Dec 27 2024
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In Utero
Nirvana
4
Dec 30 2024
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Parallel Lines
Blondie
A classic. Already owned this but nice to revist.
4
Dec 31 2024
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Hot Buttered Soul
Isaac Hayes
I was not prepared for the length of these songs! Didn't love this one.
2
Jan 01 2025
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Born In The U.S.A.
Bruce Springsteen
I avoided this LP at the time because I didn't love the singles, which were played all the time on the radio. listening to it all the way through, I sorta get it, but its not for me.
3
Jan 02 2025
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Ágætis Byrjun
Sigur Rós
A surprise. Really great.
5
Jan 03 2025
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The Coral
The Coral
I had never even heard of this band. A bit derivative but okay.
2
Jan 06 2025
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Paranoid
Black Sabbath
I already know this record well but a fresh listen was fun
4
Jan 07 2025
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Dire Straits
Dire Straits
3
Jan 08 2025
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Smokers Delight
Nightmares On Wax
Had never heard of this band. Not a genre I typically listen to. The sound of this record is good but after a while it was boring.
1
Jan 09 2025
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In It For The Money
Supergrass
Didn't know much about this band, but liked this.
4
Jan 10 2025
View Album
Armed Forces
Elvis Costello & The Attractions
Already knew and liked this LP. Don't think I'd ever heard the UK sequence with Sunday Best. I get the context, but the slur in Oliver's Army always makes me cringe.
4
Jan 13 2025
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Brilliant Corners
Thelonious Monk
I don't know enough about jazz to evaluate this record. Not for me, though probably a great record.
3
Jan 14 2025
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Illinois
Sufjan Stevens
Already own and love this one. "Casimir Pulaski day" always makes me cry.
5
Jan 15 2025
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Black Sabbath
Black Sabbath
Probably one of the first 25 to 50 lps
I bought as a teenager. Hard to evaluate now since I associate it with that time in my life.
3
Jan 16 2025
View Album
New Gold Dream (81/82/83/84)
Simple Minds
I only knew their monster hit "don't you forget about me" and it never occurred to me to listen to their lps. This was pretty good.
4
Jan 17 2025
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Music From Big Pink
The Band
Sounds like the grateful dead but with precise non-noodling performances. I'm just not a fan of the vocal styles or the vibe, though I can recognize its a good record.
2
Jan 20 2025
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Home Is Where The Music Is
Hugh Masekela
I liked this mostly but a double Lp was a lot to take in at once. What a talented horn player he was. I hadn't idea.
3
Jan 21 2025
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1989
Taylor Swift
Better than I thought it would be but not my thing.
3
Jan 22 2025
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Chris
Christine and the Queens
Why is this on the list? Forgettable lightweight pop. I only made it thru 4 or 5 songs. If you want good French pop try Air (which is on this list) or Les Rita Mitsouko ( which isnt)
1
Jan 23 2025
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Nilsson Schmilsson
Harry Nilsson
Aw yes, that's more like it. Already know his catalog pretty well but this is a pretty good representation. Coconut has not aged well tho.
4
Jan 24 2025
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Transformer
Lou Reed
Never noticed the Bowie backing vocals on satellite of love before. This is a pretty decent record from someone who let's gave it doesn't have a great singing voice
3
Jan 27 2025
View Album
Unknown Pleasures
Joy Division
Omg I listened to this so much in my 20s I can't not love it now. Would be interested to know what a tabula rasa experience with this lp is like. Gotta 10/10, sorry not sorry.
5
Jan 28 2025
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Raising Hell
Run-D.M.C.
Oh yeah. I legit love this period of hip hop where things were gleeful and nobody was routinely called a ho.
4
Jan 29 2025
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Queen II
Queen
This was a weird one. I've heard all their back catalog, but this is one without any obvious singles/hits on it. Kinda prog rock (in a good way) and you can definitely see how they go from this to bohemian rhapsody. This is fine but I feel like sheer heart attack, NATO, DATR are stronger conceptually and more fun to listen to.
3
Jan 30 2025
View Album
Blonde On Blonde
Bob Dylan
over the last 30 years I've tried to get the Dylan mystique and it has not happened. Is Dylan a better vocalist than famously anti-singer vocalist Leonard Cohen? no. Is Dylan a better songwriter than Leonard Cohen? debatable, but I like Nick Cave and Jennifer Warnes covers of Cohen better than any non-Hendrix Dylan cover i've heard.
Maybe I'd be more sympathetic to Dylan's schtick if Brel, Cohen and Scott Walker didn't exist, but they do, and I still don't get why this dude became the standard bearer instead of, I dunno, Mimi Farina.
2
Jan 31 2025
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The Band
The Band
Like big pink that we got last week, I'm just not into this style of music. But this album was okay, though I'll never pick it up again. That last song, King Harvest, was my fave and I would have loved to see Queen cover it.
3
Feb 03 2025
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Coat Of Many Colors
Dolly Parton
This was fine but I don't see it as a must hear.
3
Feb 04 2025
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The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan
Still don't understand dylan veneration.
3
Feb 05 2025
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Elephant Mountain
The Youngbloods
I don't love this guy's voice, but I didn't hate this. A few cringy hippie rhymes. I've already forgotten about this record a few hours after hearing it.
2
Feb 06 2025
View Album
Vanishing Point
Primal Scream
I think "Loaded" is one of the greatest singles of the 1990s, and the Screamadelica (1991) LP that single is one is on this list, so I guess we'll encounter that eventually. The other songs I know of theirs are "Rocks" (on the Give Out But Don't Give Up 1994 lp, not on the list) which is kinda a Black Crowes groove (vs the Madchester sound they are associated with) and "Movin on Up" (also in Screamadelica). So what I'm saying is I get why Screamadelica is on this list and I'll rate that one better than this, but I don't see why there are 2 primal scream lps here, especially this one.
While I'll admit this LP was a nice balm after all the Dylan/Band 60s stuff the algorithm has thrown at us lately, it was too long (no one wanted 53 minutes of this) and superfluous if Screamadelica is already here. plus the cover of Motorhead by Hawkwind (and later motorhead) was not needed at all.
2
Feb 07 2025
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Exile On Main Street
The Rolling Stones
More bluesy than I'd expected. Tumbling dice was the only song I recognized. Will listen again.
3
Feb 10 2025
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Pretzel Logic
Steely Dan
Okay I do not like this bandbut this was not as terrible as I thought it would be. I really liked the east st Louis instrumental.
3 more SD lps on this list, ugh.
2
Feb 11 2025
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Doggystyle
Snoop Dogg
If I wanted juvenile misogyny and undeserved swagger, the Red Hot Chili Peppers are more radio friendly.
If I want a hip-hop group that samples pfunk/george Clinton a lot, digital underground did it better, without nBombs or bitch/ ho lyrics. Sex Packets by DU predates this by 2 years and is a masterpiece. This is machismo garbage, no matter how catchy the underlying groove might be.
1
Feb 12 2025
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Rage Against The Machine
Rage Against The Machine
I know these guys have progressive politics, but I didn't love it for 2 reasons: 1) the songs were a little too repetitive/anthemic. If I'd been 16 when this came out instead of entering grad school, maybe it would move me more. 2) I can't help but feel like these guys might be somewhat responsible for Nu Metal.
2
Feb 13 2025
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The Psychedelic Sounds of the 13th Floor Elevators
The 13th Floor Elevators
One banger single, and the rest of it is good, though i suspect this lp is on the list for its influence more than it's merits.
What is the background "bubbly" sound in most of these songs? Its prominent in "through the rhythm ". It could be a vocal or could be something run thru an effects pedal, but once I heard it, I couldnt ignore it and I liked the songs a bit less.
4
Feb 14 2025
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Suede
Suede
This was a big deal when it came out, and I didn't get it then. I know this came out a few years before Oasis but I can't help but think that Oasis is the much better band of this type and there's no need for this to be on the list.
2
Feb 17 2025
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To Pimp A Butterfly
Kendrick Lamar
Better than the snoop dogg record, but I'm just too old to see how "n***a wipe your ass" gets you a Pulitzer.
2
Feb 18 2025
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Licensed To Ill
Beastie Boys
Okay, this is obviously on the list because the first rap lp to hit #1 on the billboard charts was by white dudes. But how does it hold up, especially knowing that Check your head ( #10 on the charts) is a more sophisticated and probably better album ?
It's hard to evaluate it now. I was 16 when this came out and "fight for your right to party" was -everywhere-. At the time this seemed snotty and brash and like it was maybe not cool for rich white guys to co-opt rap. The music is more minimalist than I'd remembered. The album is definitely juvenile. But it works.
4
Feb 19 2025
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Woodface
Crowded House
A pleasant surprise! I wonder how many other jangly-pop guitar bands like this I missed out on at the time due to the Grunge Ascendancy. I will listen to this again.
4
Feb 20 2025
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The Last Broadcast
Doves
Interstingly enough, in the 2018 print ed of the bk, the doves record is Lost Souls. Revision, or error?
This was pleasent enough but I don't understand why it is on the list.
2
Feb 21 2025
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Elastica
Elastica
I think this is as good as classic Buzzcocks, even though it's borrowing heavily from other post-punk classics. "Waking up" is the Stranglers "No more Heroes", Connection is Wire's "three girl rhumba", etc. While relistening, I noticed "blue" is similar to siouxsie's "Mirage". there are likely other borrowings I can't place. BUT IT DOESNT MATTER because all the songs are catchy, not too long, and still sounds great 30 (?!) years later.
4
Feb 24 2025
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Songs From The Big Chair
Tears For Fears
This was fine, but didn't leave much of an impression. I knew the 2 smash hits on this record already. Probably wouldn't play again but it was okay.
3
Feb 25 2025
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Diamond Life
Sade
Oof, I thought this was old people music when it came out. Now I'm also old, but it still doesn't appeal to me. Technically proficient but just screams "early 1990s movie soundtrack" to me. Like I never saw Indecent Proposal, but this is what I imagine is playing during all the bedroom scenes.
I also feel like this sounds dated, but I don't listen to enough of this style of music to know who is singing like this in the 2020s and if they use so much saxophone.
3
Feb 26 2025
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Music in Exile
Songhoy Blues
What a pleasant surprise! This is the type of thing I was hoping this exercise would point me to. Really liked this record and will check out more of their material!
4
Feb 27 2025
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Rip It Up
Orange Juice
I feel this is another case of a band that was big in the Uk and made no impact in the US. Reminded me of scritti politti with a touch of Culture Club or Fine Young Cannibals. Today it sounds a bit over produced. Not really my thing, but harmless enough.
3
Feb 28 2025
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Liege And Lief
Fairport Convention
Not my genre, but much more listen able than Dylan. Richard Thompson is another musician that loads of musicians I like seem to adore, and it's just never clicked for me. That said, I'm ready to deep dive into Sandy Denny because she has a great voice.
3
Mar 03 2025
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At Mister Kelly's
Sarah Vaughan
This is a fine 1950s vocal album but I see no reason you need to hear this to understand contemporary rock and pop.
3
Mar 04 2025
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Tapestry
Carole King
Holy crap. I always assumed CK was like a proto Dianne Warren and never took her seriously. Turns out she's Harry Nilsson without the dying young part. Even "natural woman", a great song where Aretha's version is near perfect, sounds good and fresh. Im sorry to have dismissed this lp for decades because it is near flawless. Docking star for sax parts/solo in Way over yonder that did not need to exist.
4
Mar 05 2025
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Sweetheart Of The Rodeo
The Byrds
I can see why this was influential and important but it is so not my bag.
3
Mar 06 2025
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Rhythm Nation 1814
Janet Jackson
I dont understand why this record is on the list instead of Control, the superior JJ album in my opinion. Production has not aged well, and I'm glad the 80s/90s hip hop trope of having skits or collage intros between tracks has died. While some of the singles on this are ones I remember (title track, black cat, escapade), theres also sincere but maudlin tracks like "Livin’ in a World (They Didn’t Make)" that I found embarrassing. "School shootings are bad" is not exactly a bold hot take.
I looked at the singles fron Control (nasty, when I think of you, what have you done for me lately) and it just made me want to listen to that record instead.
2
Mar 07 2025
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Want Two
Rufus Wainwright
Gay Radiohead somehow escaped my notice but I actually really like this. I'm not sure it belongs on The List but I dig it a lot.
4
Mar 10 2025
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Green Onions
Booker T. & The MG's
This is fine but doesn't seem like a must. Nice background music. Bet a lot of these tracks have been sampled in hits over the decades.
3
Mar 11 2025
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Low
David Bowie
This is a bowie record i return to a little, even without any huge singles. I think I might like it more than ziggy or diamond dogs.
4
Mar 12 2025
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Antichrist Superstar
Marilyn Manson
77 minutes. Geezus. At least most of the records on this list that originated as vinyl releases are over in 45 minutes (except for the rare double lp).
I'd somehow forgotten that MM was Trent reznors first signing/protege on his Nothing label. You can definitely hear the NIN influence, but NIN is a much better band. I can see how this appeals to a brooding high school mall goth who reads Camus more than say, Slipknot, but I haven't lived with my parents for 30 years, so I am not the market for this.
There are moments where the music interests me but on the whole I'm ambivalent. While a concept album/rock opera about the antichrist is appealing on paper, I'm afraid the prog rock LP 666 by Vangelis/aphrodite's child ( a double LP as long as this one, btw) is my goto in this category.
1
Mar 13 2025
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Stand!
Sly & The Family Stone
Some timeless singles and some egregious padding here. "Don't call me N$%&&, Whitey" did not need to be 5+ minutes when it only has one verse. I also didnt need 15 minutes of the Sex Machine jam. But you cannot deny how good their pop songs are when they stay in that lane.
3
Mar 14 2025
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Doolittle
Pixies
One of my biggest regrets when this lp came out was assuming that the Pixies were like the Sundays or the Blake Babies because I'd only heard Here comes your man and Monkey gone to heaven. So I ignored this band for way too long and I should have seen them when they played my crappy college town in 1990. Ah well.
HEY may be the best minimal ballad ever to repeatedly use the word whores.
5
Mar 17 2025
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Electric Warrior
T. Rex
When the mid 1980s bands like Duran Duran were new, they would list their influences as Bowie, Roxy music, and T Rex. At the time I'd never heard of T rex and when I finally heard them, I didn't entirely get it. It wouldn't be the first time a band was huge in the UK and virtually unknown in the US, and I guess Bolan had to be dead for 10+ years before Bang a Gong ascended to Classic Rock radio. What I'm saying is that T rex was kinda tabula rasa for me because I'd gone my entire life without hearing their material until I was 15 or so.
Anyway, I own this record. I like it okay. Probably more on the list for it's influence. Like a lot of glam rock, the records are never as engaging as the live performances and the LPs are never as good as the singles. One wonders if 50 year old Bolan would have ascended to Bowie levels of recording godhead, or burned out like Sweet or Slade.
4
Mar 18 2025
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Natty Dread
Bob Marley & The Wailers
It's impossible to separate groundbreaking musical movements like this from the well meaning white college boy fans of the next 3 decades who ruined it for everyone. Also not my genre. 4 stars for white liberal guilt at only knowing the Wailers, Jimmy cliff and Steel Pulse as the stars of a genre way more rich than what I know about it.
4
Mar 19 2025
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Slayed?
Slade
Ugh , I referenced this band last week in the T rex entry but didn't know they actually had an lp on the list. The UK authors of the list seem to be desperate to find tolerable lps from bands that had a lot of hot singles (slade: 17 uk top 20s between 1971 and 1976, including 6 number 1s, according to the latest print edition of Dimery's book). So we get entries like this and THREE lps from dexys midnight runners.
I feel like a us based list would have ignored both dexys and slade in favor of something like Pinback's s/t lp because trying to squeeze a competent album from a singles band is a mugs game.
I still mostly know this band from the two Quiet Riot covers. I get that uk listeners may have a nostalgic fondness for this band that north Americans don't understand but I still can't give slade a 3 based on hearing this.
2
Mar 20 2025
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Ill Communication
Beastie Boys
Think I ignored this when it was released even though I liked Check your head a lot. This is too long and has some filler but is interesting enough to warrant further listens.
3
Mar 21 2025
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The Köln Concert
Keith Jarrett
Pleasant enough but not my bag. Thought I recognized a variation on "Fly me to the Moon" toward the end but otherwise this was unfamiliar to me. Reading the backstory of this LP makes me understand its place in the canon more, but I'm too ignorant about improv to really get this.
3
Mar 24 2025
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The Cars
The Cars
I knew the singles but never heard this all the way thru. Wow. Not a filler song in the bunch, really. Proof that if you avoid LPs full of hit singles for 3 or 4 decades, it can sound fresh then.
4
Mar 25 2025
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Foo Fighters
Foo Fighters
This was fine, but nothing that wowed me. Not sure why this is on the list.
3
Mar 26 2025
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Bossanova
Pixies
I played this so much back in the day. Is there even a filler track on here besides Stormy weather?
4
Mar 27 2025
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The Stone Roses
The Stone Roses
How many bands have put out a great debut and either broken up immediately, or followed up with something meh before breaking up? In the latter category, there's Elastica and the Stone Roses. This record holds up better than most of their contemporaries, and yet the goddam Happy Mondays, a shambling group with a few singles that don't hold up well decades later,manage to have TWO records on this list. At least Dimery had the decency to forget Inspiral Carpets on his list.
4
Mar 28 2025
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Mothership Connection
Parliament
The first 2 intro songs are a bit slow/filler, but once it gets going, unstoppable.
4
Mar 31 2025
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Can't Buy A Thrill
Steely Dan
After this record was done, Spotify gave me Peace Frog by the Doors. yep, seems about right.
2
Apr 01 2025
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Abbey Road
Beatles
Fine I guess. How do you review this?!
4
Apr 02 2025
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Steve McQueen
Prefab Sprout
Unexpected! first track appears to be the inspiration for Walk like an Egyptian.
Good record. Sorry to have missed this one back in the day.
4
Apr 03 2025
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The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill
Lauryn Hill
Not my genre, but this was fine. I didnt know any of these songs. Docking a star for the in between song skits that were everywhere back then and have thankfully fallen out of favor.
2
Apr 04 2025
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The Gershwin Songbook
Ella Fitzgerald
I like this material, but a 4 cd box set that you have to hear and rate in a day is like one of those restaurants that will give you the 96 ounce steak for free if you eat it in 60 minutes.
Even if you like steak/Ella, it's too much for one sitting.
4
Apr 07 2025
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Hail To the Thief
Radiohead
This is no longer on the list, but FOUR other albums by this group are. I like this fine but it's optional for canon.
3
Apr 08 2025
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Horses
Patti Smith
Influential but not something I return to often.
3
Apr 09 2025
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Hot Shots II
The Beta Band
I like this record. Not essential but a nice cross between trip hop and pop.
4
Apr 10 2025
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James Brown Live At The Apollo
James Brown
That horn section is so tight even a live record shows no flaws.
4
Apr 11 2025
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Felt Mountain
Goldfrapp
Reminded me of st Vincent, who i like better, but this was still pretty good.
3
Apr 14 2025
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Stardust
Willie Nelson
It might be heresy to disparage willie, but I didnt like this. A standards album? How is this needed? To be fair i don't love the Nilsson or Dr John standards Lps either.
If you're going to do a covers lp, pick weird songs that never charted (siouxsie through the looking glass, martin gore Counterfeit EP) or a songbook (jennifer warnes doing cohen, ella doing gershwin, tho maybe not 4+ cds of it). If I know 95% of the songs on your standards record well enough to sing them myself, im likely not interested in hearing you do them unless your take is so new (devo satisfaction, most Residents covers) that i can't help but be in awe.
2
Apr 15 2025
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Straight Outta Compton
N.W.A.
No.
1
Apr 16 2025
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Apple Venus Volume 1
XTC
This was fine but I like their pre skylarking era LPs much more.
3
Apr 17 2025
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The Wildest!
Louis Prima
I have many louis and keely Lps and think they are lots of fun. This was fine.
3
Apr 18 2025
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Life's Too Good
The Sugarcubes
There were a few weeks in college when this lp came out that it was my favorite thing ever. Saw them live in 1989 and remember liking the show.
A few months later I'd moved on to music I still love today. Hadn't heard this entire record in literally 30 years. I don't feel it's aged well and there's a lot of filler on a record thats only 33 minutes long.
But if the 1001 list says you have to listen to the whole lp so that you can experience the wonder that is Birthday, I'm okay with that.
Side note: has anyone ever attempted to sing this as a replacement for the traditional Happy Birthday to you? Next birthday party I'm at definitely gets "They're smoking cigaaaaars" to find fellow music nerds.
2
Apr 21 2025
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One Nation Under A Groove
Funkadelic
I was unprepared for the scatalogical track, but other than that, a great listen.
4
Apr 22 2025
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Seventeen Seconds
The Cure
Imma call bullshit that the 3 Cure lps in the list are this, disintegration and pornography. Head on the door, boys don't cry or the singles collection, staring at the sea, could have replaced this or pornography.
Don't get me wrong , I like this record fine, but if you have multiple decades of cure lps to choose this is not where I'd have gone.
3
Apr 23 2025
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Spy Vs. Spy: The Music Of Ornette Coleman
John Zorn
Not my cup of tea
2
Apr 24 2025
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Savane
Ali Farka Touré
This did nothing for me. Maybe if I understood the lyrics it would.
2
Apr 25 2025
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Heaven Or Las Vegas
Cocteau Twins
Like the last record, if I don't understand the lyrics, I probably won't love it .this is fine for background music but not something that engages me.
3
Apr 28 2025
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Either Or
Elliott Smith
It is the bane of the music fan to grow up with melancholy music that appeals to teens (the Smiths and the cure in my youth, doubtless something else for millennials) and then hear something that personifies actual pain and woe that you hear as an adult. Robert smith and Morrissey were born in 1959, Elliott Smith in 1969. Elliott is my peer, bob and morrissey are actually fucking Boomers.
Even if he hadn't died young and tragically, Elliott Smith made Sad Bastard music that doesn't embarrass me to listen to as an adult. So many excellent songs on this album. I love the gen x references that are now anachronisms like "food stamp dollar" and "coin-op tv".
A sadly beautiful record.
5
Apr 29 2025
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It's Blitz!
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
This was fine, and Heads will Roll is a great single, but I don't see it as Important or Canon.
3
Apr 30 2025
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Juju
Siouxsie And The Banshees
Man this brings back so many baby bat/teen goth memories it is hard to objectively review this. Is this one of the first 50 lps I bought that I still own? Yes. Have I listened to it in the last 20 years? No. Do I know it almost by heart? Yes.
So in Siouxsie's own words from Spellbound "yah have nooh choicce" but to rate this 4 or 5.
4
May 01 2025
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Water From An Ancient Well
Abdullah Ibrahim
Like the hugh masekala, this was fine but something I'm unlikely to revisit.
3
May 02 2025
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Talking Timbuktu
Ali Farka Touré
Liked this one a bit better than the last one by him, but still meh.
2
May 05 2025
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Wish You Were Here
Pink Floyd
First, it's a shame that in the cd/streaming era, listeners won't see the amazing sleeve photos from this LP.
About the music: while I know how they are related, I always had a problem balancing the heartfelt tributes to their broken former band mate ("shine on you crazy diamond" and "wish you were here") with two largely throwaway songs about how the music industry is full of vapid cheats.
This was always the gamble with PF albums: if you dont like a song, you're stuck with it for 7 to 22 minutes. I like 3 of the 5 songs here and actively dislike the other 2, so how to rate this? Three it is!
3
May 06 2025
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Live At The Regal
B.B. King
I don't generally like live records but understand that with jazz it makes sense. With blues, eh.
Also I saw the film Sinners a few hours before we got assigned this record . It is the story of a blues musician in rural Mississippi whose family are cotton sharecroppers. Now I have to wonder if BB King's life was influenced by vampires.
3
May 07 2025
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The Pleasure Principle
Gary Numan
Already own this so hard to rate. Err on the side of Gary Numan is awesome and ahead of his time.
5
May 08 2025
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Whatever
Aimee Mann
I like this record and don't think Aimee has made a bad record. I even like her moody xmas cd. But I'd have chosen Lost in Space or maybe Magnolia if she only gets one on The List.
Fun fact: Aimee was briefly a member of Ministry. Yes, that one.
4
May 09 2025
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The Nightfly
Donald Fagen
I like this even less than Steely Dan. I didn't know that was possible.
2
May 12 2025
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This Is Fats Domino
Fats Domino
I didn't expect a rock record from the 50s to have a song that surprised me, but Honey Child with its AABCC rhyme structure did.
4
May 13 2025
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Hot Fuss
The Killers
I'd heard the two singles which are okay. The rest of this did nothing for me.
Also The Killers is one of the possible names considered in the Mountain Goats song "The Best ever death metal band out of Denton" and I can't hear this band without thinking that the Mountain Goats are a much better band.
2
May 14 2025
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Now I Got Worry
The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion
This was fine but I think Orange is better.
3
May 15 2025
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Ritual De Lo Habitual
Jane's Addiction
I have hated this band since their debut record. Vapid lyrics, annoying vocals, trite songwriting. The "didn't wanna pay for IEEIT" chorus in Been caught stealing is one of the most annoying earworms of the 90s.
1
May 16 2025
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It's A Shame About Ray
The Lemonheads
Better than I expected, though all the tacked-on demos of the expanded / anniversary edition added nothing.
This record came out when I was doing college radio , I remember playing a few cuts from it but not hearing the whole thing . Then they had a huge single hit with the Mrs. Robinson cover, which had to be tacked on to a re-release of this record soon after. Because I didnt think the cover was all that, I ignored this record at the time, which was a shame. Good songs, nice production.
4
May 19 2025
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Let's Stay Together
Al Green
Pretty good. What a beautiful voice.
3
May 20 2025
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Abraxas
Santana
It's a lp of its time and not really my jam, but you cannot deny it's influence.
4
May 21 2025
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The Doors
The Doors
I loved this band when I was 12 because I had only started listening to rock music and buying my own LPs. I thought this was SO DEEP because I was a preteen and didn't know any better.
The combo of organ and guitar still sounds fresh. Only The Stranglers did it better. The End is too much, but I still like the Brecht/Will cover.
4
May 22 2025
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Logical Progression
LTJ Bukem
Sounds like slightly hipper Radio "production music". Or wallpaper.
1
May 23 2025
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So
Peter Gabriel
Hadn't realized his 3 monster hits were on here. Idiosyncratic enough to not be a pure pop album, but he can write a hook when he wants to. I'm not a fan of the slick production but I think this has aged pretty well.
3
May 26 2025
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Raw Power
The Stooges
Is this the OTHER record that didn't do so well but everyone who bought it formed a band? Still holds up.
4
May 27 2025
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Are You Experienced
Jimi Hendrix
Still holds up even though I'm not into psychedelia much.
5
May 28 2025
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Blood On The Tracks
Bob Dylan
Better than other dylan lps we've had on the list but I am still immune to Mr. Zimmermans appeal.
3
May 29 2025
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Wild Gift
X
One of the punk lps from my high school years that I can still listen to and enjoy. Solid.
5
May 30 2025
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Hounds Of Love
Kate Bush
Like Peter Gabriel's so that we had recently, an idiosyncratic pop record with a few banger hits, some introspection, and some dated production choices (fretless bass, tape cutups). Nonetheless, still a good record.
4
Jun 02 2025
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Bad
Michael Jackson
If you told me in 1995 that "Thriller" had two #1 singles and "Bad" had five #1 singles, I would have challenged you to cite your sources, because I would not have believed you. Maybe its just because Thriller was fucking everywhere for years after its release that I assumed it had more #1s, but its interesting to me that something that sold so many albums only had 2 of 7 singles hit #1. Before now, I had never listened to a Michael Jackson LP in its in entirety; because I'd heard the singles so many times, there was simply no need to hear them in an album (and I was sick of them, even if I'd loved them, which I didn't).
While this LP had more #1 hits, I don't think they "stuck" as well as the ones on Thriller, and they certainly didn't get MTV play for as many months on end. 9 of the 10 tracks on Bad became singles (to be fair, at least two weren't singles in the US , including the terrible "Liberian Girl": Compare that to thriller's 7 singles from 9 tracks (which also has some clunkers- "The Girl is Mine" has not aged well, either) and the high expectations for this LP (how do you follow up a smash that is literally the best selling record of all time?) and it's hard to view this record without comparing it to Thriller.
That said, it gets a three because Speed Demon and Liberian girl are awful, and Dirty Diana is not great, either. But Smooth Criminal has one of the best riffs of all time, even if you aren't a fan of this kind of pop.
3
Jun 03 2025
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Songs For Swingin' Lovers!
Frank Sinatra
I was prepared to rate this higher, but finding out that it came out thesame month and year as the first elvis Presley lp makes it seem hopelessly old fashioned for music that teenage girls once went nuts for.
3
Jun 04 2025
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The Lexicon Of Love
ABC
I only knew the two hits from this one; like a lot of 80s techno pop, I seldom listened to LPs of bands that had giant hits on MTV that I'd grown tired of.
I'm now sorry I missed this one when it was new; its got that early Duran Duran slickness but some great hooks. I especially like the opener "Show me" and the lounge version of Poison Arrow at the end (which is apparently from a later reissue and not on the original 80s lp)
My one complaint is that the production gimmicks by Trevor Horn on this LP show up on many later Trevor Horn projects. This LP is 3 or 4 years prior to Frankie Goes to Hollywood's debut, which borrows bass lines, bridges, and general Trevor Horniness from it. "Date Stamp" and "Tears are not enough " are like ur-versions of the Two Tribes bass part. But ABC is a much tighter band than FGTH (which is also on the 1001 list, so I guess its good we got this one first).
4
Jun 05 2025
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...The Dandy Warhols Come Down
The Dandy Warhols
This had some good grooves and in general I liked it, but both the album itself and the individual songs needed a 20% cut in length.
3
Jun 06 2025
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Beauty And The Beat
The Go-Go's
Better than expected. I learned from the recent documentary that what broke the group up was not drug or alcohol abuse by some members, but that some of the gals that didn't write many/any songs wanted songwriting split evenly 5 ways and Jane who did the heavy lifting for songwriting thought this unfair.
3
Jun 09 2025
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Moving Pictures
Rush
A Canadian Yes? Interesting mix of pop and prog, though not my bag.
3
Jun 10 2025
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It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back
Public Enemy
a little bit of filler but some bangers, too.
3
Jun 11 2025
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Penance Soiree
The Icarus Line
I listened to this without knowing anything about it and 8 hours later cannot recall one hook or bridge. My mental note was sounds like a band influenced by Spoon who has literally heard nothing else but can't write a catchy song. Inoffensive but forgettable and should not be on the list.
2
Jun 12 2025
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Yank Crime
Drive Like Jehu
I dunno, I already have a Shellac record, so I think I'm set for math rock that is also angry.
2
Jun 13 2025
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Surf's Up
The Beach Boys
A few great songs and a few horrid clunkers. I'd rather hear pet sounds and avoid this one, not sure why its on the list.
2
Jun 16 2025
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The Dark Side Of The Moon
Pink Floyd
Ive heard this so many times I'm tired of it. But it still gets a 5.
5
Jun 17 2025
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Out Of The Blue
Electric Light Orchestra
It's rare that a double LP of the pre-cd era isn't at least 25% filler. This one has almost no throwaway songs and has great pop hooks. It was cool to hate on this band during the postpunk period but I really adore them.
4
Jun 18 2025
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Ogden's Nut Gone Flake
Small Faces
I understand this band is associated with Rod Stewart. That is not enough to elevate this ho-hum 1960s pop record. I'm deducting more points for the interminable spoken intros on side 2. Should not be on the list.
1
Jun 19 2025
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Feast of Wire
Calexico
Those was unfamiliar to me and I liked it. Not usually into Americana but these folks do it well.
4
Jun 20 2025
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GREY Area
Little Simz
Ive never heard a British hip hop record before (no, not even Mos def), but I liked this more thani thought I would.
3
Jun 23 2025
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Document
R.E.M.
Just enough singles you remember to keep you interested but before they got too mainstream.
3
Jun 24 2025
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Highway to Hell
AC/DC
Is this band consistent, or one idea run into the ground? Either way, I guess this is the one to hear. I was not expecting a Mork from Ork reference at the end of Night Stalker. That did not age well.
3
Jun 25 2025
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The Visitors
ABBA
This LP answers the thought experiment "what if ABBA had some great songs that weren't on Abba Gold that you'd only heard 3 times in your entire life and never got sick of from overexposure"?
4
Jun 26 2025
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Rock 'N Soul
Solomon Burke
Pleasant enough for a listen but probably won't return to it.
3
Jun 27 2025
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Homework
Daft Punk
Okay as background music or in TV ads but kinda torturous as something I have to hear in one sitting.
2
Jun 30 2025
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Van Halen
Van Halen
I'm tempted to give this a 1 for influencing and spawning the dumbest hair metal bands of the late 1980s. The Eddie VH guitar acrobatics that inspired generations of wannabe soloists are impressive, but maybe don't hold up so well.
How to evaluate an Lp that was like crack for the kids on my Jr high school bus that had a boom box and 2 tapes? I Jamie's crying sounds like the dumbest Aerosmith song, but Little Dreamer is actually okay.
2
Jul 01 2025
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Stankonia
OutKast
If I dock every crossover hip-hop record for gratuitous n-word bombs and unneeded betwwen song skits, we get a lot of one star ratings. BREAK!
1
Jul 02 2025
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Tonight's The Night
Neil Young
There are 7 neil young LPs on this list. That is too many, and I don't see what is so remarkable about this one.
2
Jul 03 2025
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Done By The Forces Of Nature
Jungle Brothers
It seems I only like hip hop recorded prior to 1992. I'm okay with that.
4
Jul 04 2025
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The Bends
Radiohead
There are 4 radiohead albums on the list and 2 that were but have been removed. This one and ok computer are probably the only ones you actually need to hear. Fake plastic trees still holds up.
4
Jul 07 2025
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Ellington at Newport
Duke Ellington
This was a bit too long and too full of live LP chatter for me to really enjoy it.
3
Jul 08 2025
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Deep Purple In Rock
Deep Purple
These songs all sound like demos or jams based on "Highway star". Not what I expected. Machine Head AND another DP record I've not heard are ALSO on the list, so I can say pretty confidently this one doesn't need to be.
1
Jul 09 2025
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Tom Tom Club
Tom Tom Club
One banger single. Lots of filler and tracks that did not age well.
2
Jul 10 2025
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American Beauty
Grateful Dead
I did not hate this as much as I expected, but its still not for me.
3
Jul 11 2025
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Blood, Sweat & Tears
Blood, Sweat & Tears
I had already seen the recent doc about this band that suggested that the band agreeing to tour the communist bloc as a State department deal for allowing their Canadian lead singer to stay in the us was the thing that killed the band. Other than the hits that was all I knew of BST. I will say they are like a hipper better Chicago, but I'm still suspicious of an LP that only has 2 originals and bookends with Eric fucking satie.
3