Another good lesson not to judge an album by its cover: I was expecting something very good-ol'-boys country, and instead got something that had a bit of soul, a bit of blues, a bit of folk, a bit of everything really. Exceeded expectations, not bad.

Starts to show signs at the end of why I think people might've been into this, but it's hard to ignore the front half being pretty dull and repetitive. Feels more like a historical curio than something you actually need to care about now.

I remember when "Cheapskate" briefly surfaced on alt-rock radio in North America; it was a neat enough song but not enough to convince me to buy the album at the time. Listening to it for the first time now, I think that was probably the right call; it's not bad at all, it's just pretty straightforward and doesn't do a ton to distinguish itself. I've already forgotten the first half of the album, but there are a few songs in the second half that did catch my ear at least.

Solid album, no real weak spots, lots of interesting melodic and rhythmic choices. The only thing is I'm not sure how often I'd feel the urge to put this one on, but I'm also not sure how much it should be penalized for that since I suspect that's going to be an issue with most of the albums in this list.

Sufjan Stevens was always one of those artists I didn't bother seeking out because I assumed for various reasons he wouldn't be for me: too indie sadboy, too NPR, etc. Plus, literary music in general doesn't really hit for me because I rarely pay attention to the lyrics. So this is the first time I've actually sat down to listen to one of his albums in full. Pleasantly surprised by this one, though I still think I'm not getting as much out of it as others. But for a 74-minute album the time passed by pretty quickly.

Weirdly, this was in one ear, out the other. Not really anything I would listen to again, though I'm sure it has its merits for others. Kind of surprised by how, I dunno, bluesy? it gets. Though reading up on the band's history it makes sense, I guess I just never connected metal and blues in my head before.

These early 80s British synthpop releases all have this palpable ATMOSPHERE to them that I find very distinctive, and this seems like a pretty good example of it.

Sort of in one ear and out the other until I heard the one song everyone knows from this album. Not bad, but not that interesting to me either.

I like this one! The looser feel and relaxed vibe, especially of the first few tracks, is right up my alley. My only real complaint is that drum-only solos don't do a lot for me and Blues for Huey did nothing to change that.

With minor exceptions, top 40 pop isn't my thing, so I didn't really expect this to blow me away either. It's funny, though, that despite never hearing this album before and not listening to the radio or other stuff, I recognized Blank Space IMMEDIATELY. Some pretty solid tracks out of the ones I didn't recognize, and I don't dislike any of the singles (Shake It Off comes close just because it's been played to death and then some) so I'd say this one was pretty decent.

Not bad. This is the closest we've come so far to something I would listen to normally so it rates decently just because of that.

Pleasant enough, nothing specific grabbed me though. Honestly the biggest response it got from me was when the album ended so quickly that I thought my music player had stopped prematurely.

A good reminder that I actually know more Lou Reed songs than I thought, but not really a thing I need more of. It's fine, I guess.

It's not bad, but my overriding thought was "oh, it's all the stuff that makes me think The National is boring as hell."

The only real problem I have with the album is it sounds so of its time that it's hard to listen to it and not think of how its sonic template has basically become a parody of itself. That's not the album's fault, though!

First impression was it was a lot proggier than I thought it'd be, and I didn't hear a lot of the Queen I recognized as someone who's only really heard a few of the big hits. On second listen, though, it was easier to spot the connections. This is a solid 3.5; nothing stands out immediately as something I think I'll remember a year from now, and prog isn't so much in my wheelhouse, but it's got a few fun tracks on there and I definitely wouldn't turn this off if it was playing randomly.

I first saw the album and had this weird reaction of, oh, I don't know that I'm ready to listen to a Dylan album, having not really heard much from him before but knowing about some of his musical eccentricities that have since become singer-songwriter cliches of a sort. It turns out those fears were totally unfounded; it's a lot jauntier and more fun than I expected it to be, and I'm not so burnt out on Dylan's vocal stylings that it bothered me at all for this album. Most of the albums I've listened to for this, I've felt a sort of grudging acceptance of their inclusion, like "yeah I guess this was probably important to a lot of people once so that's why it's here." As I sit here listening to "Stuck Inside of Mobile With the Memphis Blues Again" once again, I realize this is one of the first albums from this exercise that deserves more than just grudging acceptance on my part.

Not really my thing up until maybe the last song.

Album is over before you know it but it's a pleasant listen.

Oh right, THIS is the Dylan I was wary of when I saw Blonde on Blonde come up earlier.

Another good lesson not to judge an album by its cover: I was expecting something very good-ol'-boys country, and instead got something that had a bit of soul, a bit of blues, a bit of folk, a bit of everything really. Exceeded expectations, not bad.

This is the first album in this exercise that's by a band I have some familiarity with! The bad news is this album is no XTRMNTR (and somehow that album didn't make the 1001-album cut? what the hell?). Where that album had purpose and drive, this one feels comparatively ramshackle and scattered. The good news is it's still a decent album; what it loses in focus it gains in variety at least.

I'm not sure what I was expecting out of this album but it exceeded my expectations slightly, at least. Especially surprised to find, given that this appears to be one of the Stones' better-known albums, that I don't recognize a single song from it.

Wait... do... do I maybe LIKE Steely Dan? Am I unhip? I'd only ever heard about Steely Dan as a) the butt of a joke or b) that noodly band that only uncool dads like. I was surprisingly into this and I don't know what to make of that.

I shouldn't be surprised but I was surprised at just how repetitive the lyrics are, now that I've listened to an entire RATM album. I think it makes sense for the kind of music they're making though. I have thoughts about whether this approach still resonates in the current sociopolitical climate but just as music, it sounds great, but I'm not sure I'd want to put it on any ol' time to listen to it. It's very much music for a specific occasion and purpose, and that purpose is literally the band's name.

I wondered if the only reason this album was on the list was because it was one of the first albums to sound like this, and it turns out: maybe yeah. Otherwise I can't really think of anything to note about this one. Pretty forgettable.

Not bad, but I don't really have much interesting to say about it except that I didn't realize Justine Frischmann was in Suede!

Aspects of this feel almost like a concept album, culminating in that final "interview" with Tupac. Love all the jazz/funk touches, and I'd never heard the album version of "i" before--it really hits different with the fight breaking out in the middle.

I respect what the Beasties have done here but I dunno, it feels like they really only had one kind of song at this point. A lot better as singles than as a full album.

Somewhere between fine and meh for me.

Oh hey, an album I was vaguely interested in but had never actually heard! Considering that my first impression of this is somewhere in the realm of "it's the Coldplay it's okay to like!," I'm surprised at how much I did in fact like it.

The is the first album from this exercise that I was already familiar with beforehand. Elastica's debut was a gateway album for me in more ways than one (ah, the days of reading online zines like Addicted to Noise and realizing for the first time there was a ton of music the radio and MuchMusic weren't going to expose me to), so inevitably whatever score I give it here will be influenced by nostalgia. That said, I think it holds up pretty well. I still love the energy and attitude, and I forgot that the vocals can be surprisingly melodic for the genre. It's maybe 5-10 minutes too long, but it doesn't really matter very much when there's more than enough songs that I still remember fondly decades later, like the moody extraterrestrial atmospherics of "Car Song," the blink-and-you'll-miss-it rollercoaster of "Annie," and the vaguely woozy swagger of "Hold Me Now."

Everything beyond the singles was new to me; turns out that means a little less than half the album was stuff I already knew. One of the songs I didn't know was "We Can Work It Out," and that song alone guaranteed a 4 from me. Holy crap, what a banger! Everything else is icing on top, there isn't a bad track on this one.

Might need more listens for this one. It's nice, but it might be a little TOO smooth and inoffensive to leave much of an impression beyond that.

I'm not an expert in desert blues by any stretch, but the few albums I've heard of it so far have all sounded good, and this one's no exception.

Genuinely forgot I'd even listened to this.

I read a YouTube comment (I know I know but wait) that said Fairport Convention did for British folk what The Band did for North American folk, so imagine my surprise when I didn't dislike this nearly as much as The Band. It's actually... alright! Much jauntier than I expected. I don't think I'd ever put this in regular rotation but it could be fitting for the right mood and moment.

I'm not sure if it's something I'd put on a lot, as I'm not usually big on jazz standards and classics, but as a capsule of a particular time, place and especially atmosphere, this works quite nicely.

My expectations were super low for this, mainly because this feels like on of those albums you find forty thousand copies of gumming up the works at any used record store. Turns out there might've been a reason why so many people bought the album in the first place. Genuinely didn't know she sang "It's Too Late," love that song.

Maybe it's just the particular historical moment we live in or maybe it's just a culture clash thing or maybe it's just being sick of hoary cliches, but ugh, a tired-sounding country-rock album where they sing about loving the Christian life? No thanks.

Catchy, but left less of a lasting impression than I expected it to.