1001 Albums Summary

This album has a ton of bangers but they are heavily front-loaded. I wonder what might have ended up getting cut if this came out in the vinyl era rather than the CD era. So many releases during the CD era are bloated with b-tier work. This album very much feels that way to me. There is no denying that Outkast's best work stands up to anyone's, but I feel like they could have lopped at least 30 minutes from this and not lost anything significant. The first 30 minutes is dense with catchy, funky, fresh bangers and that half earns the four stars. The second half doesn't do much for me.

This album is threaded so deeply throughout my entire life that it's challenging to try to listen to it with fresh ears. I find myself examining it through the lens of sound engineering and songwriting. Bonzo's brass sounds amazing and I hate the rest of his kit. The snare is thin and the toms are tuned cardboard. The instrumentation throughout is impressively varied, well recorded and mixed. The songs are dynamic, interesting in form, and well crafted. Hooks abound and I really like the use of dissonance that I never zeroed in on before this listen. I also really like the layering of the instruments. Sooo much going on in every song but they don't seem to trip over one another or get in each other's way. Kudos to the band for their choices and to the engineers for keeping things clean. Most songs feel longer than they are, which I think is because there is so much going on. Not a typical fourth album by any means. Most bands run out of ideas by their second album. Zep definitely flexes in a lot of dimensions on this album.

I remember the first time I heard this record being annoyed at how pedestrian and sloppy the drums were. Listening now, I realize if this album featured Jeff Porcaro or Omar Hakim or Dave Weckl or heck even Scott Plouf it wouldn't work as well. Jack White's guitar is volcanic lightning especially on Bell and Biscuit. The music is loose and extremely human. The last few tracks are throwaways, but the bulk of the album is fire.

Meh.

I'd never heard of this band nor this album prior. Yet, I've heard all of these songs. Absolutely nothing here that stuck out. The auditory equivalent of oatmeal with raisins. Inoffensive, but bland and uninteresting. Glad it's over.

This holds up surprisingly well. Nirvana was never going to blow anyone away with their musicianship, but darned if they weren't super solid for this entire set.

Prince Paul always knew how to put a beat together. Playful lyrics on the non-serious side of hip hop but I find it wearing after half an album. How you gonna put Me, Myself, and I 20th?!?!?! The skits are grating and far too numerous.

All time classic from Miles' big group experimental phase. Loads of interesting layers and improvisation.

A lot of tracks on this one that I now well but I'd never listened to this album in its entirety prior. Likely CSNY's best work.