1001 Albums Summary

Grew on me as it went on, but fundamentally not my cup of tea. Not awful for a relaxing morning listen with Baby J. Best tracks: Help Yourself, In my Bed, Amy Amy Amy.

Big, loud, empty, boring. Apparently, it's inspired by "America"

Starts strong, and is petty good, but not really enough of anything to make a huge impact. Not quite danceable enough, or hard enough, or sad enough. Title track is a banger tho.

Love the sound, like the tunes. Good vibes, just would have liked more bangers. No bad songs, but no songs better than Just What I Needed.

Have never truly loved Blues, but this is probably about as good as it can get, for me at least.

SMOOTH AS SILK AND BOLD AS BRASS

So good. Wonderful voice, evergreen melodies, wide range of sounds and emotions. So many good songs on this album.

Fun and breezy, occasionally freaky folky vibes. A couple of transcendant moments, didn't outstay it's welcome

The bangers still bang, but too much filler and it gets lonely and boring long before the end. Definitely lived up to its title.

All of the songs basically sound the same and do the same thing, but that thing is incredibly fun and enjoyable for easily more than the albums length

Really good when it's good but too long and kinda outstays its welcome. I enjoyed myself, but I wasn't sorry when it ended.

100% holds up. Sweet, scary, expansive, intimate, everything

Abrasive, unpleasant, obtuse, unfriendly, but excellent.

Sad but hopeful, way better than I'd been led to believe. Great for a sunny morning.

Not enough art to separate it from the artist. Boring.

Needs time, good headphones, an open mind, no interruptions, and ideally an epic landscape to walk across to enjoy properly, but still worth it with at least a couple of those things.

The guitars and vocals are raw and fuzzy and great, but the songwriting is non existent. Just endless bluesy noodling. Sure it sounded good at the time, but that time has passed.

Dark, warm, and crunchy. Maybe I shoulda been a metalhead all along.

The lyrics are witty and the 80s instrumentals are beautiful, but the tunes aren't there, and nothing sticks.

The filler tracks are utterly skippable, but Clint Eastwood, Slow Country and M1A1 are worth two extra stars on their own.

Pretty decent, considering I never thought I was a Dylan fan, bit samey after a while.

The skits and ad libs are horrible and dated (bing!), but the tunes hold up pretty well and Lauren Hill still sounds great.

Chunky, powerful and fun. Would have been better if it had been weirder.

Solid bluesy rock, v short, doesn't outstay it's welcome

Maybe needs headphones and no distractions to lock in properly, bit lacklustre and distant for me. Not unpleasant to listen to.

Still so heartbreaking, excellent songwriting, haunting but rich

Dry, low energy, never really comes alive. Gets an extra star just for red eyes tho

Pretty nice, rolls around quite nicely for a bit, doesn't outstay it's welcome

listened walking with j by the river, nice to have another live album, proggy and odd and fun and pretentious in a good way

Listened playing with J on the mat, booombapboombapbombebappe

Listened riding to peter's and back, really fun varied tunes.

Actually much nicer than I thought. listened while play with j on the mat

Listened during a river walk with jj, real nice and chill for a sunny day.

Pure disco soul bliss. Absolute perfection.

Hasn't aged super well, but still raises a chuckle and a gasp or two.

Beautiful stuff from a very underrated artist, wonderful easy listening for a sunny morning with J

Kinda disappointing, noodly, self indulgent and quite annoying with all the slide whistles and circus crap. Maybe Mike Love was the talented one. Gets a bonus star for the version of Good Vibrations tho.

Hard one to review because it's such a mixed bag. On tracks like Stagger Lee, Henry Lee, Where the Wild Roses Grow, Death is not the end, it's a swaggering, raunchy, redblooded compendium of passion and woe. But on tracks like Song of Joy, The Curse of Millhaven and the absolutely interminable O'Malley's Bar, it's the dullest, most cringeworthy school-shooter incel power fantasy you can imagine, with lyrics that telegraph their rhymes from over the horizon. The good bits are great, but the bad bits are an absolute embarrassment.

Profoundly unremarkable but inoffensive bluesy pub rock. Way too many albums like this on this list, frankly

It's exactly what it says it is. All the songs are utterly charming and completely interchangeable. Zero surprises, zero disappointments

Absolutely ridiculous. One of the stupidest albums I've ever heard. Highly recommend.

I mean it's fine.

Pretty fun, eclectic and joyful, still miles better than anything Oasis could manage, but has too many similar songs and drags on just a touch.

Really interesting instrumentals let down by boring songwriting and lacklustre scotch morrisey vocals

Genius confirmed

SOOOO much more fun than led zep.

The only way I can make it through this album is by writing this while I listen. This sucks so much. It's boring and annoying, it's like being trapped in an endless conversation that just won't stop in a airless broken elevator. A genuine chore to listen to. And it's not just because I generally don't like dance music, I gave MIA's Arular 5/5. The penultimate track Don't Give Up is the closest thing this has to a saving grace, but it's too little too late, and no forgiveness is earned. I only finished the album out of spite. I win, you lose basement jaxx.

This album would get 5/5 aside from the facts that I don't like JT, or RnB, and it's too long.

Solid pop punk joy. Much better than the Clash.

Still fresh, still a good time

Charming pair of boys

Kinda perfect. Most of the changes made to rock and roll after this were a mistake.

Ehh. Quite annoying.

Bit of a slog, but undeniably powerful

Solid, but profoundly unremarkable. I'm sure it sounded dangerous at the time.

Kinda unremarkable for the beach boys, but they do have rather a high standard

I knew way more songs than I was expecting to, and wanted to hate it cos lou reed was a huge wanker, but actually really enjoyed a lot of it.

Fine, but it can be dangerous to write classics when most of your songs are only fine

Really good, absolutely up to par with the pixies, packed with wild, weird tuneful freakouts

Yep, sounds like India to me. Not my thing, but each track does tend to grow on you as it goes by.

At first I was like, CANNOT but as I went on it pulled me in and wouldn't let go so it turns out not only that I CAN but also that I COULD and I WOULD

Smooth and sunny, and unashamed to entertain

Loved it as a teenager, loved it in my twenties, loved it in my thirties, looking forward to the next decade of continuing to love this album. 100% just as good as it was on my first ever CD player.

I knew there must be some reason I'd never been in a hurry to listen to Rush. Technically impressive, but just not for me. Very Canadian: Enormously expansive, but very empty.

He's so much more than just the exorcist!

Very annoying at first, but eventually bludgeoned me into acceptance with its relentless, aggressive sweetness. It makes Belle and Sebastian seem like Pantera, but it conquered me nonetheless.