Apr 22 2025
The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars
David Bowie
Album art is sharp. In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning David Bowie thinks about tight leather pants and ponders the end of glam rock AKA the end of the world. Unfortunately praising K. West ages POORLY. D. Bowie secretly Nazi-sympathizer? Must investigate.
Would the news man really weep now if he told us the earth was dying and we had five years? Some might argue it would be a relief. Sorry David this ages POORLY. Send the meteor! 1/5.
Moonage Daydream back to back with Starman. HEATERS. D. Bowie secretly Nolan Ryan? D. Bowie secretly Randy Johnson AKA Big Unit? Regardless D. Bowie inspiration for X-Files CONFIRMED. 6/5.
It Ain't Easy being so bold to pen song imagining being CHRIST tempted by LUCIFER on top of mountain. Sacrilegious! Life's problems cannot be solved by Hoochie Koochie women. Recommend D. Bowie tests for Great Pox. Satan/5.
Sources reveal secret fourth verse involves Lady Stardust FALSELY WINNING Women's Volleyball NCAA Championship. Thank you for SAVING our country Mister President! Androgyny/5.
Flirtation with SACRILEGE, APOCALYPSE, and NAZISM notwithstanding D. Bowie's paeans to the pleasures of SELF-LOVE on Hang on to Yourself and the close-kneed women of SUFFRAGETTE CITY seal deal and make ZIGGY STARDUST a certified CLASSIC ALBUM.
CLASSIC / 5
DEBATE ME IN COMMENTS
3
Apr 23 2025
Ready To Die
The Notorious B.I.G.
We're going to look back if we're not doing it already and compare some of these 90s NYC rappers with the all-time singer-songwriters of the 60s and 70s. Biggie has to be one of our most evocative songwriters and the delivery and phrasing is on par with Sinatra and Dylan. Calling Ready to Die cinematic is probably a tired cliche but it's there for a reason.
4
Apr 24 2025
Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not
Arctic Monkeys
Came into this expecting to hate it after being drowned in AM against my will by my friends when it came out 2013. This is not that album and I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed this. Get the sense this would've been a fantastic band to see live at the peak of their powers. Unbelievable energy, these guys know how to put a hammer down.
3
Apr 25 2025
Five Leaves Left
Nick Drake
I really wanted to like this album because Nick Drake has such a great reputation but I am ashamed to admit I found myself pretty bored for the majority of this album.
2
Apr 28 2025
Illinois
Sufjan Stevens
Serial killers, the Douglas-Lincoln debates, and UFO sightings with magnificent arrangements. Definitely adding this one to the rotation.
3
Apr 29 2025
Led Zeppelin IV
Led Zeppelin
Dear Gabriella, I'm sorry I blasted Misty Mountain Hop and Four Sticks in the car on prom night instead of asking if you were excited for the evening but John Bonham's drumming seemed more interesting than the way you had done your hair.
5
Apr 30 2025
Rumours
Fleetwood Mac
I canβt imagine not liking this album
5
May 01 2025
Peace Sells...But Who's Buying
Megadeth
I wish I had discovered this album when I was fourteen
2
May 02 2025
Paul's Boutique
Beastie Boys
I just couldn't get into this. First real stinker of this endeavor.
1
May 05 2025
Parsley, Sage, Rosemary And Thyme
Simon & Garfunkel
If there's an album more Sixties than this one I'm unaware of it. If I was an undergrad when this came out I would've either been convinced these guys were the height of Western Civilization.
Album has some outstanding highs in Homeward Bound, Flowers Never Bend, and For Emily and some real low lights like the Dangling Conversation and 7 O'Clock News. Paul Simon said something to the effect once that he could only sound earnest in his singing and was incapable of sounding ironic which is both a strength and limitation on this album. You can actively hear Paul Simon's songs entering the Great American Songbook with Art Garfunkel singing them. Dude can sing.
4
May 06 2025
Eliminator
ZZ Top
You know the hits. You don't know the songs that aren't the hits for a reason.
2
May 07 2025
She's So Unusual
Cyndi Lauper
I want my goddamn MTV. I don't care how oversaturated Girls Just Wanna Have is you bet yer bottom I'm shouting the lyrics in the car. There arenβt misses on this album just songs you donβt dance as hard to.
This album is a blast. 1001 Album Listeners Just Want to Have Fun.
4
May 08 2025
Very
Pet Shop Boys
Consider me intrigued, Pet Shop Boys. Maybe even a little curious. Definitely flattered.
3
May 09 2025
It's A Shame About Ray
The Lemonheads
Nice little album
3
May 12 2025
1999
Prince
In an era of horny motherfuckers Prince might have been the horniest.
4
May 13 2025
Exile On Main Street
The Rolling Stones
Absolutely got my rocks off listening to this. Someone hand me a Kleenex.
5
May 14 2025
Feast of Wire
Calexico
They've definitely been lost in the rain in Juarez when it's Easter time too.
4
May 15 2025
Marquee Moon
Television
It's like this, Aja, and Rumours for best albums of the 70s. Television can't believe they're being grouped with Steely Dan fifty years later.
5
May 16 2025
Central Reservation
Beth Orton
Nice little album, getting exposed to a genre you've never heard of in Folktronica is what keeps you coming back to a project like this. Unfortunately I found my mind wandering way too much while listening to this album. Blame the phones.
2
May 19 2025
Grace
Jeff Buckley
Too much of this album reminded me of Adrianaβs ex-boyfriendβs band from the first season of the Sopranos that she wants to produce with the rapper that wants to sleep with her until Christopher beats the shit out of the guy that owns the studio and holds the band at gunpoint.
Hallelujah is an outstanding cover though. Now that's a hit.
2
May 20 2025
Achtung Baby
U2
Things to do instead of listening to Bono's whiny-ass treacly screeching:
1. Watch paint dry
2. Taxes
3. Rip your fingernails off
4. Sell life insurance door to door
5. Stare directly at the sun
This album fucking sucked. I've never understood why people lose their shit over this band.
1
May 21 2025
Rage Against The Machine
Rage Against The Machine
Sometimes you need to encounter music at a specific time in your life to truly appreciate the artistry. If only I had encountered Rage Against the Machine as a sweaty eighteen year old in my dorm room instead of many years later as a suburbanite with a mortgage who likes fussing in the yard. We could have had a fling once upon a time, Rage, but when you own land you are the Machine.
2
May 22 2025
Only Built 4 Cuban Linx
Raekwon
KNICKS IN FIVE
2
May 23 2025
Pornography
The Cure
I listened to this imagining I was a detective in an 80s neo-noir movie where I go into a downstairs nightclub in the Midlands or a seedy part of London to search for my quarry among the men with hollow faces laid off because of Mrs. Thatcher's austerity.
3
May 26 2025
Stand!
Sly & The Family Stone
This is an album that's less than the sum of its parts. Everyday People and Stand! are all-time bangers but the rest of this album is pretty underwhelming.
3
May 27 2025
Blackstar
David Bowie
Typically I'm not really a David Bowie guy and I was very lukewarm on this album when it came out but listening to it ten years later good gravy does it hold up. Probably a 4.5/5 but the title track is as good a song as any popular musician has made the last 50 years.
4
May 28 2025
Exodus
Bob Marley & The Wailers
Look past the white people with dreads and shitty graphic t-shirts and see what is an outstanding album.
5
May 29 2025
Vulnicura
BjΓΆrk
The musical equivalent of answering the doorbell and stepping in the flaming bag of dogshit the neighbor kids left on your stoop. Bjork has a way of phrasing words in the most annoying fucking way possible.
de-vvvvvvvOOOOO-SSSShhhhiooonnnnnn
1
May 30 2025
Cafe Bleu
The Style Council
First half of this album was delightful. Jazzy little ditties to tap your toe along on a nice cool morning. Takes a turn at A Gospel which functions as the Jazz Police of this album in the literal sense. Strength of Your Nature felt like when Monty Python yelling "and now for something completely different" halfway through the album. Overall an extremely pleasant listen, probably a 4.5.
4
Jun 02 2025
Dummy
Portishead
I am sad to report I did not make it through this album. This is fun music to play in the background during nocturnal adventures but I can't imagine just listening to this by itself so I was fucking floored to see two of their top ten songs on Spotify were live renditions of their songs.
2.5/5
2
Jun 03 2025
Get Behind Me Satan
The White Stripes
I was genuinely startled by the first guitar hit on The Nurse, don't if that's ever happened to me when I've listened to music.
They're able to cut their own path and respect the many rock traditions they're working in without being a purely derivative band like their fellow Michiganders Greta Van Fleet.
I've always thought of the White Stripes like Detroit-style pizza, hometown heroes fiercely defended because they're local and it must always be Detroit vs Everybody. However, unlike Detroit-style pizza, I've sampled this and found it actually matches the hype.
4
Jun 04 2025
Solid Air
John Martyn
This reminded me of the first time I listened to Lee Hazlewood, rarely do you get to listen to an artist for the first time and have them scratch almost every musical itch that you have. I think this is what I wanted Nick Drake to be when I was listening to him earlier in the process. 4/5 for now with the chance to grow into a 5 with time.
4
Jun 05 2025
Modern Kosmology
Jane Weaver
This worked shockingly well for me. Delightfully hypnotic with the repeating drums and droning synths or guitars or whatever it's got going on and her vocals are quite otherworldly. Felt almost like the Minecraft soundtrack.
4
Jun 06 2025
21
Adele
Splendid to return to the chart toppers of the high school years. Had completely forgotten pounding desks shouting RUMOR HAS IT waiting to start religion class.
Adele is one of our best singers working. However I wish she had better judgment in picking what's going on around her voice.
3
Jun 09 2025
Brilliant Corners
Thelonious Monk
Thelonious Monk has to be the most distinctive musician we've had since they started recording music. The notes sound incorrect but it just works. He's just as impressive for what he doesn't play as for what he does.
Solo Monk on I Surrender Dear has to be one of the loneliest sounds out there. It's not a warm, comforting solitude like Bill Evans or Marty Robbins yodeling his cowboy songs, this is the solitude of the guy you ignore asking for money at the exit on the highway.
4
Jun 10 2025
More Songs About Buildings And Food
Talking Heads
A STRAIGHT LINE EXISTS BETWEEN ME AND THE GOOD THING
It's the fourth-best Talking Heads album, all the live versions of these songs on Stop Making Sense are superior versions and it's still a fucking masterpiece. Get ready to dance and be agitated.
Finally, as a rebuttal to Mr. Byrne: I wouldn't live in New York City if you paid me to.
5
Jun 11 2025
Bayou Country
Creedence Clearwater Revival
Our Great American Rock Band. It feels very American that a bunch of San Francisco boys could ape the Deep South this successfully. They've always felt a little like an anomaly, I can't think of a band that evokes the Sixties and Vietnam more than these guys but they don't really sound like anyone else from that era.
Graveyard Train could've been 2.5 minutes instead of the 7.5 they give it but this is me quibbling, Born on the Bayou, Bootleg, Proud Mary, and Keep on Chooglin' more than make up for that shortcoming. Bootleg is a goddamn banger. Maybe with more familiarity and time with Graveyard and the Penthouse Pauper this can get to a 5 but this is a solid 4.5.
4
Jun 12 2025
The ArchAndroid
Janelle MonΓ‘e
I enjoyed looking at the Spotify profile picture
3
Jun 13 2025
Pet Sounds
The Beach Boys
The God Only Knows needle drop in Boogie Nights is an all timer.
Rest in power young king
5
Jun 16 2025
Rust Never Sleeps
Neil Young & Crazy Horse
Everyone tells me I should like you Neil Young and everybody tells you that you should like me but when the time comes and we try spooning on the couch there's just no spark. Sorry, pal.
3
Jun 17 2025
Led Zeppelin II
Led Zeppelin
This album always makes me think of one of the guests on the Bob & Tom Show trying to make a vibrator pulsate to the riff of Whole Lotta Love.
Great fucking album. These guys made the same album seven times over seven years and they're all A+ All-Star efforts. Long Live John Bonham.
5
Jun 18 2025
2112
Rush
This is the kind of bloat, self-seriousness, and terrible lyrics that people crave in their prog rock. 1812 Overture riff four minutes into the twenty minutes is a nice touch. Always appreciated how ugly Geddy Lee was. One of us!
2
Jun 19 2025
...The Dandy Warhols Come Down
The Dandy Warhols
Liked this about as much as I could for an album I'll never listen to again. The droning guitars and the moodiness work surprisingly well and the melodies they sneak in there can make for nice little ditties.
Side note for a lot of these albums from the 90s on, moving to CDs after vinyl/tapes was terrible for the consumer. Too many of these artists think they need to fill sixty to eighty minutes with songs that normally would've been left out when an album couldn't be more than 45 minutes. Less can be more. Fitting for our demented post-Cold War era.
2
Jun 20 2025
Dear Science
TV On The Radio
Good to know I wasn't missing anything by waiting to listen to this for a month or two
2
Jun 23 2025
This Is Fats Domino
Fats Domino
Blueberry Hill is such a great song. Let me tell you in 1950s euphemisms about how I drove out to Inspiration Point and got a handy from Barbara in the front seat.
4
Jun 24 2025
Strangeways, Here We Come
The Smiths
Not my favorite Smiths album but still rock solid. Always loved the pop melodies and Morrissey's weird lyrics. Only my truest friends are getting Unhappy Birthday sent to them on their big days.
4
Jun 25 2025
The Notorious Byrd Brothers
The Byrds
This had much more variety than I was expecting out of a Byrds album. I might need more time with the album but after a couple listens I was left with a "just fine" feeling.
3
Jun 26 2025
We're Only In It For The Money
The Mothers Of Invention
The weird uncles of America owe the rest of us an apology for making this guy into a thing. It took me until this album to realize that American culture is too materialistic and that there are flaws in our political process. It's too bad I'm dead now that Frank Zappa bludgeoned me to death with the message for 35 minutes.
1
Jun 27 2025
Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music
Ray Charles
Absolute masterpiece. If you're looking for Great American Album you could probably stop your search right here.
5
Jun 30 2025
Let's Get It On
Marvin Gaye
Mercy mercy me I need a cigarette after that. Let's Get It On has the wonderful quality of having a beat that makes for steady, purposeful hip thrusting.
4
Jul 01 2025
Neon Bible
Arcade Fire
Really appreciated the grandiosity of the production--the epic organ on Intervention stands out. Seeing some apt Springsteen comparisons and I endorse all of them, good and bad.
Not sure I'll ever listen to this again so by definition it can't earn more than a three, which I grant it.
3
Jul 02 2025
Let's Stay Together
Al Green
Al Green can whisper sweet nothings in my ear anytime. The backing band can come too.
4
Jul 03 2025
Tommy
The Who
I appreciate that the Who took this impressive of a swing even if it resulted in as violent a miss as peak Prince Fielder trying to plant the ball in the right field seats. If there's one redeeming factor to this album it's that Keith Moon's drumming is epic enough to almost carry the opera piece of this.
Unfortunately, the lyrics and story are about as awful and terrible as youβll hear on an album. As a serious album itβs self-parody, and if itβs deliberately a parody the Who do not possess the lyrical prowess of a Randy Newman to properly deal with their chosen subject matter. If youβre going to be offensive you better be funny.
The Who made great songs and great albums, and I appreciate their ambition here, but this album is a fucking atrocity.
1
Jul 04 2025
Manassas
Stephen Stills
After the first several songs I was expecting an album of straightforward early 70s rock. Then we hit the country portion of the evening and my estimation of this album went up two rating scores. Give me rock bands that can properly play country AND western.
3
Jul 07 2025
Otis Blue/Otis Redding Sings Soul
Otis Redding
This is a wonderful album that's just a shot of sunshine. If there's a drawback I prefer most of the originals to the covers presented here, although Satisfaction comes pretty damn close to beating the original.
4
Jul 08 2025
Off The Wall
Michael Jackson
Don't Stop and Rock With You are inner circle best pop songs OF ALL TIME. Just perfectly constructed. Those fucking strings on Rock with You...mah gawd.
She's Out of My Life sounds like it belongs on a straight to VHS Little Mermaid: Great Pacific Garbage Patch.
The A-side of the album is as good of an album side as exists on this list of 1001+ albums and worth a 10/5. The B-Side is probably a 3.5/5--still good but a lot closer to just fine. Average it out and itβs still five stars.
5
Jul 09 2025
My Aim Is True
Elvis Costello
Elvis Costello seems like he's big with the crowd of people that flatter themselves for having correct political opinions and intelligent music tastes so naturally I took quite nicely to this album. Seeing as how he's somehow at the cross-section of Springsteen and punk/new wave, this shouldn't come as that big of a surprise. I like fishing, the movie Patton, and No Kings protests. Pat me on the back and give me a lollipop.
4
Jul 10 2025
good kid, m.A.A.d city
Kendrick Lamar
Really funny listening to Poetic Justice in light of...everything.
Local sports radio uses the sample on Sing About Me I'm Dying of Thirst as an intro to rant about Steve Yzerman's decision making and the hubris of Brad Holmes and Dan Campbell. Same same.
Great album, Kendrick is one of the great songwriters of our generation. Feel like it drags a little bit at the end but I think this is probably my favorite project of his.
4
Jul 11 2025
The Specials
The Specials
Ska music. Hell yeah
Helps my half baked theory that punk music works better as a means rather than an end. Iβd rather listen to the Pogues and Talking Heads than the Ramones and the Clash. Fun convergence of punk and Jamaican music.
4
Jul 14 2025
Songs From The Big Chair
Tears For Fears
This is on a very short list for my favorite album of the 80s. There are times listening to this album that are spiritual experiences. Perfect example of a project being infinitely more than the sum of its very very 80s parts.
5
Jul 15 2025
Crime Of The Century
Supertramp
The Crime of the Century is including this album on the 1001 list. Presumably Breakfast in America is coming later so I guess we're doing two Supertramp albums.
I came to this primed to enjoy this album because the song Goodbye Stranger is a banger so I was rather disappointed for what was mostly an unforgivingly boring album full of songs that are escalators to nowhere. I'll start with a two because it's not gratingly terrible like Tommy but I reserve the right to revise this down to a one at a later date.
2
Jul 16 2025
Sometimes I Wish We Were An Eagle
Bill Callahan
I appreciate the use of nature imagery, itβs something thatβs been on the way out in modern songwriting for a long time. Production really captures a modern lonely prairie feeling quite nicely.
3
Jul 17 2025
Live / Dead
Grateful Dead
I think I hate hippies
2
Jul 18 2025
Drunk
Thundercat
Fun album. Definitely a little long and it drags a little in the second half but this still grooves. It's a limited list but this is a personal favorite of the 2010s.
4
Jul 21 2025
Tidal
Fiona Apple
Liked this more than I thought I would but I was primed for a patented one star pan so you could say this gazpacho soup burned my lips.
3
Jul 22 2025
Can't Buy A Thrill
Steely Dan
I DON'T WANNA DO YOUR DIRTY WORK NO MORE --Tony Soprano, gentleman loser who never had the makings of a varsity athlete
Definitely on the shortlist of greatest worst album covers.
Don't trust anyone over thirty. I think Abe Lincoln said that. Don't trust anyone over thirty that doesn't like Steely Dan. I said that.
5
Jul 23 2025
Boy In Da Corner
Dizzee Rascal
Tony Blair's primary contribution to the War on Terror was giving a copy of this to Dubya so the CIA could blast it at the black sites and Guantanamo.
1
Jul 24 2025
Vol. 4
Black Sabbath
I listen to a lot less hard rock and metal now than I did when I was a teenager but this was good enough to make me want to revisit the Megadeth album we got a couple months ago that I gave a firm 2. Hard to believe this and the other early Sabbath albums were happening as early as they did. Truly one of the few bands dropped from outer space.
4
Jul 25 2025
Music From The Penguin Cafe
Penguin Cafe Orchestra
Fun and offbeat. Definitely got the Brian Eno vibes. Solid 3.5
3
Jul 28 2025
Reggatta De Blanc
The Police
Fun album but this didn't grab me like a lot of other bands from the same era have. Absolutely one of the most gifted bands of the 70s and 80s but a lot of the songs on this album donβt really seem to go anywhere.
3
Jul 29 2025
Metallica
Metallica
4
Jul 30 2025
Os Mutantes
Os Mutantes
Brazilian music of the sixties is such a trip. This is the weird Sixties Psychedelia I've been waiting for from the generator.
4