1001 Albums Summary

Very groovy and fun album. A little rudimentary compared to their later stuff, but still captures a lot of their energy. David Byrne’s singing and funny lyricism about modern city life goes a long way. Favourite songs: Uh Oh Love Comes To Town, New Feeling, No Compassion, Psycho Killer, Pulled Up

Very cool mellow music that transports you to a Cuban bar. Could tread into background music territory at times, but certainly sets a vibe and the skill of the players is evident. Curious to look up translations of the lyrics

Really fun and creative album! Pretty all over the place creatively and genre-wise, but in my opinion that doesn’t hurt it. It’s constantly entertaining and inspiring. The Dust Brothers production shows clearly, as many of the songs are reminiscent of the Beastie Boys, in a great way. The album sounds remarkably fresh still, and wouldn’t be out of place if it was released today. The songs are catchy and memorable, with enough dissonance and chaos thrown in to keep you on your toes. Again fun to listen to, and can hear its influence resonating in many indie and alternative albums from the late 90s and 2000s

Killer live album! I’ve loved Sam Cooke for a long time, but this showed a very different side compared to his studio recordings. Very gritty and raw, as others have noted, and the energy is electric. He has an almost James Brown stage presence, and the set moves at a speedy pace with no slowdown. Admittedly, the sound quality isn’t great (it was 1963) but in a way that, along with the audience noise throughout, adds to the recording and really makes you feel like you’re there. Not sure how often I’ll come back to it, but as an experience it’s fantastic

Solidly enjoyable album, but didn’t floor me on first listen. Power pop with early punk influence, can definitely see it influencing 90s pop punk. Enjoyable vocals and songwriting but pretty samey throughout the course of the album. Could see myself returning to it or checking out their first album

Relaxing and effortlessly cool. Adds a level of naturalness to the electronic compositions. Not the most thrilling album but sets a mood for sure. Could see myself returning to it

Liked this one! I was familiar with a few of the songs before, but hadn’t heard the album in full. It’s a nice atmosphere, and her vocals are beautiful, but most of the songs were a little underdeveloped for me and not all super memorable. Still, makes sense that this was a big deal 10 years ago, can see it really influencing the alt r&b genre. From what I know, she developed her songwriting a lot more on her next album Magdalena. Overall enjoyable and could see coming back to it. Could see bumping up to a 4 with repeat listens

Straight up killer album, and amazing that it came out in 1969. Still sounds so fresh today

Might give this another spin, cause I was listening while at the gym, but it didn’t really hit for me. Production is good but really painfully 80s in both the more uptempo dance songs and slower ballads. Janet can sing but many of the lyrics are way too on the nose about all the problems in the world, “save the children” etc. Also Black Cat specifically sounded like a much weaker version of Beat It. Couldn’t help comparing her to Michael and this albums mostly pales in comparison to his best work

Heard this album countless times and it still rips. A rare album that has massive influence and still sounds great on its own, 35 years later

Absolute modern hip hop classic and belongs among the greats. Probably only bested by TPAB for best rap album of the 2010s Anyone saying this is just about drugs and bitches and partying is literally not listening to the lyrics at all.