1001 Albums Summary

Like a time capsule within a time capsule, not only for the extensive use of blues samples but also because this album feels totally tied to 2000. The first half of the album feels stronger to me than the second which gets looser and more ambient and the theme of using blues samples is abandoned. The grooves on the big singles elevate this well beyond the ordinary though. A happy piece of nostalgia through over-licensing has made it feel like sitting through a loop of perfume commercials.

When the most popular band in the world decides that instead of cashing in on what has already made them popular, they will instead change the history of rock and roll by producing an inventive concept album that includes not only what would become classic radio hits, but also sitar and a some about a 19th-century circus act, you've got to respect that. This may not be the greatest album ever, but it might very well be the most important.

There's something fundamentally dishonest about this album of slickly produced pop tunes. It captured a moment in the 90s when girls could be angry, but Alanis never actually seemed angry. It was all a put-on. Alanis has a great voice and might have thrived as a singer-songwriter singing honest, heartfelt tunes, but instead the legacy is this. At the height of the "alternative music", borrowing heavily from Seattle sound, a Canadian pop teen and former television personality pretending to be tough and perverted.

All hail our robot overlords. What a fun record. I wouldn’t listen to this every night but it is a great reminder of the optimism of futurism in the 1970s.

For the best selling album ever, this is a disappointment. Not a terrible album by any means. Beat It and Billie Jean are great songs that totally stand the test of time. Wanna Be Starting Something is also pretty good though I don’t love the drums (frankly the drum machine on the whole album aren’t my favourite.) But can Thriller really be a classic pop song when it has been reduced to a Halloween novelty? The (Doggone) Girl is Mine has to be the worst song either Jackson orPaul McCartney ever recorded. And then the rest of the album is fairly charmless adult contemporary filler. Four stars on the strength of Beat It and Billie Jean.

Great range of songs here, including some all time greats but at about half a dozen songs could have been left out to make a single album would have been absolutely killer instead of a double album that drags in places. Saturday Night’s Alright for Fighting is a towering classic. I know everyone loves Funeral for a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding. It’s not my favourite but I can get behind the idea of it as almost an overture of sorts. Candle in the Wind is such a tearjerker even after so many listens after so many years. Bennie and the Jets. People love this but I get distracted by the Bu-bu-bus and that hiss at the end of Jets every time. Goodbye Yellow Brick Road is lovely though and Grey Seal is underrated as an Elton John song. It’s got a lot of pep. Sweet Painted Lady works for me as a quieter song that helps balance the album and while not a classic, Dirty Little Girl had its charms. With All the Girls love Alice these make for an interesting collection of songs about girls in one kind of trouble or another. Roy Rogers is a keeper. There’s a bit of filler here though that could have been easily cut and the album would have been stronger for it - This Song has No Title - Jamaica Jerk-Off (obviously) - I’ve Seen that Movie Too - The Ballad of Danny Bailey - Your Sister Can’t Twist

The definitive Coffee House chill-out album and certainly not without its charms, but there is an overwhelming sameness here that makes the whole album blend into a pile of pleasant mush. Jones has a beautiful voice with terrific texture though, and there are a few tracks here I'd happily listen to again. But ultimately this winds up being boring and doesn't reward much from re-listening.

I don't hate it, but I think this album could have been so much better if the arrangements and production were simplified. I often find myself asking "did this song really need a cello or a harmonica or a xylophone?" In contrast to the instrumentation, the vocals are a bit generic and lacking a punch that would lift this above the other bands of the day. Not sure I'd come back to this album again, but "American Guitars" is a good tune that I hadn't heard before. I also liked "Housebreaker" and "Idiot Brother"

What a self-assured debut record this is. Fun, well-produced synth-pop with a bit of an 80s feel to it, but updated for the 2010s. Lauren Mayberry has a terrific voice that you want to spend time with. The Mother We Share is a strong start and there are a lot of songs here that reward repeated playing. We Sink, Tether, Lies, Recover and a couple others are all strong. Overall this is an enjoyable album, even if the songs do tend to blend together.

This is a great album full of spectacular drums, bass and guitar. I could listen to it all day. In fact, I just did. That's Entertainment and Start! are classics for a reason (sure, Start! lifts the bassline from Taxman, but if it didn't bother the Beatles, it doesn't bother me). Boy about Town though, which I'd never heard before Is two minutes of joy. What a great song. I love the horns on this track and god, the drums are great. Hard to find a weak spot on this album. Really good from start to finish and the drums and bass are killer throughout. If Peter Weller was just a little bit stronger as a vocalist, this album would have been a monumental classic and broken through in North America. He's not quite show-offy enough for the US.

Just a really good album from a great band that defined alt-rock. The three-song run Velouria, Allison and Is She Weird? is one of my favourite sections of just about any album ever and Dig for Fire has a great hook that lives in my head for days anytime I hear it. Maybe just shy of greatness.

What do you say about an album that is surely perfect for what it is, even if it’s not to your taste? Now 45 years since this album came out and it has stood the test of time better than just about any record I can think of. The music has nearly the same ability to capture testosterone-fueled young men today as it did then. These drum-and-guitar-driven tunes feel as relevant as ever to the people they were aimed at. There's not a not to think about here, but that's not the point. It's an absolute classic and an amazing achievement and the fact that it also came together just after the death of Bon Scott makes it even more remarkable.

Sandy Denny’s voice makes this album work for me, but the updated traditional songs full of the doings of lords and ladies and faeries and knights aren’t my thing. It would be very enjoyable at a Ren Faire or a Caleigh it’s just not the sort of thing I care to listen to outside of that context.

It is quite a pleasant record, but ultimately I find it a bit boring. Electro-pop can be lacking in emotion and that's what I find here. If there were some big ideas or something that would be another matter, but this is just pleasant dancehall fodder. Nothing excites me, nothing offends me, nothing challenges me. There's nothing terribly wrong with making a pleasant record, of course, it's just not my thing.

Kicks is great. It is like one of those songs that appear in a Quentin Tarantino movie and you’re like, wow, what is this song? Of course, another Paul Revere tune, Hungry, was used in exactly that way. There are a few other bright spots on the album and it’s definitely of its time with influences of the British Invasion and The Beach Boys very evident. This is a step down from those other bands though and unfortunately much of the album is a bit dull.

I'm a sucker for Lou Reed. His time with the Velvet Underground was groundbreaking and mind-expanding for everyone who heard the music. For this album, Perfect Day is one of my favourite songs of all time. It stops me in my tracks no matter where I am when I hear it. Of course, Walk on the Wild Side is a monumental work of art. So simple with its bass line and brushed snare and the fact that a song about a transvestite prostitute giving head can be played on the radio just blows my mind. Satellite of Love is also a beautiful song that I could listen to over and over again.

To me this sounds like the embodiment of my memories of inoffensive AM radio. Real Boomer music here. It’s all very competent and pleasant and may even have been innovative for its time but there’s nothing here that gets me excited.

Overproduced and self-indulgent. I’ve never listened to an album that so desperately needed an editor to step in and kill half of what’s going on. Every song seems to have 20 things happening simultaneously, making it impossible to pay attention to anything. I’m sure there are great songs here, and I wouldn’t mind listening to a stripped-back version of some of them, with more focus on Beyoncé’s voice and less layered synth, tinny drum sounds, random background vocals, samples, and pounding bass. The whole thing gives the effect of trying to listen to multiple radio stations at the same time. Ultimately, this is one star because there’s not a single song I would include on a playlist, and as an album, it just a tedious bore that goes on and on and on.

Sounds like it was recorded with tin cans and strings at the bottom of a disused backyard swimming pool. Can’t hear a goddamn thing. Every instrument and vocal is echoey and garbled. I can almost get behind "I Was a Teenage Werewolf," but, honestly, I only like the opening guitar riff. Then, they ruin the track. I really don't like anything else here. This is the sort of album that many people love because of how terrible it is. It’s raw and weird, and in some ways it’s what rock and roll is all about, but come on. This sounds like a band you hear in a friend’s garage in high school on a Tuesday afternoon, one week after they figured out how to plug in their amp. It’s not campy or fun, it’s just juvenile.

I don't hate this but It's not for me. I admire the ambition of it, even if I won't listen to it again.

Brilliant, soulful, and ultimately sad. I could listen to this a thousand times.

A miracle of a debut album. How do you put together a bunch of songs that are best suited to getting an entire arena jumping before anyone knows who you are? It's almost incomprehensible to think that there was a world before Sweet Child O'Mine or Welcome to the Jungle. Etc. Only reason to keep it out of 5 stars is that I personally find it a bit boring, but that’s probably just that it’s so familiar.

I’ve never listened to ABBA outside of hits compilations so it was interesting to hear a few songs I wasn’t familiar with but I think I’ll stick with the hits if I want a dose of ABBA. Hard to argue with the big hits here though that are as comfortable as the couch in your mother’s basement.

1969 and I Wanna Be Your Dog are an amazing 1-2 punch to open this album but then the sleepy "We Will Fall" ten minutes of B-grade psychedelia mars that amazing start. Other than We Will Fall, though, this is otherwise a pretty flawless, classic proto-punk album.

From totally generic folk rock to unlistenable noodling on a MOOG synth this is an excruciating album.

These guys seem like great musicians. They should try writing some songs.

This is a terrific album. I just don’t want to add it to my list of five-star albums because I don’t want to listen to it over and over again. I totally understand why people love this album, I just don’t need any help feeling depressed.

This album is a lot like tantric sex. It’s pleasant but it goes on and one without ever coming to a climax. After you’ve experienced it once it’s a bit of a bore.

Goth classic. It’s okay and I really dig Mother Russia but the rest of the album doesn’t really do it for me.

I mean, what a voice. No one has done it better since and many have tried.

In so many ways the quintessential Beatles album. Mature and confident with Lennon & McCartney at the peak of their powers. No sitars, no George Martin experiments or Phil Spector Wall of Sound, just clean, pure, well composed and produced 60s pop music. I love it.

Just short of 5 stars from me, but I love the album.

There are so many amazing things about this record. It’s not just the miracle that exists and Nas’s story, that the lyricism is great and that the album is honest and real, it’s that this is musically such a sophisticated and purely enjoyable album on top of all of that. A masterpiece.

And my heaven will be a big heaven / And I will walk through the front door So much I love about this album. It was important to sensitive kids in the 80s. It’s great, maybe not perfect but close enough.

Remember when rap used to be the most fun genre of music? De La Soul was the pinnacle of that. Extra points for how thoroughly happy this album made me.

This is exactly the type of stuff I was hoping to discover when starting this project. I’m not sure I would have stumbled upon Hugh Masekela myself. Really enjoyable album. My only complaint would be that many of the songs get ragged towards the end as drum solos or crazy horns move away from the beautiful musicality of at the beginning of the track.

A monster of an album. Funky and creative and full of classics. Never annoying, never boring. I love it.

Not really into this, though it was fine background music for an afternoon. I didn’t annoy me, which is more than I can say for a lot of music.

Nickelback, but three times more successful and twice as dumb. Not bad enough to be one star, but so generic and forgettable.

A bit goofy, really. And if you’re in just the right mood for it, this could be the album you need. It’s a novelty album though and would have made a great live show. As for something to sit at home and listen to, I’m not so sure. Jump, Jive, a Wail is great though. Extra star just for the joy of that.

The only concept album I’m really interested in is this: “Me and my friends thought it would be a cool idea to put together a whole album full of songs people would really like and want to listen to over and over again.” This album is a slog. I don’t want to have it explained to me. I don’t want to have to be high to enjoy it. I don’t want to watch the accompanying film. The Wall may be a great piece of art, I don’t know. What I do know is that the great tracks here are buried under an endless Roger Waters’ wank-fest. If you cut out all the faff, this would be an incredible album. Instead, it is a three-star album with pretensions of greatness. Elite tracks: Another Brick in the Wall Pt. 2 Comfortably Numb Good tracks: Mother Hey You Good enough for filler: In the Flesh? Goodbye Blue Sky The Show Must Go On Run Like Hell Chuck everything else. Now you’ve got an album I’ll happily listen to on repeat.

Criminally neglected classic.

A fun puce of cultural history. I think that even non-French speakers can appreciate some of the wordplay, just from the sounds of the words. Not an album I’m dying to listen to again but I don’t regret spending a day with it.

Doesn't hold up as well as I thought it would when the album popped up for me this morning. The big hits feel tired and the album as a whole feels derivative and a bit boring. By no means terrible, it just doesn’t excite me at all.

More than anything, this album makes me sad. Leonard Cohen was a giant, a genius, a ladies man, a hero and a victim. I can’t listen to this without thinking of him recording it in his living room, in pain, suffering from spine fractures not long after a manager stole most of the money he had earned. This is not m favourite Cohen album but it is a more than worthy final bow. I think I’ll have a good cry now.

A classic new wave album that brings back a lot of memories. Maybe a bit too poppy, a bit over produced and clean, but a classic.

Such a strange album. It's all over the place and just when you think you know what's happening, here comes some flamenco guitar. I'm aware that Mingus was a genius and that this is a great work of art. It's just not for me.

What a weird album. It’s often described as early psychedelic but there’s not a lot that’s recognizable as psychedelic here. It’s really all over the place. At least these guys sound like they are having fun. By the time you get to “The King is in the Counting House” it’s really impossible to classify the album and it only gets stranger from there. Bravo, I guess. These guys wind up sounding like The Monkees on acid. Just a wild mix of everything they find amusing. This whole thing would have benefited from cleaner production though. It’s fine to be goofy if your sound is clean and the songs reward re-listening. These, mostly, do not.

I hate this. I respect it, but I hate it. I’m not young enough or angry enough to start getting into metal.

At first I wasn’t into this at all, but it grew on me surprisingly quickly. Now I find myself randomly thinking “This boy needs therapy!” It’s a bit inconsistent but overall I wound up really enjoying this.

I hated this when it came out, just because it wasn’t Nirvana. I thought it was an insult to the memory of Cobain. That was way too harsh. I don’t hate it anymore and I now realize something that the much younger version of me didn’t: Grohl had more grief than I did about Cobain and at least he did something creative and productive with his. But it’s not a great album. It’s amazing what Grohl could do all alone but too much of this winds up sounding generic. Foo Fighters would get better when they became an actual band.

Almost a great album that veers occasionally into madness. Where It’s At and Devli’s Haircut are two iconic tracks though.

It’s hard for an album to make you feel so many different things all at the same time: nostalgia, joy, sadness. It’s a really solid pop/dance album that still feels fresh today.

Not punk enough to be punk, not prog enough to be prog. Truly annoying, nasally vocals and silly keyboards everywhere. Post-punk, I suppose but it winds up sounding like what would happen if Pink Floyd suddenly forgot how to make music. It’s a slog to get through and there’s not a single track I’m dying to hear again.

I admire Brian Wilson but this album is not the greatest. Despite of really terrific moments it feels unfinished.

Not my favourite Talking Heads. I think this is a step backwards from their first album and the collaboration with Eno winds up making this whole album into a bit of a bland mess. Musically it’s not bad at all but the vocal mix is muddy and Byrne sounds like he’s singing on the other side of a bathroom stall, nothing is clear and it’s all echoes.

Even though I don’t understand the language and can’t truly appreciate the political context, this is still a way better album than many of the other albums on the list. Totally enjoyed the listen.

Has any band ever gotten so much traction out of yelling “Oh yeah yeah? Self Esteem is a nostalgic song but this is a fundamentally boring album that is like what a marketing executive thinks punk rock is.

In the attempt to make heavy metal radio friendly, they’ve produced an album that’s pretty bland. Not pop not metal but something in between that feels dated and sad. Not horrible though, it’s actually pleasant background music.

This is not what I was expecting. An interesting mix of musical styles and an entertaining album with one huge classic in Maggie May. Not my favourite but much better than anticipated.

It’s really an amazing album, that Deep Purple sound is instantly recognizable. Just short of 5 stars in my opinion because it can be a bit repetitive.

Beautiful and sad.

Tedious and charmless, just like Morrissey himself. This album is like “what if a bad Smiths cover band didn’t know any Smiths songs?”

Along with Nevermind, the album that most defined an era. It’s terrific

I enjoyed this. Not my usual listen at all, but a fun album.

Some psychedelic blues? Sure. Maybe I’m just not in the mood for this but I come away either wanting some real funky Delta Blues or wilder, more psychedelic funk. This leaves me feeling mostly bleh.

The ultimate rainy day record. Every song is beautiful and sad. None outstays its welcome.

Top to bottom a solid genre-busting album that goes far beyond the normal house or dance context and veers solidly into pop music. Really enjoyed this.

Beautiful and dreamy. Really enjoyed this album

I tried to come up with reasons not to give this five stars but I gave up.

One of the greatest folk rock albums ever recorded. Four geniuses making timeless songs that still hold up more than 5 decades later.

I’m a sucker for BritPop and this is right up my alley.

This feels somehow both of its moment and ahead its time. Jazzy, soulful, political and relevant. A discovery for me as it’s not the type of thing I would generally listen to.

Sometimes groundbreaking ambition and creativity are enough, even when the result is an oddity and not a timeless classic. Musically and lyrically it’s just not the best, but man, hats off to these guys for doing something new and interesting and inspiring.

I’m not sure any other album has so perfectly captured the anger and frustration of being a middle class male just coming into adulthood in a world dominated by politicians and phonies. It’s Catcher in the Rye with outstanding drums and guitar. I have little doubt that suburban teens will be playing this album thirty years from now just as there were thirty years ago.

It’s hard to believe this album was released over 40 years ago. Everything about it seems modern. You could turn on a college station today and hear songs exactly like it. Strange that this seems so familiar when I had never heard them before. Maybe not the greatest thing ever, but I really enjoyed it.

Delightfully unadulterated blues from an abstract legend. These guys sound like they had a lot of fun making this record.

When I’m around much cooler people than me, I pretend to like Tom Waits, but really I don’t. I mean, I get it, admire it even as a curiosity and a cultural relic but I don’t really enjoy the experience of sitting and listening to it. Unlike Bukowski or Carver, artists who are sometimes mentioned in the same breath with Waits, I don’t see the beauty here amongst the squalor.

Maybe the quintessential new wave album. Full of synth and great bass, with iconic vocals that manage to never be cheesy.

A dreamy atmospheric album. Beautiful background music but just not something I can really engage with.

A great 80s synth-pop album that occasionally indulges in cheesy saxophone, maudlin crooning and unfortunate experiments like the interminable Listen. Hard to argue that Shout or Everybody Wants to Rule the World or Head Over Heels aren’t great though.

I never gave this album, or this entire genre, proper attention when I was younger. Metalheads and stoners were bad kids. Losers. Christ how wrong I was. What a magnificent album. Bluesy, funky, musically complex and intricate as hell. Every instrument is great. The vocals are wild and charismatic. The fact that four working class blokes from Birmingham without much going for them could just invent a whole genre of music because the idea of horror-influenced rock amused them and then record this masterpiece in 12 hours is totally mindblowing. The world really can change in an instant.

“Love the one you’re with” is a triumph but honestly, the rest of the album is a bit dull.

Hard to listen to this album without thinking that Joplin is already on a disastrous ride that she won’t be able to escape. When Janice is singing this album is powered by her ferocious voice. When she’s not singing it’s a crazy jam fest that doesn’t really do it for me.

I really like a lot of AC/DC but other than the title track here, this album is not their best stuff.

Bad Companies by Bad Company is bad company other than the one song, Bad Company, which is pretty good.

If you wanted to introduce someone to krautrock for the first time, this might be the album you gave them. It’s experimental without being exclusionary or annoying. It’s a totally delightful listen, continually surprising and full of joy.

Like the background music they would play at a nightclub that appeals to really cool vampires.

My favourite Bowie.

What a fantastic album. This is the absolute real deal and approximately 100 times better than any modern imitators.

Such a quirky delightful album that captures the wide-eyed innocence of art-scene proto-punk. Fits in great with Talking Heads and Velvet Underground and lays the groundwork for alt-rock for decades to come.

A blast from the past for sure, but it turns out that there's a good reason I haven't listened to this in 40 years. It's not bad at all and you have to tip your hat to Annie Lennox and her incredible vocals. Plus I admire just how ground breaking this was but now if all feels a bit tiresome.

Unless you’re talking about the Beatles, it would be hard to point to any album that had a greater impact on the whole culture than this one. That’s an unbelievable and unexpected thing for a group of three guys from Seattle who no one expected to change the world. To deny this album five stars is to deny history.

I love the drums and guitar but the vocals are weak and the lyrics silly. Does not belong in the top tier of metal albums.

It’s really too bad that the anti-authoritarian and expressive tracks about Black life also tend towards so much misogyny and homophobia. Lots of killer tracks but this doesn’t age very well on a few fronts.

I mean, if this isn’t a 5 star album what would be? How inventive, groundbreaking, yet totally listenable and cool would an album need to be in order to satisfy you? I get it if this isn’t your favourite album in the world but my god, you’ve gotta respect it.

A cool, low key, vibey album. I liked it but wasn’t blown away

This one just isn’t for me, sorry

Alright is a great song but the rest of the album doesn’t rise to the same level.

I don’t know why I can’t get into this album. It’s a bit goofy, like a cross between a children’s album and the soundtrack to a 70s blacksploitation comedy. It’s possible that I’m just in a bad mood today and not feeling this one.

I liked this better than Pretzel Logic, but I’d still never choose to throw this on the stereo. The definition of bland.

The standard to which live albums should be held. Manages to capture the excitement of the moment in all its glorious imperfections. Sam Cooke is a legend and this album shows that in its purest form.

Cool album, country-inspired guitar rock. What part of the Southern US are they from again? Wait. They’re English? Well now I’m just confused. Still cool though.

I really tried to like this. Roundabout sucks you in but after that it’s boring high-concept prog that is better forgotten.

If you give this album less than 5 stars, they revoke your Canadian citizenship. I don't make the rules, I just obey them, like a good Canadian.

So much obvious talent, but very raw. It never comes together into something that actually works.

Listened through this twice but didn’t enjoy it more the second around. Its missing punch and the layered production of samples distracts from Method Man’s raps. It does get repetitive. There are great rap albums on this list, this one is just not my jam.

There’s a lot here that’s fun. Great beats and inventive hooks, but like most double albums it winds up being a bit self-indulgent and in need of some paring down. The length here is the biggest problem.

I had no idea how good this was going to be.

An amazing cultural artifact, precious and important. It’s not something I’d want to listen to frequently but that doesn’t mean it’s not great.

Kid A is not my favourite Radiohead album. This is a transition state for the band. Kid A is the pupa from which the later brilliance of the band would emerge, but this feels half-formed and, ultimately, a little boring.

What a goddamn cool record that I doubt I ever would have come across but for this project. Yes, I will play this again, yes I will introduce new people to it. It’s a joy.

I really wish I liked this album more. But it’s depressing without also being beautiful.

There are timeless albums and they there are albums that are of their time. This album falls into the second category. It's a bit goofy and over-produced, too many twangy interludes. The songs have a great base appeal though that you could only get from a master of the art, but it ultimately fails to transcend its moment. A fun album, but not a great one.

Electronic music is often held to a higher standard than other forms of music. This is as it should be. If you are making music that doesn't require you to write any lyrics or have any talent with instruments, then what you make better be incredibly inventive and impossible to ignore. This album is not that. It winds up coming across as totally generic and unforgettable, basically indistinguishable from a hundred other albums just like it. I didn't hate it, but I was bored by it.

Maybe this is just so iconic that listening to it feels like a parody of country music? Anyway, not my thing at all.

What a huge disappointment after Rumours. Goes to prove that artistic genius is a delicate and volatile thing. The band was clearly too much in their own heads here. Trying to follow trends a little too much, trying to both capitalize on their success and not get stuck in a box. This is not a bad album at all and it certainly has some great songs, but overall its a huge step down.

I may be reading a bit too much into this, but if I’m picking up on the signals correctly, I think Marvin is interested in getting it on.

Out of all the bands operating in this genre of melancholy folk, Fleet Foxes were ahead of the rest. A beautiful, pretty, polished album. Not one I want to listen to every day, but it’s solid.

This is a crazy album that probably goes in too many different directions at once. Most of them are enjoyable though. Though it does occasionally test my patience with Pussy Galore and Thirsty! In particular. Still, a fun ride overall.

Can a record be a classic when it’s this uneven? Lots of stuff to admire on here and the RHCPs were certainly having fun and claiming ground all to themselves but too many tracks on the album are skips.

The covers get a little bit silly by the end of this album. Johnny Cash owns Hurt though, that feels more like Cash than Trent Reznor. But I could easily have gone without hearing the Johnny Cash versions of Personal Jesus or In My Life. This Rick Rubin production is interesting and I'm happy to have listened to it, but other than Hurt, I can't see myself coming back to this.

Tedious and boring. Every song sounds the same, an endless rhythmic mumbling. Springsteen has some great hits but this album is not his best work. This one is for serious fans of The Boss.

Maybe I'm Amazed totally holds up as an all-time great Paul song. The rest of the album comes across as a goofball recording session of songs that could have gone through ten more rounds of revisions.

A lot of fun, a bit goofy at times, but mostly a good time. These guys don’t take themselves too seriously and that helps.

Such pure joy to hear these guys make music.

I actually like this better than Kid A, but Radiohead is still more interested in amusing themselves than in entertaining the audience. This awkward middle part of Radiohead's discography is my least favourite part of their work.

I do love this album and listen to it at least a few times a year. But is it perfect? It is no. I’ve criticized other albums for endless freestyle noodling and there are moments when here when I wish drum solos would just end already.

This is a great album. Fun, campy, experimental without ever becoming annoying or self-indulgent. Art that entertains. Alice Cooper is so much more than shock rock. He is a surrealist.

It’s not unenjoyable but it’s not great either. An interesting curiosity.

A pretty stunning debut album. Stupid Girl is great and the whole album just hums along.

Dull and repetitive. This never captures my attention.

Layer upon layer of processed American cheese.

How the hell do you follow a world-changing album like Nevermind? How do you satisfy your millions of new fans who maybe don’t appreciate your weird punk roots? Now that every band in Seattle is famous thanks to you, what the hell can you do that will not be an absolute disaster and disappointment? You do this. You somehow manage to deepen your sound. You challenge your new fans but not enough to alienate them, but enough to get them to follow you to new places. It really is a triumph.

One of the most important albums ever made.

So boring. I can't even imagine being into this as a depressed teenager in 1980.

Belle and Sebastian walked so Sufjan Stevens could run. There is a ton to like about this album and the more you listen to it the better it gets. “I Don’t Love Anyone” is a seriously underrated track. A great songwriter, Murdoch is not quite a strong enough singer to carry this off himself though. Very good, almost great.

Tedious to the point of absurdity.

I could happily listen to this record once a week for the rest of my life.

I'm not the biggest fan of prog concept albums. In general, I find them pretentious and self-indulgent. This is an exception to that rule. It's still a bit overwrought but it is still beautiful and highly listenable.

Fast Cars is a pretty good song but after that this feels repetitive and derivative.

So much fun. Sometimes I want my sad bastard music and sometimes I want this. It’s a ray of sunshine.

Wake me up when this double album finally ends will you?

An absolute colossus of an album. Every single track will continue to get radio play until they bury the last member of Generation X.

Too rude, too goofy, too grating.

Like a breakfast of espresso and cigarettes, this album has no interest in comforting you. PJ Harvey is here to get shit done. I prefer her later albums that balance the hard edge with a bit of beauty and longing but there’s no question that this album accomplishes exactly what it sets out to do: namely, kick your ass.

This album is so charming that even when it descends into noise or clumsiness it’s great. Beautiful, weird, profane. Influential? Sure but it’s not great because it started an art rock movement, it’s just great. I could spend a lot of time complaining about its flaws like the unnecessary distortion and pointless jams but I get more delight from listening to this album than just about any other I’ve ever heard.

If Elton John didn’t have Bernie Taupin, you might wind up with something like Randy Newman. Credible piano playing and a bit of style but ultimately dull.

The rare example of a concept that actually works. Yes, The Who was sick of making radio-friendly singles and wanted to achieve something more, but this still feels like a rock album and not a half-baked experiment.

No matter what is going on, this album always makes me feel better. What a rare thing.

Tedious and annoying.

If this was an hour shorter it would only be 30 minutes too long.

Some great tracks in the first half of this album but it feels like they ran out of ideas halfway through.

A really solid album, I don’t love it quite as much as People’s Instinctive Travels though.

I haven’t listened to any Pavememt in a really long time. Now I remember why.

I love a lot of Elvis Costello, but not when he decides to become a crooning lounge singer.

Anything that is experimental or innovative is going to challenge conventional aesthetic ideas. The thing about this is that the result is neither interesting nor appealing. I’m glad I had the experience but I can’t see ever returning to this album again.

The Cars come out with confidence and swagger and make a debut album for the ages. It’s New Wave, but it still rocks, I want to slip a cassette of this into a shitbox car sing all the song with my buddies while we talk about the girls we’ve got crushes on. Let the good times roll.

A really interesting album, totally enjoyable and chill. Though in general I don't like jam albums very much, this is an elevated example.

What a messy album. Something annoying is happening in the background of nearly every track. Did someone let a cat randomly walk across a piano while they were recording D. Original? In Mental Stamina it’s impossible to listen to the rhymes because some kind of missile warning alarm is constantly going off. At other times people clatter around with drums or toot a trumpet for absolutely no reason connected to the song. There might be a good album hiding in there somewhere but you would need more concentration that I have to find it underneath all the random crap happening.

Death of a Disco Dancer and Girlfriend in a Coma shine through what is otherwise a pretty tedious and boring album.

I admire it more than I enjoy it.

The Low point of Bowie for me. Not bad but not the Bowie I prefer.

This era of Bowie is not my favourite. I’m more into Ziggy Stardust than the Thin White Duke, but I see why people dig this. +1 star for Golden Years, which is a really good track.

There’s a pretty good album hidden in here somewhere, but finding it would be like combing through your old baseball cards trying to find the ones that survived water damage and neglect.

I'm not a fan of metal. Sabbath is the exception. Everything on this album is just great.

I really want to like it, but it's just dull and adolescent and ultimately kinda boring? It's like being beaten with a pool noodle: frustrating and leaves no lasting impact, despite all the energy put into it.

In the great Beatles vs. Stone debate this album is highly relevant because the Beatles never made an album this bad. Dull, plodding, repetitive. Totally absent of joy.

Such a great album. Never boring. Fun yet political. An absolute delight from beginning to end.

I’ve got a lot of time for experimentation that also doesn’t take itself too seriously and produces something enjoyable.

The apotheosis of garage band music. Somehow slick and filthy at the same time. Plus the most iconic bass line of all time.

Slightly off-brand Radiohead. I don’t mind though. I feel like more powerful vocals could lift this to five stars.

Only for the Bob Dylan completist. This is Bob. It’s a good show. Is this the best way to listen to this music? Probably not.

This is an incredible achievement and an incredible story. I can’t quite get past the moaning to really love it but I’m go glad I listened to it!

Not my favourite Beatles album. Even setting aside “Run For Your Life” which may be the worst song John ever wrote, this album doesn’t have the energy of the early albums or the sophistication of the later albums. Though many people regard it as their triumph, to me this js the ugly middle child of the Beatles oeuvre.

Unlistenable music for incels.

Grating. Annoying. I hate it.

Dull and repetitive but not unpleasant. Background music for Boomers.

I really wish Radiohead were more interested in melody and less in creating an atmospheric experience. This is good but I get bored of it.

Eno produced chill piano music? Sure, I’m into that.

I used to love this album. Now it’s sad and strange. This is the version of Cobain that people wanted. The sensitive, troubled rock star in the frayed sweater, striped down, intimate, unplugged. But this was contrived. It feels like a proximate cause of Cobain’s death. The sanded-down anaesthetized version of the man they could put in the spotlight and make millions of dollars from. Still a decent listen though.

Dreamy and inventive and mesmerizing.

I’m a Lou Reed fan and Pale Blue Eyes is a classic sad song, but the rest of the album is dull and repetitive until it gets weird and unlistenable.

A classic. C.R.E.A.M. is the absolute highlight

Moments of real charm but somewhat monotonous.

This album feels like at any moment, a classic song is about to come on, something that you remember listening to in the car with your parents. Then it never does. It's all build-up and no release.

Le Freak is a disco classic that reminds me of roller skating rinks. Most of the rest of the album gets pretty tedious pretty quickly.

Queen? Oh I love Queen. I’m sure this album will be full of songs I already know, plus some deep cuts you never hear on the radio. Wait. I don’t know any of these songs. And they are all kinda samey. Not terrible and great guitar but nothing that stands out. Guess I know to stick to the Greatest Hits.

Björk Björk Björky Björk Björk.

Three pretty stellar tracks to open. Even if it's not your thing, these songs are iconic for a reason. Then they lose their energy. The rest of the album stumbles along without much that makes you sit up and take notice.

Mostly noise.

A remarkable debut album but frustratingly inconsistent. There are brilliant songs like Alison and earworms like Watching The Detectives and Angles Wanna Wear My Red Shoes and even Welcome to the Working Week, but Costello sometimes descends into something that sounds like a lazy lounge act. Still, it's a great album that I find myself listening to over and over again and even the bits that are a bit grating at first eventually become part of its overall charm.

Starts so strong but then drags on without much change. It gets old quickly.

I dig this but it still leans a bit too heavy on noise making over music making for my taste.

So. Much. Twang. I could almost get into this. It’s almost beautiful but the twang, man. The twang. It drives me batty.

So much to like here. The Slick tracks are great and the whole thing has aged surprisingly well.

Funky, feel good.

I’m admire this album and Patti Smith a lot. Incredibly important to the history of punk and everything after. Just not my favourite listen.

Funky, ambitious, close to great but not quite there yet.

Totally iconic. These guys were never better than st this exact moment.

So long. So repetitive. It’s not horrible it’s just background music for a mediocre club.

It’s a miracle that this album is so good and so listenable, so iconic, given how supremely annoying Neil Young’s voice can be.

Even when this album gets a bit noisy, it’s still fun and highly entertaining. The opening track is a masterpiece.

People sometimes ask me what music I’ve discovered through this project and now I can answer “I listened to some Scottish Reggae the other day!” Inevitably they will ask: How was it? And I can say: Meh.

The fact that this album produces so much rage in people amuses me. I mean, it’s a bit dull and uniform and it never breaks out of its comfort zone, but it’s not terrible. For a debut record it’s confident and slick. A perfectly pleasant album that knows what it’s doing and does it well.

While listening to this, I like to close my eyes and pretend I'm playing a really cool video game and this is the soundtrack.

One absolute banger followed by 10 decent songs. Hard to meet the bar set by Immigrant Song but a totally decent listen, almost to the end.

Before Kanye went nuts, he made some green music. In fact, he continued to make great music even after he went nuts. Separating the man from the music, this is a good album except for the blathering on. Kayne isn’t nearly as smart as he thinks he is and the interstitials on College Dropout are just plain annoying.

Like a slightly crumpled photocopy of Radiohead. Not too bad, but not like the real thing.

Every Springsteen album seems to have one or two absolutely iconic tracks (Thunder Road & Born to Run here) and a bunch of mumbling pointless songs. The wild swings from greatness to dreck are unlike anyone else.

A messy bitch of an album. Love it for what it is, don’t wish it was something else.

I know that this is a classic album but half the songs on this album are like: Ooh da da bada boo yeah yeah, baby! Over some bluesy guitar and syncopated drums. It’s not all bad, but god it is ever into itself. I like Thank You and Ramble On by themselves but just sitting and listening to a whole album of this is not for me.

One of the greatest live albums ever recorded. It’s impossible to listen to this and not feel how special this moment was to the men who were there.

I'm not a fan of country, even 'alt-country' but this is a solid, genre-busting album. I acknowledge that it might overstay its welcome in places but overall, I really enjoyed this.

It’s so rare to encounter actual emotions in pop music that we almost don’t know how to react. This is soul. It’s got feeling. It’s not fake or overpackaged. It’s goddamn great.

I imagine this as a live performance of the score to a movie about robots and zombies.

Funky and fun and sexy. What it lacks is something with a bit more of a hook that would keep drawing me back to it. As it stands it’s somewhat forgettable.

This would have been an amazing show to be at. There's something about a live show and the incredible solos which makes them better and seem less indulgent than they seem on studio albums.

Almost perfect. Everything pop punk could hope to be. It might be a bit commercial, a bit self-indulgent at times, but it’s so goddamn charismatic that you forgive all that.

Not rating this 5 stars just seems ungenerous. An absolutely era-defining record that will still be played in another 50 years by anyone who loves music.

Mostly a substandard blues album but Riders on the Storm is a great track.

Other than "The Weight" this is so, so boring.

What a fun album.

My god, the man can write a hook though, can’t he? Pretty much the epitome of the college radio sound I remember.

Just. So. Dull.

Double albums need to be jammed with greatness in order to justify their length, otherwise they can’t help but sound self indulgent. This one doesn’t quite make it. It just goes on too long and what’s here isn’t the pinnacle of Stevie Wonder’s greatness. You can’t deny the influence or importance of this album but it’s nowhere close to Innervisions in terms of overall quality and innovation.

Fun, funky soul. Great listen.

The apotheosis of terrible 90s music. Madonna—the ultimate bandwagon-jumper—in a desperate attempt to stay relevant, produces an entire album of bland electronic club music so shitty it would never get played in a club. I’m mystified that anyone could like this. If you like electronica, this is bad electronica. If you like pop, this isn’t poppy. If you just like Madonna this isn’t a good Madonna album. It’s trash, it goes on forever, and that’s before Madonna starts chanting in Sanskrit or whatever.

Not a single stand out track. It’s not terrible but the more I listen to it, the less I can recall anything about it.

I enjoy Apache as much as the next peson, but a whole album of this is too much. It's a novelty band.

A lovely album for a lazy Sunday afternoon. Cozy, comforting and warm. This album accomplishes what it sets out to do flawlessly.

Man, Depeche Mode could just crank this stuff out. Forgettable, mindless, meaningless, nihilistic. But I don’t actively hate it as much as some other stuff.

So much fun. So strange. So so much. The only thing that keeps from being 5 stars is that it’s a little too much.

I don’t get the hype here at all. This album refuses to be anything. Not experimental, not poppy, not lyrical, not beautiful, not weird, not anything. It’s just dull.

A fun but forgettable album.

Tons of great stuff here. A bit quiet in places. Feels like it needed one more banger in the second half to really make this a towering classic.

This was fun and I’m glad it’s on the list. I can’t think of another circumstance in which I would have listened to it.

Plodding, pretentious, dull. There is nothing that makes me feel like I'm taking crazy pills more than the praise heaped on Bryan Ferry and Brian Eno.

Not my taste but it's hard to deny the power and range of the voice. My wife likes this kind of thing.

A true classic of swing.

When side 1, track 1 of your debut album is Radio Free Europe, that’s just amazing. A great debut with many tracks that have stood the test of time. A bunch of forgettable stuff too though.

There are album bands and there are radio bands. RHCP is a radio band. Love hearing a Peppers song once every few hours during the day and they are almost always good. But sitting through a whole album is not where this band comes across the best. It’s grating and the white-boy hip hop is terrible.

I could swear that New Frontier is the opening credits music to a network sitcom about a quirky family who grapple with the complexity of modern life while trying to love each other and I’m here for it. IGY doesn’t hold up as well. Rest of the album is a bit dull but I like it better than Steely Dan.

If you tried to convince me that this was the soundtrack to a particularly terrible and forgotten Michael Caine movie, I would absolutely believe you. Horrid.

Fun. A bit raw and a bit simple, but I understand why this is so influential.

Never quite reaches the heights of some of the other CBGB bands of its day. A bit more raw and less poppy than Talking Heads but totally enjoyable for an afternoon listen.

Yeah, I mean. Great middle of the road pop. Some absolute classics that will be part of the culture until the sun explodes and a few dull or outright stupid tracks.

Just a thoroughly enjoyable bit of 60s pop that I hadn’t heard before. The Kinks are a solidly underrated band.

An eerily accurate amalgamation of everything I hate. Tom Waits in French backed by half-assed industrial nonsense.

I mean, There She Goes is an all-time great song. The rest of the album is fine but forgettable.

A whole album from this era of Queen is just too much of everything. The highs are great but a lot of this album is the guys futzing around.

Not everyone can be Oasis, no matter how hard they try. Bittersweet Symphony I can get behind but the rest of the album never approaches that level.

Fun. Relaxing. Sexy and cool.

Can I get a translator? I’m not sure I picked up a single lyric on this album. Cool vibes tho

I like a number of these tracks. My first Lover, Elvis Presley Blues, Everything is Free all stand out. Solid folk album if you like that kinda thing.

Totally pleasant. This is not meant as a diss.

Enter Sandman, then a pile of the most boring shit you have ever heard in your life. Still not as bad as most Metallica albums though.

Massive Disappointment.

Pleasant background music.

I prefer listening to music.

Annoying and juvenile at times, this still has enough charisma and attitude to be worth a listen.

Like a cool jazz album from an alternate dimension.

Some of this is great. When Sonic Yourh decides to make music and sing songs they are amazing. However, it just doesn’t take any talent or skill to produce guitar feedback and wail and there is just way too much of that.

Now here is an album I can have on all day and not get sick of it. There’s something comforting about Neil Young and the longer it plays the more you fall for his vocals and the cadence of the songs. Not quite a banger, but a warm blanket when you need it.

At times this almost exceeds its limitations but ultimately it falls short of being great. Perfectly serviceable, not annoying, just not extraordinary.

The sea will rock you to sleep.

Beautiful, soulful funk.

It’s dissonant madness and I’m kinda okay with it.

I didn’t realize that British Reggae existed. Not disappointed by this though.

Almost great.

Lovely background music and instantly forgettable.

Pretty much the definition of a guilty pleasure. Full of empty calories, nothing substantial, but that doesn’t mean it’s not enjoyable.

I understand that this is a depressing album, but I couldn’t make out any of the lyrics so I’ll have to rate based on how bored I was with the music.

Musically interesting but the fundamental problem with Rush is that these guys are not nearly as smart as they believe they are. Young men who are great musicians and have read a couple books taking themselves way too seriously.

It may be important, but it’s ultimately empty. Like haute cuisine that refuses to actually feed you, this “post rock” noodling isn’t unpleasant but it is unfulfilling.

What a delightful album. It’s not groundbreaking, it’s not edgy or weird, it’s something that would be laying at your cool aunts house while she makes a pitcher of gin and tonic and tells you about that time she lived in a nudist colony.

This album shows how it’s possible to be political and musical and angry and relevant and still be entertaining as fuck.

Too much art, not enough rock. I’m fine with Byrne and Eno making music mostly to entertain themselves but this is just not particularly successful as a piece of popular culture.

The banality of Eagles.

I endorse this being on the list. Did I like it? No. Will I listen to it again to get the deeper artistic statement it is making? Also no. I feel like at a different time in my life I could appreciate it, but not right now.

I love Lou Reed and I hate this album. Cold, depressing and annoying. Can’t think of a circumstance when I would want to throw this on and listen to it.

It’s very difficult for me to imagine that this was once considered avant garde. How dull would music have to be that listening to this your reaction is: Wow! This dude is pushing the boundaries!

I mean, what more do you want? What more do you need than an album where every track is a lasting masterpiece that holds as much relevance today as the day it was released. This album will still be played 100 years from now and people will still love it.

So much that’s so good but at times it veers too far into “we gotta save the children and listen more to Jesus”

The one that started it all. Respect.

Why go to all the trouble of making art if you don’t have anything interesting to say? Maps is pretty good though.

This is a lovely album of soul covers by a talented vocalist with a beautiful voice. It's not a masterpiece or anything but it is a deeply enjoyable album that is of its time.

An album that more or less defined alt-rock/college rock at the time. Quirky, but poppy and accessible. This is a thoroughly good time. Maybe not REM’s very best but near the top.

I don’t hate this as much as I feel I should. Does that make any sense?

I’m not very familiar with salsa, but this album is a hell of a lot of fun.

Lovely, weird, beautiful, haunting. Musics not bad either. Maybe a bit too self indulgent in places, but an almost great album.

Love the first half, meh on the second.

Some of the most amazing lyrics ever written.

Solid. A couple of really great tracks, but ultimately just nowhere near as good as What’s the Story (Morning Glory)?

I have nothing insightful to say about Lynyrd Skynyrd. But then, neither do they.

I wish I could say “I was pleasantly surprised after not listening to this for a long time” but, nope. Every bit as cheesy and overwrought as I remember. It’s a testament to Meatloaf’s incredible charisma that this was ever a thing.

Fuck you Kid Rock, you piece of absolute human garbage.

I don’t dislike this as much as the other My Bloody Valentine album.

A middling debut from a talented artist.

Whatever mood you need to be in to enjoy this is elusive to me at the moment.

Not nearly as good as Elephant for me. It's all a little same-y and repetitive. Tons of respect for Jack and Meg, this one just didn't hit.

It’s like they found a way to weaponize boredom and make it airborne.

I admire the ambition of this album and the bravery of moving so far away from what is expected of you as an artist. I just don’t love actually sitting and listening to it.

Man, did people love the talk box! Before the auto-tuner and T-Pain or Cher, there was the talk box and when you hooked it up to your guitar t made the craziest sound. People couldn't get enough of it.

A terrific album. Not as polished as Back to Black but a very worthwhile listen that established Winehouse as someone to watch.

Absolute classic. Nobody does it better and this is Aretha at her best.

Mostly harmless. Deserving of neither the hate nor the praise that gets heaped upon it. This is the culture we deserve.

In museums, you will often find beautiful, cold marble statues that, despite their lifelessness, almost beg you to reach out and caress the forbidden areas of their cold, smooth, naked bodies. That's how this album feels.

I get a kick out of listening to grime once in a while, ever since I first heard Dizzee Rascal. This isn't something I'd throw on every day, but I love that backbeat and the rapid rhymes, and this thing is just overflowing with charisma and attitude. Better than the vast majority of rap coming out of North America over the last decade.

I found this to be a slog. Musically and lyrically uninteresting. Just nothing to come back to for me.

A fun album I wasn't familiar with. Not sure if I'll go back to it but it was a good afternoon listen.

If there is a more iconic folk album from this era, name it. Even if you don’t love Joni, this the pinnacle of the genre. Personally, even though I don’t love every song on the album it does contain two of my all-time favourites in River and A Case of You. Easy 5 stars.

When Springsteen hits, he hits hard. The singles from this album all deserve their place in American rock history. The rest of the album is largely forgettable mumbling. The highs are so high though, I’ve got to land at 4/5.

I was not at all familiar with this but it’s musically and lyrically interesting. Beats are solid and it’s ambitious. Like a hip-hop descendant of Kraftwerk. Not sure I’ll put it on again, but worth a listen.

A beautiful album, perfect for a rainy day. That said, the songs tend to blend into one another and it’s hard to tell one beautiful sad song from another.

Too much of everything. So much it actually detracts from what is good.

Other than a couple of tracks, this might as well be Coldplay. Just dull. Not horrible but average.

Absolutely essential record. Even if it’s not my absolute favourite you have to respect the originality and authenticity here.

This is like the soundtrack to an unmade Studio Ghibli movie. So strange and weird and ethereal. I'm here for it.

I still get a kick out of this record after all these years. It’s fun, it’s hooky. It’s not deep, it might not even be art, but it puts a smile on my face.

I love Stevie, but this is not his strongest album.

Theme from Shaft is worth the price of admission but the rest of the album just so of goes along without making much of an impression.

The thing is, I’m not sure I buy it. Sinatra doesn’t seem or sound like he’s actually experienced true heartbreak. The swinging Sinatra is the good Sinatra, this is the guy who’s got everything acting like the sad clown and I just don’t buy it.

This is like digging up an artifact from a previous era. It’s mostly interesting because you wonder what the people were like who were so enthralled by it back then.

One of the things that makes Nick Drake so haunting is that the sound is so clean and precise. It’s instantly recognizable and it pinpricks your heart until your fingers go numb and your head swims. It’s a dark, sad magic.

Not quite as strong as the other two Nick Drake albums, but still a solid listen.

I got “I See a Darkness” right after back-to-back Nick Drake albums and the contrast to Nick Drake is revealing. Sadness in art is most affecting when it’s also explicit in its attempt to find beauty in sorrow. This album never quite gets there it is so downtempo and unrelenting that at times it becomes plodding.

Peak 90s vibes but I don’t think this album stands the test of time. Cut Your Hair is still a jam but the rest is largely forgettable and now, forgotten.

An essential country album, but a bit sedate. Between this and Live at San Quentin, the latter is the better record, but that doesn't take away from the remarkable achievement of this album

Rap's equivalent of cock rock. All machismo and misogyny in service of nothing more than settling scores with other rappers and labels. Unlike the best examples of the era, it's got nothing of substance to say about politics or society. Everything about this is adolescent nonsense, terribly dated and frankly embarrassing.

I hate to break it to you, but this is neither the greatest album ever nor a crime against humanity. It’s fine. It’s not that interesting and it’s not that deep but it is a solid album.

I listened to this more than once and damned if I can remember a thing about it. It’s has an antimemetic quality that is nearly unrivalled. I can’t hate it, that I would remember. It just can’t stay in my memory.

When it’s not making me roll my eyes, I’m bored as hell

Courtney and crew do not get enough respect. This is a solid album from beginning to end with an all-timer in Celebrity Skin kicking things off.

If you can’t have fun listening to this album, the problem might not be the album because this is an undeniable good time.

I get a kick out of this whole goddamn thing. Most concept albums are pretentious twaddle but this has a wonderful sense of humour, it’s totally cohesive and musically interesting. Put it on the shelf next to Sgt. Pepper.

Is this suppose to be a Chipmunks cover of a soul album? Why is everything so fast and high-pitched? If it wasn’t so damn long, I would have given it two stars but this really tested my patience.

Sunday Bloody Sunday and New Year’s Day do almost all of the work in holding up the reputation of this album. The rest of the songs are generic and forgettable.

As a musical genre “British Reggae” is very difficult to pull off and The Police mostly fail here, producing an album that is mostly just weird and dull but the formula does somehow magically work on Message in a Bottle.