring, overly noodly music. After listening to this, I now understand what all the fuss is about. There's the technicality, yes, but the songs are also very substantive and memorable. Very good record.
Key tracks:
Purple Haze (only the North American edition)
Hey Joe
Fire
Foxy Lady
Tricky
4/5
Tricky always seemed to be a supporting actor in the whole trip-hop scene. This is clearly his best album. Very immersive and oppressive atmosphere, great use of samplers and creative beats. I do wonder if using the same Isaac Hayes sample Portishead used the previous year was a coincidence or not. I also really enjoy Martina Topley-Bird's vocal contributions throughout the record, as well as the earliest(?) credit on record of Alison Goldfrapp.
Key tracks:
Overcome
Ponderosa
Black Steel
Hell Is Round the Corner
Pumpkin
The Black Crowes
1/5
Pretty generic late-60's/early-70's blues rock, nothing too standout. Wait... This is from 1990?! Why is this even here?
Key tracks:
Hard to Handle
Franz Ferdinand
4/5
I think this is one of those times when knowing the what influences are makes an album better. I first heard of Franz Ferdinand and this album when it came out and of course back then I didn't know much music outside of what was popular at the time, so I thought they were ok, but just another band of this type. Now knowing its influences makes me enjoy the record a lot more. The way they take late-70's/early-80's post-punk and dance-punk flip them on their heads to make what was previously a very fringe rock genre into something catchy and very accessible. Another notable influence is glam rock-era Sparks, which makes a lot more sense after listen to both artists' collaborative album FFS from 2015. Overall, while not wholly original, it's notably well exectued.
Key tracks:
Take Me Out
The Dark of the Matinée
Auf Achse
This Fire
Michael
Deep Purple
4/5
Probably Deep Purple's best studio album. A lot of great songs here. The problem is half of this record is best heard on the band's live album Made in Japan released later that same year.
Key tracks:
Highway Star
Smoke on the Water
Space Truckin'
Public Image Ltd.
3/5
Very strange, discordant, noisy, but always intriguing. Even if I can't say I liked all of it, it seems like a record that will reveal more of its layers upon repeated listens.
Key tracks:
Albatross
Memories
Careering
Mercury Rev
4/5
I randombly discovered this album in my parents' CD collection and I really enjoyed it. It is very airy and poppy neo-psychedelia, with lots of infectious earworms. Recommended.
Key tracks:
Holes
Endlessly
Opus 40
Goddess on a Hiway
Air
4/5
A great and unique sounding album. Not quite pop, not quite downtempo, not quite psychedelic, but a bit of all at the same time. Some of the sounds used have aged a bit but that's OK.
Key tracks:
Sexy Boy
All I Need
Kelly Watch the Stars
The Specials
2/5
2 Tone is a curious genre, a bit silly, if you ask me. I am not too familiar with the genre, other than it sounds like a better and new wave-y version of the dreadful 90's ska bands. The other 2 Tone band I know of is Madness, who I prefer. This album is just ok.
Key tracks:
A Message to You Rudy
The Byrds
1/5
Do we really need this many Byrds albums? I think not. Completely epitomizes all the worst problems of this list: Too enamored with the past and with records that should have been filtered by the passage of time. There are Byrds albums whose influence can still be heard to this day, this is definitely not one of them.
Gene Clark
1/5
Another pretty boring folk/country record, this time from the mid-70's, rather than from the late -60's/early-70's. I guess we can never escape The Byrds.
Prince
5/5
I have never seen the movie, nor am I very curious to watch it either. That being said, these songs are amazing. There's a very 80's sheen on everything that would in theory make it sound dated, but here it just works somehow. Also, very influential substitution of words like 'you' becoming 'U' or 'for' becoming '4'. This type of stuff has become so ubiquitous people forget who pioneered/popularized it.
Key tracks:
Let's Go Crazy
Take Me With U
When Doves Cry
I Would Die 4 U
Purple Rain
Linkin Park
3/5
Actually very enjoyable. I believe early Linkin Park has been subject to a critical reassessment in recent years, as the 20-year nostalgia cycle hits the 00's. In my view, this has always been quite the good album, although I prefer their sophomore record Meteora. There are several great tracks on here and admittedly Linkin Park made some of the better Nu Metal, a genre infamous for being pretty bad.
Key tracks:
One Step Closer
Crawling
In the End
Lou Reed
2/5
Never was a big fan of this one. It has some good moments and the concept is interesting, but it's so dreary and I don't find the songs strong enough to carry the album's replayability.
Key tracks
Caroline Says I
How Do You Think It Feels
Leonard Cohen
3/5
Cohen's final album is, without a doubt, his best late period release. Stark and reflective without going too overboard with it. The singing is even lower and more gravely than even his mid period records, which is saying something. However, I'm not sure if this would be deemed essential had Cohen not passed away so soon after its release.
Key tracks:
You Want It Darker
Treaty
David Bowie
5/5
"Heroes" is the sequel that may be even better than the original, although I think Low is also a perfect album. That was quite the feat, releasing two perfect albums only a few months apart. These two albums really kick off the whole concept of Art Rock and their influence still resonates today. Also, the title track is probably song of the decade.
Key tracks:
Beauty and the Beast
"Heroes"
Sons of the Silent Age
V-2 Schneider
The Secret Life of Arabia
Method Man
2/5
Really enjoyed the opening title track, everything else didn't do anything for me, though. It was not horrible either, I'm just not a hip-hop person. At least it wasn't overly long like so many hip-hop records from this list.
Key tracks:
Tical
De La Soul
3/5
Despite not being a hip-hop fan, I have to admit this album is pretty good. Not that surprising, honestly, since I've always favoured this type of jazzy early hip-hip. I'm probably not going to revisit this anytime soon, but I'm glad I listened to it.
Key tracks:
Me Myself & I
Frank Ocean
4/5
In my opinion, context shouldn't matter for the quality of an album. However, for Frank Ocean's proper studio debut the context surrounding it mattered a lot. This album's annoucement came with a Tumblr post by Ocean about his first romantic experience with another man at the age of 19 and how that moment from years before influenced his songs. I turned 20 in 2012, so about that same age, and dealing with similar experiences myself so the annoucement immediately stroke a chord with me.
I was only vaguely familiar with Ocean prior to that, not being a hip-hop or R&B fan, although an album released a couple of years before had momentarily turned me on to these genres. It was the right album at the right time. A few of these songs were very relatable to me, particularly the ballad "Bad Religion", and there was also a lot variety of style throughout the runtime, something I wasn't used to hearing in a lot of contemporary R&B.
In 2016, unlike the majority of the online music community, I found Ocean's follow-up Blonde to be very dull and uninteresting and I haven't been keeping up with his or other Odd Future-adjacent releases. I still think this is a great album and an essential one of the early-10's alternative R&B movement, regardless of its context.
Key tracks:
Thinkin Bout You
Sweet Life
Super Rich Kids
Pyramids
Bad Religion
Rage Against The Machine
3/5
This is pretty cool and all but I'm not as crazy about it as many people seem to be. It definitely sounds unique as far as early-90's alternative rock or metal goes, with as much rapping as actual singing. Pretty groovy, too.
Key tracks:
Bombtrack
Killing in the Name
Van Morrison
2/5
Never really got the hype around Van Morrison. His jazzy take on the singer-songwriter genre was always the main draw, but it's not really that jazzy? Am I missing something? Either way, it's not bad, it just doesn't live up to the hype.
Key tracks:
Moondance
Caravan
Beastie Boys
2/5
This is ok. It doesn't really do anything better or that much different from the other Beastie Boys albums on this list, although it does include one of the group's most well known songs, "Sabotage".
Key tracks:
Sure Shot
Sabotage
Koffi Olomide
2/5
Surprised at how dated this sounds. Usually 'world' music tends to keep a certain timelessness, with only the sound recording quality really varying from era to era, but here the choice of sounds makes the record sound very of its time. The songs also go on for too long. However, I could see myself revisit this and enjoying it more then.
R.E.M.
4/5
Great debut from a band I often overlook. I'm not sure how influential this is, but given how big R.E.M. are, I'll take a guess and there weren't many bands doing this type of jangle pop back in '83. Another thing is there aren't many well known songs here but it still consistently very good.
Key tracks:
Radio Free Europe
Pilgrimage
Perfect Circle
We Walk
The Boo Radleys
2/5
This is one of those 90's Indie Classics(tm) that never spoke to me. Maybe I should revisit it someday because right now I just don't get the hype. It being over an hour also doesn't help, it ends up diluting what little memorable moments there may have been.
Key tracks:
Wish I Was Skinny
Dusty Springfield
3/5
I wasn't expecting to enjoy this one as much as I did. Pop-soul? A singer who I only knew the name of? Turns out this was a marvelous listen, like a proto-popstar record, with all the extra charm of the 60's.
Key tracks:
Son of a Preacher Man
I Don't Want to Hear It Anymore
Just One Smile
The Windmills of Your Mind
Fred Neil
2/5
This passed me by without registering anything. Who even is this anyway?
Keith Jarrett
4/5
Amazing almost fully improvised performance. Jarrett shows that improvisation can sound musical and soothing. You can even hear Jarrett sing(?) along with his playing. Great example of the book getting it right by choosing a left-field record that is also the prefect introduction to the artist and maybe even the whole genre.
Key tracks:
Part II C
Harry Nilsson
3/5
A very fun a clever singer-songwriter record. Stands out from the pack with its witty lyrics, very stylisticly diverse set of songs, and even delivering the definitive rendition of a little known songs by a little known group. But remember folks, if you sing like this, you may never have a long lasting singing career, as good as it may sound.
Key tracks:
The Moonbeam Song
Coconut
Without You
Astor Piazzolla
3/5
Very good showcase of a genre we don't often get to hear. I don't really know too much about tango or this album to say anything else, other that it was pretty enjoyable. No highlights, but everything consistently kept my attention. Mr. Piazzolla also has some studio albums I'm a little more familiar with.
The Rolling Stones
2/5
"Sympathy for the Devil" is an incredible song whose influence may not have been immediate but would completely change the face of british music in 20 years or so. Pretty much all of 90's british rock music can be traced back to it. And then we a have a pretty good b-side in "No Expectation" to top things off. And that's it.
Wait a minute... There were eight more songs on this album? And they were all very dull american cosplay? But why?
Key tracks:
Sympathy for the Devil
No Expectations
Leftfield
2/5
Out of all 90's House records, why this one? It's certainly not bad, but it's also so unremarkable. I'm sure there were better options out there.
Key tracks:
Release the Pressure
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
4/5
Yeah Yeah Yeahs is a band that should be mentioned in the same breath as The Strokes when it comes to the greatest early-00's New York Garage Rock/Post-Punk Revival acts. For some reason, though, they tend to be forgotten. This album absolutely makes the case for them as one of the best of their generation, with a varied tracklist of artsy, noisy, and mostly short punk tunes, intercepted with some more left-field cuts. The song "Maps", which sounds nothing like the rest of the record, gained a whole new life of its own, by appearing in a myriad of popular media and inspiring Max Martin to update his sound in the mid-00's. But even with all the overexposure, it retains it original magic.
Key tracks:
Rich
Date With the Night
Black Tongue
Pin
Maps
Songhoy Blues
3/5
A bit of a random choice, but a welcome inclusion to add bit more variety to the musical genres presented in this list. It is a nice little record, although I'm sure there must be some better representatives of this kind of music out there. I don't think this is Tishoumaren like other people are saying, because if it was, why not choose Tinariwen instead, arguably the most famous artist of the genre. This is probably some other kind of african music.
Rod Stewart
2/5
Another day, another record of 'brit does american music'. I know some Rod Stewart songs, but I never got the sense he had a lasting impact beside his silly looking hair do. Here the vocals are great though, but other than that, there is practically nothing for me to hold on to.
Key tracks:
Maggie May
Amy Winehouse
4/5
I remember when "Rehab" came out and it became instantly huge. It seemed to come out of nowhere. Of course, there was a lot build up that I wasn't aware of. This album is great, and despite have a sound very specific of the time, it has aged pretty well.
The vocals are, or course, the main event. A deep howl that sounded simultaneously retro and modern. There were many singers who came onto the scene right after this album came who sang in a similar style, the most successful of whom was Adele.
Key tracks:
Rehab
You Know I'm No Good
Back to Black
Tears Dry on Their Own
George Jones
2/5
Yee-haw music, but ✨fancy✨.
Key tracks:
The Grand Tour
Common
2/5
Was Common ever in the conversation of hip-hop greats? Do we really need two of his albums on this list? This is the better of the two, but still.
Ray Charles
3/5
I was never a big Ray Charles fan. Sure, I like his most famous songs, but apart from that, I don't know. It's fine, I guess? Doesn't really sound any different from other 50's Soul/Rhythm & Blues artists. I can't say the record has the definitive version of any of these songs. Again, it's fine.
Pixies
4/5
This Pixies record is arguably even better than their previous one. Great album all around, although not one I often come back to. The quiet-loud dynamics on a lot of its songs were big precursor to the alt-rock that dominated the first half of the 90's.
Key tracks:
Debaser
Here Comes Your Man
Monkey Gone to Heaven
La La Love You
Gouge Away
Pink Floyd
5/5
One of the rare instances where an album deserves the enormous amount of hype it receives. Truly Pink Floyd's finest hour, despite the increasing number of people in music spheres claiming otherwise. But bare in mind, this is an Album album and it's experienced best when taken in as a full piece, as it was intended, particularly the first side. Not to there aren't big standout moments, because there obviously are, but I can't I've ever listened to "On the Run" on its own, despite it being an essential part of the tracklist.
Pink Floyd and this album are usually lumped in with the 70's Progressive Rock movement, but they bare very little resemblance to any of their peers, sounding spacier and more anthemic. This sound was later picked up by the post-britpop bands of the late-90's but in a poppier and more radio-friendly way. But of course, this album's influence encompasses a lot more than just that, even transcending music as a medium. A true masterpiece, indeed.
Key tracks:
Speak to Me / Breathe
Time
The Great Gig in the Sky
Money
Us and Them
Simon & Garfunkel
4/5
The duo's last album is also their best. Does not waste a single second with nonesense like the other albums do and simply delivers the goods. The songwriting, that is.
Also, the way Paul Simon's hair looks like it is Art Garfunkel's moustache on the cover art is very funny to me.
Key tracks:
Bridge Over Troubled Water
El Condor Pasa
Cecilia
So Long, Frank Lloyd Wright
The Boxer
Nick Drake
4/5
Drake's second album is pretty similar stylisticly to the debut, but when your style is so amazing, that is absolutely a goo thing. The sophisticated chamber arrangements pair amazingly with the soft vocals and introspective lyrics. Great stuff.
Key tracks:
One of These Things First
Hazey Jane I
Fly
Northern Sky
G. Love & Special Sauce
1/5
Never heard of this artist outside of the context of this list, which rarely happens. Its inclusion here is a real head-scratcher. It just sounds like a bunch of random dudes who get together on sundays to play music together and book the occasional bar gig. Did this have any impact when it came out? It certainly didn't have any *lasting* impact.
Dizzee Rascal
1/5
Rap In Da Yookay
Depeche Mode
4/5
On this album, Depeche Mode go even further into the darkwave and post-industrial sounds they had taken on their previous album. Despite the more experimental nature of these genres, the band manages to keep these songs tight and accessible, whilst still creating a moody atmosphere. I don't really know if any of these tracks became big hits, since they are not heard around as much as many of the band's other single, but this sure is a cohesive and very enjoyable album.
Key tracks:
Never Let Me Down Again
Strangelove
Behind the Wheel
Led Zeppelin
5/5
Led Zeppelin's best album, hands down. The pastoral cover artwork with no album title or band name gives the record a mystical feeling, almost like a found relic from some sort of ancient druid society. And of course, the songs are great, too. Every single one of the eight songs on here is among the band's greatest work. A very well-balanced mix of Hard Rock, Folk, Blues, and early Heavy Metal. Even after being overplayed to death, it still resonates.
Key tracks:
Black Dog
Rock and Roll
The Battle of Evermore
Stairway to Heaven
When the Levee Breaks
My Bloody Valentine
3/5
This album was already legendary before its release was even announced, as it took the band 22 years to follow-up their 1991 classic Loveless. After many many delays and rumours it finally saw the light of day and then its notoriety promptly faded rather quickly. Not that it is a bad album or anything, but it definitely did not live up to its legendary expectations. It's no Loveless, but it is enough to scratch that itch.
Key tracks:
She Found Now
Who Sees You
Gram Parsons
1/5
Ugh. Just a generic country rock record, except the singer died. Nothing else standout about it.
David Bowie
4/5
Bowie injects some experimental elements into his Ziggy persona, with some killer pianos. The music may be great, but it is the cover art that has left the bigger impact. A truly iconic picture, countlessly referenced and parodied.
Key tracks:
Aladdin Sane
Panic in Detroit
Time
Lady Grinning Soul
Hookworms
3/5
I had never heard of Hookworms prior to exploring this list, which is surprising, as I considered myself to be very aware of pretty much any major new release, and apparently this was their final album. I quite like this type of modern Krautrock (or faux-krautrock, given this is a british band). Groovy and psychedelic. Very curious inclusion.
Key tracks:
Negative Space
Ullswater
Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five
3/5
I tend to enjoy older hip-hop far more than newer one. Very groovy, no bullshit and straight to the point. This was back when hip-hop was either about partying or social commentary, and before devolving into hedonism and gang life.
Key tracks:
The Message
Fleet Foxes
4/5
This is a prime-Pitchfork era album. Luckily, I do love this era of music and Fleet Foxes shows us how to make Folk music sound interesting and relevant in a modern-day setting. After so many dreadfully boring Folk Rock album from the late-60's/early-70's we are finally presented with something that's actually exciting and vibrant.
Key tracks:
White Winter Hymnal
Ragged Wood
Your Protector
Oliver James
Joan Armatrading
3/5
An album I wasn't expecting to enjoy that much but did. Very good vocals and songwriting, intimate but not too much, and timeless in a sense it could have been released a decade earlier or a decade later.
Key tracks:
Love and Affection
Paul Simon
4/5
Absolutely stellar. Paul Simon take one idea and just runs with it. The incorporation of South African music in his Contemporary Folk songs is seamless. It spotlit this little-known (to Western audiences) music genre without it ever sounding like a pastiche or letting it overwhelm the songwriting. Peter Gabriel also did something similiar a few years earlier with his fourth self-titled album, but here Simon makes it a lot more appealing to a general audience. And no, I don't care about "cultural appropriation", nor do I think it is a valid concept.
Key tracks:
The Boy in the Bubble
Graceland
I Know What I Know
Diamonds on the Sole of Her Shoes
You Can Call Me Al
Homeless
Björk
4/5
A seminal work, one of Björk most difficult records. Despite being a huge fan of her work, this used to be the one album I did not return to as often, but eventually it clicked. I remember watching Björk perform "Oceania" at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens when I was a kid and at the time I didn't like at all. Of course that completely changed a few years later.
Here, Björk strips music down to its primal origins, with arrangements that consist only of voices and vocal samples, and employing a whole host of famous or soon-to-be-famous collaborators such as Mike Patton, Rahzel, Robert Wyatt, Tanya Tagaq, and some japanese weirdo called Dokaka.
While I don't think this album is as essential as Homogenic or Post (both not on the list), this is when Björk began veering more and more into abstract territories, effectively leaving pop sensibilities behind for the avant-garde.
Key tracks:
Pleasure Is All Mine
Where Is the Line
Who Is It
Oceania
Mouth's Cradle
Triumph of a Heart
Judas Priest
3/5
Judas Priest have never been on my regular rotation like Iron Maiden. I do understand their huge influence on Metal as a whole, including the adoption of leather clothing as the genre's unofficial uniform. This is a good album, probably their best.
Key tracks:
Breaking in the Law
Living After Midnight
Bob Dylan
1/5
I went to this only knowing the Adele song "Make You Feel My Love" and, from reading the description, I was expecting a late-career triumph. Imagine my shock when I put this on and it was completely unbearable. Dylan's voice now reduced to a barely intelligible croak, the songs themselves are just ok for the most part. I was never a big Dylan fan but this one really tested my patience.
Key tracks:
Make You Feel My Love
Queen Latifah
2/5
Not too bad, but not really my thing either. At the very least, it presents a different prespective from almost every other rap album on this list, you know, by being a lady rapper and all. And I like Latifah, she seems like a cool person.
Key tracks:
Wrath of My Madness
Badly Drawn Boy
2/5
I enjoy several Badly Drawn Boy from various albums, including this one. But as a full work, I simply didn't find it very engaging. I do get the concept and it is an good one, but it just drags on for too long without enough variation to keep it interesting throughout.
Key tracks:
Once Around the Block
Little Richard
3/5
Arguably the first true Rock & Roll record. And, as per usual with the genre, every song is essential the same with slight variation and different lyrics. I understand the huge influence this had on popular music, but it's been done way better (and also way worse) later.
Key tracks:
Tutti Frutti
3/5
This one is ok. It's not as fun as the band's previous few albums. By this time, their penchant for high concept has started eclipsing the actual songs, but there's still some good ones here.
Key tracks:
Victoria
Drivin'
Shangri-La
Norah Jones
3/5
This is a fine album. It certainly is not masterpiece, but it's pleasant nonetheless. But make no mistake, this isn't "Jazz". This is standard late-90's/early-00's singer-songwriter stuff with hints of Jazz. While there's nothing wrong with that, a clear distinction must be made. Also, I've never been to a Starbucks so I never had the opportunity to hear it in its natural setting, or get sick of it.
Key tracks:
Don't Know Why
Come Away With Me
Elvis Presley
2/5
More historically important than it is a good record. Elvis's vocals are obviously great and full of charisma, but the songs themselves are just basically the same old 12-bar blues thing over bad over again. There are classic tracks here, of course, but we wouldn't lose out on not hearing every single one of them.
Key tracks:
Blue Suede Shoes
fIREHOSE
2/5
This has to one of those albums you had to be there for. As far as indie rock goes, I found it to be woefully unremarkable and also have never heard of this band outside the context of this book, so I'm assuming their importance must have been quite limited. Given the title, I'm actually surprised this didn't become popular with the zoomer brainrot crowd.
Suede
3/5
Suede's sophomore album sound pretty close to their debut, in my opinion. It's good and prettty influential to the whole Britpop movement. Not much else to say about it. Nice butt btw.
Key tracks:
We Are the Pigs
The Wild Ones
Spiritualized
5/5
Expansive and psychedelic atmosphere, this album really lives up to its spacey title. This is the best the 90's neo-psych movement had to offer, with long drawn-out passages with feeling like aimless noodling. And great songwriting to top things off, what other album of this genre was able to deliver a great emotionally resonant ballad like "Broken Heart" amidst all the space rock gospel excess? I can't think of another one.
Key tracks:
Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space
Come Together
Electricity
Broken Heart
Paul Simon
3/5
The first of Paul Simon's long solo discography shows great promise but I can't help but miss the vocal presence of Art Garfunkel. About "Me and Julio". Is it about drugs or is it gay? It's probably the former, but who knows?
Key tracks:
Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard
Adam & The Ants
2/5
I had never heard of this band before going through the book, I do wonder how big they were in their day. The mix of genres like New Wave, Glam Rock, and Punk is strange because those genres all have similar origina point so it ends up sounding very much like the early-80's but as if the early-80's have been going on for far too long. I was always curious about the bizarro world Freddie Mercury on the cover.
Key tracks:
Dog Eat Dog
Ants Invasion
ABBA
4/5
ABBA ABBA ABBA! ABBA are great! You can never get too much ABBA. That being said, this is not my favorite record of theirs but I get the context around it with the band members divorcing each other and eventually the band itself also separating. As such, this is probably their saddest crop of songs, although that doesn't mean there aren't some upbeat bangers on here. And as always, these melodies and just incredible.
Key tracks:
The Visitors
Head Over Heels
One of Us
Slipping Through My Fingers
5/5
Bowie's masterpiece Rock Opera still holds up incredibly well today. Not surprising, when you have songs like these! At the time of its release, this was possibly the most complete artistic statement in all of rock history, with an entire character with a well-established backstory, which would reinforced by Bowie's theatrical live performances and general public persona. While the whole Ziggy story is interesting, it's not essential to the enjoyment of this record, and now the dust had settle, all we're left with are the songs.
Key tracks:
Five Years
Soul Love
Moonage Daydream
Starman
Ziggy Stardust
Suffragette City
Rock 'n' Roll Suicide
Dusty Springfield
3/5
I never delved too deep into Dusty Springfield's work outside of the two albums on this list, but I've quite liked what I've heard. Doesn't go as far into early-60's pop excess as Phil Spector, but also doesn't indulge in all of the American soul histrionics. The result is a more restrained version of pop and soul.
Key tracks:
You Don't Own Me
When the Lovelight Start Shining Thru His Eyes
Anyone Who Had a Heart
Jean-Michel Jarre
3/5
Despite the freaky album art, Oxygène is a pretty light and airy instrumental synth album. It sounds like it's soundtracking something, I don't know exactly what, but something. I can't say it engaged me all the way through but I can definitely say it's a very forward-thinking album by 1976 standards.
Key tracks:
Oxygène Part IV
Nine Inch Nails
4/5
Stellar album! Dark and moody, but also extremely intense and visceral. It really does make the listener feel the anguish and desperation the album's character is going through, with the very stark and oppressive production filled with all kinds of distorted instrumentation. Still, at its very core, it manages to keep a foot firmly placed in standard rock song structures. And all the better for it, otherwise it could probably end up too alienating to maintain the emotional resonance it obviously strives for.
Key tracks:
Mr. Self Destruct
March of the Pigs
Closer
Hurt
Beatles
4/5
This is The Beatles' transitional album. Between the British Invasion/Merseybeat sounds of their earlier output and the experimental and psychedelic later work. And as such, it doesn't really excel at either of the two styles but the will of the group to evolve and try new things is palpable. Also, this is The Beatles, after all, so the songwriting is bulletproof.
Key tracks:
Drive My Car
Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)
The Word
Michelle
In My Life
Stevie Wonder
4/5
Great funky album. The melodies and chord progressions here are wild, they just go places. Not much else to say other than it's awesome.
Key tracks:
You Are the Sunshine of My Life
Superstition
Blame It on the Sun
I Believe (When I Fall in Love It Will Be Forever)
Bebel Gilberto
3/5
This one was alright. No way near as beautiful as the records by Bebel's father João Gilberto from the 50's, 60's, and 70's, but it still the delivers the same airy and soft aesthetic as those albums. Kinda like an updated version of Bossa Nova for the new millennium.
Key tracks:
Samba da Benção
Tanto Tempo
AC/DC
3/5
AC/DC are one of those bands that a lot of people know their big hits but don't know their albums. Fans of the group would argue they're missing out, but are we really? This is not a bad album per se, but the band is not beating the "every song sounds the same" allegations.
Key tracks:
Highway to Hell
The Blue Nile
5/5
Magnificent, stunning, the definition of a hidden gem. I had not heard of The Blue Nile before going through the book and they have since become a favorite of mine, too bad their output is so scant at only 4 albums. This one and their follow-up Hats (1989) are their best, with their city night atmosphere, impeccably written songs, and Paul Buchanan's tremendous vocals. There aren't many singers capable of tugging on my heartstrings quite like Buchanan does, and it's always a joy to hear him whenever he pops up on other artists projects, be them with Peter Gabriel, Craig Armstrong, or Jessie Ware.
Key tracks:
A Walk Across the Rooftops
Tinseltown in the Rain
Stay
Heatwave
Automobile Noise
The Stooges
3/5
Very fuzzy sounding garage-glam record. This type of sound was actually incredibly influential for the whole punk wave that appeared just a few years later. I'm actually surprised this is an album from 1973, and also surprised David Bowie was one of the architects of its iconic sound.
Key tracks:
Search and Destroy
Gimme Danger
Run-D.M.C.
3/5
I liked this one. It's a very cool take on hip-hop with great beats and good rapping. It includes the huge hit Aerosmith crossover "Walk This Way", which, for better or worse, is responsible for the entire rap-rock genre, and subsequently all of nu-metal. Make of that information what you will.
Key tracks:
Peter Piper
It's Tricky
Walk This Way
Ramones
4/5
Short and to the point. That was the whole idea of the Ramones, early-60's influenced songwriting with not-very-proficient musicianship. Essentially just straightfroward dumb fun, and hugely successful at that.
Key tracks:
Blitzkrieg Bop
Beat on the Brat
Judy Is a Punk
Listen to My Heart
Madonna
3/5
After the great and mature artistic triumph that was Ray of Light, Madonna was probably disappointed that it wasn't also on par with her previous works commercially. So, Madge went right back into radio-ready songs with Music. But despite it's title track becoming her final Billboard #1, the rest of the songs are actually surprising left-field for a pop album. There's the jagged folktronica sound that Madonna would explore more on her next album, American Life, and there's also some Cher-esque autotuned vocals. The end result is, however, quite fractured and struggled to find its own identity. Even the cover artwork hints at a country-inspired album while it's definitely not one.
Key tracks:
Music
Don't Tell Me
What It Feels Like for a Girl
Talk Talk
4/5
Right at the middle of their discoraphy, we find Talk Talk's transitional album The Colour of Spring. And despite that status, it doesn't really sound like either their New Romantic early work or their ground-breaking following albums. Instead we get a somewhat ambient take of pop music, with beautifully arranged instrumental passages, emotive vocals, and melodies that sneak up on you when you least expect them. An incredibly unique album, whose sound world has yet to be replicated.
Key tracks:
Happiness Is Easy
Life's What You Make It
Living in Another World
Give It Up
Carole King
2/5
This is definitely a significant album, as I did hear/read about it even before I got the book, and King was already a big name in the songwriting world prior to this thanks to her work writing for other artists. But the album itself just didn't stick with me. I felt it didn't do anything interesting for the genre. It was just ok.
Key tracks:
It's Too Late
PJ Harvey
3/5
A bit too rough around the edges for me, but definitely a very cool record, with a very grimey and dispondent atmosphere. Good but I enjoy other PJ Harvey records more.
Key tracks:
O Stella
Dress
Sheela-Na-Gig
Sparks
5/5
Sparks are one of my all-time favorite bands that I discovered while going trhough this very book back in the day. Initially, I enjoyed this album well enough but I didn't place it among my favorites, but it had a strange allure that kept me coming back a few times. It was only in 2015 when Sparks released their collaborative album with Franz Ferdinand, FFS, that this album truly clicked with me, and so I went on deep dive and also ended up loving almost all of their discography.
Truly unlike anything else out there, though it is possible to draw some stylistcs comparisons to other glam rock artists of the era. However, Sparks' sound is a tab bit weirder, a bit wittier, with wilder melodic choices and musical theater aspirations.
Too bad there's only one of their albums on the list because they have released many great ones in various different styles, including New Wave, Disco, Synthpop, Euro-dance(?), and whatever Lil' Beethoven is. If you enjoy this, go on deep dive like I did, it's well worth your time.
Key tracks:
This Town Ain't Big Enough for Both of Us
Amateur Hour
Falling in Love With Myself Again
Talent Is an Asset
In My Family
Jane's Addiction
3/5
Very cool and psychedelic take on Alternative Rock that actually sounds very modern by 1988 standards. I honestly prefer their follow-up, also on this list, so I'm not so sure this is an essential listen for everyone.
Key tracks:
Ocean Size
Jane Says
Elliott Smith
4/5
Elliott Smith was the precursor to all the confessional male singer-songwriter types of the late 90's and 00's. Think Bright Eyes, or Sufjan Stevens (in acoustic mode), and you get the idea. Smith, however, has a purity unlike any other, also his music is incredibly sad. Initially I didn't think much of his music anytime I came across it, but one day I listened to this very album more closely and really connected with it. Relevant to say, I was going through it at the time...
Key tracks:
Alameda
Ballad of Big Nothing
Between the Bars
No Name No. 5
Baaba Maal
3/5
Very good african record, with pop sensibilites that make it accesssible to a more general audience. One thing this book does well is try to establish a canon for regional music albums such as this, although there could me even more of them here. Maybe they should do a whole 1001 book on so-called "world music" records.
Key tracks:
Toro (The Bird)
Skepta
3/5
I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this, considering I would have never given this album even a second glance after seeing the tag "grime" on it. Very catchy and creative beats, great rapping that doesn't try to sound american and so it keeps a distinct britishness. Guess this should teach me not to judge a book by its cover, or rather an album by its music genres.
Key tracks:
It Ain't Safe
That's Not Me
Television
4/5
Great classic art punk record. However as amazing as the whole thing is, the opening title track overshadows the rest of it and can never remember how any of the other songs go. I know I like them when I hear them, but that first track really is unbeatable.
Key tracks:
Marquee Moon
Mike Oldfield
5/5
Groundbreaking album in the realm of rock music, with an almost classical approach to its composition. I can't really call it influential, as I can't think of any other artists who have followed in Oldfield's footsteps and made music like this. Sure, there are plenty of experimental music pieces that use rock instrumentation, but usually those don't include catchy riffs and melodic ideas presented here. Truly a remarkable journey in musical form that, by the end, will make you wonder "how did we get here?", but everything flows perfectly and makes complete sense.
(Side note: I've never watched The Exorcist, so I never associated the opening section with it, nor I ever even consider it to be remotely scary sounding, like a lot of people seem to. I guess context really is king.)
Key tracks:
Tubular Bells (Part One)
Gotan Project
4/5
Incredible album! Simple, yet effective idea, fuse Piazzolla-style Tango Nuevo with late-90's downtempo/trip-hop beats and samples. While some may find the result to be too lounge-y or chill out, I found that deeper listens reveal actually quite a dark and eerie ambience that is not so obvious at first. Strongly recommended.
Key tracks:
Queremos Paz
Época
Santa María (Del Buen Ayre)
Una Música Brutal
Last Tango in Paris
Joni Mitchell
3/5
The last of the four Joni Mitchell albums on this list. I still have the same problems with it as I did with her previous work, the songs just don't stick with me even if in theory I should love this. Anyway, this one sounds a bit artsy-er than the other ones, with less conventional song structures and even jazzier elements.
Key tracks:
Coyote
Black Crow
Elvis Costello & The Attractions
3/5
As the meme goes, there are way too many Elvis Costello albums on this list, which is true. This one, his second, is not too bad, but like all his other albums, it's not great either. I do not get the appeal. but there are some good songs on it.
Key tracks:
No Action
Living in Paradise
(I Don't Want to Go to) Chelsea
Primal Scream
2/5
I really love Primal Scream's Screamadelica, as well as their 2000 industrial-tinged album XTRMNTR so I was suprised by how much this one disappointed me. It was very sparse and atmospheric, you know, like a Dub record, which is what this is. There were some very good songs but the whole thing felt kinda scant with not much to grab on to.
Key tracks:
Burning Wheel
Kowalski
Star
Super Furry Animals
4/5
Very fun, bright, and colourful psych-pop album. I really do enjoy this turn-of-the-century "let's put everything in the song" kind of sound, also found on records by The Flaming Lips or The Beta Band from around the same time. Not really an essential listen, but a wholly enjoyable one.
Key tracks:
Sidewalk Serfer Girl
(Drawing) Rings Around the World
No Sympathy
Juxtaposed With U
Dire Straits
2/5
Never got the appeal of Dire Straits or Mark Knopfler. I get the guitar playing is impressive and all, but most of the songs are just pretty unmemorable to me.
Key tracks:
Sultans of Swing
Six Blade Knife
The Beach Boys
3/5
Much like Pet Sounds, this album never clicked with me, but I do recognize how good the songwriting and arrangements, particularly the vocal harmonies, are. A very cute and sunny album.
Key tracks:
Do You Wanna Dance
When I Grow Up (To Be a Man)
FKA twigs
4/5
Great debut by an artist who is still getting better currently. This one takes more from the Alternative R&B wave of the early-10's than the rest of her output, but does it in a uniquely captivating way. I am mixed on Arca generally, but here the production is subtle enough while remaining interesting.
(side note: I love all the "old man yells at cloud" reviews for this.)
Key tracks:
Two Weeks
Hours
Video Girl
Closer
5/5
Not the first "concept album" ever, but the one that truly changed the way the "album" was perceived as an art form. Needless to say, it is iconic and great beyond words and even if not every song is a masterpiece, the whole thing is more than the sum of its parts, that's what made it the influential juggernaut that it is. I'm very glad The Beatles are, once again, becoming popular with the younger generations. It seemed like, for a while there, a sizeable amout of people from my generation (I'm a millennial) were keen on saying The Beatles were overrated, and (wrongly) dismissing their importance to popular music at large.
No need to discuss the album itself any further, though, as there isn't something I could say that hasn't already been said dozens of times before.
Key tracks:
With a Little Help from My Friends
Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds
Getting Better
She's Leaving Home
Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!
Within You Without You
Good Morning Good Morning
A Day in the Life
Depeche Mode
5/5
The absolute peak of Depeche Mode, and arguably the peak of all synthpop. Dark and brooding, but still very catchy and accessible. That fact it's relatively short, at only nine tracks, plays in its favour. Not a single second is wasted, even the interludes after "Enjoy the Silence" and "Blue Dress" feel integral to the overall experience.
Key tracks:
World in My Eyes
Personal Jesus
Halo
Enjoy the Silence
Policy of Truth
Buzzcocks
3/5
I liked this one. It's not anything special, but Buzzcocks have amassed a big enough good will with me from their amazing compilation Singles Going Steady, that I at least would always get some enjoyment out of this.
Key tracks:
Fiction Romance
Talking Heads
5/5
I didn't get this the first time I heard it. I mean, I liked it, but I wouldn't call it one of the best albums of all time. I don't know what changed in the meantime, but I just kept coming back and loved it more and more. The pure frenetic peak cocaine music. I've never done it, but I imagine this is exactly what how it is. There so much going on in this song, the polyrhythms going wild, the chanting vocals worming up in your brain and staying there, the whole thing demaning you to get up and dance. And then the second half is like the comedown after the high. Just perfect.
Key tracks:
Born Under Punches (The Heat Goes On)
Crosseyed and Painless
The Great Curve
Once in a Lifetime
Houses in Motion
Listening Wind
Leonard Cohen
3/5
Cohen's debut is quite unusual as far as debut albums go. Him being already pushing 40 meant he was a mature writer from the get go, and his experience as an author gave him a different approach to writing lyrics.
What I do associate this album with the most is that my father sometimes randomly sing the chorus of "So Long, Marianne". He does it hopelessly out of tune, but in an endearing way.
Key tracks:
Suzanne
So Long, Marianne
Lightning Bolt
4/5
Surprisingly vibrant and melodic for a noise rock record. Unsurprisingly colorful, given the title, though. The vocals are completely drowned in distortion and unintelligible, they may as well not even be there? Anyway, that aside, this is pretty cool little album, and for what I've heard since, their best.
Key tracks:
Assassin
Dracula Mountain
Leonard Cohen
4/5
Leonard Cohen had already gone into the cheesy 80's synth direction with 1984's Various Positions (you know, the one with "Hallelujah"), but on I'm Your Man, he refines that sound into something that is actually tasteful. The darkly sarcastic undertones of several of these songs help sell the music (and the silly cover art does as well). Cool album overall, very catchy.
Key tracks:
First We Take Manhattan
Ain't No Cure for Love
Everybody Knows
I'm Your Man
Tower of Song
Tim Buckley
3/5
Nice record, this one. Of course, this is very far from Buckley's great experimental releases from the early-70's, but that's not to say this is by-the-numbers singer-songwriter fare. In fact, there are a lot of inventive song structures and arrangements going on here.
Key tracks:
No Man Can Find the War
Carnival Song
Once I Was
Fugees
2/5
Some good songs, but not my thing and not very interesting overall. The best song here "Killing Me Softly" is not an original and even pales in comparison to the Roberta Flack version. At least, nowhere near as overrated as Ms. Hill's solo album, which I haven't gotten yet but am not looking forward to.
Key tracks:
Ready or Not
Fu-Gee-La
Killing Me Softly
1/5
This album contains some of the worst, most putrid, and vile music ever created. I can't be too surprised it got so popular, as appeals to the lowest common demoninator, lizard-brain, teen boy sensibilities. Still, everything about it awful. The music is awful, the lyrics are awful, the rapping is awful, the album title and artwork are awful, even the songs the I (ahem) like are not very good either. And the album is so long too. I can't, for the life of me, figure out why the authors of the book felt this was essential over Deftones.
Key tracks:
My Generation
Rollin' (Air Raid Vehicle)
The Youngbloods
1/5
After a long stretch of listening to various different genres, we're back to what this is list has to offer the most: Boring late-60's/early-70's bluesy and/or folky psych-rock. And yet another artists never heard from again outside of the context of the book. I already knew exactly what this was going to sound like without hearing a single note of it. In one ear and out the other.
The xx
4/5
Incredibly unique indie pop album, very minimal in its entire presentation. The songs, the arrangements, the artwork, the song titles. Impressive how fully form the xx arrived onto the scene. This, however, revealed itself to be a double edged sword, as their following albums haven't succeeding in capturing the magic of this debut, nor any of the members' respective solo efforts.
Key tracks:
Intro
VCR
Crystalised
Islands
Shelter
Basic Space
B.B. King
2/5
I'm not really a Blues guy. I don't know, I just find the songs very similar to each other. Like most Rock 'n' Roll, they do follow the standard 12-bar blues form, after all that's why it's called that. The fact that this is live helps sell these performances, as they sound more energetic than they would be otherwise. And while I do appreciate what this record brings to the table here, I don't think I would pick this up and give it a listen in any other context.
Suede
3/5
This may have been the first big Britpop record, and it's a nice little one. But, of course, better albums in the genre would follow. I really like Brett Anderson's theatrical vocals, though.
Key tracks:
So Young
Animal Nitrate
The Drowners
Brian Eno
5/5
I remember when I first looked through the book and saw this album. The title, artwork, and even the tracklist were so evocative that even before listening to it, or having much experience with ambient music, I knew exactly what it was going to sound like. And even then, it totally exceeded my expectations.
The thing is, there a sort of nostalgia permeating this music, from a time I wasn't even alive for. I'm sure airports in the pre-9/11 world were a very different place than they are today, way less busy and stressful, unless you were afraid of flying, of course. So these four sparse compositions suit the environment perfectly, while also evoking a sort of post-industrial ambience but in a positive way.
Key tracks:
1/1
Aretha Franklin
3/5
Aretha may be one of the most influential vocalists of all time. She was the one who brought big gospel stylings into pop and became an early gold standard of powerhouse vocals. This is a good album, but it is the vocals, not particularly the songs, that are the star. Not to say there aren't any classics, like the Carole King one. Other than that, it's not too dissimilar from Aretha's other albums of the era.
Key tracks:
Chain of Fools
(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman
Jeru The Damaja
1/5
Why is this here? Who even is this? Appearently one of the guys from Gang Starr. How does this enrich my hip-hop listening knowledge? I don't really know.
Fatboy Slim
1/5
I didn't like this one. Definitely not an essential album to listen to before you die, especially considereing there is another, much better Fatboy Slim album on the list. Completely lacks all the fun of that other album. There is a reason that one produced several big hit and this one didn't.
Key tracks:
Song for Lindy
Radiohead
5/5
This album has been written about to hell and back, so I'm not sure I can anything new to the conversation. Quite possibly the most influential album in all of British music since The Beatles. There really is a before and after this release, and you can immediately notice the impact, in the way the 60s inspired britpop bands started adopting moodier and more intimate approaches to songwriting or fell off the radar altogether, giving way to a new wave of British band like Coldplay, Travis, and the like.
To me, though, this album evokes a very particular feeling that I can't really explain. I get visions of a very sparse suburban neighborhood just as the sun sets and sky loses its brighter hue. Other, non-musical things also evoke this feeling, but I can never understand what they have in common. I think in the case of this album it has something to do with the arrangements and chords progressions, which are incredible all the way through.
Key tracks:
Airbag
Paranoid Android
Exit Music (For a Film)
Let Down
Karma Police
No Surprises
Lucky
Jurassic 5
2/5
I mean, it wasn't awful, but it's not something that I would deem essential listening. It certainly didn't feel essential while I was listening to it.
Key tracks:
Thin Line
Marty Robbins
4/5
I'm surprised by how much I liked this, being I'm not a Country person at all. But I guess this isn't exactly like other Country music. The arrangements are fuller and the songwriting is just so smooth. More true cowboy vibes than we usually get from this kind of record.
Key tracks:
Big Iron
Cool Water
Billy The Kid
El Paso
Anita Baker
1/5
I had heard this name but didn't recognize any of the songs, nor do I still remember them now. It just makes me think of that meme format:
"Mom, can we have Sade?
But darling, we already have Sade at home.
Sade at home: "
Michael Jackson
4/5
It's very difficult to separate this album from the fact that it was tasked with following the best-selling album of all time, a feat it didn't quite live up to. You can hear them trying on every song and this makes up for a very bombastic, very entertaining record, and of course this was still Jackson and Quincy Jones operating at the peak of their collaborative powers. The move towards New Jack Swing made sense at the time, as it was the new emergent sound, but in hindsight that aspect is what makes this sound more dated than Thriller and Off the Wall. Not that those albums didn't sound "of their time" (they did) but because genres like Disco and Synth Funk have had resurgences in the years since. This is still very good, though.
Key tracks:
Bad
The Way You Make Me Feel
Man in the Mirror
Dirty Diana
Smooth Criminal
Aphex Twin
4/5
The title seems to imply Richard D. James was merely a teenager when he composed some of these tracks. What? That's very impressive, especially considering how groundbreaking this album is. Nothing sounded like this at time, both in ambient or dance music. I can't say I return to this album very often but it's always a great time for either letting it play in the background or to fully immerse myself in its countless intricacies.
Key tracks:
Xtal
Pulsewidth
Green Calx
Heliosphan
Terence Trent D'Arby
1/5
Very strange to get an album from a one-hit wonder, and one whose hit wasn't that big anyway (at least over here in Europe, I think). Either way, this sounds so mid-80's in all the worst ways, very tacky.
Key tracks:
Wishing Well
Green Day
4/5
I'm not that big Green Say fan but both their albums from this list are pretty great and quite different from each other. This one, their breakout record, is a staple of pop punk and has basically defined the genre since its release. There's not much to it musically, actually, it's all very simple and straightforward. Perfect music to turn your brain off to.
Key tracks:
Burnout
Longview
Basket Case
When I Come Around
Portishead
5/5
My parents were big Portishead fans during the 90's when I was a child, and I remember very well when this album came out and I did a deep dive on the band's discography and became a huge fan as well. We then went to see them live, it was the first show of the tour and also the first 'big' show I went to. All of it a very formative experience for me.
I also remember when "Machine Gun" first came out and how abrasive and strange it sounded. This was certainly not the Portishead of the 90's. It's as though the band were dismantling their own sound and building it back up in a jagged and disfigured manner. The whole album is like that, each song introduces different stylistic approaches. This very much differs from the previous records, which worked more like unified mood pieces. Here, we jump from brooding to mysterious to unsettling to calm and back to unsettling in true disorienting fashion.
With this album, Portishead showed it was possible for a Trip-Hop act to make vital music long after the genre's time has passed, even though not many others, or even themselves, has followed in the footsteps.
Key tracks:
Silence
Hunter
The Rip
We Carry On
Machine Gun
Magic Doors
Threads
Fleetwood Mac
3/5
This massive and sprawling album sounded pretty good to be. It definitely needs more listens, though, as I don't remember a lot of it, but I liked it. It seems like when bands reach the peak of their commercial and critical success they either try to replicate that success or go all in in a completely different direction, and I'm glad Fleetwood Mac chose to do the latter.
Key tracks:
Sara
That's All for Everyone
Brown Eyes
Gang Of Four
3/5
I used to associate the Dance Punk genre to the New York scene of the 00's and groups like LCD Soundsystem, but appearently it has been around since the late-70's. However, as dance-y as this is, it doesn't sound anything like its revivalist counterpart, most obviously the lack of electronic instrumentation. Cool album.
Key tracks:
Natural's Not in It
Not Great Men
Damaged Goods
Johnny Cash
4/5
Great live album. Sure, it is a bit LARP-y on Mr. Cash's part, but nothing that a bunch o rappers didn't also do about 25-30 years later. Actually, the crowd plays a supporting role that adds a lot to the atmosphere of the whole recording. And also, a lot of these song never sounded better than they do here.
Key tracks:
Folsom Prison Blues
25 Minutes to Go
I Got Stripes
James Brown
2/5
I don't know about this one. It's certainly an powerful live performance and it makes sense that it's included over any of Brown's studio recordings, but something about it just doesn't resonate with me. It really does feel like a relic of a bygone era.
Alice Cooper
3/5
The about Alice Cooper is that when you remove all the shocking stage antics, we're left with some pretty regular glam-y Hard Rock. Not to say there aren't great songs on here, there certainly are, but Cooper is mostly remembered as a shock-rocker first, and nothing here sounds particularly shocking. Maybe audienced in the 70's found it shocking? I wouldn't know. From what I've this is his (their?) best album.
Key tracks:
Hello Hooray
Elected
No More Mr. Nice Guy
Lauryn Hill
1/5
This is the late-90's equivalent to today's Grammy-bait slop such as Jon Batiste or H.E.R. The difference is back then people were tricked into believing it was actually good. But alas, Ms. Lauryn Hill quickly exposed herself as hack with her disastrous MTV Unplugged 2.0 set. This album certainty has the appearance of a classic record but fall apart upon closer inspection. Unbelievably overrated.
Key tracks:
Doo-Wop (That Thing)
Public Enemy
3/5
Great beats, love those slowed down drums. Chuck D has a commanding voice, and Flavor Flav is there too. The lyrics can get a bit too on-the-nose, even approaching kitsch. Good classic album, though.
Key tracks:
Bring The Noise
Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos
Fleetwood Mac
4/5
The most American sounding British pop album in existence, which makes sense given the two main songwriters are American. The sunny, Californian sound of this album became so massively influential that it is hard to hear these songs as more than the blueprints for everything that came after. The big choruses, the simple, yet effective vocal harmonies, the introspective lyricism, all of this has been copied to death over the years. Still, against all odds, this album transcend all its pale imitators and remains a landmark in pop music. A bit overhyped, sure, but still very good.
Key tracks:
Dreams
Don't Stop
Go Your Own Way
The Chain
The Clash
4/5
This was one of my best discoveries of my parents' CD collection, way back then. I'm surprised they even had this album, as they were not punks at all. But I guess this isn't a punk album, really. It's a hodge-podge of different strains of New Wave, most of which quite accessible. So many good songs on here, a double album (double on vinyl, single CD) that can sustain the quality throughout its runtime. And If you think this is a long album, check out the band's 2h+ follow-up Sandinista!, that one is great too.
Key tracks:
London Calling
Hateful
Spanish Bombs
Death or Glory
Sex Pistols
4/5
One of early Punk's most iconic records. I am aware of all the poseur allegations and whatnot. At the end of the day what matters is the music, which is great, and the impact it had, which was immense. Not surprising the band never did anything else, given how dysfunctional it was.
Key tracks:
Holiday in the Sun
Bodies
God Save the Queen
Anarchy in the UK
EMI
Funkadelic
2/5
Iconic cover art, iconic opening title track with an iconic spoken word bit at the beginning. Shame the rest of the album is nowhere near as iconic.
Key tracks:
Maggot Brain
The Jesus And Mary Chain
3/5
Singular album, this one. The Beach Boys-esque melodies paired with noisy guitars and feedback is something I don't think was ever done before (or even after). These guys just exude cool, maybe a bit too much even. The song, however, are bit too similar sounding and lack a bit of substance, but they do sound cool.
Key tracks:
Just Like Honey
Cut Dead
Some Candy Talking (this one wasn't on the original album but it kinda counts too)
The White Stripes
4/5
This is the album where The White Stripes tried to run away from being The White Stripes. Trading in the guitars, for pianos and folk instrumentation, but still delivery quality material. I know the overall view on this release wasn't very positive, but I have a strong attachment to it as it was the first album from the band I heard. To this day, I still play "Blue Orchid" in my head every time I want to count two/two and a half minutes. However, I can't say I like it as much as the two preceding it.
Key tracks:
Blue Orchid
My Doorbell
Forever for Her (Is Over for Me)
Little Ghost
The Denial Twist
Leonard Cohen
3/5
Cohen's second album is as good as the debut overall, but it does open with "Bird on the Wire", one of my favorite songs of his. Nothing else on here even comes close. The album at least a good job distinguishing itself from its predecessor, with its very liberal use of the mouth harp. Whether that's a good or bad thing is up to each one to decide.
Key tracks:
Bird on the Wire
The Darkness
2/5
Very corny 70's/80's Hair Metal / Glam Metal revivalism. No original Hair Metal albums appear on this list, which is the right call. But this begs the question: Why include this one then? It's certainly not better or worse than the genre's original run, it is funnier and self-aware, which is good I guess. Did critics at the time like this one a lot? Was the nostalgia cycle already at the point of giving this genre a critical reassessment? No need to do that, I think critics got it right the first time.
Key tracks:
I Believe in a Thing Called Love
Miles Davis
5/5
A seminal album in small ensemble Jazz, with an all star cast of players. This record, while not the first of its kind, was so impactful it basically made big band obsolete overnight. I mean, why invest in such a large number of players when you can just have a quartet or quintet (this album has a maximum of six musicians in one track) and make music of this quality? It certainly was more cost effective, especially in a live setting. That is not to bash big band jazz, I love that stuff too, but I understand why the shift had to happen.
Another shift happened with this change in approach. With a smaller ensemble, the focus was now on the instrumentalists rather than on the songs, which are usually stretched out to allow room for technical showmanship. And there's plenty of that here.
Key tracks:
So What
Freddie Freeloader
Flamenco Sketches
David Bowie
5/5
I'm going to allow myself to be a bit of a hipster on this one and say I already loved this album before Bowie died. I know it was only two days, but this became my most anticipated album of 2016 after the title track came out on the previous October and knowing that "Sue (Or in a Season of Crime)" was also going to be on it. (not the original version with Maria Schneider, which is also great, but a new one with LCD Soundsystem main man James Murphy).
This is Bowie fully indulging in his Scott Walker aspirations, streching songs out, playing with structure, and filling them with surreal narratives. For Bowie, however, those narratives seem to come from a more personal place, and after his death it became easy to read (too much) into these songs to extrapolate their meaning.
I remember early reviews were mildly positive on the album in lead up to its release and then immediately changed their tune by the end of the week. I also remember I did a full Bowie marathon in the days after his death while studying for a college exam. Regardless if someone enjoyed this right away, jumped on the bandwagon later, or never really gotten into it, it cannot be denied this was a triumphant ending to an already impressive body of work, and the way Bowie managed to turn even his own death into an art piece. Truly the mark of a Great Artist.
Key tracks:
Blackstar
Lazarus
Sue (Or in a Season of Crime)
Girl Loves Me
I Can't Give Everything Away
Sisters Of Mercy
4/5
True gothic masterpiece. But not the moody and downbeat kind of goth. This is the over-the-top, campy, ridiculous (in a good way) kind of goth. Everything is expanded to epic proportions, the drama is turned up to eleven, complete with choirs, cinematic percussion and all that. Maybe I'm reading this all wrong and this is meant to be a very serious and dark piece, but it couldn't be, right?
Key tracks:
Dominion/Mother Russia
Lucretia My Reflection
This Corrosion
The Stranglers
3/5
Very cool punk/new wave record. I may like their later album La Folie a bit better, but this one is very well put together and has pretty good songwriting. I do wonder, why is it called IV? Wasn't this their debut? Strange.
Key tracks:
Sometimes
London Lady
(Get a) Grip (On Yourself)
Jack White
3/5
For his first solo album, Jack White decided trade the peppermint red-white-black color scheme for blue tones on a low stakes and straightforward record. While it's not bad, it sounds incredibly middle of the road when compared to his White Stripes, or even Raconteurs releases. At the time, I thought this was going to the way for him going forward, and the next album Lazaretto didn't prove me wrong. However, after that, White seemed to have hit some sort of stride and once again started experimenting with wilder ideas and showing he is still one of the most vital rock musicians working today.
Key tracks:
Sixteen Saltines
Love Interruption
Hip (Eponymous) Poor Boy
Kanye West
3/5
This one isn't too bad, but it's a little one-note with the overuse of those sped up soul samples, often referred to as Chipmunk Soul. West is famously a sloppy MC but that doesn't really distract from the songs, which despite being somewhat serious in nature, at the end of the day are meant as Pop music. Obviously, West went on to produce much better albums, and also much, much worse ones.
Key tracks:
Jesus Walks
The New Workout Plan
Through the Wire
(Looking at the reviews, seems like I'm the only one separating the art from the artist, which is sad.)
Orbital
3/5
Pretty cool Techno album with a wide variety of sounds. I'm not a dance music expert by any means, but variety is not something I associate with the genre, so it's greatly appreciated here. Yes, it is pretty long, but for this type of music that's exactly what is needed. Otherwise, how could you dance to it if the songs were always ending? Not that this is a big frenetic dance album either, this is more a chillout kind of dance album. I liked it.
Key tracks:
Forever
Philosophy by Numbers
Kein Trink Wasser
Haircut 100
2/5
For the first time every I have literally nothing to say about an album. It's fine, I guess. Not sure it needed to be included in this list, especially considering how many and much better 80's New Wave album are already on the list.
Key tracks:
Favourite Shirts (Boy Meets Girl)
Surprise Me Again
Adele
3/5
I know this album was huge and all - best-selling album of 2015, and it only came out toward the end of the year - but do we really need to listen to it before we die? No, we don't, especially considering we are already going to listen to 21, which is a much better Adele album and sounds pretty much identical. The highs here are not as high as on that album, but there are no bad songs here either, unlike on her following album 30. That one has some real stinkers. 25 is not bad, just reduntant in this context.
Key tracks:
Hello
Send My Love (To Your New Lover)
When We Were Young
All I Ask
Simon & Garfunkel
3/5
I'm very surprised how different every Simon & Garfunkel album from this list sounds from one another. You'd think, because most of their songs are based on the two voices and acoustic guitar, everything would sound somewhat similar. But no, all three albums have a different mood. This is the short and sweet one, with touches of strings here and there, perfectly suited for a quiet summer evening. Very cozy.
Key tracks:
America
Old Friends
Mrs. Robinson
Talking Heads
4/5
Great debut album. It does miss the more detailed Brian Eno production of the band's following three albums, but the songs are there. Very inventive melodies and hooks, funky rhythms, even if a still a little shy at this point. Definitely stands out among its peers.
Key tracks:
Uh-Oh, Love Comes to Town
Tentative Decisions
The Book I Read
Psycho Killer
Pulled Up
Beck
3/5
This album was viewed at the time to be Beck's return to the sound that made him popular in the 90's. Pan-genre psychedelic pop songs with lots of sampling. While there is some of that here, it obvious does not reach the heights of Odelay, but I don't think it's trying to either. Still, Beck remains an inventive songwriter, and at this time the world of indie pop was just beginning to catch up with this type of sound, so there was a whole new context to place this album and artist in.
Key tracks:
E-Pro
Girl
Malcolm McLaren
3/5
This album was pretty wild and out there. Apprearently this guy was the Sex Pistols's manager? Weird. I do like the throwing spaghetti at a wall and see what sticks kind of approach, although the results are more interesting than they are actually good and memorable. Still, very unique release and exactly the kind of album these type of lists are for.
Key tracks:
Obatala
Madness
3/5
Very fun, very catchy, very energetic New Wave record. I must say, I'm not a fan of Reggae or any of its derivatives (including Ska), but this album was pleasently surprising to me, though the Ska elements are significantly paired down. Cool.
Key tracks:
Rise and Fall
Sunday Morning
Our House
Lorde
2/5
This has to be the most overhyped pop album of the 2010s, if not of all time. It all sounds so ordrinary, the vocals are all over the place, the songs mean to sound deep but they're mostly the same old thing we've been hearing in pop music since the 80's. And this was compared to Kate Bush? Really?
Also, this album made Jack Antonoff the most sought-after mainstream producer and although I do enjoy some of his work with artists like St. Vincent and Lana Del Rey, his overall impact in the mainstream music landscape was to make it grey and duller. I didn't get this record's hype in 2017 and I still don't get it now.
Key tracks:
Green Light
Nirvana
4/5
Intentionally rawer and and less polished than Nevermind, but also the crop of songs isn't as strong. I'm not Gen X so I don't have that big an emotional attachment to this record, but it still pretty great.
Key tracks:
Heart-Shaped Box
Rape Me
Dumb
Pennyroyal Tea
All Apologies
Steve Earle
1/5
Did this have any impact on music back in '86? It certainly didn't have any impact on me today because I don't remember a single note from it.
1/5
I'm beginning to think that in the late-60's or early-70's it must have been easier for bands to become "famous" because there just were less of them, and without the internet, music scenes were more localized. Otherwise, how would a band like Spirit ever make it onto a list of best ever anything? No wonder the only thing notable about them is they tried to claim Led Zeppeling copied "Stairway to Heaven" from them, which, judging by the quality of the music here, sounds pretty delusional. (I know that song isn't on here, but I have heard it and it's a stretch).
U2
5/5
After half a decade of indulging in American aesthetics, U2 decide to embrace their European selves. This was the result of a band being attuned to and aware of the changes in their musical environment, makes all the right decisions and producing their best work. A very vibrant and diverse mix of alternative sounds and dance music influences that make U2 sound fresh and like a new band, but still unmistakably themselves.
Many other brands struggled with the change of decade, but U2 navigated those changes expertly, and did it again at the turn of the following decade, albeit to less spectacular results.
Key tracks:
Even Better Than the Real Thing
One
Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses
So Cruel
The Fly
Mysterious Ways
Ultraviolet (Light My Way)
Common
2/5
This is album is not terrible, but why does it have to be soooo long? I pretty much got the point midway through. This is a common (hehe) problem with hip-hop, they just overstuff their records to the brim. At least there are no cringy skits/interludes on this one.
Coldplay
5/5
Coldplay's second album is also their best, taking everything that made their debut great and amplifying it even further. Every song here is built on a very simple idea, either a short riff or a hook, which is then expanded in such a way as to maximize its memorability.
The atmosphere, however, differs a lot from the previous record. Where that album was cozy and intimate, this sounds grandiose and spacey, something the band would continue to explore on their subsequent, increasingly maximal releases.
Coldplay get a lot of hate, most of it undeserved. Maybe it's because of their mass appeal or Chris Martin's overly sweet, doofy sincerity. Of course, there are some real stinkers in their discography, but there are many more gems, and this is one of them.
Key tracks:
Politik
In My Place
God Put a Smile Upon Your Face
The Scientist
Clocks
Daylight
Green Eyes
Warning Sign
A Rush of Blood to the Head
The Beach Boys
2/5
I wasn't going to be very positive on this review, but I got this album just after Brian Wilson passed away at the age of 82, and this album became eeriely fitting for today. This is probably the most (if not the only) downbeat Beach Boys record, a odd direction for a band known for good vibes and sunshine, but one that reflect its state in the early-70's. Personally, beyond the amazing title track, nothing really sticks with me, but this is already a recurring problem I find with the Beach Boys. Probably will re-listen at some point, as I do enjoy this type of artsy baroque pop.
Key tracks:
Surf's Up
Sarah Vaughan
3/5
Cool inclusion, but a little random, isn't it? Love that is brings more jazz, particularly vocal jazz, to the list, but why this one in particular? Either way, good album.
The Smiths
5/5
Absolute classic album! Of course a lot of the political and social commentary is lost on me, not being British and all, but I think I get the gist of it. Either way, that context definitely is not needed to enjoy the music. These songs are the perfect ideal of indie pop, on the surface very airy and light and fun and catchy. On closer inspection, however, we get some slightly stranger elements, like Morrissey's not-always-quite-in-tune-vocals and biting and self-deprecating lyricism, the song structures that break from the regular pop formes, or the jangly guitars, which for some reason never became a fixture of mainstream rock music. The Smiths and Morrissey's finest hour.
Key tracks:
The Queen Is Dead
Cemetery Gates
Bigmouth Strikes Again
There Is a Light That Never Goes Out
Some Girls Are Bigger Than Others
Randy Newman
3/5
Nice record. I like the New Orleans(?) jazz touches here and there. These songs are appearently satirical, but honestly I didn't catch any of that other than a few moments here and there, but that's because I wasn't paying that much attention to the lyrics. I still enjoyed it, although I'm not sure we need two Randy Newman albums on this list, even if it's hard to decide which is the better one.
Key tracks:
Birmingham
Marie
Guilty
Louisiana 1927
Thin Lizzy
2/5
It's very strange listening to a live album of a band I hardly know anything about. I guess it was fine? Not really essential in my opinion.
Beatles
5/5
Amazing all the way through, incredibly varied, never gets boring, every song is great. It does lack the conceptual cohesion of Sgt. Pepper but I like the type of music genre tapestry they got going on here. A few of these songs can be seen as patient zero for pop music tropes that would become recurring in the decades ahead, like a pop song back with just strings, a rock & roll songs with a horn section, weird tape music excursions, you name it.
Key Tracks:
Taxman
Eleanor Rigby
Here, There and Everywhere
Yellow Submarine
Good Day Sunshine
For No One
Got to Get You Into My Life
Tomorrow Never Knows
Sonic Youth
4/5
This is the perfect Sonic Youth album. On earlier releases, they got too noisy at times and the songwriting was a bit lacking, while on later releases they get a bit too mainstream sounding, losing a bit of what made them special in the first place. Daydream Nation falls right in the middle and perfectly balances the noisy experimental rock tendencies of their early work and the more accessible song structures and riffs of their 90's work. Without a doubt their best.
Key tracks:
Teen Age Riot
Silver Rocket
Candle
Kissability
Ryan Adams
2/5
Ryan Adams has released a bunch of albums, all of which are pretty standard folk rock singer-songwriter stuff with some Americana/Country touches. Definitely not my thing. Also, looking at this artwork, it kinda looks like the cigarette is standing upright in the background rather than in Ryan's mouth. Trippy.
Key tracks:
Amy
Radiohead
4/5
You'd think this album is just a glorified collection of B-sides and outtakes from the Kid A sessions, however Amnesiac actually builds on and expands that album's sonic explorations. Way more varied in its sonic palette, but also lacking the distinct atmosphere that really made Kid A such a unique experience.
It seems the band really wanted Kid A's sound to be very especific and evoke very particular imagery, as such both the more accessible and more experimental cuts from the sessions ended up on this record instead. A great album, if a little disjointed, but charmingly so.
Key tracks:
Packt Like Sardines in a Crushd Tin Box
Pyramid Song
You and Whose Army?
I Might Be Wrong
Knives Out
Life in a Glasshouse
Prefab Sprout
4/5
I didn't thing much of this album when I first heard it, but oh how a grower it is. Very stylish and slick sophisti-pop that utilizes that ultra commercial mid-80's sound to great effect. It elicits a sense of nostalgia in me, even if I wasn't alive for the 80's. I don't know how big these guys were in their day, as I never hear about them outside of music nerd circles, where Paddy McAloon is a sort of an unsung icon. I should probably explore more of their work.
Key tracks:
Faron Young
Appetite
When Love Breaks Down
T. Rex
3/5
Pretty good, but not as good as the previous album Electric Warrior. I don't know much about T.Rex, they have always come across as very mysterious to be, but that is probably because with Marc Bolan's untimely death, their output stopped before the 70's were out.
Key tracks:
Metal Guru
Beck
5/5
Wholly original, it's almost like it's its own genre of music. Alternative Rock? Hip-Hop? Electronica? Lo-fi Indie? Experimental? All of these, and yet none of them. I can only assume it sounded like the future to audiences back in '96. It still sounds like the future now, but a kind of retro-future, the future envisioned in the 90s that never came to pass.
Of course, all of this would be meaningless if the songs weren't good. And they're great. Fun and catchy, odd and at times very silly, and throws a bunch of left-field ideas to the listener without it sounding forced and try-hard. Not taking itself too seriously is also a strength, but that was the Gen-X/Slacker ironic zeitgeist, and this album couldn't have come from any other cultural moment.
Key tracks:
Devil's Haircut
The New Pollution
Jack-Ass
Where It's At?
Cream
4/5
The best thing Eric Clapton has been involved in, in my opinion. Yes, it is the same-old bluesy psych-rock from the late-60's I'm never excited to see pop up in this generator. On this one, however, the songs are actually good and memorable, the playing the colorful, and whole thing is just more fun than average. Now, did we really need all those other similar-sounding records also on this list?
Key tracks:
Strange Brew
Sunshine of Your Love
Dance the Night Away
2/5
A bit of a random inclusion. Apart from the heavy brazilian influences all over the record, it doesn't really stand out from the 90's Electronica crowd. And it suffers from being over an hour long, which is common for these types of albums and makes them work better as background music for a faux-fancy restaurant than for active listening.
Justice
4/5
I remember when this album came out and the world was awestruck by the song and music video for "D.A.N.C.E.". Those t-shirts were indeed mesmerizing, but the song was too, with its distant vocals that sound like they were sampled from something else but I don't think they were. The whole album is a fun mix of retro disco and house sounds with the indie electronica sounds of the 00's. It's French House! And while Justice did not pioneer that style, they did pioneer being interrupted by Kanye West at an MTV awards show, two years before Taylor Swift.
Key tracks:
D.A.N.C.E.
DVNO
Stress
Funkadelic
2/5
I know racism is bad and all, but this type of Afrocentric Blaxploitation 'Resist!' aesthetic just comes across as incredibly corny to me. The politics are mostly alright and the music isn't that bad either, but the whole package just irks me.
Key tracks:
One Nation Under a Groove
Dr. John
3/5
This is some weird uncanny valley Blues Rock. It definitely sounds like swamp voodoo music. I don't know exactly how someone came up with this, but drugs must've been involved. I very much liked it. There's so much blues or blues-adjacent rock on this list, at least this one does something unique and memorable with it. But that typeface is soooo ugly!
Key tracks:
Gris-Gris Gumbo Ya Ya
Mama Roux
Van Morrison
1/5
Live albums work for me if they fall into one of two categories: Either its by an artist I very much like and whose work I am familiar with, or it presents a special live performance that's historically significant or approaches the material in an unique way. This seems to be neither of these, it comes across as just a regular Van Morrison show of the time. I would probably enjoy it more if was more familiar with the songs, but the only Van Morrison I've heard were the other two albums on this list, which I did like but not enough to make me a fan.
Neil Young & Crazy Horse
3/5
This is the earliest Neil Young album on the list and it's surprisingly heavy. I honestly did not know Young had dabbled in hard rock so early on, I've only known him as folk musician. Not one of my favorites of his, probably not essential, considering there are so many others on here.
I don't know much about Crazy Horse, other than that they are Young's recurrent backing band, but I do like their song "I Don't Want to Talk About It" from their self-titled record, released not long after this one.
Key tracks:
Cinnamon Girl
D'Angelo
2/5
I like the idea here more than the execution. Long, mostly slow, sex jams. While this must have been pretty novel in Soul at the time, I don't think it holds up too well. There just isn't enough happening in these songs, they mostly just plod along for 4-6 minutes.
Key tracks:
Brown Sugar
Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
2/5
I don't know about this one... They are all fine songwriters on their own, although I can't say am I big fan of any of them. This album, unlike so many others from the era, is still very highly regarded and frequently discussed in music circles today. For that reason alone, I may have to revisit it someday, but for some reason this type of music just fails to elicit any sort of response from me, it's simply kinda there.
Key tracks:
Our House
Grant Lee Buffalo
2/5
Alt-Country isn't really my thing, but I may like it more than regular country most of the time. Probably because of the indie influences? I don't think I ever hear about this album or artist outside the 1001 albums discussion, but I guess it's one of those curious underground inclusions.
Key tracks:
Fuzzy
The Hook
Paul McCartney and Wings
4/5
Very surprised by this album. Given that solo Beatles material historically hasn't had the same staying power of the band's legendary output (John Lennon notwithstanding), I wasn't exepcting to enjoy this McCartney release so much. There are so many great and timeless songs here, with both catchy hooks (most of them) and even some with progressive song structures (the title track).
Key tracks:
Band on the Run
Jet
Bluebird
Mrs. Vandebilt
Rocket From The Crypt
2/5
A punk rock album with a 90's alt-rock edge. Or is it a 90's alt-rock album with a punk edge? Either way, it's just ok. High energy, but sounds very of its time. Not bad but not something I would pick this up casually.
Key tracks:
On a Rope
Ball Lightning
Fela Kuti
4/5
This is the album that exposed the great Fela Kuti to western audiences, with Ginger Baker doing playing the role Paul Simon later played with Ladysmith Black Mombazo, or Peter Gabriel with Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. Sure, there is something that could be said about the racial politics of all this, but only a westerner could have succeeded at this at the time.
But how could anyone resist music this funky? Insane drumming here by both Baker and Tony Allen, and Kuti bring the utmost charisma with his talk-singing vocal style, like the best MC at a party we were all lucky to even get invited to. So, everybody say Thank You, Ginger!
Key tracks:
Ye Ye De Smell
Muddy Waters
3/5
It's blues. It's live. It serves as a historical document of an influential musician performing one of the foundational genres of modern popular music. It's a good performance. It's not something I'm into.
Key tracks:
Got My Mojo Working
The Undertones
2/5
It's not bad, but I think I got the point across by listening to one Undertones records. We didn't really need this second one.
Neneh Cherry
3/5
This album is actually quite unique for the time as it somewhat pioneered the Hip-Hop Soul genre that was relatively big in the early 90's, but apart from the big singles, it's just ok pop rap. However, I cannot write about Neneh Cherry without recommending her incredible 2014 record Blank Project, a combination of jazzy art pop and downtempo that honestly sounds unlike anything a was my Album of the Year that year. Go listen to that one, too.
Key tracks:
Buffalo Stance
Manchild
50 Cent
2/5
50 Cent always had the veneer of the hardened gangster, toughened by the streets, and he really has stories about that to tell. But make no mistake, this is pop music through and through. It may have been huge back in the 00's, but it surely hasn't aged that well.
Key tracks:
In da Club
P.I.M.P.
The Rolling Stones
3/5
This is one of the Stones' most iconic and best albums. Despite having listened to the band's entire discography, I am not well-versed in its history. And listening to the music, it doesn't inspire many thoughts for the write extensively about. As fas as early-70's rock goes, it's definitely above average.
Key tracks:
Brown Sugar
Sway
Wild Horses
Aimee Mann
3/5
I like Aimee Mann. She has always been there in my life, but never has a major presence. A good album here, a highlight single there, always understated in the background of my musical mind, but always a comforting presence. This, her first solo album, has several of these good songs. No life-affirming moments, but always comforting to return to.
Key tracks:
4th of July
Stupid Thing
I Know There's a Word
Sheryl Crow
3/5
A 90's singer-songwriter album with a rootsy edge. I like this. It's fun, it has good songwriting and performances. It's like listening to a very nice local band at a cozy bar (on a Tuesday night, I guess).
Key tracks:
Run, Baby, Run
Strong Enough
All I Wanna Do
Eagles
4/5
I really like this album cover. It gives off a weirdly nostalgic feel, even if I wasn't even born in the 70s nor was I ever in California. The music, despite being (ugh) the Eagles, is actually the best the band has ever made. Many great tunes here that, in the right conditions, capture the same feeling as the cover.
Key tracks:
Hotel California
New Kid in Town
Life in the Fast Lane
The Shamen
1/5
I didn't really like this one. It falls in the uncanny valley of electronic music history where it starting to move forward from that very characteristic early House sound and it still sounds too rudimentary to stand against more modern sounding releases, and not even that modern, just a couple of years.
Key tracks:
Move Any Mountain
Caetano Veloso
3/5
The blueprint of the entire Tropicália movement, I think? I mean, the opening track is what gave the movement its name. It is basically a brazilian take on the psychedelic sounds of the time with more complex harmonic progressions and biting political commentary. And while politics are a big part, they are not necessary to enjoy the music. It's pretty good.
Key tracks:
Tropicália
Brian Eno
4/5
One of Eno's most curious releases. An Art Rock album he made right as he was coming up with the concept of "ambient music". There are plenty of ambient moments here, intercepted by song that call back to his earlier, more glam-inspired works.
Key tracks:
Backwater
By This River
Spider and I
Alanis Morissette
4/5
The precursor to all the Pop/Rock female Singer-Songwriters of the late-90's and 00's. Angsty lyricism that characteristic of the mid-90's but from a female prespective. The guitar-heavy sound contrasted with the softer, more acoustic artists of the Lilith Fair circle. There are so many great songs here, no wonder this was huge back then.
Key tracks:
You Oughta Know
Hand in My Pocket
Head Over Feet
Ironic
Ali Farka Touré
2/5
Not really my thing. I guess it's a nice swan song for such a huge name in African music.
Flamin' Groovies
2/5
Mid-50's revivalism in the early 70's? Sounds kinda anachronistic. I don't understand the deal with this.
Ella Fitzgerald
5/5
Absolutely stellar album. Yes, it is really long, but it works more like an anthology than an art piece. Here we can hear Ella at the peak of her vocal powers performing some of the Gershwin brothers' greatest songs. George Gershwin's melodic and harmonic richness pair perfectly with Ira's witty lyrics and I can't think of another singer capable of pulling this off with such finesse and sophistication as Fitzgerald. And as if a three-hour album wasn't enough, around the same time, Ella recorded anthology albums of song from other great American composers. I'm strongly recommend her renditions of the Cole Porter and Irving Berlin songbooks. The Duke Ellington one it great too and was recorded with the man himself. Don't get intimidated by this album's runtime and just let it wash over you.
Key tracks:
Samson and Delilah
But Not for Me
Let's Call the Whole Thing Off
Nice Work If You Can Get It
The Man I Love
Someone to Watch Over Me
They All Laughed
A Foggy Day
They Can't Take That Away from Me
Fascinatin' Rhythm
Khaled
3/5
This album was surprisingly catchy. I was expecting something that sounded very regional and traditional, but it's actually a mixture of pop, chanson, and northern african music. Pretty good.
Key tracks:
Aâlach Tloumouni
El Harba Wine
C'est la Nuit
Black Sabbath
4/5
The first Metal album ever released. Everything about this is iconic to the nth degree: the atmosphere, the album art, Ozzy's vocals and lyrics, Iommi's guitar tone.
The tritone that opens the album is Metal's mission statement. Eerie and filled with occultist menace. It's hard to imagine how popular music, and rock music in particular, would sound like without this album's influence.
Key tracks:
Black Sabbath
The Wizard
N.I.B.
Throwing Muses
2/5
This is a just okay slab of 80's Indie Rock. For some reason, that early era of indie never really appealed to me, despite loving the genre's 00's run. I'd never heard of this band before but I guess they might have influenced something I enjoy? Who knows...
Simon & Garfunkel
3/5
Very ethereal sounding folk music. Angelic harmonizations. Somewhat odd song topics. This is also probably the duo's least accessible record, but that's not to say it doesn't mean there aren't memorable songs on here.
Key tracks:
Scarborough Fair/Canticle
Homeward Bound
7 O'Clock News/Silent Night
Johnny Cash
3/5
Not bad at all, but did we really need another live in a prison album from Johnny Cash on this list? And this one doesn't even have the memorable crowd of that record. Redundant.
Giant Sand
1/5
I don't really understand why this record was chosen over other, more influential, Americana-tinged Slowcore records, such as anything by the Red House Painters. Very same-y and too long for it's own good and not really relevant from a historical prespective. Baffling pick.
2/5
This probably needs more listens, as there are a lot of layers to unpack here. The songs are long and complex, but melodically they don't really stand out too much. Very cool mix of genres, though.
The Mothers Of Invention
3/5
Pretty funny. I love how the short track format of this album contrasts with Sgt. Pepper's tracks flowing into each other, it gives this album a fractured feel. Zappa shows off how many music genres we can excel at. It makes me wonder, had he lived past the early 90's, how crazier and more ecletic would his albums sound.
Key tracks:
What's the Ugliest Part of Your Body
Let's Make the Water Turn Black
4/5
Oasis seem to get a lot of (undeserved) hate from Serious Music Listeners™. In reality, however, they made a lot of really great songs. Layers upon layers of guitars that create a massive wall of sound, and they play it loud as hell too. This is their best album, in my opinion, with plenty of goods to chew on and a few more to be discovered upon further listens. I don't get the point of the Swamp Song excerpts, though.
Key track:
Roll With It
Wonderwall
Don't Look Back in Anger
Some Might Say
Champagne Supernova
David Ackles
4/5
Scott Walker-esque baroque pop with a tinge of Americana. Very fancy and sophisticated. It is also very Broadway. It really like it. Great vocals.
Key tracks:
American Gothic
Midnight Carousel
Blondie
4/5
Amazing Pop Rock album. This set the bar to every mainstream rock act that followed in the 80's, although not many of them were able to match its greatness. Filled to the brim with catchy hooks and crunchy guitar leads, with a ridiculous charismatic frontwoman in Debbie Harry, and an undeniable sense of style.
Key tracks:
Hanging On the Telephone
One Way or Another
Sunday Girl
Heart of Glass
Massive Attack
4/5
Overlooked classic. It may not be as groundbreaking as the group's debut but it certainly is an essential listen. Here, Massive Attack expand their sound with more guests, more strings, and overall a more memorable batch of songs, even if the highlights aren't as incredible as they were on the previous album. This record album marks the earliest notable credit of one my favorite lesser known artists Craig Armstrong, who co-wrote and plays piano on "Weather Storm" and "Heat Miser", and arranged the strings on "Sly".
A strange thing I have to point out is: Why this was chosen for the book over their magnum opus follow up Mezzanine? Not complaining, I think both deserve a spot.
Key tracks:
Protection
Karmacoma
Three
Sly
Pet Shop Boys
3/5
For a Pet Shop Boys album, this was a bit downbeat. While the lyrics were a witty as ever, I didn't find the hooks to be as catchy as ever. Not bad, but I didn't enjoy this as much as I did the group's previous three albums (especially Introspective, which is conspicuously absent from this list).
Key tracks:
Being Boring
Thelonious Monk
4/5
This classic jazz album falls neatly into what is known as Hard Bop, which I believe is a more technical take on Bebop, with longer and more complex solos. Monk is one of the greats of jazz piano and this is his most famous record, and for good reason. Great tunes and peerless musicianship. This list could have used even more jazz classics such as this one.
Key tracks:
Brilliant Corners
Bemsha Swing
Jane's Addiction
4/5
This is weirdly unique rock album. It's a very psychedelic take on Alternarive Rock, or a heavier take on Psychedelic Rock. Songs with drawn-out structures and strange, extraneous sounds mixed in. The shouty vocals are an acquired taste, but I think they work with the music. Very cool, and impressive for something like this to have been released in the rock desert known as 1990-early 1991.
Key tracks:
Stop!
Been Caught Stealing
Of Course
Billie Holiday
3/5
Very difficult album to talk about. Holiday is obviously one the best and most unique jazz singers of all time, and this album is definitely not her finest hour vocally, but that's not why it's here. This is a document of an artist who has been completely wrecked by life and still managed to gather the strength for one last set of songs. This all make the whole thing a whole lot more poignant, but not any less depressing.
Key tracks:
I'm a Fool to Want You
Elvis Costello
3/5
Elvis Costello's debut is not that dissimilar from his next two album (at least), but it does sound more a bit on the younger and inexperienced side. The quality, however, is already the same as it would be throughout the entire career (or at least the albums I have heard). And no, I'm not really a big Costello fan.
Key tracks:
Alison
Bruce Springsteen
4/5
Very good album by The Boss. At times it sounds like Born to Run 2, other times it sounds more intimate. I do love the huge sounding guitar/keys combinations, and no other Hearland Rock act does it like Springsteen.
Key tracks:
Badlands
Prove It All Night
Darkness on the Edge of Town
OutKast
3/5
One of the better Hip-Hop records on the list, but that's probably OutKast are just far and beyond pretty much any other act in the genre. The beats are creative and ecletic, the raps are delivered with the utmost charisma by both Big Boi and André 3000, cool guest features, and good hooks. However, this album is still plagued by 90's-00's hip-hop album nonsense, such as being too long and peppered with very dated and incredibly cringe skits.
Key tracks:
Ms. Jackson
B.O.B.
Roxy Music
3/5
This album is pretty strange. The songs are fractured, the vocals are strained, even the artwork has some eerie vibe to it. That being said, it all comes together surprisingly well and, on some days, I'd call it my favorite Roxy Music release.
Key tracks:
The Thrill of It All
All I Want Is You
Casanova
The Smashing Pumpkins
5/5
Phenomenal, the Smashing Pumpkins greatest achievement. Not many bands can pull off over two hours of music and keep it high quality and interesting the entire time, but Billy and the gang sure did. Impressive how they don't really rehash their ideas and deliver a very ecletic set of songs ranging from angry metallic bangers, to dreamy excursions, to long prog epics, to whatever twee thing "We Only Come Out at Night" is. And all of it is at the very least pretty good, and at most some of the best songs ever written.
Key tracks:
Tonight, Tonight
Jellybelly
Zero
Bullet With Butterfly Wings
To Forgive
Muzzle
Bodies
Thirty-Three
1979
Beautiful
Beatles
4/5
The best of the Beatles' early records, the first film soundtrack, and also their first with only original compositions. This was peak Beatlemania and obviously I wasn't alive for that, even my parents were small children when this album came out. The fact that it still sounds so good is a testament of how well it stood the test of time. I have never seen the movie, maybe one day. Charmingly 60's in the best way possible.
Key tracks:
A Hard Day's Night
I Should Have Known Better
If I Fell
And I Love Her
Can't Buy Me Love
OutKast
4/5
This is my favorite OutKast album. I know that's not kosher to say in the hip-hop world, but the concept is so creative and so well executed that I can't help it. Big Boi's Speakerboxxx is a more chart-ready evolution of the group's past work with hooks galore and great production. On the other hand, André 3000's The Love Below sees the artist go all out in every direction, indulging in all his psychedelic Prince fantasies. It may be more uneven than Speakerboxxx, but it's highs are way higher. So much to love here.
Key tracks:
GhettoMusick
The Way You Move
Prototype
Hey Ya!
Roses
Bruce Springsteen
5/5
Seminal album. Life-affirming, epic, euphoric, emotional, pretty everything all in one place. It's actually surprising how much this grew on me ever since I first heard it. The every-so-slight call back to 60's pop in the production is just... *chef's kiss*
Key tracks:
Thunder Road
Night
Backstreets
Born to Run
Wu-Tang Clan
3/5
One of the most acclaimed and classic hip-hop albums of all time. It's actually not that bad. There are some very good songs here, but the samurai movie samples peppers throughout are SO. DAMN. CHEESY!
Key tracks:
C.R.E.A.M.
Protect Ya Neck
CHVRCHES
4/5
Out of all the modern synthpop bands that appeared in the 2010's, CHVRCHES are definitely one of the best. They may not evoke the 80's as much as, say, M83, but I think that makes them sound fresh and forward thinking. This is a collection of tightly-written, catchy pop tunes with detailed production and a charismatic vocalist in Lauren Mayberry. I don't understand why they would have one of the other guys in the band sing lead on a couple of songs, those are definitely the lowlights here. Ignoring the cringe pop feminism of Mayberry's public personal is not difficult, as these songs don't seem to tackle any social issues. I would also recommend the band 2015 follow-up Every Open Eye, which might be even better than this debut.
Key tracks:
The Mother We Share
We Sink
Tether
Recover
Todd Rundgren
3/5
Certainly unique among the myriad of 70's rock record from the book. A sprawling, weird, and ecletic piece. Unfortunately, not much of it stuck with me, although I'll probably give it another listen someday.
Key tracks:
International Feel
Louis Prima
3/5
Very good swing record. Not anything groundbreaking or anything. I guess they wanted to include some blues-y swing record that sounds like the missing link between the jazz and rock eras
Key tracks:
Medley: Just a Gigolo/I Ain't Got Nobody
Jump, Jive, an' Wail
Skunk Anansie
3/5
Skunk Anansie are an often overlooked band in the British 90's rock canon. This is a nice Alt Rock record, very airy and accessible, although I don't know why it landed on this list, it doesn't do anything all that different. Skin's vocals are quite refreshing for the genre though and she released a couple of very good solo albums in the 00's, that was when first heard of her and this band.
Key tracks:
Charlie Big Potato
Tracy's Flaw
Lately
You'll Follow Me Down
Christina Aguilera
2/5
The Former Teen Star Sexual Awakening Album. A phenomenon seen time and time again. Aguilera's Stripped is the prime example of the genre. An ugly, overly long exercise in self-indulgence that sees the singer attempt to free herself from her former teeny-bopper expectations and shoot in every direction to announce to the world she is a grown ass woman now. There are some excellent songs here, but a lot more that are just plain bad.
This phenomenon carries on to this day, this was just an example from the 00's, together with Britney Spears's Britney album from 2001. In the 2010's we had Miley Cyrus, and in the 2020's we have... Jojo Siwa... Ugh
Key tracks:
Fighter
Beautiful
Dirrty
The Voice Within
Bad Company
2/5
Pretty unremarkable Hard Rock with - you guessed it - a blues-y edge! Not terrible, but nothing to write home about either.
Key tracks:
Can't Get Enough
Rush
4/5
Possible the best album of the tail-end era of Progressive Rock. The title track is the main event here. A full-on space opera with an easy to follow narrative and memorable recurring motifs, that make the 20-minute track go by in a flash. The rest of the album isn't bad either, but of course isn't the reason the album is on this list.
Key tracks:
2112
A Passage to Bangkok
Something for Nothing
The Human League
3/5
Amazing synth work, very catchy tunes, a true blueprint of what the early-80's were all about. And then everything is overshadowed by the closing track.
Key tracks:
Open Your Heart
The Sound of the Crowd
Don't You Want Me
Van Halen
3/5
For an album so influential that pretty much changed the way people approach guitar playing, it's very light a fun. The guitar is obviously the standout here, but the song stay consistently good, in their silly ultra-macho way.
Key tracks:
Runnin' With the Devil
Eruption
Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love
Frank Sinatra
3/5
The other half of Sinatra's coin, the big show-y swing numbers. A welcome change of pace from his more downbeat and reflective albums, this is like the party music of the era. I do marvel at how long swing dominated mainstream culture, it started in the 20's (!) and lasted pretty much until it was taken over by rock & rock in the latter half of the 50's. Not much to say about the album, great song selection, some iconic Sinatra tracks here, very fun and entertaining, and obviously immaculately performed.
Key tracks:
You Make Me Feel So Young
I've Got You Under My Skin
5/5
Huge sounding production, widescreen vocals, emotional lyrics, a sound so big, it truly seems like you're listening to the Great American Desert, and made by an Irish band. This is definitely U2's best moment of their early years, and it's not even close. The first three tracks are possible the greatest three-track run on any album. The album may not reach those heights again, but there's plenty of great moments throughout the rest of its runtime.
U2 get a lot of hate these days. I get Bono can be insufferable at times, but that never really bothered me, he always seems well-intentioned. But in reality, their last couple of record absolutely suck. Maybe they should ask Brian Eno back to produce because his work here is just phenomenal.
Key tracks:
Where the Streets Have No Name
I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For
With or Without You
Bullet the Blue Sky
Red Hill Mining Town
One Tree Hill
The Flaming Lips
4/5
This is the album where The Flaming Lips finally stopped messing around and became the psych-pop kings their were always destined to be. This was also a new sound for the new millennium. Psychedelic and very detailed, but with big hooks and radio-friendly song structures paired with strange, surreal lyricism. Many other acts either followed this path or came into existence in the wake of this record. Huge change for the band, considering their previous album was made up of 4 discs, all supposed to be played simultaneously.
Key tracks:
Race for the Prize
A Spoonful Weighs a Ton
Waitin' for a Superman
Sinead O'Connor
4/5
Beautiful album. Very raw and emotional. Sinéad O'Connor was one of the first of the wave of female singer-songwriters of the 90's, but at the same time never really sounded anything like her peers, probably because the whole Lilith Fair sound most of them inhabited was a North American-centric scene.
The main event here is obviously the Prince song "Nothing Compares 2 U", but there's lots to discover on the rest of the album. For example, there's a trip-hop(!) beat on "I Am Stretched on Your Grave", predating the first Massive Attack album by one year. Not the only thing she was ahead of the times on.
Key tracks:
Feel So Different
I Am Stretched on Your Grave
Three Babies
Nothing Compares 2 U
The Last Day of Our Acquaintance
Billy Joel
3/5
Billy Joel is nice. Everything here sounds nice. The melodies are nice, the piano playing is nice, the vocals are nice, the lyrics are nice. Something is missing, though, to make it more than just 'nice'.
Key tracks:
Movin' Out (Anthony's Song)
Just the Way You Are
Only the Good Die Young
Brian Eno
1/5
I love both David Byrne and Brian Eno, so the prospect of a collaborative album seems exciting, and judging by their previous work together on three amazing Talking Heads albums, this one was bound to be great too, right? WRONG! For this, and Byrne's first non-Talking Heads album, they decided to put together the a collection of aimless, vaguely African-inspired tracks. It's all style over substance, and style isn't even that good.
The Fall
2/5
The Fall are one of the most iconic underground bands of the 80's, hugely influential and yada yada yada. I was never a big fan. maybe they require some deeper listening. Four of their albums are here, so there will more chances.
Key tracks:
Barmy
Garbage
4/5
Really refreshing mix of Alternative Rock and Electronic music that stands out in the mostly dreary (and male-dominated) 90's Alt-Rock landscape. Butch Vig wanted to make something different from the Grunge records he was known to produce and, together with such a charismatic frontwoman as Shirley Manson, he more than succeeded. I may even like their second album, Version 2.0, from 1998, even more.
Key tracks:
Supervixen
Only Happy When It Rains
Stupid Girl
Milk
Joy Division
4/5
Both Joy Division albums have had immeasurable influence on the indie music scene, which was especially felt in the 00's. This record is the colder and more depressive of the two, and that's saying something as the other one was also incredibly cold and depressive. Obviously, it is impossible to listen to it without the knowledge that frontman Ian Curtis took his own life just before its release, and that event looms over strong over these songs. In the wake of this tragedy, the rest of the band, like a phoenix, went on to morph into New Order, arguably the better band.
Key tracks:
Atrocity Exhibition
Isolation
A Means to an End
The Magnetic Fields
5/5
There are times, many times, when an artist has an idea for a concept before writing any of the music, and most of those times, the results are disasterous. This, however, is not one of those times. Despite the silly yet ambitious idea, Stephin Merrit and co. are able to come up with consistently fun, clever, and creative songs to fill the entire 69 slots. Of course, this results in a very lengthy listen, but I feel this is meant to work as an encyclopedia of Indie Pop. Also not every one of the 69 tracks is a 'song'. Between all the Twee Pop, Synthpop, and Folk Pop numbers there is stuff like the cheerleader chant of "Washington D.C.", the discordant Jazz of "Love Is Like Jazz", and whatever "Experimental Music Love" is supposed to be. Starting on this album, The Magnetic Field began specializing in out there meta concepts like this, including and album which every song titled starts with 'i', or another in which Merrit wrote a song representing every years of his life (50 at the time). Great album you can return to time and time again and always find new favorites.
Key tracks:
I Don't Believe in the Sun
All My Little Words
A Chicken With Its Head Cut Off
I Don't Want to Get Over You
The Luckiest Guy on the Lower East Side
I Think I Need a New Heart
The Book of Love
The One You Really Love
Time Enough for Rocking When We're Old
Grand Canyon
You're My Only Home
Papa Was a Rodeo
Underwear
It's a Crime
Busby Berkeley Dreams
The Death of Ferdinand de Saussure
The Night You Can't Remember
Bert Jansch
3/5
Kind of a random inclusion, but not a terrible one. It sounds like Mr. Jansch here was feeling nostalgic in the mid-60's for a time long past, the pre-Jazz era of music, dominated by folksongs. I guess nostalgia cycles have been around as long as humanity itself, uh?
Key tracks:
Needle of Death
Creedence Clearwater Revival
2/5
Creedence Clearwater Revival are one of the most classic, all-American bands ever. They definitely do not sound like any of their blues-y peers from either side of the Atlantic. They are also, however, incredibly boring. Clearly an American specific sound, because it doesn't translate over here at all.
Key tracks:
Green River
Bad Moon Rising
Soul II Soul
2/5
Nellee Hooper's production style defined the sound of 90's more mainstream styles of electronica, like downtempo and trip-hop. This album, however, despite probably being what introduced Hooper to the wider music world, barely gives indication of any of that influence. While Hooper's work with Massive Attack or Björk still sounds fresh, albeit a bit of its time, this album sounds incredibly dated, and not in charming way. I'm sure the reason this sounds so basic it because a lot of artists were influenced by it, but I don't really see the reason to come back here.
Key tracks:
Fairplay
Violent Femmes
4/5
Very unique and modern sounding for 1983. I swear, this sounds like something out of the early 90's. Manages to keep a high energy while being firmly in the "folk" territory. The boy-who-wants-girl-but-can't-get-any lyrics are like some proto-Weezer stuff, but with a bit more finesse, thankfully.
Key tracks:
Blister in the Sun
Kiss Off
Gone Daddy Gone
Oasis
4/5
Very dense a really noisy record. As if The Beatles took even more drugs or something. Obviously not as great as The Beatles, but the melodies are written in a very beatlesque way. This album really kicked off the whole Britpop movement, even if it wasn't the first album of the genre. I like it, I don't love it, I hardly ever return to it, but always enjoy it a lot when I do.
Key tracks:
Rock 'n' Roll Star
Shakemaker
Live Forever
Supersonic
Cigarettes & Alcohol
New Order
4/5
One of New Order's best. Very 80's, but in a good way. It is actually surprising how well this sounds compared to other synthpop of the time, probably the more indie feel gives it a somewhat more current appeal. The vocals are obviously trash a lot of the time, especially in the second half. But that doesn't really detract from how good these songs are, and how euphoric they can sound.
Key tracks:
Love Vigilantes
The Perfect Kiss
Sub-Culture
Fiona Apple
4/5
Fiona Apple's debut showcases an artist mature way beyond her 19 years of age. The jazzier stylings of these tracks make the record stand out in the sea of 90's female singer-songwriters, even Apple's closest-sound peer, Tori Amos, didn't foray into jazz this much, opting for a more Alt Rock approach. We can already hear some of Apple's signature musical elements here, such as her confrontational lyricism or her great use of the lower keys of the piano, which my brother once described as "villain music". Later albums would refine her aesthethic and add more and more strange instrumentation and sounds to the music, but the essence is already here.
Key tracks:
Sleep to Dream
Sullen Girl
Shadowboxer
Criminal
The First Taste
Never Is a Promise
Primal Scream
4/5
Phenomenal album! Just as vibrant as the cover art might suggest. Here, Primal Scream continue their 60's Rolling Stones worship, but instead of emulating their more blues work, they pick their masterful song "Sympathy for the Devil" as a blueprint. This, combined with the growing Baggy/Madchester scene of the time, results in a trippy, psychedelic journey of an album.
Key tracks:
Movin' On Up
Slip Inside This House
Higher than the Sun
Come Together
Loaded
Penguin Cafe Orchestra
5/5
This was one of the my best discoveries when first going through the book, the artwork and even the blurb that accompanied the album were so evocative that I kinda guessed what the album was going to sound like before listening to it. And the backstory of the band is intriguing as well, Simon Jeffes had a vision of a Penguin Cafe after eating some bad fish in France?? That has to be one of the funniest origin stories in all of music.
The music is obviously great. Hard to describe pastoral chamber folk with some modern classical influences. Even within the band's output, this debut album is unique. For instance, it includes more guitar than their following albums and as well as their only songs with vocals. I completely understand why this was chosen to be on the book, but don't miss out on their four other albums, or even the "sequel" band by Jeffes' son Arthur simply called Penguin Cafe, who have been making great records for over a decade now.
Key tracks:
Penguin Cafe Single
In a Sydney Motel
Giles Farnaby's Dream
Sound of Someone You Love Who's Going Away and It Doesn't Matter
Hugebaby
New York Dolls
2/5
Very influential to the oncoming Punk scene. But I'm not really into this. It's too rough and amateurish sounding, and the music doens't really match the band's exhuberant visual aesthethics.
Key tracks:
Personality Crisis
Astrud Gilberto
3/5
Very nice, pleasant, classy, sophisticated, soft, summery, pretty, relaxing. Nothing more, nothing less.
Key tracks:
Stay
Michael Jackson
5/5
Very lean and straight to the point pop album. Delivers hit after hit without wasting the listener's time, but at the same time, allows its songs to breathe. Surprisingly diverse sound, with funk, rock, disco, and R&B all coexisting with each other in a coherent manner. The slower numbers don't as much for me as the rest, but this is masterclass in pop craftsmanship regardless. No wonder it's the best-selling album of all time, likely never to be surpassed.
Key tracks:
Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'
Thriller
Beat It
Billie Jean
P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)
4/5
Amazing album, and completely unexpected given XTC are more well-known as a New Wave band. I really their use of strings or synth-strings here. Makes the whole thing feel like a strange place you stumbled upon without really knowing how. And on top of all this, the songs are great, with memorable melodies and quirky lyrics. I know there is an Apple Venus Volume 2, but I believe it's more in their regular rock style, though.
Key tracks:
River of Orchids
I'd Like That
Easter Theatre
Greenman
Dexys Midnight Runners
1/5
I could stand two Dexys albums on the list, they were both pretty good. But this third one just doesn't belong here at all, it was a total slog to get through. You can tell they were going for a bit artistic statement here, but just fall flat on their faces by not having a single memorable melody or musical idea. Maybe that was the idea, maybe they wanted to move away from the accessibility of their previous work. Even if that's the case, it should have been way more interesting than this grey blob.
John Lennon
4/5
Not a bad solo debut from John, there are several famous songs here, and even the deep cuts are pretty neat. I do, however, prefer the Yoko Ono album of similar title and artwork that was released on the same day. That one is great, but I understand I would not be for everyone.
Key tracks:
Mother
Working Class Hero
Isolation
Love
Fela Kuti
4/5
Extremely funky and infectious. Sounds like a very fun jam session of expert musicians, but it is actually a thoroughly composed piece that moves and evolves very gradually. This album got me into Fela Kuti's music and at this point I may prefer his early record Roforofo Fight for the sheer scope alone, but this is definitely one of his best as well. There are strong political overtones here too, but they understanding the context isn't really necessary to enjoy the music.
Key track:
Zombie
Cornershop
4/5
Very surprising album. I really liked the wacky genre fusions going on here. The album-is-a-radio-broadcast-concept has been done before and after, but it doesn't matter. This era of music, the late-90's, produced many stuff like this. Pan-genre, psychedelic, futuristic, dance-y, colourful, fun. And all of it still sounds great.
Key tracks:
Brimful of Asha
We're in Your Corner
The xx
3/5
I really like the xx, but I don't think we needed a second album of theirs in this book. Actually, we hardly needed a second album from them at all. The band truly arrived fully-formed with their eponymous debut in 2009 and both their subsquent albums failed to live up to that standard or expand on its sound in a satisfying way.
I See You is the better of the two. It has a slight UK Garage sound brought in from Jaime xx's solo work. But even if some songs are quite good, I can't help but feel that I would rather be listening to their debut again instead.
Key tracks:
Say Something Loving
On Hold
Brian Wilson
2/5
Wishful Thinking - The Album.
This isn't an album, and this is not what the editors really wanted to include in the book. This is an idea of an album, a hypothetical release that never happened. A fabled art work that forever lives in all our collective memories as the masterpiece that never was. And when listening to the actual album at hands, our minds distort it and turn it into the ideal no one ever got back in 1967. Just remember, we did not get it in 2004 either.
Key tracks:
Heroes and Villains
Good Vibrations
Tracy Chapman
3/5
Very good singer-songwriter album to close out the 80s and usher in the 90s, a decade full of great female singer-songwriters. Chapman does stand out from the crowd with her deep, soulful voice and politically charged lyrics, while her peers would go for more introspective and personal themes. Still, Chapman is never brought up in the singer-songwriter conversation and I honestly don't know any of her albums besides this one. Maybe I should check them out sometime.
Key tracks:
Fast Car
Deee-Lite
3/5
Dance, dance, dance! This is a very charmingly dated early-90's house pop album. Besides the huge hit "Groove Is in the Heart" there's a couple of pretty good songs, but the whole thing isn't really anything to write home about. Still, it's a great time while it's on. I wonder what happened to these guys.
Key tracks:
Good Beat
World Clique
Groove Is in the Heart
Faith No More
4/5
Despite being the band's third album, this may as well be their debut. Anyone hardly remembers Faith No More's pre-Mike Patton days. Patton really turned Faith No More into an incredibly influential act, fusing the emergent Alternative sound with Metal and even rapping. This, of course, lead to many terrible bands that followed, trying to emulate this genre fusion, but without FNM's sophistication. And while those bands are pretty indistinguishable from what happens in this record, the band showed exactly how far ahead their peer they were with their next album, the excellent Angel Dust, from 1992. Patton also hit it big with his former high-school(!) band Mr. Bungle, who release the most daring and out there music ever out out by a major label.
Key tracks:
From Out of Nowhere
Epic
Big Black
4/5
One of the most creative 80's rock albums out there. Wild idea after wild idea. Very dark and noisy, but at the same time they through fun and colorful ideas at the listener, like the main riff on "Passing Complexion". You never really know if the band is taking themselves too seriously or taking the piss, but you love it anyway. And with a cover art as deliciously ridiculous as that, how could you not? Steve Albini went on to become one the main architects of the sound of the 90's (and also a major competitive Poker player).
Key tracks:
Jordan, Minnesota
Passing Complexion
Kerosene
Meat Puppets
3/5
Let's face it. Practically no one gave a damn about the Meat Puppets until Kurt Cobain named them one of this favorite bands (and this one of his favorite album), and Nirvana covered 3 songs from this album on their iconic MTV Unplugged set. Not to say this band didn't deserve to be rescued from obscurity. Listening to this album, they most certainly did. Here we have a very good slab of 80's indie with a folky bend and a psychedelic twist, something that was pretty much absent during that decade.
Key tracks:
Plateau
Lake of Fire
The Afghan Whigs
2/5
I don't see what all the fuss is about. It just sounds like regular 90's Alternative Rock with a slight Indie edge. Not bad, but not anything special either.
Key tracks:
Debonair
The Who
4/5
Really great live album. I'm not sure I really needed to hear this before I died, but I'm glad I did. It presents The Who in the transitional period between their earlier, Mod type work, and their later, more conceptual material. Interesting to hear early singles like "Magic Bus" or "My Generation" expanded into proggy jams. Cool stuff.
Key tracks:
Substitute
Magic Bus
Paul Revere & The Raiders
2/5
This is one of those albums from the time when record labels would sign just about anyone with the audacity to pick up a guitar. Yes, Paul, you made this record, but after adjusting for musical deflation it doesn't mean much, does it?
Key tracks:
All I Really Need Is You
Dexys Midnight Runners
4/5
Far and away Dexys' best. The best balance of rock, new wave, and Celtic traditional sounds. A couple of big hit, and also good deep cuts. I'm not surprised the band was just a one hit wonder in America, their sound is too specific and their ethos too european. Even for me, an european, their sound is maybe too British, and on other records that can definitely be an issue, but I quite like this one. Rowland's voice remains a bit much at times, but that's ok.
Key tracks:
The Celtic Soul Brothers
Let's Make This Precious
Old
Come On Eileen
Stereolab
5/5
Ah, Stereolab. One my very best discoveries through the book. Instantly became one of my favorite bands with their mix of 90's Indie, 70's Krautrock, 60's Space Age Pop, Exotica, French music, and indietronica. Truly original, even imitators fail to capture what makes the Groop special.
Emperor Tomato Ketchup may be my favorite of theirs and also a great introduction to them, as it falls right between their more psychedelic and noisier early work and their more electronic and lounge-ier later work. This includes some of their best track, such as the pretty chamber pop of "Cybele's Reverie" or the Krautrock masterclass "Metronomic Underground".
For Stereolab, vocals are just another instrument. Reaping the same phrases over the course of an entire song is not unusual for them, but even then they managed to make it sound fresh by introducing different elements throughout. The listener is kept engaged and entranced in the hypnotic effect this creates. I could take or leave the Marxist-Leninist lyrics, though.
Although this album has historically been seen as the band's peak, in recent years it's its follow up, the also excellent Dots and Loops, that has been capturing the imagination of a whole new generation of listeners, which is great. I would really recommend the Groop's entire ouvre to someone who enjoys this one, and even their non-album work, which contains a lot of their best songs. Luckily, the myriad of loose singles and EPs have mostly been collected in the Switched On series of records and that gives these otherwise obscure tracks more accessibility.
I do welcome and encourage everyone to take a plunge in the Stereolab world, there's nothing like it out there.
Key tracks:
Metronomic Underground
Cybele's Reverie
Percolator
Les Yper Sound
OLV 26
The Noise of Carpet
Emperor Tomato Ketchup
Bruce Springsteen
1/5
I've liking Springsteen more and more in recent years, pretty much all his albums included here are great. Except, that is, this one. Really did not need to be included here. I doesn't have any enduring Springsteen classic songs, it's not stylistically daring or groundbreaking. It's exactly what you'd expect from a piece of post-9/11 kitsch. I'm sure it sounded poignant in 2002 so close to the attacks, but now in 2025 it just sounds drab.
Big Star
2/5
Much like Big Star's debut (also on this list), I don't get anything out of this record. It just comes across as run of the mill Pop Rock to me. Maybe it's so influential that everything now that sounds like this comes from it, but I'm not sure that's true.
Key tracks:
Blue Moon
Steely Dan
2/5
At this point, I am resigned to the fact that I will never 'get' what the deal with Steely Dan is. They just sound like a slightly jazzier version of the average 70's rock band. It's not like their songs are that original or complex. It's not terrible, but... really?
Key tracks:
Bodhisattva
Mike Ladd
1/5
Never heard about this artist before the book, but it's rap so maybe it's because I just don't inhabit those circles. However, after a quick search, it seems this album and artist are only ever discussed in the context of the 1001 albums book. This type of artsy hip-hop can either be very cool and engaging and result in the best records the genre has to offer, or it can be aimless and a slog to get through. This one is the latter. Such a random inclusion.
Willie Nelson
3/5
Not bad at all! Country doesn't always translate very well outside the US, so usually it goes over my head. But this is an album that is put together with a lot o thought and intention. Even if a lot of these songs are covers of old tunes, they are arranged in such a way that the whole thing flows like a narrative concept album.
Key tracks:
Time of the Preacher
Peter Tosh
1/5
Oh good, another Reggae album... At there aren't that many in the book. But really we only needed one of them, since they all sound the same. This one is so on the nose with the subject matter it got my eyes rolling throughout the entire time.
This got me thinking. I know a few stoners and none of them listen to Reggae. Was this something that stayed in the 70's and 80's?
Faust
4/5
Very interesting album. Not as experimental as the band's previous efforts, but that's for the better. It's still pretty out there but is able to grab the listener by having some more familiar rock elements. Prime 70s German stuff.
Key tracks:
Krautrock
The Sad Skinhead
Jennifer
Kanye West
4/5
Ever so controversial, Kanye West decided in 2010 to just say fuck it and go all out on one of the most over the top and maximalist statements in all of hip-hop. With My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy rap music entered its prog rock era, but it is no wonder there aren't many more examples of albums that sound like this. An album of such grand scale and ambition isn't something easy to replicate, so for the most part, other rappers didn't even try.
I remember very clearly the hype cycle around this album. West had already defied everyone's expectations with his 2008 record 808s & Heartbreaks and now he was make another left turn by... releasing a whole short film? Yes, there was a short film titled "Runaway" which is filled with all sort of striking imagery, terrible acting and script, but also showcasing a handfull of tracks from the album, notably the 9 minute centerpiece the film is named after.
There's so much going on here: the King Crimson sample on "POWER", a Chris Rock skit, an Aphex Twin sample (both on "Blame Game"), a Black Sabbath musical reference on "Hell of a Life", Bon Iver doing his whole "lost in the woods" thing for the third(!) time on "Lost in the World", Nicki Minaj's career-best and star-turning verse on "Monster", a small army of guests on "All of the Lights", you name it and it's probably here.
For a moment there, I almost got into hip-hop and R&B and this album was one of the big reasons why. That didn't quite last, though, but I still really like those few releases that got me there.
Key tracks:
Dark Fantasy
POWER
All of the Lights
Monster
Runaway
Lost in the World
Brian Eno
3/5
Eno's first solo album does not have any indication of the groundbreaking artist he would become just a few short years later. This is a glam rock album through and through. Granted, it is a bit on the artsier side of glam rock, and I supposed it is what Roxy Music would have sounded like if Eno had wond the creative battle against Bryan Ferry.
Key tracks:
Needles in the Camel's Eye
Heaven 17
3/5
Pretty standard early 80's synthpop and new wave. Not much to say about it, there seem to be a lot of these on here. It is quite funky, though.
Key tracks:
(We Don't Need This) Fascist Groove Thang
Play to Win
Jazmine Sullivan
1/5
No, no, no, no, no way, absolutely not, no, not even once, no, no, never, no, no, no, ho, no, no, no, one millions times no.
The Cure
4/5
Dark, gloomy, utterly depressing, like a psychedelic fever dream, very murky as if you're trying make out shapes in the dark, instills a feeling of hopelessness, evokative and immersive. Cold, very cold, freezing even. Feels like a shadow is constantly hovering over you while you listen to it, an incessant impending doom.
But why is it called that?
Key tracks:
One Hundred Years
A Strange Day
Bob Dylan
3/5
This is probably one of Dylan's most accessible and poppy albums. Many songs here achieved classic status, and for good reason. Plenty of memorable refrains and lyrics, there are even memorable melodies too, never Dylan's strongest suit. Of course, his voice continues to be an acquired taste and it does get tiring for long stretches of time.
Key tracks:
Subterranean Homesick Blues
Maggie's Farm
Love Minus Zero/No Limit
Mr. Tambourine Man
The Gun Club
3/5
Not really one of the most notable early-80s post-punk bands, but they have their cult follow. Like The Cramps, The Gun Club specialized in the more kitschy psycho Billy subgenre. And while not a bad album at all, I really miss the campy fun of that band.
Key tracks:
Sex Beat
Quicksilver Messenger Service
1/5
Initially I thought this sounded awful, terribly recorded. Then I realized this is a live album, which doesn't make it sound any better, but explains why it sounds like that. So, the whole first side is just them jamming around a Bo Diddly tune and then play a handful of other songs on the second. I'm sorry, I'm just too sober to engage in any of this. What a mess.
The Prodigy
3/5
Hard-hitting music. Makes you feel so pumped, you believe you can do anything (but in a violent way). Better than their debut, but not as good as the follow-up.
Key tracks:
Voodoo People
Poison
Beyoncé
3/5
This album and its surprise release in December of 2013 were the moment Beyoncé became the untouchable cultural icon many people still consider her today. That status is, to put it lightly, completely and utterly overselling Beyoncé as an artist. Sure, she is a great singer, but the music is just above average Pop and R&B.
More interestingly, there was no build up to Beyoncé attaining this position. Her previous two albums were recieved in a lukewarm fashion and this one was hailed as some kind of masterpiece pretty much out of nowhere. Don't get me wrong, this isn't a bad album, it is her best in my opinion, and nowadays is not as obnoxiously overrated as its inconherent follow-up Lemonade from 2016. The good moments here a pretty great, like the very (very) 2010's sounding "XO", to the heart-wrentching miscarriage lament "Heaven", but for the most part this type of R&B melodies (if you can call them that) do not stick with me.
For some reason, this released seemed to have tricked everyone into thinking something that simply isn't true. At the time, it almost tricked me too.
Key tracks:
Pretty Hurts
Drunk in Love
XO
Heaven
Germs
3/5
Possibly the most hardcore and heaviest non-metal album on the book. Germs take punk to its extreme with short, noisy, angry and politically charged songs. Technical prowess and songwriting aren't the point here, but that doesn't mean I didn't miss them occasionally.
(What do you mean Belinda "Heaven Is a Place on Earth" Carlisle played drum on this band at one point?!)
Key tracks:
Land of Treason
Boards of Canada
3/5
This album, and Boards of Canada in general, is the kind of music that I appreciate more than I actually enjoy. It certainly not bad and there are many interesting moments throughout this album, but the whole thing is just OK to me. As far as IDM goes, I'll stick to Aphex Twin or Autechre and give Boards of Canada a listen here and there.
Key tracks:
An Eagle in Your Mind
Dr. Dre
1/5
It is a classic. But I can't stand this type of vulgar, aggressive, ultra-macho posturing. What's the point?
Key tracks:
Nuthin' but a "G" Thang
Genesis
4/5
Masterpiece of an album. Granted, I can't say I understand the surrealist plot, I'm not sure anyone does really. This is a sprawling double album, and like many of those, not every track is memorable, but here they all contribute something to the overall experience.
After this album, Peter Gabriel probably didn't think he could take Genesis any further, and so left the band to pursue one of the most fantastic solo careers of all time. The band, contrary to many a snobs' opinion, did not immediately start to suck afterwards, nor did they instantly became a pop group under Phil Collins leadership. There were a couple of prog rock albums and they slowly evolved into one of the most commercially successful acts of the 80s. I even think most of that is pretty great too, don't listen to naysayers.
Key tracks:
The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway
Cuckoo Cocoon
The Carpet Crawlers
It
Morrissey
2/5
This album may include what is probably Morrissey's best solo song, but do we really need to listen to four (4) Morrissey albums before we die? I mean, they all kinda sound pretty similar. It's not bad, but definitely not essential.
Key tracks:
The First of the Gang to Die
Marvin Gaye
3/5
Marvin Gaye's sex album (Gaye sex album?!). It even includes The Sex Song™. Can't say I remember anything else from it, but it all did sound very smooth and sensual, which I guess is the point. Mission accomplished, I guess.
Key tracks:
Let's Get It On
Soft Cell
2/5
Besides the one huge hit, the cover of "Tainted Love", this doesn't really stand out from the sea of early 80s synthpop. Maybe it is a little raunchier and the rest and that does represent the huge gay scene around the movement. But that's it really, textbook one-hit wonder.
Make sure to also listen to the extended version of "Tainted Love" where Soft Cell also cover The Supremes' "Where Did Our Love Go?". Great stuff.
Key tracks:
Tainted Love
Marilyn Manson
5/5
Here's a big one for me. Marilyn Manson was an incredibly important artist in my formative years, at the time his most recent album was 2003's The Golden Age of Grotesque, a sorely misunderstood album that could have gone much further had they commited even more to the cabaret idea.
But let's rewind further to Manson's big breakout moment with Antichrist Superstar, an album that scared a living hell out of every religious conservative and made Manson a... well... Superstar. It certainly does not sound all that shocking now, but I'd argue some of the visuals of the era still strike as quite creepy in a surreal kind of way.
While musically this may not be my favorite of Manson's albums, there is plenty to love here. Relentlessly dark, gothic, but not always particularly heavy, Manson and the band expertly toe the line between accessibility and chaotic weirdness. Moments like the big singles "The Beautiful People" and "Tourniquet" are great examples of the former, while the title track and the soft but strange "Cryptorchid" would fall in the latter camp, and songs like "Irresponsible Hate Anthem" and "1996" offer some heavier and noisier weight to the album. ("Irresponsible Hate Anthem" is strangely labeled as having been recorded live on Valentine's Day 1997, which was after the album was released.)
Then there's the concept. Yes, for those unaware, this is a full-on concept album, a Rock Opera of sorts. Not only that, but the concept extends across three albums, this one, Mechanical Animals (1998) and Holy Wood (In the Shadow of the Valley of Death) (2000), forming The Tryptich. Each of these album follows a different character who undergoes a sort of internal (or external) transformation and either becomes a shell of his former self or, in the case of this album, an Übermensch-like figure set out to destroy everything and everyone. Given that there's supposedly a greater overarching storyline if the albums are heard in reverse order, to me it seems like the three characters are in fact just different iterations of the same character but in different contexts.
While the other two album have themes of the violence, occultism, the vapidity of celebrity and American Pop culture, here the main character The Worm seems to seek to bring about the apocalypse after undergoing his metamorphosis and becoming the titular Antichrist Superstar. To me, these seems motivated as vengeance on what the other characters in the other albums go through in the other albums.
At the end of Holy Wood, main character Adam Kadmon plays russian roulette with himself after seeing that his revolutionary movement had turned into just another consumer product. It it unclear whether he dies at the end, so we can assume he returns on Mechanical Animals as Omega, an alien character very similar to Bowie's Ziggy Stardust and the album's story is also similarly structured. My read of this album is a "if you can't beat them, join them" situation that, once again, is open-ended and the listener does not know if Omega dies or not, this time of a drug overdose. This leads to The Worm and events of Antichrist Superstar.
Manson had planned a novel of the story of The Tryptich, but it hasn't been released nor has it been mentioned in over a decade. Also, given all the allegations against Manson starting in 2020, I would be surprised if it will ever see the light of day. I, too, can't say I listen to Manson that much these days, but I do sometimes return to this album and its more sophisticated sounding follow-ups. It would be 4/5 but because there's no other Manson on the list, it gets a 5/5.
Key tracks:
Irresponsible Hate Anthem
The Beautiful People
Tourniquet
Antichrist Superstar
1996
The Reflecting God
The Man That You Fear
Bon Jovi
3/5
Billed on release as 'Hard Rock for women', Bon Jovi actually lives up to that tag line, for better or for worse. Sure, a lot of this album is pretty inofensive and safe, but a lot of these hook cannot be denied.
Key tracks:
You Give Love a Bad Name
Livin' on a Prayer
Wanted Dead or Alive
Genesis
5/5
Genesis' finest hour. While their previous album Foxtrot delivered some of the band's most impressive work (i.e. the 23-minute masterpiece "Supper's Ready") and their following album The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway was a full-on rock opera, here they strike the perfect balance of experimentation and more focused songwriting.
The atmosphere is pure whimsical britishness. Fantasy and historical settings intersect and coexist harmoniously. Honestly, I don't what Peter Gabriel is singing about most of the times, but it sure sounds awesome.
Key tracks:
Dancing With the Moonlit Knight
I Know What I Like (In Your Wardrobe)
Firth of Fifth
Patti Smith
4/5
Smith is one of the original punks. This albums fall pretty much as the crossroads between the garage rock music of bands like The Stooges and New York Dolls and the proper punk that would follow. The difference is the strong singer-songwriter leanings of these songs. They aren't folk per se, but the poetry of the lyrics is written in such a way that makes them feel like that.
Key tracks:
Gloria
Sonic Youth
3/5
After the more accessible sounds of 1990's Goo, Sonic Youth delve even further into early-90's Alternative Rock. While it may not as successful at remaining unique as the previous album, it still blows most of its competition out the water. However, other then the excellent Washing Machine from 1995, I can't say I'm a big fan of anything they've done after. Fitting, because I wasn't really a fan of their pre-Daydream Nation days either.
Key tracks:
100%
Sugar Kane
Purr
Queens of the Stone Age
3/5
Perplexing choice. Not because it's a bad album or anything, but it's generally agreed upon that Songs from the Deaf is Queens of the Stone Age's greatest album and has become an undisputed 00's Rock classic. This one, their debut, feels like exactly that, a debut. The signs are all here, but the band is clearly still figuring out their sound.
Key tracks:
Regular John
Avon
I Was a Teenage Hand Model
Turbonegro
2/5
I'm going out on a limb and guess that this album and band were probably hailed as some sort of Rock Music Saviors back in '98. Critics really liked to say that kind of thing at the time. Here, we peer into a bleak alternate reality where this is the type of Rock revivalism that would dominate the decade. Thankfully, the actual big Rock movement that followed, the Indie Rock boom of the 2000's, resulted in much more interesting and long-lasting music than this. Rightfully, no one ever speaks of this nowadays.
Charles Mingus
5/5
The definition of Mad Genius. There's so much going on in this album's four sprawling tracks. Between the despondant brass, tripped out rhythm section, and flamenco guitars, it may appear chaotic at first but upon closer inpection it all comes together in a beautiful way.
I'm not really sure what the context of this album is, despite having listened to it many, many times. From the titles it looks like music composed for a dance piece, but I'm not sure if such piece actually existed. The liner notes, written by Mingus' therapist, provide some extra insight on the record, and reveal Mingus as one of the most fascinating and genius artists of the late Jazz Era, as if the music didn't make that clear enough.
Must listen album, and absolutely do explore more of Mingus' work. It is well worth your time.
Key tracks:
Track A - Solo Dancer
Track C - Group Dancers
Travis
3/5
Before Coldplay, Muse, Doves, Snow Patrol, Starsailor, Embrace, or Keane, Travis were the probably the first post-Radiohead band. Focusing on slower and more instrospective songs, with more emphasis on pianos and string arrangements, rather than riffs or solos. Definitely not the best of this genre of bands, but not the worst either. Some great songs here, particularly the genre-defining ballad "Turn".
Key tracks:
Driftwood
Turn
Why Does It Always Rain on Me?
808 State
3/5
A very, very, very early House record. Of course it sound incredibly rudimentary with all those tinny drum machine sounds. However it does have its charm.
Key tracks:
Pacific 202
Hot Chip
3/5
Hot Chip was always a B-tier indie electronic act at best. They have good songs on every album, but the whole things are usually all that interesting. This is their best album overall. It sounds pleasant and contains a few bangers, but there's always something missing with these guys' work.
Key tracks:
Motion Sickness
Night & Day
Flutes
Sonic Youth
3/5
Yet another Sonic Youth album, and a pre-Daydream Nation one at that. I'm not big on this era of the band. This album, beign the final one of the era, sounds relatively close to the records I actually like by them.
Key tracks:
Schizophrenia
Dexys Midnight Runners
3/5
Not as fun and unique as their follow-up, but still a pretty good batch of songs. Mr. Dimery must really really like Dexys. All three albums from the band's original run made the list?
Key tracks:
Tell My When My Light Turns Green
Geno
Talking Heads
4/5
Fearer of Music is darker than Talking Heads' previous albums. It deals with more serious topics such as drugs or war, but the band also finds time for more optimistic oulooks, like on Heaven. Brian Eno's production keeps everything from getting too dark and gives the album the much needed space to allow these songs to breathe. Great album.
Key tracks:
I Zimbra
Mind
Life During Wartime
Heaven
Ray Charles
3/5
Ray Charles goes country. Or rather, does country songs but retains his R&B-stylings, resulting in a unique and sophisticated blend of genres. Considering the still on-going difficult relationship between the Country Music establishment and African-American artists, I'm guessing this album was met with more than a few raised eyebrows back in the day.
David Holmes
2/5
In theory I should enjoy this. A film composer makes a jazzy trip-hop and breakbeat record. But it honestly bored me. Maybe it was the non-existent songwriting that made everything mood pieces, or maybe I just wanted something with more film music influence. Either way, big disappointment. As far as 90's film composers making trip-hop go, I will always have the great Craig Armstrong.
Aretha Franklin
3/5
Aretha completely revolutionized the way singers, especially female singers, approach vocal runs and vocal stylings in pop music She brought all those big gospel acrobatics into the pop fold. But that influence would only be felt starting with Whitney Houston in the 80's and then more widely during the 90's, with artists like Mariah Carey. The entire American Idol standard of singing can be traced back to Aretha. Sure, a lot of people go way overboard with it, oversinging every single line, but that is not what we find in this record. Here everything is tastefully and expertly executed, and Aretha makes these songs her own.
Key tracks:
R-e-s-p-e-c-t
Mudhoney
2/5
Pretty regular Gen X fair. Nothing particularly interesting to be found here. Doesn't seem like it was an influential album either, as I never hear about it in music circles. Meh
Jah Wobble's Invaders Of The Heart
3/5
Strange album. Very trippy and slow. Not sure where to place this in the 90's music scene. It's not really in line with the Bristol scene of Trip-Hop, nor is it dance-y enough for the Madchester scene. So it kinda just exists on its own. Not sure who Jah Wobble is either. An odd album that is very of its time and seems mostly forgotten nowadays.
Key tracks:
Visions of You
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
4/5
This is grief in audio form. Even without knowing the album's backstory. That's simply what it sounds like. The sparse ambient instrumentals coupled with Nick Cave's somewhat tired sounding delivery, all contribute to a desolate but dreamy atmosphere unlike anything else in Cave's catalog, even the other ambient-leaning albums of the "trilogy", Push the Sky Away (2013) and Skeleton Tree (2016).
This is a double album, but it's a pretty short one at under 70 minutes. The concept is that the songs are all a family, with the two long tracks on the second disc being the mother and father and the ones on the first disc being the children. Family and loss and grief are obviously big themes on the album, which could potentially have been handled in a heavy-handed way. However, Cave's cryptic and surrealist lyrics keep it from ever becoming that. The key here is in the delivery. Only occasionally we get a glimpse at what these songs are actually about, and when that happens it hits you like gut punch. Beautiful.
Key tracks:
Bright Horses
Waiting for You
Ghosteen
Goldie
3/5
Sprawling Drum & Bass odyssey of an album. It's pretty good too. But of course the 21 minute title track pretty much overshadows everything else, almost rendering the other songs unnecessary.
Key tracks:
Timeless
Neil Young & Crazy Horse
3/5
A bit random, right? I guess Neil probably has a resurgence in popularity in the late 80's with the hit "Rockin' in the Free World". He and Crazy Horse do keep with the times with a bit of an Alt-Rock influence, but other than that it's just ok. I think Neil's next album Harvest Moon is much better, though.
Key tracks:
Mansion on the Hill
Stevie Wonder
4/5
Stevie Wonder's finest hour, and also his longest and most ecletic record. There is so much going on here. Pretty much everything you'd want from Stevie and more appear on this album at some point. Yes, it is really long. Not only is it a double LP, but it also include and extra EP at the end. But I would say it's 100% worth it.
Key tracks:
Sir Duke
Pastime Paradise
Isn't She Lovely
As
Elastica
3/5
Pretty good lesser known Britpop with an indie bend. The female vocals also make it stand out in what was a notoriously male-dominated movement. Is it essential listen? Not really. But it is an interesting curiosity.
Key tracks:
Connection
The Residents
3/5
Weird and out there music. The Residents are one of the biggest institutions of experimental music, with dozens of albums and a pretty iconic eye-head look. Honestly, their nusic never did much for me and this, the first of their record I heard (because of the book) is still my favorite. This release is actually two EPs from 1978, Duck Stab! and Buster & Glen, but they work well as an album. It features their trademark filtered vocals, strange instrumental pallet, and unconventional lyrical themes, but lack the conceptual depths are some of their other works.
Key tracks:
Constantinople
Hawkwind
3/5
It's always challenging listening to a live album by an artist I know nothing about. I always feel I'm lacking a whole lot o context. This one wasn't too bad, if a bit long. I'm not too sure what makes this Space Rock. I'm probably more used to the revival bands from the 90's, which have a distinctly spacy sound. As far as not that well known 70's rock goes, it could have been a lot worse.
Key tracks:
Down Through the Night
The Rolling Stones
3/5
One of the better Rolling Stones records, bookended by two of the band's best songs. I like the silly-random artwork. What even is going on there?
Key tracks:
Gimme Shelter
You Can't Always Get What You Want
Blue Cheer
1/5
It's been a while since I've gotten another insanely boring late-60's/early-70's bluesy psych rock album. I haven't missed those one bit. I read this was hugely influential somehow? I don't see it. Maybe I misread it and it said it's hugely under the influence. That's probably it.
Barry Adamson
3/5
Weird, dark, ominous, strange, uncanny, but also smooth and cool. This is a very unique album, full of film noir-ready jazz cuts mixed with some experimental rock bits. It does lack a bit of focus to really take it to the next level. Like a movie for the ears, but the kind of movie you can hardly tell what is going on.
Key tracks:
The Swinging Detectiv
The Most Beautiful Girl in the World
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
The Only Ones
2/5
Pretty anonymous New Wave. Not idea why it's here. I'm sure the members of the band themselves don't know either.
Key tracks:
Another Girl, Another Planet
Curtis Mayfield
2/5
I mean, it's not bad per se, but it's just so tiring. This is the black equivalent of all those similar-sounding white blues-y psych rock bands. Just do something different!
Creedence Clearwater Revival
2/5
CCR, the dadiest of all dad bands, the 'muricanest of all 'murican bands. This may be their best album? I don't know. They all sound pretty similar to me. But then again, I'm not 'murican or a dad.
Key tracks:
Who'll Stop the Rain
The Byrds
3/5
So many Byrds and related albums, good lord! At least this one wasn't too bad. I enjoyed several of these songs. But how can such a boring band have so many (5) albums considered essential?
Key tracks:
So You Want to Be a Rock n' Roll Star
Everybody's Been Burned
Thoughts and Words
The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion
2/5
It's okay, I guess. Probably was the buzz band of month at the time. I only really know them from the Floria Sigismondi-directed stripping nuns music video from years later. I do, however, find it curious how this type of punk-y garage rock would became way bigger a few years later.
Key tracks:
Wail
Girls Against Boys
1/5
There's something about Hardcore/Post-Hardcore that just doesn't appeal to me. I don't know exactly what it is, but it must be something on a deep aesthetic level. This album completely passed me by, leaving no impression whatsoever. I couldn't even begin to tell you what it sounded like.
The Young Rascals
2/5
The Monkees were already the American answer to the Beatles. These guys were the Monkees 2 (or 3, or 4, etc.). They were probably the most famous band in the their neighborhood at least.
Lou Reed
4/5
Lou Reed goes mainstream? Yes, and it works like a charm. Really amazing stuff, full of catchy melodies that even a vocalist with such a limited range like Reed can make work. He speak-singing style add a sort of sexiness that these songs would otherwise be lacking. It truly does sound like Lou Reed and the Spiders from Mars!
Key tracks:
Vicious
Perfect Day
Hangin' Round
Walk on the Wild Side
Satellite of Love
The Mars Volta
5/5
When I first heard this album I did not like it. I'm not a Post-Hardcore person and this album shares a lot of that genre's aesthetic. However, because I was in my college prog phase I decided to give it another try and am I glad I did! For some reason, the hooks just sunk into my memory and I started loving all the melodies and intricacies. Then I went on a Mars Volta binge and became a huge fan just in time for the release of 2012's Noctourniquet. I know there's a plot in here somewhere, and reading about it, it actually sounds quite interesting. But honestly I couldn't tell you what the hell is going on just by listening to the songs, even while reading along to the words.
Key tracks:
Inertiatic ESP
Roulette Dares (The Haunt Of)
Drunkship of Lanterns
This Apparatus Must Be Unearthed
Televators
Take the Veil Cerpin Taxt
The Go-Go's
3/5
Pretty standard femme New Wave. It's more punk-y than a lot of their contemporaries. The name does ring a few bells, so it's probably not a completely random inclusion.
Key tracks:
Our Lips Are Sealed
TV On The Radio
4/5
TV on the Radio remain sorely overlooked, as far as mid-00's indie acts go. This album is their best one, and is where they truly reached the apex of their psychedelic-infused art rock stylings. Plenty to love here, with detailed productions that rewards repeated listens and a wide variety of styles from song to song. From bouncy number like opener "Halfway Home" to the dark "DLZ" or the piano ballad "Family Tree". I'm suprised this actually made the list, and even more surprised this is the second.
Key tracks:
Halfway Home
Dancing Choose
Stork & Owl
Family Tree
Shout Me Out
DLZ
Sepultura
2/5
Give how much classic Metal albums were being released at the time, the inclusion of this one in particular seem a bit random. It's not like the book ever strays from the more mainstream accepted (and anglocentric) metal. Not really my thing, but a welcome inclusion.
Key tracks:
Arise
Miriam Makeba
3/5
Very fun and light album. However it is only influenced by African music, rather than being the real thing. Miriam Makeba certainly is a genuine South African artist, but this is more of an Easy Listening and Calypso record with all the edges sanded off for Western audiences. I'm not criticising though, I'm just stating a fact. I liked this album.
Key tracks:
The Click Song
Mbube
One More Dance
King Crimson
4/5
One of King Crimson's more difficult and experimental releases. Being mostly instrumental would already pose a challange to a big amount of listeners, but the band also throw in abrasive (for the time) guitar effects and unusual song structures. Not an easy album to get into but a rewarding one to explore on a deeper level and just marvel at the musicianship involved.
Key tracks:
Easy Money
Larks' Tongues in Aspic Part Two
Neil Young
3/5
Another Neil Young album. Young is never the artist I'm in the mood for, but I'm never upset when he comes up. This one was alright. Very intrigued by the story on the album art. What the hell even happened there?
Key tracks:
See the Sky About to Rain
The Byrds
3/5
Of all the five Byrds albums on this list, Mr. Tambourine Man is probably the best one. Not only it includes their great Bob Dylan cover, which the album is named after, but also presents a style that gave rise to many followers in the years to come. I don't think we would get all the Jangle Pop, C86, and other such "college radio" staple movements in the 80's and 90's if it weren't for this album. I do wonder why their other stuff sounds more traditionally 60's psych-pop though.
Key tracks:
Mr. Tambourine Man
Raekwon
2/5
Yet another ultra classic hip-hop record that means and says absolutely nothing to me. The beats are good, the hooks (when they're there) are pretty ok, the rapping is obviously also great. But I just can't with the lyrics. It's always the same shit on every damn album.
Key tracks:
Knowledge God
Richard Hawley
4/5
Incredible, sophisticated, and very surprising. I had no idea who Richard Hawley was before getting the book. Initially this album didn't leave any impression on me. I thought it sounded too country or americana. Later, after I became a huge Scott Walker fan, I rediscovered this and the similarities are uncanny really. Of course, Hawley lacks Walker's lyrical prowess, opting for painting simpler, more mundane pictures of love and urban life, but the songwriting is almost as sophisticated. Marvellous arrangements and atmosphere throughout, like a nighttime version of The Divine Comedy. A true hidden gem.
Key tracks:
Coles Corner
Just Like the Rain
The Ocean
Born Under a Bad Sign
Beck
4/5
One of the most touching breakup albums in my opinion. A lot of these songs have, at one point, really described the way I was feeling during times like those. This kind of relatability can only be praised in my eyes. And the melodies are great, too. Something like "Round the Bend" sounds straight out of Nick Drake's first two albums. The production by Nigel Godrich gives these tracks a dream-y psychedelic feel, with all the little effects that are so characteristic of him, and the string arrangements by Beck's dad, David Campbell, never fail to make my eyes well up. Amazing.
Key tracks:
Lonesome Tears
Lost Cause
Round the Bend
Sunday Sun
Little One
PJ Harvey
3/5
I get it. It's very rough around the edges and sludgy intentionally. That's kind of cool. Although I do wish I could hear the songs a bit more clearer. Either way, very good album by an artist I'm usually not as in love with as a lot of people seem to be.
Key tracks:
Rid of Me
Creedence Clearwater Revival
2/5
CCR yet again, and yet again it went completely over my head. This is the third (and thankfully last) CCR album on the list, but it's also the earliest. Honestly all three albums sounded pretty interchangeable to me. At least each one has 1-2 classic songs.
Key tracks:
Born on the Bayou
Proud Mary
Grateful Dead
1/5
Oh, Grateful Dead. Jam bands in general, really. They just can't get on with it, can they? They just go on and on and on and on. We get it. You play your instruments good. How about writing a memorable song for a change? Not so technically proficient now, are we?
Justin Timberlake
2/5
Much like Christina Aguilera's Stripped and Amy Winehouse's Frank, this album was only on the book's first edition and immediately replaced by the artist's follow-up in the second edition. So I wouldn't say the inclusion is very... ahem... Justified. Musically, this is pretty standard, maybe slightly above-average, early 00's R&B-influenced pop. Lots of the kinds of beats Timbaland and The Neptunes pioneered, both even have production credits on some of the songs here, while the former would become Timberlake's main collaboration on his next, and much better, three albums.
Key tracks:
Señorita
Like I Love You
Cry Me a River
Rock Your Body
(the McDonald's song "I'm Lovin' It" was also a single at the time but is not on here.)
Ozomatli
3/5
Very strange Latin Rock or whatever. And yet another album whose sole claim to fame is being included in the book. Very eclectic mix of genres, without excelling in any of them. Not bad, but nothing more than a leftfield curiosity.
Key tracks:
Believe
Buddy Holly & The Crickets
3/5
Pretty good Rockabilly record. Buddy Holly has always been hailed as one of the best of the genre and a true legend, and not just because he died young. Good songwriting here, mostly originals, and good performances. Even though this genre is now obviously associated with old people, this album actually manages to capture why it was the dominant youth culture of the time.
Key tracks:
Oh, Boy!
Tell Me How
That'll Be the Day
The Pogues
3/5
The Pogues are an insanely fun band to listen to. The kind of music that makes want to get up and riverdance while drinking pints and pints of beer. And I don't even like beer! Not sure we needed two of their albums here though, as they sound pretty identical. The other is the better one.
Key tracks:
The Sick Bed of Cuchulainn
Sally MacLennane
Radiohead
4/5
Not Radiohead's best, but still a great album. I was only a kid in 2003 and not in the UK or USA, so a lot of the political stuff here go over my head. Not that that is an essential part to enjoy this, as the bulk of the band's greatest moments are musical, not lyrical. The relatively longer tracklist should give the band more room to experiment and try different things, but for some reason some of these songs end up blend together for me. But when they're good, they're amazing. Not the Radiohead album I would recommend as first exposure to the band but still a worthwhile listen.
Key tracks:
2+2=5
Go to Sleep
There There
Myxamatosis
Tortoise
4/5
Very interesting and experimental rock album. It falls under the Post-Rock genre but, because it was still early in the movement's history, it is not plagued by the Godspeed You! Black Emperor-aping crescendocore structure that has became so prevalent during the 00's. Tortoise's following album, TNT, is also great and quite different from this one.
Key tracks:
Djed
The Taut and the Tame
Sleater-Kinney
3/5
Very energetic and estrogen-fueled garage punk. Predictive of the 00's indie boom, with its minimal instrumentation and straight-to-the-point songwriting. The vocals can get a bit much at times.
Key tracks:
Dig Me Out
One More Hour
Little Babies
Elvis Presley
3/5
Elvis' Big Comeback Album was probably hailed as a triumph at the time of its release, but today the most iconic part of it is probably the red wall of dancers in the background of the cover art. I only recognized one of the songs. So much for the King of Rock.
Key tracks:
In the Ghetto
Pink Floyd
4/5
Pink Floyd's first album is a complete outlier on the band's catalog. A quirky and sunny psych-pop affair. Obviously this style comes from the then-bandleader Syd Barrett. After Barrett's departure, Floyd would move into the spacy prog-rock direction they're most famous for. As much as I love those records, the drugged-out childlike wonder this album presents is still unmatched.
Key tracks:
Astronomy Domine
Flaming
Interstellar Overdrive
Bike
John Lee Hooker
1/5
What's the point? An artist past his prime in a genre past its prime, which wasn't that interesting to begin with. The cast of collaborators is alright, but is not enough to keep from being bland and utterly forgetful.
Santana
2/5
Santana needs a few more listens. It seems like something I would enjoy more now than I did when I first heard it in 2019. On the other hand, guitar wankery never appealed to me, and that's what Santana is known for. At least the latin flavor makes it more interesting than other guitarmen like Satriani or Bonamassa.
Key tracks:
Oye Como Va