1001 Albums Summary

Listened to this belatedly after getting William Orbit's Strange Cargo III, and yes, his work is better with a melody on top. It's still a little long. 3.5, rounding up to fall between Music and Like a Prayer.

True story: my mother had Alzheimer's and was confused and agitated and this album calmed her (I never knew her to listen to music deliberately). The voices are gorgeous both individually and in combination, and I feel like I can hear Linda trying hard not to overpower everyone else, as she definitely could.

I didn't actually know this one--Sound Affects is more my jam--but it's excellent, of course.

I know people love this one, but I found it a bit of a slog. I seem to give all of their albums a 3, but I'd give The Love Cats at least a 4. Too bad they didn't put it on an album.

Interesting choice, because most of it is pretty unremarkable. The two singles are as great as anything he ever did but the rest sounds like an ordinary band (unlike, say, the Cars or Van Halen whose first albums presented an entirely new sound). I'd take Damn the Torpedoes any day.

I've always loved this album, but it's probably hard for the youngsters to appreciate how revolutionary it was for a bunch of young women to write their own songs, play their own instruments, and make a #1 record. I see that it's not everyone's cup of tea, but it's an absolute classic, and you would not have your Bikini Kills or Best Coasts without them.

It's difficult for someone my age to hear this without expecting Paul Simon to jump out from behind a door, but it's a lot of fun, and nice to imagine dancing in Senegal rather than clearing six inches of snow from the roof of the car.

If the goal here is to choose influential albums, this is a clear winner. I thought I was listening to a Nirvana demo.

Didn't thrill me, sorry

Not sure I've ever listened to it straight through. Good stuff.

I confess I didn't have time to listen to the whole thing today, but I filled in the gaps in my memory, and even allowing for side 4 it's still totally solid

I am not the audience for this album and my opinion is irrelevant, but I was prepared to hate it and I really didn't. Yeah, it was too long and some of it was offensive (no more so than Mötley Crũe, but that was a performance too). The groove is solid (although when I hear the samples I tend to think why don't we just listen to that?) and the rapping is skillful and the Library of Congress says it's significant, so I'm fine with it.

This doesn't particularly speak to me, but it's clearly influential and all that. I'm totally neutral on this one. And I don't know any French (although I generally ignore lyrics so that shouldn't matter).

I could not make it through 45 minutes of this, but it's nice to see that Cookie Monster has found a healthy way of working out his frustrations. We could all take a lesson from him.

Solid groove, more jazzy than I remembered, definitely cures migraines and arthritis

Exactly the beta blocker some of us needed today.

Kind of boring, frankly. Trying to reach a mass audience in the 80s was a losing game.

This is a hippie litmus test and I still don't pass. I have childhood memories associated with the big hits, of course.

The only upside of this is that 20 minutes of something called Eruption sent me straight to Van Halen.

This is a truly impressive work of art but not necessarily enjoyable to listen to. I'll take Army of Me any day, but I'm kind of lowbrow.

Meh, this sounds like everything else on the hipster radio station. Oh wait... seriously, I had other priorities (two little kids) in 2009 so I missed all the pop-punk action, but this is a gem.

Boring. Too many songs, each one is too long, and they all sound the same. The 90s were a musical sinkhole.

Welcome to the 80s theme park! I had only ever heard Take On Me (and it amazes me that anyone can hear that as anything but the soundtrack to a video--it's barely a song) but the rest of the album is like a template for Europop.

This could be a lot shorter but the good parts are very good and the lads are clearly having fun.

I can't say I'm familiar enough with the old tango to fully appreciate this, but it was pleasant enough. I'm straight-up neutral.

Am I rating the album I'm listening to (not bad, if you like that sort of thing), the conceptual art project it represents (kind of odd) or its influence on the next generation of electronic dance pop (significant)? Did I even listen to the right version? Edited in February 2026: this is a solid 4 for the number of times I've listened to Justified and Ancient over the past year. There's a book about the band that makes the whole project not a bit clearer but solidifies my understanding of their utter weirdness.

There's a lot more going on here than straight-up 1978 punk--a little power pop, a little glam, maybe even a little prog noodling. Whether they were hugely influential or just riding a bunch of waves I don't know, but I'm ok with it.

Very pleasant

I believe the International Bureau of Weights and Measures uses this as the standard for 5-star albums.

I like this better than the Dead, but it still strikes me as a bargain-basement Band (or Byrds). But I listened to 8:05 three times.

How can you hear "FREAK OUT!" and not smile? Some of the album is disco perfection (crying out to be sampled) and some of it feels like very technically accomplished backing tracks.

Abrasive, repetitive, grating, monotonous singing followed by shouting. Make it go away.

Can't say I know enough about Bollywood music to judge this, but it was pretty entertaining.

Lots going on here; I'm sure they're great live. I'm rounding my rating up from 3.5 despite the fact that they are at least partly responsible for the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

It's very hard to listen to this objectively, as Back to Black is so much better. But I can imagine being impressed with her in 2003 even if these songs aren't great.

I am baffled. The Pet Shop Boys released 15 albums? And three of them are on this list? And Neil Tennant didn't come out until 1993? This album is a fine example of their output but nothing stands out for me.

These reviews are an argument for listening to the albums in chronological, rather than random, order. Listen, kids, there would be no Nirvana or Pixies without Bob Mould. In my personal pantheon I rate Grant Hart a little higher as a songwriter and I therefore like Hüsker Dü a bit better than Sugar, but I'm not going to split hairs. Totally solid power punk.

Brighter and bouncier than most of what I think of as millennial rock. Perfectly pleasant.

That wah thing sends me right back to junior high. I didn't get it then and, having listened to the whole album for the first time, I am even more confused now: were all those junior high boys really into all this noodly meandering? Was Do You Feel Like We Do always 14 minutes long? Was it all about the hair?

I bought the patchouli-scented album in 1990, I saw the tour (from the worst seats in the Oakland Coliseum), and I see no reason to back down now. Definitely Madonna's best album and its influence reverberates through several generations of women in pop. And hello there Prince!

Listening to this for the first time in 40 years, I am noticing is how slow it is--even the relatively peppy tunes kind of drag, so I can see how newcomers find it dull. They were clearly a work in progress, but nothing else sounded like this in 1983. (But yes, this and Reckoning are their best albums, and I am shocked at how long they kept it up as they got duller and duller.)

Moby may have done more to promote the work of Alan Lomax to the general public than Pete Seeger; too bad they're all on X when they hear it. I'm somewhat seduced by its propulsive catchiness and then I listen to a couple of real songs and think nah, this is well-marketed trash.

Can't say I made it all the way through, but I got the gist. What did a bunch of dudes in Iowa in 1998 have to be so mad about? Did they invent the 90s thing of throwing in the little melody between the screaming to show they know what it is? No thanks.

A nice album of 70s-esque R&B; I'd never heard of them but I can definitely see keeping this around. It is not surprising or bothersome in any way that an R&B album is infused with racial consciousness (maybe some people missed the 60s?) but the fact that this has a lower overall rating than Moby is truly disturbing.

A great achievement in both rapping and sampling; my only complaint is that it's hard to listen to both at once.

I can definitely listen to it, I might be able to appreciate it, but you can't make me like it.

Leaving aside the issues of Dylan's genius and his voice, there are some pretty good songs on here (and a couple of duds). I'd give it a 4.5 if I could.

If I'm going to listen to this for an hour I'd better get a plane ticket at the end

This is very beautiful and wicked depressing

A little more chill than most jangle pop bands of the era (and by chill I guess I mean boring; I listened twice because I thought I missed something but it turns out I didn't). Reminiscent of The The, but not quite the genuine article. I'm giving it a 3.5.

So before they were a soft-rock behemoth, Chicago was a tedious, meandering blues band. Got it.

I am not in a mood to rationalize misogyny today, so I just listened to a couple of tracks so I can confidently agree that his rapping is indeed deft and I don't need to hear the rest.

Wow, this is freaky--it's like I landed in an alternate universe where the Beatles, the Who, and Pink Floyd didn't exist. Maybe psychedelic rock operas are like lightbulbs or intermittent wipers--if one person hadn't invented them someone else would have, so you can't give anyone the patent. This one is fine, if you're in the mood.

Not being a huge Bowie devotee, I'm trying to understand what everyone loves so much about this one. Nice funky backing, true. And a funny reference to Fiddler on the Roof in Stay. But apart from the singles, which I like fine, nothing about this grabs me. Sorry.

There's nothing compelling about this album. It is from an era when I was really not paying attention to new music, so I might be tempted to discount it as being a product of a dull era, but I liked the Strokes and Yeah Yeah Yeahs albums when they came around, so I can only conclude that this is slop.

I know all of EC's pre-1990 albums like my own heartbeat and this is nowhere near the best of the lot. What strikes me, revisiting it now, is that its main contribution is in the cleverness of the lyrics; the songs are straight-up rock & roll tunes (only Watching the Detectives, which was not on the original album, sounds like any kind of departure). Nonetheless, I have to give it at least a 4 for cultural significance and announcing a major talent, not to mention encapsulating my youth. (Also, do yourself a favor and listen to a remaster--the old one sounds like crap)

When we got Slipknot, everyone said at least it isn't Linkin Park. Now I'm thinking at least it isn't Slipknot.

It's a paradox: you can focus on the groove to ignore the offensive lyrics, but if you focus on the groove you'll just go put on a Parliament album.

This is very lovely and clearly influential--I hear echoes of many British guitar dudes. It's interesting to me that guitar-picking tunes that hearken back to the agrarian past in the UK are called folk and in the US are called country, but someone else can figure that out.

21 songs, 35.5 minutes! Admirable. I like my punk a little poppier (I'll take the Buzzcocks any day) but this is a solid roadmap for a generation of British punk bands.

So much rougher and rowdier than the sweet-voiced crooner I was familiar with. Also notable that he wrote all these songs, which we hear now as standards (in the play and movie One Night in Miami his character gives a long speech on the importance of owning your copyrights). And finally I was delighted to learn that Def Leppard referenced Cooke in Rock of Ages. In short, this was both entertaining and educational.

Hard to rate this album strictly on its own. Booker T and the MGs were the backbone of Stax and had a few great singles, but were primarily an unparalleled backing band. That said, this is fun to listen to, so I'm giving it a 4.5.

I saw them once and it was the most excruciatingly loud thing I've ever experienced, so I played this very quietly. It had its moments, but I can see why they lean on volume. (And the Cure cover was a treat.)

And Your Bird Can Sing is in my top 5 or so songs ever, so that's that. Listening today it occurred to me that if you heard these songs for the first time knowing nothing about anything you might not believe that the John songs and the Paul songs (never mind George and Ringo) were by the same band. If I knew my Beatles chronology better I might suggest that this album planted the seed of their eventual divergence. (I tend to think Paul's a sap but his beautiful songs are very beautiful, and For No One is one.)

I would have to listen ten more times (which I guess I might) to really comprehend all the lyrics, but the fact that they used the samples to create a new, chaotic sound is enough for me.

Nothing about this appeals to me, and I assume that if I knew French I'd like it even less. (I guess Tommy is a concept album about child abuse too, but frankly I never liked that all that much either.)

Bloated and overwrought, with too many Paul songs (and Paul at his music-hall cheesiest). It seems that many of the 5 ratings are rooted in nostalgia or basic respect, and I can understand that--this is the only Beatles album I listened to in full before age 20, as I inherited it from an uncle who died young--but I have never voluntarily listened to a single one of these songs since. I'm being generous giving it a 4.

An exhausting glimpse into Kurt's tortured brain. On one hand, he wants nothing more than to make a cacophonic mess that sounds like it was recorded in a machine shop, and there's Steve Albini saying yes! We can do that! But on the other hand he knows he is capable of writing coherent songs, and he has a baby on the way so he should probably try to sell a few records, and along comes Bob Ludwig to make that happen. It's a lot, but the singles are pretty good.

I'd never heard any pre-Breakfast in America (not on this list, shockingly) Supertramp, and you can see the roots of the irritating earworms in among the noodly prog. But all in all, no thanks.

Very uninteresting

I suppose this is what I get for saying that Paul's a sap. John seems to be working out some issues here, and it produced a few good songs, but it primarily feels self-indulgent.

Sounds like sanded-down Björk. Pretty voice, but goes right out the other ear.

I miss a lot of things about the 70s but smooth jazz, or whatever you call this, is not one of them.

I wanted to like this more but I just don't think they had more than a couple of great songs in them. Their desire to be the Beatles, the Clash, and the Smiths all rolled into one is palpable. Beetlebum is their best song, but in reality they most closely resemble the Beatles in that their early and late work have nothing in common. 3.5

OK, it disintegrates a bit at the end, but it's still a beautiful album. Kim's voice and Joey Santiago's guitar, with Black Francis just a suggestion in the background, are just gorgeous together. It's always good to be reminded to listen to the whole album and not just the songs you hear all the time (and know from that weight-loss ad, ugh).

There is absolutely an excellent album here. And a bunch of other stuff.

I listened to it twice and I still don't know what the heck was going on, and it wasn't the language that was the barrier.

A tad dramatic, no? It really seems like I haven't missed anything by only knowing Bowie's singles.

I have no problem highlighting interpreters of other people's work, but why do we have two albums by Dusty Springfield and none by Linda Ronstadt? And why did she record You Don't Own Me after Leslie Gore? Nonetheless, this is fantastic. And I have to give a shout to Carole King, who is absolutely holding her own with the likes of Bachrach & David and Kander & Ebb, with a song she wrote at age 18.

I think if I heard this in an airport I'd think some malign force was trying to control my brain, but as background for fairly stressful thinking and writing it was ideal. I'm not sure I would call it music, however; more like a nervous system intervention. No idea how to rate it.

I'm not sure whether to rate this as one (bloated, occasionally self-indulgent, with flashes of brilliance) album or two albums, the first of which is interesting and fun and the second of which has one absolute classic but is otherwise kind of dull. I guess that all works out to a 3.

Not bad when they actually sing a melody

There are no actual songs here, and I'm a big fan of songs, but there's a vocal here and a guitar there that appealed to me (the mix was really odd throughout--I have no idea what I was supposed to be hearing). I replaced my Bluetooth speaker while listening to it (one tiny channel wasn't working, which I discovered on Sgt Pepper day, because When I'm 64 had no vocal track) and frankly I liked it better on the busted speaker. Giving it a 3 because I'm told they get better.

Loved it then, love it now. Good reminder to listen to the whole album. I don't think this is a nostalgia rating but I guess the Gen Z daughter is the test.

Aural wallpaper. I can't imagine how they stayed awake for an hour recording it. And didn't they win a Grammy for Best Rock Album (I think it wasn't for this one)? This is not rock.

Those old melodies still sound so good to me as they melt the years away...This is not the Carpenters album I would pick, perhaps because it's not the one my best friend owned, but also because their greatest songs (Yesterday Once More, Rainy Days and Mondays, Superstar) are all elsewhere. Yes, this is schmaltzy, and I can totally understand how you'd be completely baffled if you were hearing it for the first time. But they recorded Reason to Believe before Rod Stewart and it's excellent, and that psychedelic showtune at the end, just wow. I am also delighted to read that Hal Blaine insisted on playing drums for most of the album because Karen played too loud. She was a kickass drummer with a beautiful voice and, sadly, a controlling family; she was truly beaming in from the future and I'm afraid she knew it.

Utterly inoffensive and completely unnecessary

Too hard for me. I'm going to listen to the Carpenters again.

I always assumed that Nirvana broke out in a way that their predecessors never did because Kurt was pretty (unlike, say, Black Francis) and was willing, at least at first, to play the game (unlike Paul Westerberg). But listening to this again now I realize that it's also because the album sounds so clean, with crisp drums and chiming guitars, so it goes down easy, and the masses loved it. Kurt hated that. I found it a little jarring as well. The songs themselves hold up pretty well.

I feel about the Dead as I do about Jesus--they're fine, it's their followers I can't stand. Perfectly nice album.

Dense, cohesive, impressive in all ways, and the hint of Prince at his most noodly was appealing. I'd have to listen to it a lot more to really appreciate it, though.

Pretty bare-bones. I like Depeche Mode better.* But hey, points for "Johnny Joey Dee Dee"! *so of course I had to listen to Speak & Spell, DM's album from 1981, to see if it was indeed better, and it was, although more lightweight than their later albums.

I'm just going to start rating hip-hop albums by how much they remind me of/owe to Prince--this is a 3.5, bumped up for the actual backing band.

Defanged Radiohead coffee shop background music. zzzzz. But I looked up the island, and I think I've been there. I went to Naushon once as a young child (a family friend was a local politician and must have known someone) and I remember riding a horse there, which I probably never did again. It looks like you get to Naushon via Veckatimest.

This is calmer and more tuneful than Surfer Rosa; it sounds like they're trying to apply their dissonant sound to standard pop-song structures, which works ok but I like them better when they just let loose.

Ah, the 90s, when the World Trade Center was still standing, there was a hole in the ozone layer, and the misogyny came with a disclaimer about respect for women. Pleasantly hypnotic, though.

This album has been inescapable my entire adult life, and Billie Jean and Beat It will be piped in to my retirement home. But I had forgotten, if I ever knew, how much of it is pure 70s cheese--I doubt even Sir Paul remembers The Girl is Mine (the first single!) It's as if the 80s arrive over the course of the album. I always liked Human Nature, though, and I have to give points for Eddie. That gets it to a 4, barely.

Still not particularly my thing, but I have to agree that it's flawless.

Pet Shop Boys are a singles band, with the good songs distributed across any number of albums; a Greatest Hits record would be pretty good. But we have three albums on this list and West End Girls isn't on any of them.

After about 45 minutes of what-the-fuck-is-this, Televators provides a bit of melodic, if grim, respite. I can't say I found most of this the least bit enjoyable, but I appreciate the effort and they definitely have the chops.

This is far more influenced than influential: it's Robyn Hitchcock! It's Bowie! It's the Waterboys! I remember Grant Lee Phillips' folky tunes in the early 2000s (Mona Lisa) and I think I liked those better.

Masterful, but a little too chill for me.

Peppy and fun. I imagine that there are dozens of bands that sound something like this, but this one is pretty good.

OK, here I go trying to appreciate PJ Harvey...sorry, still tedious. Horses in her dreams, indeed; she's trying a little too hard to be Patti Smith. But I did like the Thom Yorke number.

Yeah, not an auspicious debut. I'm sure at the time it was revolutionary for a bunch of kids in London to be playing this music, but it sure doesn't impress me now. Not only were they an uninteresting cover band, but the one original isn't especially original.

Migrainous

Kind of monotonous. Maybe all the songs just need to be shorter? I really can't listen to them without hearing all their influences (I was getting a lot of Spoon today) but I'm sure they'd sound better to fresher ears.

I agree that this is the sax dude's show. I hear music like this and smell books and coffee, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. (And for the definitive version of When I Grow Too Old To Dream, see The Muppet Show episode 523, with Linda Ronstadt)

This seems to be the one without any hits. I wasn't able to pay much attention today; it was not bothersome but nothing grabbed me.

A longish car ride gave me ample opportunity to contemplate my dislike of Sheryl Crow. For all its commercial monstrousness, the album is slick and dull, like all mainstream 90s music, but the really irritating thing to me is the opportunistic way a middling bluesy-pop band was packaged to highlight the frontwoman to get in on a Women in Rock trend, when there were plenty of other women (Gillian Welch, Lucinda Williams, et al) making much more interesting music. Run Baby Run is an ok song, and nothing about it is terribly offensive, so I guess it gets a 2.

Sure, it's great, but it's so all over the map that I can't say it's better than Revolver (or Rumours).

Such a dilemma. I love Def Leppard and I firmly believe that they are a power pop band at heart, as is clearly evident in the harmonies in the many choruses they throw into their overstuffed songs. The first side of this album is one banger after another; the second side peters out and the whole thing could easily be 20 minutes shorter, both by cutting entire songs and losing about 3 minutes of each of the longer ones. Nonetheless, I find their inability to edit, leading to seven-minute songs with meandering bridges, kind of charming, so I'll blame the album's faults on Mutt Lange and give it a 4.5.

It's like a time travel machine that whisks you through 70s funk and soul and lands you in early-80s hip-hop, specifically in a particular dorm room in 1983.

RIP Brian Wilson, who seems to have had very little to do with this album. I liked his songs quite a bit but found all the rest extremely weird.

I've never understood why people around here act like the mercury in the fish is news when Marvin Gaye knew about it in 1971. Come to think of it, all this shit was supposed to get fixed in the 70s. Five-star album, though.

Funny, while everyone knew about the scenes in Seattle and Minneapolis, in fact indie bands were growing like asparagus in western Massachusetts; this is a solid example of this kind of thing. I like Lou Barlow's songs better than Eric Gaffney's.

I'm plowing through this long, boring album and I finally get to the last song...and it's 15 minutes long! No thanks. One or two pretty tunes, though.

I guess they call this pop-punk, but to me it's slickly-produced hard rock showtunes. It's even got a power ballad. I guess I see the charm but honestly it makes me laugh.

I've been determinedly not listening to Sonic Youth since the 80s, so I was surprised by how tolerable this was. It turns out they are capable of tunefulness and sometimes the noise is interesting.

If you were on an island ten miles out to sea and you lost power, would you devote your phone battery to this? I listened to about half of each song. I liked a couple of songs but overall it felt like a lot of caterwauling.

Not my favorite Prince album but so what.

Ugh. The fact that this nonsense carries with it memories of 7th grade is just icing on the cake.

This is what passed for funk (or something) in the 90s? Much 90s music has a paint-by-numbers feel; all the pieces are there but the whole thing is just lifeless.

At the risk of divorce, I have to rate this one as technically impressive but still profoundly uninteresting to me.

I really could listen to this all day. A little more bass-heavy than Ali Farka Touré, but just as hypnotic. (And when it was over Spotify gave me a song they did with Iggy Pop)

Further evidence that the 80s killed music. With one exception (Prince), everyone who started making music in the 70s (or, heck, the 60s) got measurably worse in the 80s. This album provides ample opportunity to dissect that 80s sound--is it the wimpy drums? The tinny guitars? The unnecessary synths? Somehow, Tina's voice survives. 2.5

Pleasant soundtrack for making a pie (probably not its intended use)

With a caipirinha, maybe

Get high or shoot people, but trying to rap about both is confusing (and actually kind of dull).

The title song offers a comprehensive list of things I'd rather be listening to.

Impressive for a 19-year-old, and I think I can finally distinguish her from Ani DiFranco. The songs do kind of all sound the same, but that's understandable.

This seems like something I should like, but after two tries, it didn't grab me. It seems like they were more concerned with their sound than with writing actual songs. Sorry, lads.

Why?

My opinion hasn't changed since 1982.

America's on the ropes, but this is a nice album (but it's no Super Fly).

I thought I was basically familiar with Tom Waits's oeuvre, but I guess I didn't know the half of it. No thanks.

It would have been 1988 when I saw them in SF, so it must have been this album. The album is enjoyable enough but I'm sure it was better live.

It would not make me move to New York and crash on the manager's couch, but this is a pretty good album. It took me a while to appreciate Lou Reed's songs (apart from his voice and his sound) and most of these are very good and not especially challenging (except The Murder Mystery).

I really don't understand genres. How can an album from 1978 be considered post-punk? This is obviously the raw material for Talking Heads, Pixies, and everything else I like, so I am having trouble comprehending why everyone hates it. Yeah, some of it is grating, but it seems like it gave Black Francis permission to sing however he wanted, showed David Byrne how to combine rhythm and chaos, and demonstrated the uses of noise in the service of a song to a generation of punk bands.

This is ok but it's kind of dull.

It's too bad he can't use his powers for good. I've got a lot of throwing up to do too.

It always surprises me when I like Rod Stewart, since his hits in the 70s and 80s ranged from bland to dreadful to traumatizing, but this is great (although I still can't stand Maggie May).

Surprisingly, this was not the Doors I know and hate; it was shockingly tolerable and even had a couple of songs I might consider good. I guess he hadn't gotten grandiose and ridiculous yet.

Some of it is kind of drippy, but Papa Was A Rolling Stone is such a perfect, uncluttered groove I have to give it a 4.

Her parents didn't let her listen to the radio or watch TV to protect her from "stupid stuff," so she married Andy Samberg--there's a cautionary tale for you. Anyway, this was excruciating. Could she try writing an actual song? And maybe do a little less wailing?

I think their later albums are better, but boy was this boring. I guess by "virtual band" they mean they make virtual music. Snooze.

Nanci's legacy is so dominant on aging-hipster radio that it's hard to believe this was recorded in 1986--I may not have paid much attention to her back then, but the likes of Kasey Musgraves, Patty Griffin, Waxahatchee, and a slew of gals named Brandi sure did. This is a 4.5.

A little more gospel-y than I would like

Would I (or anyone else) give this faux-confessional Europop knockoff mishegas the time of day of it weren't Madonna? Some of it is pretty nice, I admit, so it gets a 3.

Oh for chrissakes

Tedious, ponderous, soulless

Such a relief to get a genuinely great album. I tend to neglect this in favor of Songs in the Key of Life and Talking Book but I'm not going to quibble.

This is now the second time that our non-random RIP disc has been a middling album. All the elements seem to be there, but there was no song that really knocked me out. But may his memory be a blessing all the same.

This sounds like a first draft--Robert and his mates noodling around, laying down instrumental tracks with very quiet vocals because they hadn't really written the songs yet. (I listened on two different speakers to be sure I wasn't missing the vocals.) But nice to have on in the background.

felt like a chore

Kind of a downer, no? I guess if you were 16 and it was 1982...wait, I was 16 in 1982 and I was listening to Tom Petty and the Cars and they really cheered me up. Different strokes, I guess.

I have fond memories of dancing to the industrial-strength bangers, but I wasn't aware of the social justice angle. Sure, there's some filler (I kind of tuned out toward the end) and the drum sound is ridiculous, but it's still a 4 for me.

Another downer. I try to ignore lyrics but the tunes were so slow and low-key that it almost felt like spoken word. Nonetheless, I can see being mesmerized by this guy. I tracked down the Johnny Cash version of I See a Darkness (another reviewer sent me to the wrong album--it's American III) and the song did work better with a harmony.

It takes some chutzpah to listen to Little Richard and think "I could do that." This is no one's favorite Beatles album (and I guess it wasn't released in this form in the US at all), but it definitely showcases George as a promising songwriter.

The singles are fine; the rest is tedious.

One rainy day in 2019, when the Red Sox were no good, my teen daughter and I were at Fenway and the organist launched into Girlfriend in a Coma (followed by I Wanna Be Sedated). Teenagers love it when their moms randomly burst out laughing. Apart from that song, this didn't grab me at all--it mostly lacked the jangle and pep of the other albums--except to inspire some soul-searching about why I boycotted Kid Rock on principle but not Morrissey.

I guess it's Loathsome Human Beings week around here. Sweet Emotion and Walk This Way are unarguably great, Toys and No More No More are ok, and the rest is unremarkable jock rock and drippy power ballads.

Primarily an interesting historical artifact. These guys were basically the Monkees without a TV show, playing the songs of an LA songwriting team (of women). The songs are all over the map (everyone appears to be baffled by The Toonville Trolley, which sounds like a standard music hall ditty to me) but the band's contribution seems to be the psychedelic sound; maybe if they had more consistent material (or if they did write anything themselves) they could have been a real band.

I guess I don't really know what jazz is because this didn't sound like anything I'd recognize as jazz, but I liked it.

Beautiful voice, but some of the songs are very Lawrence Welk-esque. Probably best taken in small doses, but obviously a major inspiration for all kinds of people. (Yet another rightwinger, unfortunately.)

Why would you want a Smiths album without Johnny Marr, in which Morrissey actually vocalizes his racism?

Smooth beats, humanist lyrics--no complaints here.

Most of the songs are short, so in theory it shouldn't have felt all that overwhelming, but it was a slog nonetheless. The one track with a tune (Counting Out Time) comes as a huge relief even though it isn't very good, and it's not even halfway through. No thanks.

Why is this shoegaze while Sonic Youth is noise? From the reviews I was expecting intolerable cacophony, and I was pleasantly surprised. They learned what a song is since Isn't Anything (and I think I missed Loveless), and I gave that a 3, so I might have to round up for this one.

I had never heard this one, which is odd, but I can see why. There is nothing that this one does that the earlier albums don't do better. Now I really wish I'd given Surfer Rosa a 5, as Doolittle is a solid 4 and this is a 3.

I had no idea the blues could be so joyful. This is a lot of fun.

I can see how you'd hate it if you were expecting a rock album. I found it appealingly goofy, but I can't say that I love it.

I guess it was a brave move in 1970 to go with the prog-folk-jazz sound in the face of ubiquitous blues rock, but that doesn't mean I want to listen to it.

No thanks. 1970 was a tough year.

Not sure why anyone else bothered to make pop music in the 80s when ABBA had the genre covered by 1981. I admire their effort to move on from dance tunes; I'm giving it a 4 because I don't love them all, but I am looking forward to One of Us coming up on my kitchen playlist.

This is reminiscent of a good Elvis Costello album, but it isn't one. Blue Chair is excellent, though, and I'm always happy to listen to an album produced by Nick Lowe, since he's otherwise not on the list, grrr. Give me Imperial Bedroom soon, please.

One of those albums where I'm not even sure why the singles were considered to be better than the rest of it--why isn't Set the House Ablaze a keeper? 5 stars, no question. It's amazing how the brain retains every note of an album you haven't heard in full in 40 years, if you listen to it enough when you're young. Should probably have done that with Shakespeare's sonnets or the periodic table or something.

Don't quit your day job

Wow, Tainted Love, the ur-One Hit Wonder of the 80s, is actually the blandest song on the album. Not surprising, I guess, when you consider that the British electropop scene in the early 80s was dominated by dull albums like Dare and that Echo and the Bunnymen one. I can definitely see young Morrissey drawing some inspiration from the darker corners here as well--all of which is not to say that I liked it all that much, just that I found it kind of fascinating.

Can't argue with that

Willie Nelson's voice makes any song sound like it was etched in stone.

I'm not at all a member of the cult, and the first half put me to sleep, so most of these stars are for the band.

I liked it more the more attention I paid, which I sometimes find it hard to do with jazz.

Treading the fine line between stupid and clever. I wasn't listening closely enough to be offended, but the grooves are pleasant and I can definitely see its influence on others.

Probably not their best album, but really not bad for London in 1981

I get that they were trying new things, but this did not grab me. But it was short!

Not as good as the others, but worth listening to.

This is better than Protection, and their pastiche game is strong (I always like a good Fiddler on the Roof reference) but the actual music made by them is still pretty boring. To wit, the best song (Be Thankful for What You've Got) is a cover. But overall I was pleasantly surprised. 3.5

The Muppets jug band has some serious chops

Everything apart from the hits is standard southern blues-rock. Yawn. (It's never a good sign when the music improves when the album ends--I got Cinnamon Girl.)

Those apostrophes will never cease to irk me, but California Dreamin' lives in my head for about half of every year. The rest is filler.

This is an absolutely essential album. Yeah, it's basically a Velvet Underground knockoff (hey, he was young) but without the drugs and with a cheerful spirit, which of course he has honed to a fine point over the years. I can see how you'd wonder what the big deal was if you never heard anything else Jonathan did, though. And if course Roadrunner is an anthem for those of us from Massachusetts--there was an effort a while back to make it the state rock song--so some of us are biased. This is for the Brits: https://www.theguardian.com/music/2007/jul/20/popandrock5

The only reason you'd have to listen to this album is if it is 1980 and you possess a radio and you have no choice. Otherwise no thanks.

Silly, fun power pop

I don't think electronic dance music is completely unnecessary but this is boring and annoying.

Her voice is gorgeous and I liked the spontaneity of the live performance. No complaints here.

I guess I knew the song Chicago, but I'd never heard this or any other Sufjan Stevens album. I do, however, have a passing familiarity with the art-rock gang Black Country, New Road, and I was under the impression that they were making new-sounding music. Turns out they sound a lot like this guy! It's too long and self-important, but it's possible that he really is making a contribution to music and it's pleasant to listen to.

Hit after hit after hit. Hits I'd forgotten about, hits on my kitchen playlist, hits you hear in the drugstore, hits I don't particularly like. The pinnacle of 80s pop, making the highest and best use of the synths and drum machines that plagued the charts. I'm particularly fond of All Through the Night, which will support the underappreciated Jules Shear for the rest of his days. (For extra credit, to fully grasp Cyndi's artistry, listen to the originals of the 3 songs that had been recorded previously: Prince's When You Were Mine, The Brains' Money Changes Everything, and Shear's All Through the Night.)

Oh, I remember that song! One thing that always strikes me about early-80s pop is how slow it is; it's hard to imagine dancing to it, but we probably did. The rest of it is pretty generic British pop of the era, and no, you do not need to hear it before you die but it won't kill you.

It's the Replacements without a sense of humor, right? It's well executed and all that, and Ian MacKaye is an upstanding dude, but now I'm going to listen to Replacements Stink (which is even shorter and should be on this list).

It is tricky to set Leonard Cohen's poems to music without making them sound like dirges (which they sometimes actually are), but this goes way overboard with the synths and drum machines. I'm glad we have several other examples so I can safely say this is nowhere near his best album, and it's not the fault of the songs, it's the damn 80s.

I didn't realize that the Foo Fighters started as a one-man band, which I guess is a little impressive. I will, however, stand by my position that they are the dullest rock band to emerge in my adult lifetime. Making boring music is a hell of a way to process Kurt's death.

That's more like it: low-key, tuneful musical accompaniment to chronic depression. This one has a couple of classics too.

Hey, hipster alt-country didn't come from nowhere; Joe Ely is obviously essential to the tattooed bearded dudes with guitars that haunt us to this day. This is the real deal.

Happy birthday to me! This is like a big cake with maybe a little too much raspberry filling and the frosting turns your tongue blue, but who cares.

Not bad, but not as good as their later stuff and not as good as the Buzzcocks. 3.5

I get it, it's important and all that, but I really prefer punk bands that don't take themselves so seriously.

It has been shown that people of all ages identify the era when they were 12-13 as the time when music was best; for those of us born in 1965 it's objectively true. My relationship with Talking Heads is complex, but I have absolutely no complaints about this album, and I think their oeuvre really does benefit from listening in order (and, like me, you will hate them by the end). But this album is all hope and promise and good ideas. (Good thing they abandoned the ska angle, though)

Nice album for a long drive. Would have been a 4 if we'd been driving at night.

Tiresome, tinny, irritating. I guess I just wasn't in the mood.

This is not the blues sludge that I expected, but it still doesn't do much for me.

Ok, they have two songs, a slow one and a fast one, but they're both pretty great. Just imagine hearing it in 1971!

There's too much of it and it gets pretty repetitive, but I found it surprisingly listenable.

Excellent album to cook dinner to, unless you include the bonus track and singe the potatoes.

Starts out wicked strong then deteriorates, much like the band's career. I liked it better than Toys, which was a solid 3, so this is a 3.5.

This is like one of those all-over-the-place Beatles albums with four different songwriters, except that there's just the one. I'm sure I liked this album a lot until the next two came along, and it still has some fine moments, especially on disc 1.

It's kind of remarkable that it took 40 years after Tusk was released for them to kick Lindsey and his self-indulgent weirdness out of the band. I love Lindsey but he's really not a team player. But while everyone focuses on Lindsey and his bathroom, the real story is Christine's (and, sure, Stevie's) brilliance. If this were like that Outkast album and had one disc of their songs and one of Lindsey's, you'd have one album of gorgeous pop songs, some of them huge hits and some under-the-radar beauties that bring the 70s right back, and one album of experimental oddities that still sound fresh today.

Cultural appropriation and boycott-breaking aside, I would gladly spend the rest of the day listening to Youssou N'Dour, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Linda Ronstadt and Los Lobos without Paul Simon's irritating voice and silly ditties.

The kind of music that makes me appreciate silence. No.

Finally, a Britpop band I can unironically get behind. Such a contrast with yesterday's Suede, which was too dull to even comment on. This is really fun.

Holy cow, it's the progenitor of Coldplay and Sting! Brits really have a high tolerance for noodly pablum.

Of all the various kinds of nonsense in here I like the jazz nonsense the best, but the bar is very low.

Gershwins 5, Ella 5, but I have to knock off a point for Nelson Riddle and his overbearing orchestration.

Funny how technical skill, middle school political analysis, and volume (plus a Harvard degree) don't necessarily add up to interesting songs. Big meh from me.

I'm not sure why this is on the list (according to the index I've been using it isn't, but that must be outdated.) It's a bunch of atmospheric B-sides that surely appeal to the diehards, but I didn't need to hear them.

I guess it's a measure of this album's influence that I can hear this as pleasant background music and not wildly experimental weirdness. I liked it, but not 90 minutes' worth, but what do I know.

Pretty fuzzy for 1985. I liked the rest of the album better than the big hit, which I always found to be a snooze, but it still gets pretty tedious.

A couple good songs and a lot of Bowie's outtakes. I think I prefer the Stooges.

Seriously, where is the David Bowie jukebox musical? Can't you just imagine a series of actors in various wacky costumes flying around a stage to a loosely-constructed plot, accompanied by these raging showtunes? I'm giving this one a 4, between Low and Ziggy Stardust. Only 4 to go!

It's a good thing this site doesn't use cookies or I would give some serious shit to the 1-star reviewer who said these were covers. This is some grade-A songwriting, and while many of the songs were the wallpaper of 1970s radio, even the ones that were not huge hits (both for her and for other people) are beautiful.

There is definitely plenty of bland easy listening here, but a couple of songs held my attention. He never quite equaled the brilliance of Careless Whisper but he's making an effort here. Edit: hold the phone! The best song (They Won't Go When I Go) is a Stevie Wonder cover, oh well.

No thanks

I can't believe I made it through an entire Rush album. It gets a couple of stars for technical skill and Geddy Lee being a mensch and a big Blue Jays fan, but don't make me do it again.

Crash bang moan groan

So sweet and innocent! And I loved Rock Box.

This was less annoying than I remembered (although I did groan audibly at "hi there!"); the production isn't too overwhelming and the songs are ok. As monster albums of my college years go, I'd put it above Graceland and well below Cyndi.

Wow, this is fantastic. School's Out is just bait for the weirdest collection of tunes and styles ever, all expertly executed. I really hope Lenny appreciated it.

Having seen Jonathan Richman just last night, I have to give VU credit for everyone they inspired, but I found this one pretty unlistenable.

Genre is meaningless, but it's hard to find the country and western (or Ray Charles for that matter) under all that Big Band. But you can see how these could be good songs if they just let the guy sing them.

Celtic roots music, why not

Maybe it's churlish to criticize a Billie Holiday album, but this is like listening to her sing the phone book (with an army of strings in the back). I guess she ran out of Gershwins and Ellingtons and Berlins by the time she made this, but these songs are just no good. Listen to any other album instead--I'm enjoying All or Nothing at All.

I'm trying to remember why I liked this album so much back then--was it just Jesus Etc.? The noise is noisy, there are some good tunes, but it doesn't really cohere. I read the reviews and I kind of agree with all of them.

I'm not going to quibble, except to note that the best songs are not the ones that dominated the radio.

I sat through 40 minutes of soul-sucking tedium and all I got was this lousy T-shirt

Great start! Just write some melodies and some words and you'll have songs.

They had one nice song, which isn't on this album, and recorded it over and over, so it felt like it was.

When your introduction to the Clash was Combat Rock, this comes as a pleasant shock. The first of the two records was such a rager that I was sorry I'd never heard it all the way through before (Hateful is especially charming) but it definitely started to drag by the end of side 3, so I have to knock off a point.

Boring 90s music.

This is nice--retro beats, clever rhymes, one dude's from Boston. No complaints.

I'd never heard of this guy, but I guess his contribution was that he inspired a generation of bearded guitar dudes to say jeez, I could make a better record than that with my eyes closed, and they did. Thanks from Bon Iver, Father John Misty, and all those guys, no thanks from me. (It would have been cool if he'd sung it in Icelandic, though).

No matter how many times I hear them, those first chords of Just What I Needed put me on a beach on the Cape with my dance group in the summer of 1978 (the best year for music ever). That said, this is not a nostalgia rating. The genius of The Cars is that they all grew up in different times and places with different musical interests--one was in the Modern Lovers and worshipped VU, one grew up listening to classic country--and created something that sounded totally new. That may not be evident to the youngsters who file them under New Wave, but they invented that sound. And while everyone goes on about Elliot's solo in Just What I Needed, it's his country jam in Best Friend's Girl that really gets me.

I've always liked this better than Thriller but it all goes to hell when Paul shows up.

Most of this is the kind of noise I associate with impenetrable art installations (but hey, even that had to come from somewhere), but then much of side 2 is positively listenable. It's a bit eye-rolling now, but nobody was doing this in 1978, so this is a high 2.

Shoot me now

That was a strange collection of sounds, but they were all recognizable as music, so that's a plus.

Not the energy level I was expecting from a James Brown concert, but that's a me problem

So pure and classic. This is what all those alt-country dudes are aiming for

Radiohead meets BCNR on a lava field at the winter solstice. If that's your thing, this is it.

I never knew they spun off from the Human League, but this is definitely an improvement over Dare, and Fascist Groove Thang has some staying power. Still not enough to push it past a 3, though.

Perfectly nice pop album, but not essential if you're not Australian

Heck, I can't rate this. It's always been there, and I guess it's good for what it is, but it does sound like one long song.

what a snooze

I guess this guy had a long career, as I remember buying an album of his in the 90s (back when I bought albums because some reviewer told me to), so I guess this was his auspicious beginning. It's pretty interesting, I guess.

Still not my thing, sorry

This album is no good, but its influence is inarguable.

I had to look up "shambolic" to be sure it meant what I thought it did and yes, it describes Oasis perfectly. This album is messy and chaotic, but it has a few good songs (I would appreciate a Gallagher-free cover of Live Forever)-- the rocking songs really rock and the ballads are unlistenable. I guess it demonstrates promise, I'm not sure of what.

All over the map, but most of it is good. I really only knew Nick Cave to be lugubrious, so this was a nice surprise.

It's amazing that The Who ever convinced anyone they were a rock band. I haven't heard this in forever and man is it weird, even by rock-opera standards. But it's better than The Wall, I guess? (Can it be that Quadrophenia isn't on the list?)

Another double album? Another artist who turns out to be a schmuck? I just picked up Claire Dederer's book Monsters, about how to deal with art by terrible people, from a little free library and I haven't read it yet, but I think the answer is I'm supposed to tell Eric Clapton to fuck right off, which I am happy to do. (It gets one point above the absolute minimum for being a blues album that is not all covers.)

So interesting -- Brian May and Freddie Mercury are both completely unhinged, but in very different ways. It looks like Freddie's instincts took over for their later work (resulting in the big hits) but it's fascinating to see what happens when you let each of them loose.

Pleasant Britpop with a bit of jangle, then it totally veers off into oddities

I can see why I only know the singles. I think Bowie and Ronson were trying to make Lou Reed British.

How boring can you get and still call it rock? It's the curse of the Gen X aging hipster that we experienced the decline of our essential bands (yes, all of them) in real time, so we cannot evaluate each album independently. However, even if I weren't comparing this to Murmur or Reckoning I would still think it sucks.

Weak tea. Also I was distracted by the title because Raul Malo died today and I just wanted to listen to the Mavericks.

Yeah yeah yeah yeah yeahyeahyeahyeahyeahyeahyeah yeah! 1978 was the best year for music ever. I'm sure I didn't appreciate it at the time.

The missing (by me) link between 80s indie and 90s Britpop. Very nice.

no thanks

I was brainwashed by the Boston-area radio stations of the 70s to think this was worth listening to. Turns out that the only local heroes they had were these guys and Aerosmith, at least until the Cars came along. It's not the harbinger of power pop, it's the last gasp of dinosaur rock.

Morrissey yodels, Johnny jangles, the songs meander. I'd like the Smiths a lot more if their songs were tighter, but you can't argue with that band.

He has earned his gloom, but it's still kind of tedious. I like his voice better than Leonard Cohen's. That said, I'm fond of him. I once spent hours at an art exhibit by someone named Nick Cave and had no trouble believing that our guy here, along with the music and the writing, made larger-than-human sized statues out of various forms of detritus called Soundsuits. Turned out it was a completely different guy.

Once again, here's Nelson Riddle and his orchestra drowning out some solid (and some great) songs and a perfect voice. And this rendition of Anything Goes, a song that is dear to my heart, is way too slow and syrupy. It would dishonor my father's memory to give this less than a 4 but I didn't like it that much.

The singles are ok but the shtick is ridiculous.

We got There's No Place Like America Today on July 4 and now this on the solstice? And he thought things were bad in 1974? Anyway, cool album. They don't make 'em like that anymore.

Perfectly nice if you weren't expecting songs, or even necessarily music. I actually liked it better than the usual prog noodling.

This album is why I liked The Who way back when, but the original version excludes all the weird Tommy stuff, which is why I don't like them much now. This rating is for the original vinyl:4.5

Well, yeah, if you don't like Elvis Costello you're not going to like this. By the mid-90s I had completely written him off and was shocked at what a solid batch of clever tunes this was, almost like the old days. (But I would gently suggest that the haters listen to Get Happy!!)

Listened on a bus to Boston, so the bit from WBCN (it's real) warmed my heart. Good bus music, some great grooves, but I probably wouldn't have listened to an hour of it in any other circumstance. But since the Housemartins aren't on the list I did London 0 Hull 4 for the rest of the ride and that was great, so the stars are for Norman Cook's oeuvre generally. 3.5

It's boring and I'm not in the mood. I'm sure there are better Metallica albums and we will have to listen to them all anyway.

Holy music hall, this is the Britishest thing I've ever heard. I'd been craving a Kinks album after 5 Beatles, 4 Who, and 2 Stones, but I don't think this is the one. A couple good tunes, though.

Dull

Two great songs, all the rest is dreck

This album (or at least the hits) lifted my spirits in 1986 and it still makes me smile. A few thoughts: 1. They have hair, but this is not metal; it's pop rock. There was plenty of hard rock/metal out there in the 80s, but it had the disadvantage of alienating half the population. Bon Jovi's great contribution was to make rock music that was appealing to girls. 2. Don't blame Jon and Richie if you don't like the songs, blame Desmond Child. 3. If you are inclined to knock off a point when the artist is an asshole (Clapton, Morrissey, Kid Rock, et al) you could consider that JBJ is a living saint. Unlike certain other NJ denizens who talk a big game but don't do anything, Jon and Dorothea are out there building housing and feeding people. All in all that's a 4. I know I'm in the minority among civilized people.

Once you hear the resemblance between ELO and pre-disco Bee Gees you can't unhear it, but that just adds to its appeal. Brilliant, if a little bloated.

I'm not going to argue with what anyone fighting in Vietnam wanted to listen to, but I don't need this in my life.

Fun disco album, I'm just surprised that they're American

That's more like it. The last time I saw Elvis he was playing with The Imposters, which is the Attractions without Bruce Thomas (so the band onstage had a combined age of about 467), they played nothing recorded after 1982, including much of this album, and it absolutely blazed. I vowed never to see him again because there's no point. If you don't like this, you just don't like Elvis Costello, and I guess I can live with that but I will judge you.

pretty fun but they do all sound the same

Never heard of this (but what do I know) but now I get what those No Depression/alt-country dudes were going for. No arguments, and I don't care that he can't sing. It's actually kind of charming.

WTF

Homegrown British culture does not have a lot to recommend it.

I tried twice, but I couldn't find anything interesting about this album.

The first side is oddly appealing. The second side, well, you know.

Their musical accomplishment notwithstanding, I was never a big fan of their cold sound.

The inspiration I need to get out there and protest ICE in my neighborhood, but it's a little alarming to get this today.

Kind of painful to listen to, but beautiful

Big snooze. Lacks oomph. I have always liked Helplessly Hoping, though.

Sure, it's a punk album, but with 5-minute songs and hummable tunes and dextrous solos, none of which sound very punk to me. The punk part is just in the attitude, I guess. I enjoyed it.

Couldn't possibly listen to an hour of this, especially not today when I did not have a spare hour. Inoffensive, though.

The layers of appropriation involved in white blues dudes covering a song from Show Boat are giving me a headache. I can live without this.

My father had this album, along with one by Joan Baez, despite having no interest in or knowledge of popular music after Sinatra; he probably wanted to know what the fuss was about. I think he had a secret sympathy for the folk song army (his favorite record was one of protest songs sung by Paul Robeson), but actual protest was a bridge too far for him. That may have been the ultimate function of this album: to drag centrist liberal economists along. I'm not a monster, of course I'm giving it a 4.5, but I saw the movie and my favorite part was when the Kinks came on. Also I've been hearing a lot of Jesse Welles recently and while there would be no Jesse Welles without Dylan, Jesse manages to inject a little more Lehrer-esque wit into his biting political analysis. But of course I appreciate Bobby Z's contribution to the discourse. Finally, just a note that our town is under siege by ICE and we could yet invade Greenland and this is at least the third album this week that has really addressed the moment. This randomizer is kind of creeping me out.

SQUIER!! I didn't know anyone actually sampled the vocals on The Big Beat, the most-sampled rock song ever, which is funding Billy Squier's retirement in the Hamptons. My father would have been endlessly amused that there are musical subgenres called grime and grunge and they have nothing to do with each other. I know nothing about British hiphop but I think this is pretty good. 3.5

it's iconic and it's not endless, so sure

This is a little too low-key to keep my attention, but I'm sure if I focused on the rhymes I'd be impressed. I guess I'll try again. I recently read Mark Ronson's memoir about DJing in NY in the 90s, which comes with a 19-hour playlist if you want to follow along. The World Is Yours is on it and I agree that that's a great track but I can't picture it on a dance floor. 3.5

I can't help comparing this to D'Angelo's Voodoo, which is not on this list but really is better. They sound similar (thanks to Questlove, I assume) but this feels more rambling and unfocused.

Never heard of this. It's Arctic Monkeys with an orchestra? Why?

So the first Springsteen album we get is one that no one likes, so I'm not in the minority. As I always say, I like everything about the guy except those damn songs. These ones are particularly hackneyed and tendentious, and we already have a Steve Earle.

Along with being tedious and pretentious, it's also just plain boring. Naptime for me.

Hey, I own this one on vinyl! What a voice. Instead of the jazz career she could have had, she chose to make records that sold, so yeah, it's a little commercial-sounding, but it's still miles better than, say, that Tina Turner album of the same era.

Sometimes you have to listen to the real thing.

We get the theme song from Russian Doll on Groundhog Day? This randomizer is really fucking with me. As Felicia Anton (z"l) used to say, it's all linked up. Why don't I appreciate Nilsson more? Because of Without You and Lime in the Coconut, that's why. I'm giving a 4 to side 1 and a 2 to side 2 for an average of 3, which feels low but the bad songs sure are bad.

I'm really tired of concept albums, but these songs are very lovely.

A true weirdo. Sometimes I don't know what to feel. Side 1: this is just nuts Side 2: some of this is gorgeous (and wow, I really thought that was Daryl Hall on vocals) and some is nuts The nuts:gorgeous ratio is fairly high, I think.

Nails on a chalkboard, but I made it through

Clearly this is one where the relationship with the audience is the point, more than the songs or the performance itself, and it is extremely moving. Hard to believe that Nixon invited him to play at the White House after this.

I'm trying to figure out how many African albums (not "Afrobeat," not Graceland) are on this list--10? 12? and determine whether this is really in the top 10 or 12 African albums. I'm guessing the answer is no--there appears to be no Angelique Kidjo?? Perfectly nice to listen to, I guess

To be fair, I don't like movie music when it's in movies; many of my Letterboxd reviews start with CUT THAT AWFUL MUSIC! I'm not a big fan of Dogma either but they do have a point about background music that the characters can't hear. That said, why not just score a movie? Or get your many famous friends to make a movie? I don't think this music would be too intrusive in this putative movie.

Good lord, I still know every word of this; I must have played it a lot in 1989 (I still seem to have it). Also, one of my mothers-in-law was friends with Moki Cherry and babysat baby Neneh in Copenhagen in the 60s. All that said, much of it sounds a little cheesy now, but Buffalo Stance is still a banger, of course.

While Blondie are worshiped now as punk icons, my first memory of hearing them dates from the summer of 78 (best year ever, once again) when my only source of music was top-40 radio. How did they pull that off? (The same way Nirvana did--accessible songs and cute singer.) Totally holds up. Heart of Glass is a miracle, underwear ad notwithstanding, and I love 11:59.

I am speechless

A little more jamming and noodling than I would like, but you can't argue with The Immigrant Song.

Pleasant background sounds, like listening to a babbling brook. (Brief detour while I consider whether Turn to Dust really echoes Taylor Swift's Style [resident Swiftie disagrees]).

Kind of groovy, kind of snoozy

Too long, but manages to be both heavy and tuneful. I wouldn't call this grunge--to me, it's just a 90s version of hard rock--not that it matters.

I guess this album was eclipsed by XO, but it is thoroughly gorgeous. Everyone who likes this record seems to associate it with a moment in their lives, which for me was when I moved to Maine and worked alone at home and could play whatever music I wanted all day long, and I think it was primarily this. How did I get anything done? I never knew that he went to Hampshire College, which seems to me to be significant and especially sad. Hampshire needs all the brilliant alumni it can get.

I'm giving it a 2 because it is marginally better than all the garbage it spawned. I think I remember them not being awful back in San Francisco, but I'm not sure.

I guess it's the bridge between punk and goth, but I can't say I enjoyed it much.

That last song feels like punishment for making it through the preceding hour.

If this produced no hits why does anyone have to listen to it? I really don't remember this album at all.

I am contractually obligated to yell COOKIE! whenever I hear Tom Waits, but I don't hate this. Rain Dogs is better but I don't find it immediately offputting. I guess I'm starting to see the appeal?

Such DRAMA! It's like a watered-down U2. The other Suede album we had made no impression on me at all, while this one is just exhausting. Not sure if that's better or worse.

They could have been an ok band if they hadn't felt the need to rap.

Now seems to be the time to tell you about my side quest, which is to find 1-star reviews in languages other than English that barely need to be translated. This album has generated at least two: Mierda inaudible Snel opgegeven Several others clearly apply: Beurk (courtesy of Soundgarden) Tortura auditiva (Sonic Youth) Søppel (Faith No More) Anyway, jag snel opgegeven too.

More ridiculous than awful. It helps to imagine it being performed by Muppets (primarily Sweetums).

Yes indeed.

The last time we got a Ryan Adams album I boycotted on principle, but this time I actually listened. I used to hear him all the time on my aging-hipster radio stations but it has been quite a while since anyone would play him, which is as it should be, but now I remember just how bland and soporific this is. (I actually gave up when I got to a song called Sylvia Plath--that's just heresy.)

Another one best imagined performed by Muppets; to wit, I give you Floyd's composition, Fugue for Frog: https://youtu.be/wXaaqb8aja8?si=pTIGgWjGDYssaS1B

If I were 10 years younger I'm sure I'd love this. As it is, I admire the effort and like their guitar sound a lot. Also, happy International Women's Day.

Sonic Youth wrote songs? News to me. Half of this is great.

Those 60-year-olds cruising around Raleigh drinking seltzer and blasting Jurassic 5, that's us. I loved this (although I acknowledge that the repetitive, hypnotic beats may not be for everyone). And I really liked the flute. 5 stars for pleasant surprise.

Nope

Middle seat on a morning flight after a bad night of sleep--I was ideally positioned to appreciate this. Still not really my jam, but I admire the effort.

I used to sing Have You Seen Her Face to a certain baby when she was a cranky newborn. I then played it for her (it was actually Marshall Crenshaw's cover, which was all I had on CD back in 2005) and she perked right up! Sweet memory and a sweet album, if a little spotty, and I'm rounding up for grammatical correctness in Time Between.

Not as great as I expected, but those first couple of songs are magnificent, but it descends into weirdness after that. Still a 4 for inspiring everyone and for the Dorothy Parker reference in Alone Again Or.

All the rhythmic innovation and technical skill of Talking Heads, none of the charm. I can't say I dislike it but I don't know what I'd use it for. 3.5

I feel about Taylor Swift exactly as I do about Bruce Springsteen: I like everything about them except those damn songs. This is true nowhere more than here, where without benefit of elaborate orchestration, we are forced to confront the fact that they are basically sing-song chants. I tried, really I did, but if you ignore the lyrics (which I nearly always do) there's just no song there. And while I get why 1989 is on this list, this one is a total mystery.

Another one I know by heart but haven't listened to in decades. Shockingly good. And no, it has nothing to do with Tracy Chapman (although she may have seen the same tour I did in 1985); if I had to categorize it, I'd call it jazz, frankly. Also, 21 albums over 52 years? And no one seems to have heard of her? The fact that she is so niche just shows what I bubble I live in.

Daryl Hall is nowhere on this list and this dude is?

Until 6 months ago, I knew only two songs from this album, but when we got that George Michael album with They Won't Go When I Go, I listened to it about 10 times (and thought wow, George really got his songwriting groove back) before I discovered that it was Stevie's, upon which I listened to the original ten more times. (Now I'm collecting versions. Chance the Rapper's Tiny Desk version is sweet but he doesn't really have the pipes.) It was a true pleasure to hear (most of) a Stevie Wonder album for the first time. OK, it's not the funkiest thing he ever did but so what.

Wow is this boring. Hang on, folks, Elvis will be there next year.... (sorry, dad)

When I say I don't bother with lyrics, I just mean I consider them to be the delivery system for the melody. This has neither. Going to listen to Ray of Light now.

I was prepared to cut it some slack because Slash gets some respect and it sounded ok in 1988 (that is, better than Crüe), but no, it's garbage.

ouch

Better than Green Day, but still not quite a 4

Does Synchronicity I sound like Yes or what? The whole thing is pretty proggy, as well as being a load of pretentious twaddle. I suppose they used to be an interesting band but the their decline began when Sting name-checked (and mispronounced) Nabokov back in 1980.

It is indeed ironic that the album that was supposed to be "original compositions" ended up being not just Beatles-inspired but entirely duplicative of specific Beatles songs, culminating with what has to be a parody of Paul. I am not about to listen to their later albums (wow, there were a lot of them) to determine if they ever managed to write songs that were actually original (all the hits were written by real songwriters). This is just kind of bewildering. Randy Scouse Git, the song and the phrase, made me laugh, though. Actually the whole thing made me laugh.

Yes! It's funny that yesterday we got the Monkees slavishly mimicking the Beatles and today we have the Replacements flipping them off. This isn't my favorite 'Mats album, but it is the first one I (and everyone else outside Minnesota) ever heard, and it encompasses both the sloppy and the sensitive. Androgynous is a wonder. I could go on and on, but for me, the Replacements are the greatest band of the 80s. They shook off the sanctimony of the 60s, perfected the art of not giving a shit, and made punk rock fun. Unfortunately they also broke our hearts in every possible way, but at this point we didn't know that yet. You could also listen to Replacements Stink and Pleased to Meet Me for the full experience.

Meh. Like Velvet Underground's outtakes.

Given what most music sounded like in 1994, I can definitely endorse this, but I was disappointed that New Math wasn't the Tom Lehrer song. That said, it was pretty a pretty rugged listen (although the instrumentals were actually pretty nice). I made gefilte fish for Passover at the same time so I could assault all my senses at once.

Although the album came out in 1972, I see that Hello It's Me was a hit in 1974, which supports my memory of being amazed, as a young pedant, by the grammatical complexity of the phrase "seeing anyone as much as I do you." I would have been 9 by then, which is more plausible than 7. Obviously this is an enormous mess, like the other one we heard, leavened by a few great songs. What can I say, the guy's nuts and in this case no one even tried to rein him in.

April Fool! I'm listening to Little Richard instead.

We're supposed to listen to the angry Iowans twice before we die? No thanks.

Embarrassing story: I bought this album when it came out (I was 12 or 13) because I knew Take Me to the River from the radio. Boy, was I surprised (and no, I didn't know the song; I was raised by wolves). I've been listening to this album on and off for 48 years and I still don't know what any of the other songs are called. It occurs to me now that being exposed to something that challenges all assumptions of what music is supposed to sound like at an impressionable age immunized me from ever saying things like "I hate the singer's voice." (The next album I bought was by X.) 1978, best year ever.

More -delic than funk, but still pretty good

I like Dwight Yoakam more than most, primarily because of how his voice sounds exactly like his guitar, and how he manages to honor classic country while sounding somewhat new. I liked this one a lot.

Truly terrible in every way

I guess the experiment was successful, but it doe feel like this came out about two weeks ago. It's interesting but I can't imagine listening to it again. 3.5

For many years I insisted that Talking Heads should have hung it up after this album (I was later convinced that Speaking in Tongues isn't half bad if you aren't expecting a Talking Heads album, and I guess I can now appreciate Remain in Light.) But this one is still my favorite. During the COVID lockdown I did these song workout videos by an enthusiastic young Canadian woman. They were ok but I thought I might like it better with better songs, so I tried to make up a workout to I Zimbra. Nearly killed me.

I always confuse Primal Scream with Massive Attack, but it turns out they really are the same thing (unlike Ani DiFranco and Fiona Apple, who are also the same person in my brain). This one is a tad less boring.

It's not that this is so fucking great, it's that they did this a good 15 years before this became just how rock music sounded. And it's actually pretty fun. A local DJ (some of us know who) once told a story on the air about how he bought the Quiet Riot album as a kid because he liked Cum On Feel The Noize (not on this or any album, apparently), having no idea it was a cover (yes, I just told the same story about doing the same thing with Talking Heads, five years earlier and much more tastefully). In this case the original and the cover didn't sound measurably different; the only difference was the makeup.

His story is tragic and all, but these songs just don't do it for me.

I still don't like movie scores, but this isn't bad.

I knew there must be a connection between Lightning Bolt and the Secret Mall Apartment, and indeed Brian Chippendale knew about the project and comments in the movie. Providence is unquestionably the weirdest city in New England. I can't say I enjoyed this in any way but I admire the fact that they pulled off the trick of making people listen to the least listenable noise imaginable (and this is their accessible album!)--unlike, say, the KLF, who were also conducting a conceptual art project, but theirs produced music you can dance to. Well done, guys. I'm reserving my 1s for albums that are offensive, lazy, dumb, schlocky, incompetent, or generally made in bad faith, which this is absolutely not.

I'm getting really tired of these guys, but sure, there's some good tunes here

Talk about diminishing returns. Two albums by these guys? I guess they get a 2 because the effort is palpable.

I tend to cut Nick Cave a lot of slack but this is intolerably grim.

Groan. Get me Lucinda Williams, stat.

This is just a prank. This is a Jewish guy from Brooklyn and he is still alive. Well played, I guess.

Wow, this one doesn't even have any actual songs on it. I guess it's useful to know where that "math rock" we've been hearing comes from, but I wasn't really all that interested.

Less than half of the album is on Spotify, and frankly that would have been plenty. He does have a way with words, but the whole routine gets a little tiring.

The day Eddie died, we were driving around listening to the dinosaur station playing VH nonstop, and I was really struck by how idiotic the songs (especially the later ones) are. They even make the covers dumber. What would have happened if Eddie had been in an actually good band? Chuck Klosterman addressed this paradox in Fargo Rock City: "Mr. Van Halen really couldn't develop his classical virtuosity when his frontman was trying to hump the mic stand and scream like Tarzan. But in tangible terms, it made Eddie better. Instead of being an artist trying to make art, he became an artist trying to make noise--and the end result was stunning." Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love is the greatest, and clearly U2 thought so too.

This is like a collection of at least 3 or 4 different bands, and I don't like any of them much

Sweet disco album. I like the more upbeat numbers better. 3.5