1001 Albums Summary

Bought this when it came out. I know Fast Car has enjoyed a recent resurgence with a cover by a male country artist that I haven’t heard. Chapman had such promise but it can be hard to sustain a career when your first song is an all-timer. Sort of like having Moby Dick as your first novel.

One of my favorites. The jam heavy classics Down By the River and Cowgirl in the Sand anchor the record and Cinnamon Girl and the title track are true highlights. Get past Requiem for the Rockets and this is a winning disc.

Good album if you were a 15 year old boy in 1978

This is the Wilco album that really launched the band. Yes, A.M. was their first record but it was Being There that brought Jeff Tweedy out of Jay Farrar's shadow. Jeff was always the second talent in Uncle Tupelo, though you could see this changing by Anodyne. However, when Farrar left to form Son Volt he got out of the gate quickly with Trace and Wilco really didn't keep up. Tweedy kept evolving as a song writer and by the time he was opening shows with Misunderstood you could feel the tables turning. Being There isn't the best Wilco album but it was the first one that grabbed you by the collar and gave hope that the promise of The Long Cut and New Madrid wasn't a fluke and that more great music was to come.

You had to be there

The first truly great album to come from this list. The pre-accident, post Newport Bob Dylan. I think I have that right. Most people will tell you that Highway 61 and Blonde on Blonde are the best of that period. I would argue that this is the best of the lot. "Even the President of the United States, sometimes must have to stand naked". Harrowing words for this post election day when our country has just bared it's true self to the world.

Just realized that he's backing out of the Yellow Brick Road and not stepping onto it.

Great guitar sound

Isn’t John Cusack standing in the rain in Say Anything the first thing that pops in your head?

Probably the best album I've been sent so far, the other truly great one was Dylan's Bringing It All Back Home. From the opening of Rocks Off to the ending of Soul Survivor there's a lot to love. Side two is the best of the four, I still think of this as a double album. It's hard to beat Sweet Virginia, Torn and Frayed, Sweet Black Angel and Loving Cup as a side of any record, not just one by the Stones. Supposedly panned by the critics on release, Exile has stood the test of time. 5 Stars probably isn't enough.

Brilliant songwriting. Randy Newman, the geeky looking kid who turns out to be the smartest person in the room. A biting, rye sense of humor with a tender heart underneath it all. This is 5 stars all the way.

His best record

Never saw what all the fuss was about, guys in jump suits and funny hats doing a robotic cover of a Stones classic. It was interesting the first time and then it got old.

Thinking of dropping out of this list because this doesn’t fit the criteria in my opinion. More like 1001 albums to avoid