Who knows what Syd Barrett could have achieved, had his mental state not prohibited him from ever fully manifesting his huge talents. Probably he would have been as big as Bowie. But as it is we are left with the early Pink Floyd oeuvre and his somewhat spotty but super-influential solo work of psychedelic folk rock songwriting. Given the lack of half-star ratings „Madcap...“ and its successor „Syd Barrett“ get full 5 out of 5 stars on a list like this from me. A larger than life artist like Syd Barrett could have maybe gone to 6 (or 11) though. As charming as unfinished works are or can be, in Syd Barrett’s case there remains the empty feeling of unfulfilled desire to hear what could have been. Then again, maybe this is part of Barret’s mystical allure.

Über-classic and one of the goto mixes for Drum&Bass as it sounded in its mid-90s heyday. Bukem made the sounds of the clubscene accessible to a wide range of people who never set foot in any of the original clubs / never attended full-on d&b clubnights and helped elevate the genre (and the concept of dj mixes) to become dominant in the second half of the decade. Obviously it has by now lost most of its the-future-is-now shine but is still a solid set.

Shortly before he finally transformed rhythm & blues into soul, Ray Charles appeared in 1959 with this crossover hit repertoire, half in full big band regalia and the other half embedded in Hollywood-esque string arrangements. Maybe not Charles' best or most relevant album, but a relic of an era when Frank Sinatra and Peggy Lee still ruled the so-called pop charts and Atlantic Records contributed to the de-segregation of American society with records like this. What remains today is the recognition that Ray Charles could make any music his own.

The debut album by the British legends combines a lot of what I don't like about metal: most of all the tendency towards a thematic lack of imagination (seriously: Phantom of the Opera? Transylvania? That's cheap - as if someone for inspiration had read the synopsis of the films in the video store which were on display in the horror section for lack of ideas of their own). Then this craft-over-style mumble: playing in unison when you want to show how good you can play etc., while in the end this doesn't offer anything really impressive for anyone used to stuff like fusion jazz, Zappa or the better prog rock bands. The record has nice parts, the musicians can play and it's not the worst thing in the world but at the core is a little-boys-big-pants aesthetic for wannabe blokes. I understand this one is a bit of a pioneering release, so 1 extra star for that.

Band and especially this record represent music I genuinely don't like but do so in a way I cannot find fault in. Few things here are the stuff my music-fan dreams are made of but still I have to admit to liking this record. Always had many friends who absolutely love the record so I guess it's ok if I still will not put this in my, say, top 500.

I was there when it hit and it hit hard. Hip hop in 1996 was so happening and this was one of many highlights back then, especially due to Lauryn Hill's vocals. Over time some of the glitz has rubbed off for my taste, but still a good record.

Given into what a total asshole Morrissey has turned since (or was revelaed to be), it's testament to the genius of the Smiths moment in Brit Pop that their music is still up there with the best of the 1980s.

When this record came out I was a New Wave/Post Punk loving teenager trying to be edgy and considered Springsteen to be music for normies and dorks. i did like I‘m On Fire, but hated Dancing In The Dark and the title track which would.be unescapable for the next couple of years on German radio. Today I‘m in my late 50s and not so much has changed, except I‘m probably normie and dorky myself now. The rejecting passion has calmed but still no Springsteen fan, really. The album is a defining soundtrack of the 1980s though, a cultural impact which I kind of respect in its own right.

Essential listening in the early Noughties (or Aughts, however you want to call that era). Crossing musical bridges you didn't know existed and setting new standards for indie/art rock.

Boring retro rock that I don't have much time for. Craftwise you get what you deserve here and if you're into this kind of thing, it's an enjoyable ride, I guess.

Probably a bit more relevant at the time of release than in retrospect, this first emancipatory effort by pop's first "casting band" was a hit in the original summer of love that somehow lacks the signature tunes that are associated with 1967 nowadays. Certainly a good album but maybe just not a really great one. As in, one could peacefully die without having heard this album.

One of soul music's most beautiful voices with one of his classic albums. Includes Al Jackson Jr.'s immortal drums and Willie Mitchell's flawless production. 34 minutes of obligatory southern soul.

I hope I'll never be bored enough by all the other music available to really want to intensely listen to this needlessly fist-pumping muscle-car (but British) equivalent of an album. Music I already found somewhat stinking of male armpits and stale beer when I it was somewhat more recent. In Germany, Deep-Purple-as-a-reference were very much unavoidable for long long years, defining "rock music" and thus giving it if not a bad than a mediocre name. One extra point for giving legions of wannabe musicians their first riff to imitate, with the dreadful "Smoke On The Water". There is the somewhat odd Swiss singer/songwriter/engineer Stephan Sulke who has his own story of the Montreux Casino fire inspiring that song, as he was about to install a high-end studio there at the time, but I guess this is not the place to go down that rabbit hole.

Maybe the vey moment the 1960s took off for the psychedelic flight that added a crucial dimension to rock/pop music. Lovely record, timeless, beautiful and wholesome. Still love it.

Nice one, maybe not super-essential, but nice.

Lovely as most of Hawley' solo catalogue. Memories of a past neither he nor you have ever lived in, but wished you had. Super-tasteful mix of British music hall nostalgia, Rock'n Roll era kitsch, 21st century production and songcraft. Add his masterly guitar playing and you have a timeless instant classic.

Classic album which co-started the classsic-album-era. Obviously a milestone and given Ray Davies' quality as songwriter and him being in topform here, this is a 1960s gem that transcends the signature single hits otherwise associated with that time. Paved the way for many British (and some non-British) acts who were more into crafting a concise longform statement rather than churn out 3minute bursts of pop.

In retrospect The Smiths probably became/stayed the über-cult band they are due to the limited run the band had. As it is, this last album of theirs is also near perfect and we have been spared any strange later musical developments and most of all Morrissey-the-toxic-moron's emergence under his old band's banner.

I'm a "Supernatural" (and "33-45-78") guy, so their third album, "Connected", while their commercially most relevant release, was a bit of a let-down for me. Too heavy on the sing-a-long and dance-a-long simplicities for my taste and somewhat formulaic. Check their first two albums for their best. Still some great moments though of course. Must have played "Step It Up" (together with the "Ultimatum Mix" of "Lost In Music" from the previous album era) a million times in the early to mid 90s and would still put them on any wedding party or 50th/60th etc birthday playlist.

Who knows what Syd Barrett could have achieved, had his mental state not prohibited him from ever fully manifesting his huge talents. Probably he would have been as big as Bowie. But as it is we are left with the early Pink Floyd oeuvre and his somewhat spotty but super-influential solo work of psychedelic folk rock songwriting. Given the lack of half-star ratings „Madcap...“ and its successor „Syd Barrett“ get full 5 out of 5 stars on a list like this from me. A larger than life artist like Syd Barrett could have maybe gone to 6 (or 11) though. As charming as unfinished works are or can be, in Syd Barrett’s case there remains the empty feeling of unfulfilled desire to hear what could have been. Then again, maybe this is part of Barret’s mystical allure.

Of course this is not per se a bad album. And it is a pleasant, listenable album for sure. But an essential one in the history of pop music? I don't really think so. If you have been of a certain age in 2004 when it came out, you might have a Zutons-formed dent in your musical socialisation. But since they offer nothing that hasn't done been before, while and after they did it, this record would have to be full of exceptional songs or musical performances to merit it anything than a general "ok" rating. Sadly neither the songs nor their performance offer such outstanding qualities and we have a classic example of mid-quality that should not be part of this list in the first place. A record for the private playlist/collection of anyone who likes to entertain this type of indie rock comfort sound but nowhere near a record for the history books.

fuck him. and his music, too.

Seems a bit arbitrary to pick this album over the many others Jimmy Smith released in his and the jazz-organ's heyday. Nice enough but as a musical statement probably not enough of an impact within his catalogue to warrant it top status. Still, great blues-y, jazz-y small combo jams, just like on his 1961 release "Home Cookin'" for example. While Jimmy Smith certainly belongs in the top league of jazz musicians and has great crossover appeal, his art didn't deliver the beacon kind of album that lists such as these are meant to include. Not Jimmy Smith's fault, but rather a feature of the limits when classifying music in top-lists etc.

I missed this one when it came out, although it would have been right up my alley. Then again, the mid 1990s were brimming with spectacular seeming experiments in electronics, beats, breaks, bass and dub effects. Not to mention the whole drum&bass hoopla and what was happening in hip hop. Still, this should / could have been bigger. Whether that warrants a place on the "1000 albums you need to hear before you die" list might be another question, given the plethora of release both from Brazil and by producers on similar paths as Suba. But should these confessions come your way, have a seat in the confession box. It should be worth your while.

The world would not be worse of without this record as musically there's nothing here you wouldn't have heard elsewhere beforehand, albeit probably in a less watered down way. Then again every generation shall have their copycat history-repeating acts. Hey, there was a time I believed Sha Na Na were a relevant contribution to music history. Regarding their overal global pop market conquering strategies Green Day certainly proved themselves to be winners. It just doesn't make the music any more original. Well done and of relevance for quite a few people I guess so that#s an extra star from me for that.

Über-classic and one of the goto mixes for Drum&Bass as it sounded in its mid-90s heyday. Bukem made the sounds of the clubscene accessible to a wide range of people who never set foot in any of the original clubs / never attended full-on d&b clubnights and helped elevate the genre (and the concept of dj mixes) to become dominant in the second half of the decade. Obviously it has by now lost most of its the-future-is-now shine but is still a solid set.

Not sure I would have picked this one and not 1978's "The Best Of Earth, Wind & Fire Vol.1", but the run of albums by Maurice White and Co. in the mid-1970s rules supreme. A funky Wonderland you want to stay in forever.

Essential artist, essential release.

Well, I even was at one of the live shows at the time (actually great) and yes, Neptunes and Timbalanbd made many great records in the early 2000s. And JT isn't a bad singer. But apart from some of the hits, the album is a bit forgettable and their churning out tracks by the dozens hasn't made Neptunes and Timbaland production credits a guarantee for great music. So, for "Justified" is a mid-record with a huge hit-footprint, so basically a 3 star affair.

Too bad I was already a fan after hearing "Body Electric" on a John Peel radio show at the time of the 7" release (yeah I know, old guy bragging etc., but true), so something like a not-quite-day-one-but-almost fan. I stayed loyal up to the first album or rather up until "Temple Of Love" made them huge but also started to cater for a fairly basic rock sound that lacked the edge of the first releases. Basically I was totally underwhelmed by "The First And Last And Always" and couldn't be bothered with anything they did after that. But also in retrospect I cannot see much merit in their second album, sorry. The Sisters (or should we say, Andrew Eldritch) never really delivered an album worthy of a 1000-records-before-you-die list, unless you want to count their early-releases-"Some Girls Wander By Mistake"-compilation from 1992, which I would prefer to their regular albums any day.

If by chance you want to include some country in the jukebox of your life, it might as well be a track from this album. The outlaw country genre was a well needed shot of whatever in the arm of the music dominated by a fairly bland Nashville Establishment in the early 1970s. Waylon Jennings, Kris Kristofferson, Willie Nelson and Co. were a breed of country musicians that represented artistically relevant counterpoints to the mainstream in the Nixon era USA. No false 1950s pseudo wholsomeness with more-of-the-same production but a diversity of songwriting ideas played by sessions players the artists chose themselves.

As much as I love Michael Kiwanuka's music, and I do love it, I have some reservations to accept his albums in a list of the greatest records of all time. Maybe it is too much a designed sound, matching ideas to a blueprint of previous decades' masterpieces; maybe it's the fact that I wouldn't l know why to prefer his 2019 "Kiwanuka" album to his 2016 "Love & Hate" album; maybe it's the fact that these two albums represent less a development of artistic expression than a development of budget. This is not unusual in the last one or two decades: artists finding their niche, doing their thing and keep on doing it in basically the same way over again. And again. Look at Khruangbin, Cigarettes After Sex, Charley Crockett or other acts that release records, whose order of release dates are hard to guess from the audio information alone as they tend to sound pretty much of the same mold and go for some kind of timeless-and-a-liitle-retro sound. I know, bands like Status Quo or AC/DC have been doing this 50 years ago already. But possibly they would only get one of their records listed in this here top-1.000 canon due to the power of its tracks. So where's Kiwanuka's "Highway To Hell" tune-for-the-ages? Maybe not here yet. As of now I find him to be not too far removed from a indie-soul-fan's version of Lennie Kravitz: Nice to the ear, a go-to-recording artist if you want unoffensive , non-stupid music, sometimes really good if not great, always reliable good. So a good 4 star review it is. I still believe there should be 1.000 5 star albums out there though.

Essential and timeless. Their mix of punk directness and energy with classic 60s and rock'n roll elements made for a era defining and accessible record. From a time, when music could be edgy and reach mainstream success at the same time.

One of the key albums of the 1990s. Redefining the music making process and opening up the imigination of thousands of dj/producer/sampling musicians that would deconstruct and rebuild pop on Akai's MPC, turntables and other tools enabling not-formally trained creativity to find new ways to come up with sound designs/tracks/sets in the following decades. Hardly anyone (incl. Shadow) could follow up the feat of condensing this into a cohesive album like "Endtroducing..." though.

Of course this album makes the cut. "From Her To Eternity" and The Birthday Party's "Junkyard" have more meaning for me personally though and I guess within his oeuvre there are some more contenders, but give Mr. Cave his 5 Stars, 1000-records-to-die-for-whatever status any day.

Admittedly I'm not the world's biggest Bonnie Prince Billy fan, but this is one of his better albums.

Never got in Yes, despite loving King Crimson for example. So, "Fragile" being their probably least annoying album, is a sold 3 for the great instrumental chops on display. Artistically I always found the band wanting, craft over vision etc. and enjoyed the Roger Dean artworks better than the laboured concepts of the actual songs and albums.

A Don of rock'n roll and New Orleans music in general and this is a fine album compiling various singles and non-single recordings from 1952-1956, at the height of his super-successful career at Imperial Records. Need-to-know music and highly enjoyable to this day.

He and his music don't do it for me.