1001 Albums Summary

It's stunning that this album got made at all. Can you imagine the pitch? Johnny says, "I want to record an album in a prison and shit around with the warden." Maybe it was inevitable that the resulting album would be unique, but it's hard to imagine it coming out so good. Listening to Cash's songs as an album, I was struck by the fact that the main character in his songs is dying or dead most of the time - Johnny had a pitch-black sense of humor and a soul to match. This is the catchiest and funniest suicide note I've ever listened to.

I absolutely loved this album when it was released in 2005. Before "paper planes", MIA was a tour guide to UK - Sri Lankan expat culture through electroclash beats and Karen-O type yelps. She's capable of more contemporary tracks ("Sunshowers") while adding her unique angular style. As an older man, I have a harder time listening to many of these metallic, grinding tracks. But this is a fascinating debut and worth listening to at least once.

If I heard a description of this band I wouldn't know what to think. "It's a new wave jam band, kind of! With electronic music and spoken word!" But Byrne is so confident that he sells even the weaker tracks. "Once in a lifetime" gets the most attention but "the great curve" is just as good.

It's hip hop for people who don't think they like hip hop, and also for people who like hip hop.

The album can edge close to preachiness but Arrested Development deserves major credit for coming up with a positive alternative to early 90s gangsta rap.

Interesting concept but I couldn't listen to these dirges.

I was surprised by how much I liked this album. Elton is a legend but I only knew him from overplayed classics like "Tiny Dancer" and cornball singalongs like "Crocodile Rock" and "Candle in the Wind". Any of these tracks work on their own and they work even better together.

Iggy Pop? You mean that guy who wrote that song ("Lust For Life") from the cruise ship commercial? Well, this album, Iggy and the Stooge's third, sounds dangerous - and yes, raw - half a century after it's release. Iggy does his best glam rock singer from hell impression (growling the song's title on "Penetration") over a sharp and grinding guitar. Knowing the legends of the man, he's not making it all up - you believe him when he asks for danger, little stranger. Somewhat surprisingly, the songs are tightly written. Iggy has said that in the past his group played loud since they hadn't mastered their instruments. But this is a case where their unpolished sound is intentional; it takes real talent to sound like you're not trying. It's powerful. Iggy and the Stooges get labeled as proto-punk for a reason: driving drums, acidic guitars, and lessened focus on solos and instrumentation. But there's more than a bit of cock rock / stadium rock here, and you can hear where Van Halen et al. got a lot of inspiration. This is another essential album. It's way smarter than I guessed it would be thanks to its impassioned lyrics and strong, intentional songwriting. It sounds like a "classic" without being dated. if it sounds dangerous now, I can only imagine how many midwest minds it blew when it was released in the early 70s.

It's trite, but the word that kept recurring for me was "orchestral". It's all here: soaring harmonies, string sections, killer walkdowns, and unexpected chords that redirect the songs to something even more interesting. It might be overwhelming if the songs weren't so tightly written and well-paced. This is a literal rock opera. I'd recommend the mid-album oddity "Jungle" for your classic album deep cut.

My challenge is to review this album without referencing the Beatles (more than this once). As a Kinks fan I wasn't feeling this one. The Kinks are at their best when they pair their anti-imperialiast lyrics with their almost-punk fuzzy production to take the piss out of the British Empire. The sharp lyrics were here but the production worked against the boys, making them sound more petulant than snarky.

Good news: there are more Gary Numan songs than "Cars"! Unfortunately, most of them sound similar: Numan offers melodic spoken word over metallic 80s synth slides. Even though this one wasn't essential for me, I appreciate Numan's innovation, and introspective lyrics.

The Beastie Boys were my gateway drug to hip hop - and maybe punk - when I was in my early teens. Knowing that, how the fuck did I miss this album? THe turntable, the beats, the lyrics - this is a rare album that 38 year old me AND 14 year old me would have loved. The first 4 tracks are so solid that the rest of the album suffers by being merely great.

It feels like I'm missing something, giving The Band a mediocre review. However, this album put me on edge. I found myself irritated by the shaggy, shambly sound and Robbie Robertson's yowly, impenetrable lyrics ("Pinball machine and a queen / I nearly took the bus" - what?). In particular, the porn-funk bass of "Cripple Creek" makes the track sounds like a joke that The Band doesn't share with the listeners. Not for me.

I'm glad I listened beyond the first track. "You Are the Sunshine of My Life" is a slow-paced synth/keyboard ballad that left me wishing for the almost-unbearable funk levels of "Superstition". Thankfully, clever ballads like "Blame it on the Sun" and the aforementioned "Superstition" make this a must-listen. I'm not sure if it will become one of my most-played albums but when Stevie snaps into the grid he's unbeatable.

If Quentin Tarantino mellows out and writes a road trip movie, this might be the soundtrack. At first, I was ready to give this album a lower review and move on due to the spacey songwriting and the lead singer's wavery vocals. Track 3, "Painter of Women" and the tambourine backing was the low point for me; it put me in mind of Bob Dylan's inscrutable lyrics played by the Beatles at their druggiest. I'm glad I continued to listen since the album takes a few tracks to get going, with "Nine Pound Hammer" as a highlight with it's unusual chord progression. I kept trying to name who the Beau Brummels remind me of: Van Morrison, the Kinks, John Prine, but nobody seemed to quite fit. I realized that they have more in common with other overlooked acoustic oddballs like Sixto "Sugarman" Rodriguez or Jim Sullivan, musicians with a similar, singular vision who were also tragically overlooked.

Released in 2006, this album fit in with the inescapable pop domination of the 2000s by Coldplay, Incubus, the Strokes, and their contemporaries, writing pop songs and running them through the "make it sad" machine. But Muse was always unique, with their bombastic, electronic-adjacent style. They're at their best when they lean away from Radiohead influences (particularly notable on "Soldier's Poem", which is "No Surprises" on Adderall). I'd go so far as to call them "operatic grind metal that your kid sibling listens to" and that wouldn't be an insult; they're at their best on "Supermassive Black Hole" and "Assassin".