Not my favorite Dylan album, but hey, it's an objectively Great Record and all that.

This is going to sound really dumb, but I had no idea how good Oasis was. What a fantastic album. No wonder they're so popular.

Weird that there was a time before these songs.

The damn hay bales on the cover make people think this is a country album, but if it had been a collection of short stories, it would have won the Pulitzer.

Funny, I've avoided this for ages because I can't bear to hear Hallelujah. But you forget how much of the record sounds like Zeppelin. Also, dynamics-- loud louds and soft softs. On the whole, I enjoyed it more than I expected to, and the Hallelujah thing isn't his fault.

Relentless. Complicated. Joyless. One of those things where I can appreciate how perfect it is, but I can't love it. Is this what goes on in the heads of lapsed Christian Scientists? Is metal the counter reformation to the punk reformation? Can I please listen to the stooges now?

Another one where it's hard to get past the baggage, but I'm happy I listened. So much rawer than I remembered. And what about those instrumentals?

Sometimes, Adele just stops me in my tracks and I have to listen. But then it goes away. More of a Dusty Springfield guy, I guess. You can't deny that she's really, really good, of course. I have nothing but respect, and I wish I liked it more.

Never listened to a Deep Purple beyond Smoke on the Water and Space Truckin'. Much more fun than I expected.

Another record I've never listened to... Wow, get some South Africans, tone down the trippy production and that second track could be on Graceland. The old people thing is odd. Maybe it would be more meaningful if I were more focused.

This album made me buy an electric guitar. It was like the big fish of rock and roll was in the bottom of the boat almost dead, but with a mighty kick of its tail leaped back in the water to survive another day. And I will always have a crush on Meg.

Somehow, I missed this when it was new. It's very much of its time, but that was kinda my time, so I dig it. And mixed in with that are tabs amounts of Neal Young, which is also up my alley. And psychedelia! And Galaxie 500-ish sounds! So where was I in '97?

Wow. Never been a hip-hop guy, but there's so much to unpack here. And I know that he's kinda problematic, but this is a really good record. I guess it's all about being problematic, in a way, about what it's like to be Kanye, with some thoughts about how he got like that, but how everyone wants to be on his record anyway. Was he forgiveable in 2010?

For me, it's music to do stuff by. Pleasant, but didn't really get my attention. There may have been other factors at work though, and I think I'll give it another try sometime.

Look, I am not an electronica person. Not a hater, it just seems like something there's a lot to know about, and I never cared to learn. But I'm going to walk around all day listening to this on headphones.

My life was saved by rock and roll.

I wanted to listen to this with fresh ears, but honestly that was too hard. Great songs, a classic, etc. I suppose it deserves 5 stars, objectively, but for my own listening, not quite.

Very cool, though I liked the stuff Spotify played after more, with a rawer sound. Was a pleasure to listen, after a bad day.

Ouch. Kind of unpleasant, except for Season of the Witch.

I can listen to this. 1001 is a lot of records. I can believe that this makes the cut.

New to me. I wasn't put off, but not especially pulled in either. Deserves another chance.

Fine. My friend John liked this band a lot. I wonder how he's doing these days.

So this is what makes this exercise hard. Even though it's not exactly my thing, there's no denying that there is greatness here. This record doesn't sound like anything else, and if I gave another record 5 stars, this probably deserves 6.

Dolly alone can save us.

Who doesn't love Bodhisattva and Show Biz Kids? Or all of it, really. Not epoch defining, and tainted a bit by being a favorite of some real douches, but such a lovely thing.

Yep, that's a classic. I'd have played this even if it weren't an assignment.

The best songs on this record are amazing. The rest are pretty darn good. A pleasure.

Crazy that there was a time when this was new. And even now, it's kind of magnificent.

This is what I always hope Latin music will sound like, and then it doesn't. This always leaves me feeling vaguely racist. So I don't know if this is actually good, but it satisfies my white guy desires for exoticism.

The good parts sound like the Allman Brothers, and there's Layla, of course. The question of good artists who are lousy humans hangs in the background, but that's nothing new.

My favorite Pink Floyd album.

Cool.

I loved this. Different Waylon than I expected, and Billy Joe Shaver should be in charge of everything.

I missed brit pop because we were busy back then. This is great.

Elvis Costello isn't for everyone, I guess, but I admit that strikes me as odd. This works for me.

I gotta stop reading other people's reviews. Good record, though not really my thing.

Never heard this before, except Killer Queen of course. A pleasure to listen to, satisfyingly rockin'.

Wow. This is fabulous. I had heard of Fela Kuti, but never listened. Not sure if Ginger Baker is bringing much to the party.

I love this record. There's a great quote somewhere about the difficulty of listening to something influential when you have already been exposed to the world it influenced. And that's true, I can't even imagine how this would have hit me back in 1970-something. Thinking about that, remember that Memphis was a pretty dark place in those days, which is no doubt why Stax messed up the distribution so badly.

Not my favorite Dylan album, but hey, it's an objectively Great Record and all that.

Powerful stuff. Dark. Honestly, kind of creepy. I think I've only heard greatest hits collections, before this. And I never caught the scientology references in Famous Blue Raincoat, which adds to the feeling that you've wandered into the wrong club.

I don't even like reggae.

I feel like there's so much to know about dance music and I'm just ignorant. This is pretty cool, with lots to listen to, but not so hypnotic that you couldn't drive a car.

Leonard Cohen twice in a week is a lot of Leonard Cohen for me. This isn't as dark a record as Songs of Love and Hate, but still one has to wonder if Canadians are okay, or if we should bring over a lasagna or something.

So much better than I expected.

Good songs, great band. Sounds like it could have been released last week, except that nobody sings like that anymore. I wonder why not?

I didn't make it all the way through. But, hey, without this we'd never heard of the Clash, or any of the other punk bands I love. So thanks, Malcolm, for putting all this together.

What a terrific album. Rock on, dude.

I went to high school with Tammy Baker. No idea what she has to do with any of this. Maybe she moved to Australia? It was a long time ago.

I dug this. Found it curious how much it reminded me of the Malian guitar music I have listened to. Then I wondered if this was just an ignorant all African music sounds alike to me thing.

This is going to sound really dumb, but I had no idea how good Oasis was. What a fantastic album. No wonder they're so popular.

This was fine. There are some pretty good songs. 1001 is a lot of albums. Maybe it's easier to make the cut than I thought.

So good.

Elliott Smith just makes me sad. Sometimes that's good, though.

Enjoyable. Atmospheric in the sense that it sounds great while you're doing stuff. I'll listen again.

Huh, so that's Acid House.

It's all just a little too much. Like your vegan friend who can't stop talking about chicken farms.

I just have bad associations with this. Can't really give it a fair listen.

Amen.

Not my favorite thing. But the whole love/hate punk rock thing on this app is weird.

I wish I had bigger speakers.

When the Modern Lovers toured Australia, only 4 people went to see them, but they started a band.

Great balls of fire.

Trying to remember if I ever saw Sonic Youth back in the day. I honestly don't know. I miss those smoky, crowded, noisy clubs. Or maybe I just miss being young.

I just dig this.

Zeppelin makes rock and roll sound obscene, like it should be.

I mean, I do like sex more than politics, but I still prefer What's Going On.

So I really missed the whole Brit pop thing while I was busy with other stuff back on the 90s. Turns out I kind of dig it.

Weird that there was a time before these songs.

Not something I want to listen to every day, but it feels wrong not to give it 5 stars.

Makes me sad that there's this remarkable talent and these are the stories he needs to tell us. It's a m.A.A.d world.

That's some heavy shit right there.

Weird to listen to a record that 20 something me would have picked from a deep pile. Things lost, things gained. Mortality. Still a lot of this still gets me. Some, not so much. The part of me that doesn't love this anymore feels treacherous. Lots to think about.

Pleasant.

Wow. 2 Suede albums in a month? That's a lot of Suede for me.

Yep, that's pretty much a hardcore record.

I need an EDM for dummies to help me understand the nuances here. But it's fun to listen to

Yawn.

Mr. Narrator, this is Bob Dylan to me.

I was surprised by another White Stripes album here. But it really is pretty good.

Interesting, but hard to listen to. I can get how it was influential. Amazing that this is from 1977.

A nice reminder of how sometimes classic rock is, in fact, classic.

Well, that's that.

Refreshing.

I liked this more than I expected to. But why is British post-punk so full of spooky vampire music?

I didn't know this existed. I think Daniel Lanois might be my hero.

I was going to skip this one, Zappa being not my cup of tea. But I'm glad I listened. More fusion jazz, less middle school humor.

We've all heard Take 5 too often to really appreciate it. Good to listen to the rest of the record and be reminded how great these guys were.

Meh.

I don't know why I dig Wu Tang more than other money drugs hoes rap, but, darn it, I just do.

Interesting and mostly nice.

I think this is the only Bowie album without any songs I'd prefer to skip.

If you don't love Loretta Lynn, I'll fight your sorry ass.

I listened, just in case it would be better than I thought. It wasn't.

I don't know, man. I enjoy listening to this record a lot. But there are things about it that worry me. I've always wondered how the African musicians felt.

Just so cool.

Maybe this is a lesson in why not to read the reviews before you listen. I saw somebody describe this as like going to hear your coworker's band on a Wednesday night and thinking they aren't as bad as you feared. For me, it was like that, except occasionally dipping down into just as bad as I feared.

When I first heard this album, a long time ago, but when it was already something from the distant past, it was the most amazing thing ever. Like they said on another record, my life was saved by rock and roll. 40 or so years later, it's kind of hard to listen to, probably because it's so intertwined with memories of 19 year old me. I don't regret that version of me (mostly), but I wouldn't want to do it again.

OK, all these years later, I can see how a lot of this is problematic. And, really, I could see it back then too. But it still friggin' rocks.

I kept hoping a neighbor would show up at my door and catch me listening to this cool music.

Why do people hate this? Or, why do people love this? It's absolutely fine.

I always thought it was"Salisbury Hill". So that's a bit embarrassing.

Mostly surprised that there have been 2 Arcade Fire records in the first 100 or so albums from the list. I do like these songs, but it's hard to believe this band accounts for 2% of the all time greats.

This is what Marvin Gaye could have been, with just a little more sexual healing.

In my religion, this is a gospel album. Amen!

The first side is honestly kind of meh, but then you flip it over and it's one great song after another, and this is more than enough to redeem this album.

Okay, now I know what drum and bass is.

The guitar solo in Whole Lotta Love always makes me smile. On the other hand, Robert Plant's 10 minute orgasm is just icky. And Ramble On is just fantastic, until the hobbits show up.

This is another super famous record I'd never heard before. Seems pretty harmless.

Faux French Electronica-- who knew?

Possibly the last rock and roll album.

Everything I like about Bitch's Brew, with none of the other stuff.

Whoa, intense. Working Class Hero is perfect.

The damn hay bales on the cover make people think this is a country album, but if it had been a collection of short stories, it would have won the Pulitzer.

Undeniably a great record, but not one I'll come back to very often.

The thing about this record is that it sounds great on my tinny little Bluetooth speaker. I bet it would sound great on the AM radio in a '71 Olds Cutlass, cruising around Grand Rapids surreptitiously sipping from a 40 oz Mickey's. Cherish rock and roll that does its job without pretense.

Exile is my favorite, but Sticky Fingers is pretty fabulous. Plus, the zipper.

This is fine. I don't think I'll ever play it again, but if I were at your house and you played it, I wouldn't think badly of you.

It's like hypnotizing chickens.

Heavy.

The whole thing, of the unwashed hippies playing with the legends of the Opry is a great story. Makes you hope, kind of. And I don't want to hear anything bad about Doc Watson, ever.

Hey Beatles, I know how great you are. Everything you do is just terrific. The problem isn't you-- it's me. I just don't feel anything.

Wu-Tang Clan Ain't Nuthing ta F' Wit

I like this record. Back in the 90s, if a radio station played this, you knew it was a cool radio station. Since then, though, I haven't thought about it much.

Well, that's a lot of Brit Pop. I kind of enjoyed it. Does that make me a bad American?

The thing about Neil Young is that he bounces so easily from friggin' awesome to cringe inducing so easily and often. We're all prisoners of history, I guess, but even 19 year old me knew there was something wrong about Pocahontas. But then there's Powderfinger. Nothing is all one thing. Good to remember that, in these days when we all hate each other.

First listen for me, and as an old white guy, I mostly dug it.

Wow.

Meanders a bit, but sometimes in a good way.

When Television toured the UK in 77, only 4 people heard them, but they all started a band... Okay, I made that up, but still.

I might listen to this again.

The other thousand albums on this list are superfluous.

I listened on headphones while I cut the grass. The mower's battery died sooner than usual. Coincidence?

Muse is kind of a guilty pleasure for me. At times, I give in to it, but then I wake up feeling dirty.

I should never read the other reviews.

There are tracks I'll skip next time, but better than I expected.

If this album were just 35 minutes of hummy noise and Little Wing, it would still get 5 stars.

Nothing for me here.

If I won tickets to a Faust show, I guess I'd go.

No love for the police, but even less love for graphic descriptions of rape.

So cool.

From the description, I thought this would be amazing, but I was not amazed.

Did Elliott Smith's mom make the 1001 albums list? I actually like this album, but I'm marking it down because of Elliott Smith oversaturation.

Back when this was new, I heard it and decided that I would be Cuban by the year 2000. It didn't work out, sadly.

I would have said Bang a Gong was the best T. Rex song, but maybe it's Telegram Sam.

I dug this.

I guess there's just a meanness in this world.

Fun. Weird.

So much fun. I'm not Italian, but I live surrounded by Italian Americans, and when my neighbors hear this, they get all misty and talk about their grandparents.