1001 Albums Summary

Side 2 takes it from a 3 to a 4 star rating

Folk rock pop? Creative production for this kind of music. Beautiful lyrics.

Over-arranged treacle - not my taste

Mediocre alt-pop rock. Would die happily without hearing this.

First listen. Not a fan of hip-hop. Better than expected. Sounds like they were having fun. Doubt I would listen to it again.

Classic Roots Reggae

Swinging jazz. At its best when the band lets rip with the stomping up-tempo parts. Have heard it before and will listen to it again. Almost 5 - brilliantly delivered, fun tunes but too 'safe' for full marks.

Easy 5

Good backing band and particularly like the (new to me) song: I'm Movin' On

Impressively varied, with some chunky riffs on places (for Queen)

Great 'lose' sounding garage rock, but they sure ain't playing in Joe's garage.

Similar but not as good CSN&Y

Influencial and important in context (and I happen to like it) but I'm not sure it is an essential album to hear, in 2024. 2.5 stars if it was available.

Another easy 5

Was not listening to the lyrics much, which I suspect is important for this artist. Other than 2/3 songs, most of the tracks sounded uninteresting and like typical 90's alt-pop (maybe even early emo)

Interesting in context but not a 'have to hear'

Some OK tunes or rather, parts of tunes, but mainly, meh

Very good album. Only one, maybe two tracks less strong than other but overall 4/5 - going with a 5

Well written and played country songs, 3/4 but going with a 4

Some good synth pop songs. Not my taste really. 2/3 but will give it a generous 3.

4/5 but I will go with a 5 in this instance.

What most artists want - a unique sound. 3/4 making it 4 for interesting international pop

Definitely a 'have to hear'. Even if you don't like all the songs, deserves a 5 for production/sound.

Very good for modern minimalist electronica 3/4, delivery and song writing tips it to 4.

Easy 5

Old timer doing his thing but with modern recording, production and collaborators - great! Easy 5

Interesting and influential within context but listening more than 30 years later, it is still 'solid' but not necessarily 'have to hear'

Not a 'have to hear'

Interesting - 3/4 but probably a 3 for me

Seems like an album that will reward repeated listens, but a 3 after one listen

Modern/80s soul by great vocalist but only 2 or 3 great tunes

Ok, but not a 'have to hear'

Interesting and fun

Classic hard/blues rock 4/5

Interesting lyrics (the parts where I focused on listening) but the overall sound is not to my taste 2/3, probably 2

Better than expected

Dylanesque country/folk

Focalist reminds of Black Francis - nice lyrics

Melodic alt-rock

Modern punk roxk

Early French rap - interesting: 3/4 leaning to 4.

Interesting electro-alt-rock (not my favourite album from them)

Not quite Innervisions but typically 70s Stevie Wonder

Acoustic folk/jazz(?) cabaret - interesting. Mood music

Trying too hard to be 'creative'

Creative Industrial

Christina Aguilera's R&B pop sound is generally not my cup of tea but this album pleasantly surprised me - interesting song topics and lyrics, and other genre influences - pretty good actually.

The DJ parts have not aged well but the South African tunes are great

Short, sharp, good energy

At times quite funky

More than just a very good pub rock band - can hear various influences in some songs, Led Zeppelin, CSN&Y and they probably influenced Kiss (but they sou d way better than Kiss, to me). Above average lyrics for this genre too.

Epitome of a singer-songwriter

Overproduced rock with OTT lyrics - trying so (too?) hard to be soulful that it ends up being soulless and.

An easy 5

Accurate album description. Some great tunes arrangements and playing) and others less so

Not the best by Zappa or the Mothers era

Soulless blues boogie rock

Fuzz pop/rock - meh

Too smooth for my taste but a very good example of this lyrical big band swing jazz genre

Nice piano blues

Great 'basic' blues rock

Has not aged well (in 2025) at all. I 'get' the commentry on the police racism but many of the tracks are seriously misogynistic and immature (bravado or insecurity?). MC Ren seems like the only rapper with flow.

At times thought I heard 'new wave' and a potential influence for Yazoo. Merely OK (3)

More meaningful than NWA but not really something you have to hear before you die

Aware of the the influence but in 2025 - 3

Emo nu-metal. Not bad, but I'm not connecting - probably too old and don't have that much angst anymore.

Old school hip-hop. Not very interesting in 2025

Similar style to Back to Black but the production is less slick

Mellow alt-america

Avant-garde punk rock, but unfortunately, not interesting

Slightly more interesting than Paul's Boutique but still a generous 3 for me

Varied but at times very 80's. A number of strong tracks elevates it to a 3

Minimalist music can be good but this is soulless and uninteresting

Despite some songs having very cheesy lyrics, the music would still be interesting (4)