He ain't the boss of me. "Prove it all night" is pretty cool, and when the sax pops in on "The Promised Land" it's great. Big songs that aren't my sort of big. You won't see me re-enacting scenes from "Blinded by the Light". Sorry Brooooooce.
Highlight: The Promised Land.
Pre: Like most, I only know Maps.
Post: Like most, I know Maps, and I'll be keeping it that way. Forgettable 00s indie punk with some vocals perfect for inducing apoplexy (Tick and Date With The Night). Maps is genuinely good however, but it's not enough to save the rest of the album.
Highlights: Maps (unsurprising huh)
Songs with words that "actually mean something" only matter if they don't send you off to snoozeville.
Pre: No expectations going in. A quick look at Spotify shows other Silver Jews albums as significantly more popular. Was a bit worried this was going to be a deeper cut and more inaccessible.
Post: Exactly the sort of album I worry the 1001 will be packed with; the kind where I can't at all hear what the fans hear. Drab speak-singing vocals over adequate guitars elicits nothing in me, in spite of poetic lyrics.
Reminds me of the soundtrack for numerous crap mid-00s indie films I watched as a teen.
1000 albums to go. Presumably it can only get better.
Pre: Never been a Pink Floyd fan, but admittedly I'd never listened to an album the whole way through, which really is their whole deal; I imagine this is the prog equivalent to having never seen Star Wars.
Post: Almost exactly as I expected. Nothing I hated, nothing that compelled either.
Highlight: Have a Cigar (in particular the vocals for "ride the gravy train")
Some of the later Gorillaz stuff I enjoy, but this one has never appealed to me, and a relisten hasn't changed anything. The songs are varied in genre, but consistently tepid. "19-2000" is the outlier, with "get the cool shoe shine" bumping round my mind intermittently over the past ~25 years.
Another album where I know the core players, but the rest of the team is unheard of. "Feeling called love" (I won't stylise) and "Underwear" are the new scouts, but Disco 2000 is still the star. Its chant-able chorus means I'll hear it at every work night out and wedding for the rest of my life, but it contains a wistful melancholy. Sad but upbeat is the domain of all my favourites...
Lyrically, I'm all with it, but vocally I far prefer when Jarvis is shouting, rather than whispering like he's trying to shag the listener.
Highlight: Disco 2000. An all-timer song, but alone that can never lift an album in its entirety.
An unexpected joy. I'm not a person who "likes everything but country" but neither am I a regular country listener. The often dark lyrics, and spangly guitars are excellent, although the last part of the album has - to my untrained ear - the more stereotypical country sound I expected and was dreading going in.
A note on the lyrics, as Ive seen some shocked reactions: I reckon it's all concept. Nothing new I can add to this endless culture conversation, but a famous country artist once sang
"it was also the night the skeletons came to life! The bones are their money..." and you better believe none of it was real.
Decidedly better than modern small-town-pick-up-truck country which occasionally makes its way over here. In those there's no concept, only fakery. Plus they don't have guitars this sick.
If not... don't cheat on Dwight.
Seen Dwight Yoakam in the movie "Sling Blade" recently (good actor too) so it's a spot of serendipity that this popped up.
Highlight: Home of the Blues (it's a cover, but no slight on Dwight, it's class).
I'd rather enjoy the silence 😂 😂 😂
It's alright to be fair. Agent Orange - my favourite of the bunch - sounds like the opener to a gritty 80s thriller; not unsurprising with a title like that. It was also pointed out to me that Pimpf sounds like a Final Fantasy dungeon track... Some enjoyable bits here and there, but outside Agent Orange, nothing I'll relisten to.
Highlight: Agent Orange
Without this, we'd never have one of the greatest reality TV shows of all time.
I prefer later Black Sabbath albums, but there's still plenty to like here. Imagine being 16 in 1970 and hearing the opening track. How much you can achieve by just tuning down and playing slower...
Highlight: Black Sabbath
Popping guitars, and some excellent tunes early on, but is overlong and begins to grate. A lot of the tracks seem to lack progression and the whole thing begins to blend together. Not a fan of the Adhan-ic vocals which begin appearing in the middle stretch. The music has a distinctive sound and I'm glad for having listened to it.
Having fairly enjoyed the album, I checked out Baaba Maal's discography. An EP with Mumford & Sons was not the expected find. Wonder if that'll be on the next update to the 1001...
I don't know how many people worked on the 1001 albums list, but as an individual, if you asked me to name the top 1001 of anything I'd struggle. Sure, I could compile the list, but the further I'd get from my all-time favourites, the more I'd have less of a strong opinion, to a point of almost indifference.
That's what "Car Wheels On A Gravel Road" feels like: One of the albums sitting at the bottom of the pile, shoveled in purely because it was to hand and the editors fairly enjoyed at least most of it. If an attempt at objectivity, surely there must be better country albums?
The whole way through, the album sits in the middle-of-the-(gravel)-road by a deviation of picometres. Nothing terrible, nothing good. Bland.
One of the first albums I loved. Bush-era lyrics aside (which in spite of their corniness, I can quote like a priest from a bible) everything from American Idiot to halfway through Homecoming could be the lead single (and almost all of them were singles). The 1.5 songs remaining are by no means bad, just not quite the same level of singable choruses and catchy riffs.
This was my intro to Green Day, and while I love some of the earlier albums, this is the one that does the most for me. Perfect mix of nostalgia and being actually good. Everything beyond American Idiot I've bounced right off (¡Tré! anyone?) but that's because I kneel only at the altar of St Jimmy and the Jesus of Suburbia.
Final note: noticed a lot of the songs are doubled on Spotify, Holiday/Boulevard of Broken Dreams for example. I hope Green Day are getting a fair share of their Spotify pennies.
One of the first albums I loved. In spite of corny Bush-era lyrics - which I can quote like a priest from a bible - it still sounds great now. Everything from American Idiot to halfway through Homecoming could be a lead single (and most of them *were* singles). The final 1.5 songs are good, but lack the singable choruses and catchy riffs.
American Idiot was my introduction to Green Day, and while I love some of the earlier stuff, every subsequent album never struck a chord with me (¡Tré! anyone?) It's fine though, I found my religion: I'll forever be kneeling at the altar of St Jimmy in the Church of the Jesus of Suburbia.
Final note: noticed the songs are doubled up in Spotify, Holiday/Boulevard of Broken Dreams for example. I hope Green Day are getting all the pennies that should be coming their way.
"Kentucky, I miss the hound dog chasing coon" *Big eyebrow raise*
I need a bit more than the storytelling aspect of country music, and this doesn't have that "bit more".
What's the point in saying anything, these guys don't care what I think!
Nothing much to say about it, having largely blurred into a fairly likeable background noise.
Sounds like Green Day borrowed (in homage of course) the chord progression at the end of "Cashing In" for the bridge in Holiday. It might just be that it's simple enough that they came up with it independently, but with the duality of the lyrics between the two songs,it fits. Serendipitous to have listened in close succession I suppose.
Love to listen to this and get 0% finance on a new Hyundai hatchback. ----- That's a trite comment, but does encapsulate the feeling of the whole album.
The moment I heard the slightly fuzzy vocals, I was checking which of the songs were deluxe edition only, so I could shorten the experience.
I won't let preconceived notions discourage me again. I had 2 very misplaced ideas of this album:
1. Leonard Cohen was Lou Reed. My bad.
2. Even though I found point 1 to be untrue, it would still be equally tedious.
How wrong I was. Deeply moving album. I shed a few tears at the final lines.
There's not much I'd listen through here individually, but I'll certainly be listening to the album again as a whole.
Other Steely Dan albums didn't click with me until a few listens, perhaps this will end up the same. The highs of Aja and the Royal Scam aren't reached here.
"Rikki don't lose that number" might be one of their biggest hits, but it's dishwater dull.
The 3 song slice from Gigantic to Where is my Mind is perfect. As overplayed as WIMM is, it's no fault of Pixies. I'm indifferent to the rest of the album, apart from a 45 second section where someone tries to explain their joke which is horrifically relatable.
I could take or leave most of this. The Weight outlying as it's so comfy and relaxing; that's without digging into the lyrics at all. You get a little laugh when it's addressed to "Fanny" too, so that's a bonus.
Can a sombre note he struck brightly? The space opera theme and overall sound I like, but the only song that stuck with me is the clear homage, Fight Test, which I wasn't surprised to find that Cat Stevens picks up royalties for.
She's some voice, but by and large this isn't my sort of thing.
The exception is Private Dancer itself, which evokes seedy dark rooms and desire for a world beyond them, for which Tina Turner is the perfect voice.
Apparently, Dire Straits got as far as recording the instruments for "Private Dancer" before Mark Knopfler decided the lyrics weren't suitable for a male singer. My man, you wrote the song, what were you thinking about? Never has a set of words more required a female vocalist.
I never knew the Knopfler connection until this listen through, and it's so clearly a Dire Straits song.
I do appreciate a bossa nova beat, but the clipped and close vocals are off-putting and prevented me from fully enjoying the music.
Highlight: Corcovado
40 minutes have passed but...I'm sure I've only listened to Jump.
Killer Queen is the only big hit here, but there's a lot to like. Full of short songs with catchy riffs. First song had ms thinking this would be much like any rock album of its era, but improves greatly from the middle onwards.
Despite having listened to the 3 greatest hits selections many many times, this might be the first I've listened to one of their studio albums all the way through.
Highlights: Lily of the Valley, Misfire
Most mundane concept album of all time. But our protag finding his missing money down the back of the TV? That's true magic, beyond any song about elves or celestial beings.
Not every line scans, so at times its barely held together, but i quite liked it. I enjoyed the mundanity, and every song had something that caught me.
Dry your eyes is more honest and devastating than most of its ilk, and even more so when you follow the preceding 10 song story. I'm sorry for ever saying that it's crap.
Big bombastic bass and intricate instrumentals throughout. However, beyond a couple songs (Look of Love, Date Stamp) not much here really caught me.
An all-timer for me. Something to enjoy in every song. If I listen to Peg once, I've got to listen to it a second time.
Has any other backing singer ever had such a strong positive effect as Michael McDonald does when he pops up here?
Love it.
