Welp, on my first album I get a perennially loved album… that is just “okay” in my eyes. It started strong for me, especially the songs focused on the need for social change, but toward the latter half of the album the songs became a bit repetitive to me.

The greatness of Miles is over the course of his long career, he had no interest in creating art that was what was expected by his audience. It may be apocryphal, but the story that a fan approached Miles at a hotel to say that they loved his music, but some of it was too "out there" and if he'll be making more music that fans can "get". Miles' response said it all: "What, I'm supposed to wait for you to catch up?" And that's the power of this essentially compilation album. It's fascinating to hear where he was at this time, especially concerning the sound he was chasing. Here we have more traditional bop, but you can hear that his Magnus opus Kind of Blue was on the horizon. This is special for the time it was created, the musicians playing with Miles at the time, and the simple quality of the songs. A mini-classic.

This album is beloved… by others, not me.

After doing this 1001 Albums Before You Die challenge for a bit, I’m regretting not sticking with my high school and college. But even fumbling through what words I could pick up, the music carried me through. Two things immediately jumped out at me: The name of the album is based on a real members-only social club located in Cuba and secondly, that Desi Arnez was associated with the group before making his way to America and marrying Lucille Ball of I Love Lucy fame. The musicians on the album spent multi-decades playing together, and it shows. Apparently American guitarist Ry Cooder was partly responsible to the groups international fame in the 90s by recording and producing this album after being exposed to the music and group during trips to Havana. I feel you Ry; I’d want to share this to the rest of the world if I personally discovered them too. It’s all about those rhythms! They move between traditional Cuban traditions, but also have flavors of Afro-Cuban rhythms and other styles such as Latin Jazz. Favorites from the album are “Pueblo Nuevo”, “Dos Gardenias”, “¿Y Tu Qué Has Hecho?”, “Veinte Años”, “El Carretero”, “Candela”, “Amor de Loca Jueventud”, “Murmullo” and “Buena Vista Social Club.” This album is a winner.

I loved it. Maybe it’s because right now Paul is my favorite Beatle (which doesn’t mean too much since that title tends to change between all four members, depending on when you talk to me), but this was a fun listen. It’s a weird thing with a lot of fans: somehow certain artists’ most commercial release is viewed by them as “lesser than” just because it’s popular. Sure, it can be mind-numbing to hear the same two or three songs from an album… but that’s just a reason to move beyond listening to singles; put the whole album on! You’re rewarded here if you put in the effort. Anyway, this is a great album, despite being Paul’s most commercial one as a solo artist. I liked all the songs except for two: “No Words” and “Picasso’s Last Words (Drink to Me)”. Because I like so much of the album I was debating giving it 5 stars…but I think it’s more of a 4-star album to me. Maybe it’s because Paul through all of his work has set the bar so high, I’m grading on a bell curve.

I appreciate Neil but I’m very much only surface level fan. I think the center of it for me is that what is its strength of showing Neil’s comfort in being able to handle a wide spectrum of genres, is a weakness for me. He and the band jump from grungy rock to acoustic and a lot of genres in between. And that strikes me that I may have the weakness and need more time with this release for its critically acclaimed status to wash over me. Or not. Having said that my favorite cuts are “My My, Hey Hey (both versions) and “Sail Away”. Since most of the album left me cold I give this a 2 out of 5 stars.

We have crappy, snowy weather today in Colorado. And what a great album to listen to in such conditions, staying warm by the fire and away from the cold. While I love Joni’s earlier work, this was more of a challenging listen. And I mean that in a good way; you just don’t get the lovely nuances in the instrumentation and chord progressions, which are typical Joni. Like a lot of music that demands deeper focus and attention. She doesn’t disappoint, especially in the writing, but it’s the band that gives this a cohesive vibe. Having said that, it’s that necessary deeper listening that goes against the idea of a 1001 albums challenge with one new album coming at you every day, that makes this one a harder than usual case. I’m rating it a 3 of 5 stars today, but I get the sense it’ll provide rewards for me if I revisit it regularly. My favorite cuts are “Coyote”, “Furry Sings the Blues”, “Hejira”, “Song for Sharon”, “Blue Motel Room” and “Refuge of the Roads”. My copy is from the Asylum Albums (1976-1980) box set released last year from Rhino Records, a great way to get an overview of her later work.

Is that a Theremin I hear in the mix on several tracks? I love the experimentation if that’s the case but still, I didn’t connect with many of the songs. Just when some of the ethereal quality and melodies that have an almost lullaby nature to them would pull me in, I’d get bored as the song continued on. The album is rated pretty highly in knowing circles but it’s a 2 of 5 stars for me

Wow, this was a bit of surprise how much I loved this album! My bad, I have to admit Arcade Fire has never been on my musical radar despite their success, but after hearing this I think I’m going to dive deeper into their full discography. It’s a five star album; I pretty much liked every song except a couple. My favorite on first listen is probably “Empty Room”. I’ll be revisiting this album a lot.

Nice! Nine albums into my renewed 1001 Albums to Hear Before You Die and I get a stone cold classic. What I love about Led Zeppelin is they have one of the best hard rock discographies of all time. I mean come on, how many bands can say their first six studio albums are ALL five star classics? Ok, Black Sabbath too but not many bands beyond that. Most bands either come out of the gate with a great album or two and then slip a bit beyond that, or they need some time and a couple of releases to find their sound before they’re hitting on all cylinders. I’d say this is my favorite Zeppelin album… except that changes every day, their output is consistently so good. The only knock on them is they could’ve given a bit more public love to their obvious influences, Chicago blues masters like Willy Dixon, Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf. My favorite cut is “Ramble On” (one of my first songs to learn on guitar so it’ll always have a special place in my heart), but the whole album is filled with bangers. Maybe only “The Lemon Song” and “Moby Dick” strike me as a bit meh. No need to waste any more words; this is the easiest five out of five stars I’ve had so far.

Ah, this one brings back memories. In a world where we have WAP on the radio, it’s funny to remember the general public’s shock that Alanis had a song where she sang about doing naughty things in theaters. It’s amazing how this album definitely captured the zeitgeist at the time, sort of as a radio friendly version of angsty pop with a small sprinkling of riot grrrl energy. Sure, the production is a bit dated but I like it. She has the songs. I give it 4 out of 5 stars, with my favorites being “All I Really Want”, “You Oughta Know”, “Hand in My Pocket”, “Right Through You”, “You Leran” and “Ironic” (which she eventually admitted the stories in the song aren’t ironic at all). Who cares. It’s art.

I’m starting to think that if I hung out and went to more heavy metal concerts with some of my high school buddies, I may have surprised myself with how much I liked some of the bands. Iron Maiden in particular. The two guitars attack hits hard, but the band is also pretty melodic. Almost prog-like on several tracks, and it works. I surprised myself how engaging it was throughout. It’s a 4 out of stars for me. Favorite tracks are “Remember Tomorrow” (probably my top track from the whole album), “Running Free”, “Phantom of the Opera”, “Transylvania”, and “Strange World”.

First, we have to acknowledge that the Beatles aren’t four lads from Liverpool, but four aliens sent here to enlighten us with their music. How else to explain the way they changed the world in seven short years? And it’s as if they were gonna show all the musical ways they had changed the direction of music through their previous ten albums in one sprawling, messy, gumbo slop of a double album. I do think it may have benefitted from some editing to make it a tighter single disc…maybe. While there’s clearly no singular theme with just about every musical genre represented in some form or fashion, the songs from all four songwriters (go Ringo!) are just so good. Except for number 9; I’ve tried to dig into its avant garde vision but I can’t do it. Though my favorite three Beatles’ albums can change daily, The White Album is always in the mix. The easiest of five stars yet.

Not trying to be a hater but CCR has always struck me as being musical mimics. Great mimics, but still sort of copies of their influences. Doing a full album listen, I have to give it to them; they definitely are more than that. There’s a few covers here, but to use an overused, American Idol-like comment, CCR “make the songs their own.” Probably my favorite example of that is the enticing menace they bring to their version of “I Heard It Through the Grapevine.” The album starts a little slow, but once I got to “Lookin’ Out My Back Door”, I liked every track to follow. It’s a 4 out of 5 stars for me.

Wonder who hurt these guys, pretty misogynistic