1001 Albums Summary

This is the definition of a 3 star album. Not great, not bad. Just okay. Listenable, but not overly enjoyable.

Man, I tried. I really tried.

I just don't like jazz I've said. I just don't get jazz I've said. Well, I'll be. This is just a great time. And it's jazz you say?

Someone called this energizing in a review. To what, sloths? That review also called it ahead of its time. Thank goodness a bunch of musicians post-1971 never heard it.

I expected stereotypical 80s music. This did not turn out to be stereotypical 80s music.

I'm not really sure what to say about this one. It's not unlistenable (in the right frame of mind). It's also not anywhere near one of the top rap albums that I'd recommend someone listen to. It's probably a lower 3 than some of my other 3's.

I wasn't sure if I needed to talk a hike through the British countryside or get incredibly high. I think they did both.

My problem with jazz is that I feel like I need both a music and history degree to understand it.

A British Coldplay trying to be Radiohead. There's an echo in these reviews.

I put off listening to this one for awhile. Because it's Adele, and it's 21, and it dominated everything when it was released. But finally I decided now would be a good time to listen to it, and honestly, I've probably only heard three songs off of it. Going in, I expected to hate this. Through Rolling in the Deep, all I could think about was how overplayed this sounded. Then Rumor Has It kicks in and frankly, that's a great song. But as we go along through this album, it becomes apparent what this album lacks - any sort of rough edge. It's overproduced to a degree of Spinal Tap. It's too clean. Too perfect. It begs for any sort of feeling, soul, or rough edge. A Janis voice crack. A guitar just a little late or early. Something that says that we're feeling this with you. It becomes very present on Lovesong. A Cure cover that should be emotional and haunting. It's just....technical. And boring. It's not a bad album. Definitely doesn't deserve a crazy low rating. But I gave Beth Orton a 3 and I'd rather listen to that. On the other hand, I gave Hole a 2 and this is better than Celebrity Skin. It's a low three. An asterisked three. At least it's not the Eagles.

I may not be able to objectively review this album because I may have fallen asleep during most of it.

There were times in this where I thought, "you know, this isn't so bad." Then there were more times where I couldn't help but think, "this really isn't that great, is it?"

Just because you can, doesn't mean you should.

Hey, would you like to listen to some Willie Nelson? Not really. Would you like to listen to Willie Nelson do standards covers? Uh, no? All respect to Willie Nelson. Man's a legend. Never met him, but sure he's a great guy. But this just isn't my thing and these ratings tend to be personal opinions. So my opinion of this is it's just not my thing.

I'll give Brian Wilson credit for being able to put together a great sonic landscape. The instrumental of Heroes and Villains is gorgeous. The lyrics to Vega-Tables - not so much.

I have a theory that Johnny Cash was the original punk. Two albums recorded in prisons. Punk. Singing San Quentin in San Quentin - twice. Punk. Getting the prisoners to boo the warden. Punk. Debuting A Boy Named Sue. Punk. At Folsom Prison may have a stronger track list and may be more famous, but At San Quentin is really the side by side companion, double album if you will, and deserves every bit of accolades as the predecessor.

The opening bars of Ponta De Lanca Africano hit and....wait a second...I know this song. Hold up, Soulfly covered this guy? Soulfly covered this song, sure enough. I'm not sure I'll ever go back and listen to this again as it's just not my thing really, but it's quite good and I can recognize the talent.

In high school I joined the jazz band. Not because I liked jazz, or really band, all that much. But jazz band met before school. And that required driving to school and not taking the bus. Which mean that for the whole year, I had an excuse to drive to school. And no senior was going to ride the bus. So forever more, my love for jazz only extends as far as the ability for it to gain me something else. I can drive any time I want now, so my need for jazz is pretty low.

By the time I got to 1983...(A Merman I Should Turn to Be) I was not ready for another 13 minute track. It hurts to give Jimi three stars, but the albums drags as a whole.

Leonard Cohen? I don't want to listen to Leonard Cohen. Oh wait. That's beautiful. Guess I do want to listen to Leonard Cohen.

When it jumps, it jumps. When it doesn't, it certainly doesn't. I much prefer it jumping.

Bongos are hard to take for 78 minutes.

There's some good stuff here. The horn part on Dubious, Show Me, Liars A to E, and of course Come on Eileen. But the rest kinds of fades into the background and frankly it's probably 15 - 20 minutes too long. Cut this down to a tight 10 songs and you'd gain a lot here.

This may be the first album that has come up that I was honestly surprised that I enjoyed as much as I did. Sure, there have been some, like Jeru The Damaja's "The Sun Rises In The East", that I had never heard. But anyone around in the late '90s has probably heard Praise You and Rockafeller Skank. So to put this on and enjoy it start to finish, color me surprised for the first time in 139 albums. Not earth shattering. Not groundbreaking. But solid. Will listen to again.

There is an ode to Suicide (the band, if you haven't received that album yet in the list) on this album. I recommend listening to that album over this, the inspiration is much better.

I made it to song 4. Someone take the Casio keyboard away.

I get it. I just don't GET it. Two stars because it deserves that at least. Two stars also because I just don't get it.

There are three albums from The Specials on this list. There are only two albums from The Clash. The conclusions you'd draw from that are not the conclusions you should draw.

.. - .----. ... / -. --- - / .- ... / -... .- -.. / .- ... / ... --- -- . / --- ..-. / - .... . / -... . . .--. / .- -. -.. / -... --- --- .--. / -- ..- ... .. -.-. / --- -. / .... . .-. . --..-- / -... ..- - / .. / ... - .. .-.. .-.. / .--- ..- ... - / -.-. .- -. .----. - .-.-.-

Somebody to Love and White Rabbit are classics. Go to Her is an unexpected jam. The rest are pretty forgettable.

Apparently this is a really influential album. For disco. Which begs the question, if the album is influential to a terrible genre, is it still influential? I've read a lot of reviews about dumb lyrics on albums here, but some of these songs sound like they belong at a cheerleading competition. Bonus point for the bass.

I debated on ranking this a 1 or a 2. I looked at my one rankings. It's not that bad. I looked at my 2 rankings. It's not that good. It's a solid 1.5. It slides towards being a 1 because it's completely and utterly forgettable. I wish I could understand the cultural significance as to why this ended up on the list, because I don't see it. But Tracey's voice is really nice. It would be great background music if you were at some stuffy cocktail party where you didn't really like anybody there but had to go for work. Is it a bland, inoffensive 1 or a just not my style 2? By the time I hit Lonesome for a Place I Know I was looking for how much time I had left. But really, the sax solo at the end of Tears All Over Town was probably the nail in the coffin. It's a 1.

It's all the things I hate about '60s music all rolled up into one.

Why am I wavering so much on this one? It's not a good album. It's not groundbreaking in any way. The lyrics are dumbfoundingly bad. But I have a hard time giving it a one, mainly because "Take A Look Around" is actually decent and I made it through the whole album (okay, I quit 2 minutes into Outro, but really, was there something amazing in the last 7 minutes?). On a 1-10 scale this would be a solid two. There are worse. There are much, much - much - better. I guess I'll go with 1 here. But really it's like a 1.5. Only saved by "Take a Look Around".

The production is great. The basslines are really good. But it's disco. And no matter how good it is, you lose at least one star for disco.

Okay, stay with me for this one. Is this Metallica's best album? No. Is this a great thrash metal album? No. Is this one of the best metal albums? No. Is this one of the most important albums ever? Yes. The Black Album is forever the gateway album to other things. This was the album everyone got into (thank you Enter Sandman and The Unforgiven). It was the album everyone owned and everyone had to own. For some, maybe it was the heaviest thing they'd ever own. For many, many others though from The Black Album we learned about Master of Puppets. And from Master of Puppets we learned about the Big 3 (though truth be told, it was probably just Slayer because Megadeth was just as big with Symphony of Destruction) . And from the Big 3, we learned about Flotsam and Jetsam, Anthrax, Testament, Sepultura, Overkill. This isn't Abbey Road, or The Wall, or Kind of Blue. It's musicality will surely be in question by many. But it's importance in the culture of 1991 and the metal world in general can not be understated in the ability to bond wayward youth together into something larger. And for that it earns every one of its five stars.

Just overly long and boring. Nothing offensive about it per se, but nothing to write home about. Many other bands did this formula (plodding guitars, more spoken lyrics) a lot better. At least I stay awake for Lifter Puller.

The cool thing about this album is that you can hear the influences on Hanoi Rocks here - The Ramones, The Stones - the sax even feels a bit Springsteen. But you can also hear how this albums influences a bunch of music to come. I knew of the connection to Motley Crue of course, but you can really hear what an impact the band had on the whole hair metal scene. Take that for what it's worth because, well, hair metal.

I'm sorry, I couldn't make it through this one. If there's something great on this album past track 8, let me know. But this is scattered in all the worst ways. But mainly it's like some overdone, horribly 80's sounding Lion King soundtrack without Elton John's talent. Why did this make the list? I'm going to now go listen to Faith No More's Angel Dust, which didn't make this list, is 10 times more deserving of being on this list, and doesn't remind me of Simba.

I think I liked Femi more than Fela.

U2 deserves to have albums on this list. This is not one of them. All the power and songwriting from War and The Joshua Tree were long gone by this point.

This is one of those albums that while I didn't love it, I can see why it's on here. Obvious lineage to Ramones, early influence for punk. But it's two covers which aren't amazing and for punk the songs aren't overly tight. Even for proto-punk. So I get it, but wouldn't come back to it.

I usually reserve 4 star rankings for albums I personally love, but may not be deserted island classics, for example. Here we have the Sex Pistols with inarguably one of the most influential albums of all time. However....I just can't say that I love it. I'd much prefer The Clash, or The Damned, or The Ramones, or Wire. So on the album itself - this to me is a 3. But recognizing the significance of it, and frankly on the strength of God Save the Queen and Pretty Vacant (I've never loved Anarchy in the U.K.), I'll give it a 4. It's a low 4, but they gained a 4.

My previous album was the Sex Pistols "Never Mind The Bollocks, Here's The Sex Pistols". And while that album got a 4 due to cultural significance, this one gets a four on just being really good. I hadn't listened to much Siouxsie And the Banshees before, though I've heard of them, but this was excellent early punk with some variety in sound.

I went into this not expecting much. Sure, I've heard the hits, and Simple Man and Gimmie Three Steps are awesome. But a whole album? Nah. I didn't think I was up for it. But, this is really good. I know that people have their issues with the band. But frankly, people have issues with Pantera too and I still listen to them despite Phil's antics. The best part of this album is that it doesn't have Sweet Home Alabama on it. It does have Free Bird though, and frankly, it kind of drags the album down a bit. Sorry Free Bird lovers. Been there, done that, don't even think it's their best. But Gimmie Three Steps. That song is an absolute beast. Same with Simple Man. Tuesday's Gone is a much better song than Free Bird too. Then you get to round out the album with the lesser known, but still great tracks of Mississippi Kid and I Ain't The One. It isn't a 5. Not quite that level of great and I can't give it a historical significance bump here. But way higher than I expected to give.

This probably would have been a really great 45 minute album. But at 99 minutes, it's just too much. Too much of the same. I got really tired of listening to the drum tracks.

Surprisingly better than I expected. The problem that I have with this album is that the hits are the hits for a reason. They're good - Movin' Out, Just the Way You Are, Only the Good Die You, She's Always a Woman. But they're weighed down in equal weight by Scenes from an Italian Restaurant, Everybody Has a Dream, Get It Right the First Time. So after the whole album, it's an equal weight of "that's unsurprisingly good" and "oh yeah, this is why I don't listen to a lot of Billy Joel."

So The Fat Of The Land isn't what all The Prodigy is like? That's too bad.

I wanted to like this, I really did. Atlantic City is a great song and I wanted to like the rest. I don't mind Bruce. But this Bruce is a boring Bruce. I get the songwriting quality is good. But...yawn...I just don't get the Bruce that is a single guitar and harmonica Bruce.

Big Boi's Speakerboxxx - solid 3, if not low 4. Andre 3000's The Love Below - esh. Hey Ya! everyone recognizes and Roses is good. The rest is just to up to anywhere near OutKast standards. If it was its own album, it would be a low 2 or even really high 1. If this double album taught me nothing, it's that I'm more of a Big Boi fan than a Andre fan musically. Sorry, but it's a high 2 for me. Wish it was more.

Any album that features, Stand!, I Want to Take You Higher, Sing a Simple Song, Everyday People, and You Can Make It If You Try on it is a instant 5. This album is nearly a greatest hits in and of itself.

When reviewing albums pre-1970s or so, the thing I keep in mind is that the world was a bit different. The Everly Brothers put out their first album in 1957 - then follow-ups in 1958, two in 1960, 1961, two in 1962, 1963, 1964, two in 1965, two in 1967 and 1968. It was just create albums and hope for a hit on them. Sell the single. So is it a great album? Not necessarily. But times were different then and Cathy's Clown is a great single. Then we get Love Hurts which I doubt most people even know as their song. Plus, the album is short and actually quite listenable. So I don't get the overall low rankings here. Solid 3.

In 1998 we all thought that Lauryn Hill was going to release album after album of greatness, but alas, all we're left with is really this. And it's so good. So, so good. When that bass kick comes in on Doo Wop after that bouncy little piano part, it's soothing 90s all over again. While Doo Wop was played everywhere, this mix of acoustic folk, hip-hop, jazzy influences, and singer songwriter across the whole album just plain works in Lost Ones, Ex-Factor, To Zion, and Forgive Them Father. This was everything that was right with the 90s. Initially, I thought 4. But I'd listen to this about any day, any time. So it deserves a 5 and so it will be.

I will say it's aged a lot better than a lot of early 2000s indie rock. The bad part of its aging is that it doesn't sound overly impactful in any way. It's fun music, but not earth shattering.

There's talent here, but I got bored. Real bored.

"What do you get when you kiss a guy? You get enough germs to catch pneumonia After you do, he'll never phone you I'll never fall in love again" I just can't. Then we get to Mr. Guder. Seriously, I had to look at the song title to realize they weren't singing about cheese. Only to find out that the song is about a supervisor that fired them. I mean, let it go people. I swear this spawned Adele. Other albums from 1970 that did not make this list: Elton John - Elton John, The Velvet Underground - Loaded, Funkadelic - Funkadelic. And in no world should this be on the list where Weezer's blue album isn't.

I may ~may~ like this more than Daydream Nation. A bit more song structure and melody here. The songs that bring Kim to the front are great. Sure, it fades a bit on the back side, but Tunic, Kool Thing, My Friend Goo are so good. Plus there's the whole "does a band get extra points for just being really influential" and Sonic Youth scores those in spades for Goo and Daydream Nation.

Have the Stone ever put together a fully great album a la the Beatles? Honestly, not sure. But this isn't it. We start off with one of the most blistering opening tracks ever, and frankly, one of the Stones best in Paint It, Black. Could it get better from there? One could argue that anything following that would be a letdown. The rest isn't bad. But it's not great, it's not amazing, it's not one of the best albums ever. But Paint It, Black probably deserves a star on its own.

If this was playing in an airport, I'd miss my flight.

Wouldn't have been the LL Cool J album I would have picked (14 Shots to the Dome), but it's okay.

I was expecting an album of 80s pop music a la The Bangles and what I got was an album of 80s new wave punk rock a la Blondie. And it was good. Really good.

There is something special about an album that you've never heard before ending on the two strongest, and longest, songs of the whole album. I Am the Resurrection is amazing and Fools Gold is right behind it. The first part of the album wasn't as strong for me, but it picked up and drove home real strong.

Probably goes down better with a Budweiser and a Marlboro Red, but pretty good regardless.

Cars Are Cars lost this album a whole star.

Absolute game changer. Nothing touched this for at least another 10 years.

I usually like British rap or grime. But I've tried to listen to this about four times now. I made it to Dry Your Eyes this time. Why not finish it you say? You're only one track away from the end you say? I just can't take it any more. I can't try for a fifth time. It's just bad. It's not good. It just isn't.

Here's my simple rule for 1 ratings. Would I ever, ever sit down and listen to this album again? If the answer is no, if I couldn't get through the whole album, if I am bored to tears, or if I'm just generally confused - it's a 1. This is a 1. I made it to Torch Song.

It's been so long since I listened to this, I forgot that I've listened to this. But when "Hidden Place" first came on it was instant recognition. There's a lot to like here - Hidden Place, It's Not Up To You, Pagan Poetry, Heirloom. There are some points where it sags a bit - An Echo, a Stain being the main one. Honestly, in the 1001 list I'm surprise Post isn't in here, I prefer it to this honestly. This lacks that boombastic aspect of Post. Still really good though and a tough rate. It's a 3, but a really high 3.

You start off The White Album thinking it may be one of the best things ever made. Then you hit Wild Honey Pie. Nobody told them to cut this 0:52? I find that hard to believe. Nobody told them to cut Piggies? Rocky Raccoon? The Beatles needed an editor. A good editor would have cut Don't Pass Me By and The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill. But at least those are somewhat passable. The second album starts off the same as the first - out of the gate hard on the first two tracks. Then, eh. I know this is supposed to be some amazing album. And if you took pieces of it, it would be. But it's too long. Too unorganized. Too unfocused.

One night in college I was up studying, or barely studying, and watching old SNL reruns. Why? Who knows. But there are two strong musical memories I have from watching TV late at night while barely studying during that period of my life. One was seeing Poe perform Angry Johnny on 120 Minutes. The other was that night. That night SNL announced this band called Fishbone. And then the TV was taken over by this band. This band of guys sprawling across the floor, running around like mad men, chrome canes and drumsets wrapped in caution tape. Keyboards flying and the sound. The sound! It was loud and funky and soaring vocals and it was amazing. It was stop whatever you're doing and pay attention amazing. Is Sunless Saturday on this album? No, no it's not. Was that performance related to this album? No, no it wasn't. But that was my introduction to Fishbone. I don't understand the low ranking for this album. It's an absolute banger of a classic. Funky, fast, slow, loud, angry, soft, fun, and topical. It's everything. And it doesn't get enough credit, just like the band itself. Ma and Pa, Ghetto Soundwave, Freddie's Dead - this album is on point from beginning to end (and to go out on Change). Not a bad song in the bunch.

My bored to tears rating system comes into play here. Made it to Never Make Me Cry.

If this doesn't make you realize why punk rock exists, I don't know what will.

The Beatles make a record with only two songs that annoy me to death (Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite! and Within You Without You). Still a 5 star, though a lower 5 star.

Generic 70s rock music with too much Bowie influence.

Three days before this, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band showed up for a listen. Growing up, I was a huge Beach Boys fan. It's nice to listen to these two albums back to back. The good news with the Beach Boys is that there isn't a "why in the world did you include that track moment" here. Is it the greatest thing ever? I'd argue no. But it is great.

It may not be the best Hüsker Dü, but it's still better than a lot of stuff on this list.

The first four tracks on this are amazing. Fades a bit after that.

This one gets and extra bump due to the influence it had. But I wouldn't relisten to it again.

Oddly interesting? Interestingly odd? I'm not really sure which. But I started it and I didn't want to turn it off. Kind of groovy. Not sure it's my thing or I'd listen to it again, but kind of cool that I did once. Better than most of the strangely odd things on this list.

With a list loaded with a bunch of white guys who wanted to be blues players, this is where it's at. This is rock and roll. This is drunken, blues soaked guitars with feeling. Beyond that, what we have here is a perfect example of the '60s. From the Crumb artwork, to the fake "live" additions, to the three covers on this album. It's just great. Oh, Sweet Mary is probably the only lull in the album, but while you know Piece of My Heart and Ball and Chain, Turtle Blues and Combination of the Two really shine. Grab a beer, sit on the deck and put this on. Can't go wrong.

Five stars don't leave a lot of room for nuance. What we have here is not Led Zepplin's best. That's more left to II, possibly the underrated III, or Physical Graffiti. It's also basically an album of covers. While I get that a lot of bands of this era started with these cover filler tracks (aka The Beatles), it's not a true showcase of what they could do. So what do you rate this? 3 stars is reserved for that "it's not that bad but it's surely not good" era of murky middle that makes you wonder why albums were on this list. So move it up to a 4. But is it really a 4? I'm actually quite indifferent about this album in many ways. On the other hand, when this came out in 1969 I can only imagine what dropping the needle on this was like. And John Bohnam. John Bohnam back there on the kit is so, so good. But one must leave room for II and Physical Graffitti. Can four Zepplin albums earn five star ratings? Me thinks not. I also think this isn't so bad that it's a three. Sometimes I wish we went to 10 stars. This is a solid 6 or 7 on that ranking. Here, we're going with 4, but it's like a 4.2.

The problem is that there are so many other Wilco albums that I'd pick over this one that aren't on this list....

It's not the worst electronic music I've ever heard. It's still electronic music though.

Four years later and even more boring.

Cornflakes. Plain white shirts. Water. These things have their place in life. Doesn't make them interesting.