Mar 22 2025
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Illinois
Sufjan Stevens
What an album to start this journey with! The lyrics are fairly impenetrable for me, but I love their feeling. The music is genre defining -melodic indie with folk and rock. It feels li-fi, but is so well produced and comped it is on another level. Wonderful 5⭐
5
Mar 23 2025
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Sea Change
Beck
4 stars
4
Mar 24 2025
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The Man Machine
Kraftwerk
5 ⭐
5
Mar 25 2025
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Is This It
The Strokes
Top 10 favourite. 2001, 21 years old at University. It was like this album was made for me - angular guitar underwritten with classic 60s pop sensibilities. I can remember where I was when I 1st heard Last Nite, and that is what your Favourites are all about.
5
Mar 26 2025
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The Score
Fugees
The songs that aren't covers have 1 musical idea, repeated to the point of medium. The covers are ok, but hardly greatest album material.
I don't appreciate it lyrically, and I feel that it is where it's got to hit you, as the songs are so repetitive.
2
Mar 27 2025
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In Rainbows
Radiohead
The aim of doing this is to 1. find great albums I'd never listened to and 2. reasses albums I had once dismissed. This is one I am glad I have reassessed.
After OK Computer, Radiohead dropped off a cliff for me. Kid A etc left me absolutely cold. This album had a cursory listen at the time, but the purchasing process was odd and I considered it less of a proper release because of it. I know I did prefer it to their post-OK releases at the time, but I never listened to it again until it appeared here.
What I like about it is that there are songs with melodies and bass lines that groove a bit. And rhythm. Overall, it feels like these songs are allowed to breathe - all the intensity is dialled back a bit to let the tunes rise to the surface.
Glad I listened again. The first time it was almost a 5, but a 4 is probably closer - it's not that great, but very, very good.l and one I will listen to again.
4
Mar 28 2025
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Faust IV
Faust
After slogging through 11mins long track 1, I was dreading the rest of the album, but I found I quite enjoyed the rest! It was weird, but inventive.
3
Mar 29 2025
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The Köln Concert
Keith Jarrett
I had a friend who said "Why would I go and watch **** live? I can listen to all their songs perfectly on CD." For me, this album is the reason. Songs shouldn't exist in one perfect form - they are living, evolving things. And on this album, with Keith Jarrett improvising them from the musical either, that is demonstrated to perfection. He shows music isn't about the best piano, the best rehearsed, the best produced. It is also about the immediacy of the moment.
My only problem with this album is that it sometimes reminds me of the theme tunes to those 80s US law dramas! They really spoilt melodic jazz for me.
5
Mar 30 2025
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Elephant Mountain
The Youngbloods
Inoffensive and pleasent, but hardly exciting. Obviously not up with the real big hitters of the period and lacks the standout tracks that elevate bands from the crowd
3
Mar 31 2025
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The Bends
Radiohead
5
Apr 01 2025
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Live At Leeds
The Who
3
Apr 02 2025
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Bitte Orca
Dirty Projectors
This was going to be a 4, but caught me on the wrong day where the angular and spiky songs hit wrong and annoyed me. Ultimately the instruments and vocals sounded so distinct from each other, rather than helping into a coherent sound.
3
Apr 03 2025
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Electric Ladyland
Jimi Hendrix
5
Apr 04 2025
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Walking Wounded
Everything But The Girl
Music with no soul. I can hear the midi instruments as they beep and click. It's redeeming feature is that it is largely inoffensive and recedes to the background.
2
Apr 05 2025
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There's No Place Like America Today
Curtis Mayfield
2
Apr 06 2025
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Pieces Of The Sky
Emmylou Harris
7/10
4
Apr 07 2025
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The Hour Of Bewilderbeast
Badly Drawn Boy
5/10
3
Apr 08 2025
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Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere
Neil Young & Crazy Horse
9/10
5
Apr 09 2025
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The Age Of The Understatement
The Last Shadow Puppets
It's nice! I enjoy listening to it. But it is hardly exciting, and I'm not sure I MUST listen to it before I die?
The orchestration seems a bit lame really, perhaps signposting the garbage heading out way from the Arctic Monkeys. But here, the tunes remain and Alex isn't wholly up himself.
6/10
3
Apr 10 2025
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More Songs About Buildings And Food
Talking Heads
9/10
5
Apr 11 2025
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The Sun Rises In The East
Jeru The Damaja
2/10
Got very bored after the first couple of tracks. Had to skip Da Bitches, with it's terrible, dated lyrics. Also was about to skip Mental Stamina with it's atonal, arythmic phone beep thing. Not good.
1
Apr 12 2025
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Stardust
Willie Nelson
Hmm, incredibly inoffensive and safe - although I appreciate the background of the album. Kind of music that is like a warm bath or good to recover from major surgery from. It ain't going to get you too ruled up. However, I can't deny that these are some of my favourites versions of the behemoth songs. I'm just not that much of a fan of the songs.
5/10
3
Apr 13 2025
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Liege And Lief
Fairport Convention
9/10
Traditional British folk is an odd genre - I listened to this on my way to a beer festival in the West Country (UK), and I couldn't think of anything more fitting!
I love it because the band, and the guitar especially, lifts above the trad folk. And Sandy Denny's vocals are genre defining. Thoroughly enjoyable, much better than I expected
5
Apr 14 2025
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Rid Of Me
PJ Harvey
7/10
Angry, frantic, but also tuneful. Aged very well compared to other music from the early 90s.
4
Apr 15 2025
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Bayou Country
Creedence Clearwater Revival
9/10
Maybe a bit generous - sometimes the noodling is a bit, sometimes the tracks are too long - but Born on the Bayou and Proud Mary are excellent and I love the general feel of the album. Go on, have 5 stars.
5
Apr 16 2025
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Born To Run
Bruce Springsteen
6/10
1st up, I hate sax. 2nd, the songs are so earnest, so pained, so overwrought. It's exhausting. At times they are like they are from a musical, where everything has to accommodate the lyrics, and be damned the tune and the song structure.
But it is obviously still a great album, with some brilliant songs.
3
Apr 17 2025
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Cupid & Psyche 85
Scritti Politti
2/10
Little to redeem this. It is everything I dislike about 80s pop - it's music with the soul removed.
1
Apr 18 2025
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21
Adele
6/10
4 good pop singles sat amongst some fairly bland tracks. Lyrically, a relentless breakup album, which gets tiresome after a while
3
Apr 19 2025
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Rage Against The Machine
Rage Against The Machine
8/10
Great guitar. Very angry
4
Apr 20 2025
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If I Could Only Remember My Name
David Crosby
3
Apr 21 2025
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Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo
Devo
7/10
4
Apr 22 2025
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London Calling
The Clash
7/10
Definitely an extra star for its influence. At times it's excellent, at others it just sounds a bit rubbish! One of the many double albums that would have been a solid 5 ⭐ single album.
4
Apr 23 2025
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Lady In Satin
Billie Holiday
4/10
Music I can't relate to, so it's hard to give it a decent score. It's just so syrupy-thick. Maybe if I were to hold a dinner party and invite some mid 20th century intellectuals, this could play low in the background, smothered by the smoke from our cigars.
I find it hard to grasp how raw emotion can be conveyed by such bland music, but what do I know. I was glad when it finished.
2
Apr 24 2025
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So Much For The City
The Thrills
4/10
Painfully average. The 3 singles I remember are still decent slices of jangle pop, but this album is one of those that is sorely out of place on any list of greatest albums. Even 1001 of them.
2
Apr 25 2025
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I See You
The xx
4/10
Another album that doesn't need to be on this list. I counted 18 yawns during my listening. I can't put my finger on particularly frustrating tracks, it's just as a whole piece it is massively underwhelming.
2
Apr 26 2025
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Who's Next
The Who
10/10
The best 1st song/last song combo I can think of, and what's in between is great too. All the better for not being a rock opera - these are just brilliant songs with no agenda other than to be awesome.
Potentially a top 10 all-time favourite. And probably the only Who album that'll get 5stars as they always seem to let themselves down with a few dodgy tracks. But none of that here.
5
Apr 27 2025
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The ArchAndroid
Janelle Monáe
8/10
Well, well, well. My heart sank when this came up. I didnt know it and I was all set to be granting it 2 stars.
But I was wonderfully wrong! It's funky, funny and clever. It's superbly varied. It has SONGS that evolve and are coherent. It has some guitar!!
The point of doing this is to challenge oneself to listen to things I wouldn't normally in the hope of finding things that are fresh. Hooray
4
Apr 28 2025
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Odessa
Bee Gees
4/10
I wouldn't have guessed this was a Bee Gees' album, although there is the odd moment where the future distinctive vocal can be discerned from the largely forgettable late 60s pop on offer. Sounds so much like the Beatles at times, it is almost comical, as are most of their lyrics. I have no doubt that in is time it would have been a decent listen, but today, with the wealth of other music around, it felt irrelevant.
2
Apr 29 2025
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At Folsom Prison
Johnny Cash
10/10
It's wild! A great live album gives you an inkling if what it was like to be in the audience, and none does it better than this one.
5
Apr 30 2025
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Twelve Dreams Of Dr. Sardonicus
Spirit
8/10
Well, ok then. Never knowingly heard Spirit before, but I thought this was rather awesome. They sound like they're having fun and have a sense of humour. They know how to rock and how to write a song. Thank you 1001 STHBYD
4
May 01 2025
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La Revancha Del Tango
Gotan Project
4/10
It sits in the background and rumbles along in its inoffensive way. It's well produced, but an hour? Oof, it was a bit of a slog.
I don't begrudge this album being on the list, assuming it represents a high mark in Euro-electronic reinterpretations of Tango music. I would question how they have managed to take the soul out of something meant to be so raw. It does nothing for me - most of it feels like it could be on a Brittany Ferries infomercial
2
May 02 2025
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Elvis Is Back
Elvis Presley
5/10
3
May 03 2025
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Superfly
Curtis Mayfield
5/10
Love the bass, appreciate the instrumentation and arrangements. But I get a bit bored and I don't get grabbed by the songs. Glad I heard it, but I'm unlikely to revisit.
3
May 04 2025
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In The Wee Small Hours
Frank Sinatra
3/10
It's harsh, but I just don't like this type of music. It was absolutely vital though: the antithesis that rock and roll needed to become the phenomenon it did. You got to have something to rebel against and these perfectly orchestrated, perfectly sung, perfectly bland songs were that.
2
May 05 2025
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In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida
Iron Butterfly
5/10
A bit too rough round the edges, but solid psychedelic rock. And it made me think of the Simpsons.
3
May 06 2025
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Brothers In Arms
Dire Straits
7/10
Money for Nothing is epic, 10/10. So Far Away and Walk of Life are great. But it does lag and drift for long stretches - you just want to give it a boot up the butt in the 2nd half.
4
May 07 2025
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Le Tigre
Le Tigre
6/10
3
May 08 2025
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Me Against The World
2Pac
4/10
So I thought I was going to hate this album but, while I didn't actually like it, I definitely enjoyed it more than I thought I would.
2
May 09 2025
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Isn't Anything
My Bloody Valentine
5/10
I feel I should like this more than I do. It's so flippin noisy though. And discordant.i can appreciate it.
3
May 10 2025
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Mothership Connection
Parliament
6/10
Could have been 4 stars - the best bits are great, although the 1st track has my least favourite elements of meandering.
3
May 11 2025
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Group Sex
Circle Jerks
3/10
Out of context, there is little going for this album. Mercifully short. Ridiculously short, in fact.
2
May 12 2025
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Queen Of Denmark
John Grant
6/10
At times I think it's great - I find his lyrics funny and interesting, and musically it can be melodic and solid indie folk.
But this does not need to be 72 mins long. An album should be 42mins, 12 songs. It can be longer, but you need a good reason. Like books over 306 pages, or movies over 1hr 44mins. It's doable, gee, most of the top albums ARE. But this album does not make its case. Easy to find 4 songs to cut and 20mins. Now that would have been an excellent album...
3
May 13 2025
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Buena Vista Social Club
Buena Vista Social Club
6/10
It's cool - the musicality is top drawer and I like the feel to the album. However, there are no stand out tracks I'd say I love and it gets a little too jazz for me. But obviously great and worthy of it's place on this list
3
May 14 2025
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Pornography
The Cure
6/10
Enjoyed more than I thought I would. It stays the right side of dirge on all but the title track, which, on an album of only 8 songs, resulted in it losing a mark and this a star. Bad luck, The Cure.
3
May 15 2025
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3 + 3
The Isley Brothers
7/10
Funky, obviously. The musicianship is top notch, and the song writings great - whether it is theirs or finely picked other people's.
4
May 16 2025
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Germfree Adolescents
X-Ray Spex
9/10
A great punk album. Tunes, energy, funny lyrics. Even the Devil Horn saxophone doesn't spoil the tracks it appears on.
5
May 17 2025
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1999
Prince
6/10
I was firmly of the opinion that Prince is overrated. For the first half of this album, I had serious doubts about that belief.
But then I listened to the second half and read the Spotify bio, and he definitely is.
I enjoyed parts of this album much more than I thought I would and it was a very strong 4 star. However, the longer the album lasted, the further the score dropped ...
3
May 18 2025
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Spy Vs. Spy: The Music Of Ornette Coleman
John Zorn
1/10
Oh god. The devil horn. In stereo, playing different random notes while a drummer violently disagrees with them both on anything that might be construed as a cohesive sound.
It's relentless, although on a couple of occasions a tune tries to break out, only to be brutally assaulted around the head with a barrage of sax notes blasted at the full limit of the infernal instrument's gasping worst.
I ran out of time and inclination to make it to the end, but unless there is some kind of musical epiphany halfway through, I don't think anything was going to happen to change my mind.
1
May 19 2025
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Vulnicura
Björk
2/10
I don't like Bjorn. I recognise the need for unique voices, and I salute her for having one. It's just I really dislike it. The staccato, broken delivery does my nut in.
Maybe slightly harsh on this album, but it took a big effort to make it through
1
May 20 2025
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Songs In The Key Of Life
Stevie Wonder
7/10
Am I giving this an extra star cos I feel that I'm obliged to? Maybe. Sir Duke, I Wish and As are superb songs. But I don't like a lot of the album, and there is a lot of it. I never liked Isn't She Lovely's sickly pop, and to have 6+ mins of it is bordering on torture.
If it's your thing then 1hr45mins is probably heaven, but for the casual fan it is far too much.
3
May 21 2025
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Shaft
Isaac Hayes
4/10
It's a soundtrack. It sounds like a soundtrack. It has one song and then lots of sound tracks. They sound ok in places, but rarely hint a cohesive album in the way I think this list understands it to be.
2
May 22 2025
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Kollaps
Einstürzende Neubauten
2/10
I want a survivors T-shirt for this album. It's comical really, banging and drilling and shouting. Being in German, the lyrics are obviously pointless to me as a non-speaker, so there is nothing to gain from it there.
Why not 1/10? Well, there is some rhythm to it and it is certainly challenging. Kind of made me think about what is the point of music - is it to only be beautiful or meaningful? How wide is that bracket, and isn't it boring if nothing else is worthy?
I don't think I know, but ultimately this didn't bring me any joy or touch me in any way other than the satisfaction of making it through.
1
May 23 2025
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Django Django
Django Django
7/10
I enjoyed it. Totally passed me by when it came out, but that was when my attention was elsewhere.
Hard to justify it being in this list, but 1001 is a lot of albums and this is probably in the top 1000 LPs. It's just hard to think of it as something exceptional, something for all time. Maybe this list is too long.
4
May 24 2025
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Are You Experienced
Jimi Hendrix
10/10
Wow - what an album. Guitar rock, redefined and the bar set for everyone else. The one thing Jimi had that so few other guitarists do is the FEEL of the instrument. He's technically awesome, obviously, but that what his playing is about.
Every song is great. For me, the drums and bass are much better on this than Electric aladypand, where they were trying too hard to keep up with the virtuosity. They didn't need to.
5
May 25 2025
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Trio
Dolly Parton
5/10
Full-on country. It couldn't be more country. It can be twee and overwrought but the harmonies are great and they three superstars sound nothing like they look on the cover. Which is a good thing, as I was fearing an 80s C&W album with synths and the like. Maybe that isn't a thing.
Whenever C&W comes up, it reminds me of my grandad, so that is a good thing.
3
May 26 2025
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Rattus Norvegicus
The Stranglers
7/10
Really solid punk album. Much more interesting than some of their peers who get more plaudits.
4
May 27 2025
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The Stranger
Billy Joel
6/10
It's a good album and Billy Joel is a Good Songwriter. But I don't particularly like it. Is it too polished? Is it the constant threat of the devil horn? Too many jazzy chords? I think so, but it is so Radio 2 l, it hurts l. Bet Ken Bruce loves it.
3
May 29 2025
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Slanted And Enchanted
Pavement
8/10
So painfully cool, to my way of thinking. Always been in my peripheral, but missed them in the 90s and never revisited.
Really liked this - noisy but tuneful and interesting. Super slacker indie
4
May 30 2025
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Toys In The Attic
Aerosmith
5/10
Pedestrian - kinda weak sounding for a hard rock album. Sweet Emotion is great, but the rest is fairly average fodder. Yes, even Walk This Way, which has an obviously excellent riff, but was strangely flat
3
May 31 2025
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The Next Day
David Bowie
5/10
Fine. If it wasn't Bowie, it wouldn't be here as it is at best average. Nothing stands out for me - no real tunes or catchy hooks.
3
Jun 01 2025
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American IV: The Man Comes Around
Johnny Cash
9/10
5
Jun 02 2025
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Damaged
Black Flag
4/10
While on the one hand I can see how the Angry lyrics could connect, and musically it isn't terrible - although punky, it has definite skill to it - on the other hand I'll happily never hear it again.
You can hear how this would go into to be honest and polished into the influences of later US punk bands and deserves it's place on this list. I just don't happen to like it.
2
Jun 03 2025
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Purple Rain
Prince
8/10
A great pop album. The man was obsessed, and that is to it's detriment, but I guess it was one of his defining qualities, so what are you gonna do. Musically it is funky and upbeat.
I don't love any of the tracks but equally I like all of it. Just please get him a cold shower.
4