1001 Albums Summary

Warm and soulful. Equal Measures delicate and strong. This is a great album full of assured, heartfelt songwriting. Love it.

The title track is a horny banger, the rest of the album never matches its smooth, swaggering and delicious giddiness. But Marvin’s voice is always a joy to listen to.

Some great songs and also one about a coconut.

Lennon’s acerbic wit - ‘imagine there’s no heaven’ - wrestles with his anger and his vulnerability to produce some absolutely great songs.

it’s a mess, quantity over quality, with some gleaming gems among the clumsy and the clichéd.

Great guitar riffs underneath it all. Not quite my bag, but I can see why it’s rated - good quality Rock

Why don’t we play all the songs at once? Yes!

Borish blues with pseudo-shamanic ramblings. Occasional flourishes above the bloated and pretentious.

Dreamy samba music that drifts between consciousness and coma. At times sublime, at other times strangely detached.

Deeply cool, somewhat unhinged mixture of electronic music and analogue rock. Actual catchy songs emerge fully formed amid sweeping, intriguing soundscapes. The album is great, experimental and addled.

Lightly seduced by a vibraphone leading you off into intriguing modes with a rose clenched between its teeth

The songs are slight, with the three major singles standing out. All wrapped up in swirling production. Catchy 90s melancholy ballads that still have some power to evoke a clumsy come down swagger. But this swagger is stolen, like the sample, from bands who have greater talent and longevity. The Verve is ultimately a pale imitation, this album is not a classic in the sense of others.

Pompous, Hobbity, dirty rock and roll. Iconic riffs drown out the nonsense, at times great.

Despite the production’s tendency to 90s new agey world music tropes that have not aged well, the Kora and guitar and rhythm parts are effective - though Baaba himself is a bit atonal and goaty.

Like a more Sesame Streety version of Parliament

Why must I hear this before I die? It didn’t really ever rise above potentially interesting but disappointing.

Inventive, fun, evolutionary, psychedelic vaudeville. Brimming with creativity. A truly classic album that changed the rock genre for the better for good.

There’s a lot to like on this album, but it also feels sometimes cluttered and asinine.

They’re criminals! But they like to have fun! It’s gimmicky weed rap that never excels in lyricism, wit or creativity. It is sometimes fun. Sometimes, yes, criminal.

Really nice melodies and rhythms, still find Baaba’s voice a little grating at times but when it all works it’s lovely.

Nope. Not going to listen. I’m open minded, open to all music but this creep can fuck off.

This is a near perfect album. Simon builds songs from deceptive simplicity with wonderfully intricate layers of talent from the many contributing artists. A work of cultural appropriation or rainbow synthesis of worlds meeting? Both, neither. It’s beautiful even if cynical, like the hopes of a well worn heart. It could be terrible, it could be embarrassing - David Brent dancing at Notting Hill Carnival - but instead it’s glorious.

There’s a simmering arrogance and tension between the group but it all comes together to make deceptively catchy, complex pop. At times it tips over into alienating pretension but when it works, it’s very good.