1001 Albums Summary

I can see the genius and talent at display here. I would probably really enjoy it live. But as a recording, it doesn’t work for me. The sheer length of many of these songs turns this into a bit of a challenge to get through - not because it’s bad -it most certainly isn’t- but because ultimately, I crave some more structure. It’s probably because jam-bands are not for me. Funnily enough, i absolutely love the first two tracks. And they are the shortest and tightest tracks on here. Maybe I will connect more to the Allman Brothers’ studio albums, because they definitely are a talented bunch.

I don‘t know why I put off listening to this for so long, but i finally did. It started promising but damn, it turned into a slog really quickly. I listened to it twice and each listen felt significantly longer than the half hour it actually took. This is too unfocussed, too raw (but also kind of limp), too… meh, overall. I guess this was ahead of its time in some regards and it is always different to judge an album 60 years after release but man… what a slog.

This is not the worst album i heard on this list so far... but certainly the worst listening experience. Man, i can hear the guys saying "Okay but how do we get our listeners to think this is EMOTIONAL and IMPORTANT music?". I guess one way is to make the lead singer sound like he's on the verge of a mental breakdown throughout the whole album. This is proto-Imagine Dragons, this tries to be Coldplay-stadium music without even trying to impress any real vulnerability or meaning into the music. Maybe this IS the worst album I heard on this list so far...

Definitely feeling the runtime… overall a bit too same-y for me over its 16 tracks. Amy‘s voice manages to keep me interested, but the instrumentation doesn‘t catch my attention on most of the tracks.

This album surprised me a lot. I had a blurry idea of what Black Sabbath is and how they sounded - and while it was kinda close to the actual album, i underestimated them hugely. The minimalism of FX in juxtaposition to the large sounds of the other tracks is striking and beautifully done, it doesn‘t feel out of place. It is essential to the album. The percussion section in Supernaut was such a rush of joy, i don‘t know how i made it through 28 years on this earth without it. The gentleness of Laguna Sunrise and its beautiful guitar melodies hit me completely unexpected and brought me close to tears. Only for St. Vitus Dance to kick into higher gear right again without leaving time to breathe. Overall a great listen!

The heavy vibrato on Hope There‘s Someone made me consider not listening to this album at first. Thankfully, as the album went on, Anohni either toned it down or i got used to it. What revealed itself to me was an album full of brutal honesty and vulnerability about the experience of Ahnoni‘s life as a trans-woman, accompanied by beautiful piano melodies. The album can be a bit monotonous in musically, but definitely left it‘s marks on me.

Sonic Youth discovers how to give their songs more structure and… accesability, i guess? On the one hand not the worst idea, but in turn it sacrifices some if that chaos found on Daydream Nation and their previous albums. But these stongs still burst with energy and get enough space to fully develop themselves. At times the songs are a bit self-indulgent, but it didn‘t really bother me (maybe because everything Kim Gordon touches is just effortlessly cool). And Karen is one of the greatest songs ever, no doubt. Also, Mildred Pierce is such a valid crashout put to song.

I enjoy a good synth-album, especially from the early 80s. So this should be right up my lane. And yet i struggled with this album. The songs are quite meandering, which isn‘t necessarily a bad thing but on Soul Mining it doesn‘t add much to the substance of the songs, i think. This is one of the very rare cases where i‘d appreciate a shorter edit of the album, or at least some of the songs. The contrast between Johnson‘s vocal performance, often brooding and in parts goth-adjacent, and the music itself is quite interesting and a lot of fun. Singing songs about how shitty you feel and how shitty life is over a happy synth-beat always gets me.

My first real encounter with Iggy Pop was on the Kesha song Dirty Love. That song is just a lot of silly fun. Lust For Life is pure fun distilled into an album. You can‘t not hear this album and immediately start dancing and enjoying the moment. I also really enjoy Iggy‘s voice, it‘s perfect for rock n‘ roll.

I have genuinely never heard of The Divine Comedy before, but i guess that’s because they never really hit it big in Germany. That album cover is amazing, though. Anyways, i had no expectations going into it. Halfway through the album i realized i have no idea what Casanova is aiming to be - it has some comedic qualities (especially those terrible pieces of „dialogue“ in some songs), but the production goes all out with an orchestral backing in other parts, while Hannon’s vocals come across as dead-serious, though powerful and attention-grabbing. Is this a parody of Britpop? The self-seriousness of large parts of 90s music in general? Maybe that would explain why the album in parts leans very heavily into kitsch and pastiche - both things i can enjoy but that left me quite puzzled in this instance. Maybe it would also explain the misogynistic tones in some of the lyrics (I really have no idea what to make out of Cannon and that terrible line „Everybody knows that no means yes“). And that could work if the actual music itself would commit to the idea, but it is so self-serious that at no point did i get the impression that the Casanova in question was a character meant to criticize and parody - yeah, it’s sort of hinted at here and there but doesn’t really feel like a through-line. There’s probably some cultural context i’m missing that would paint a clearer picture.

Maid of Orleans was the biggest „Wait, i DO know this band!“-moment i had so far. And it’s the song that made the whole album click for me. From that moment on i really enjoyed all the tracks on a subsequent second listen. OMI put some really cool experiments with synth-pop to record that reveal their little details and pling-plongs over time. The biggest problem i have are the vocals, especially on the first track. But they got better as the album went on and are overall quite sparse. A really cool discovery!

You know that scene from Tarzan where the apes bang on the pots and pans they find in the humans‘ camp?

Elephant Mountain is best described as pleasant and enjoyable, i think. It brings together nice vocals and groovy instrumentation, mixing elements of psychedelic rock, folk and country. The instrumental songs are not really note-worthy in my opinion and overall the album loses some steam in the second half - except for Sham, which is just great fun.

I was ready to be done with the album after the first two tracks, since they sounded like the exact same metal-song to me. A metal song i, sadly, don‘t enjoy at all. Thankfully they switched it up for the rest of the album. I thought Re-Ignition and Section 77 are pretty interesting songs. They way they mix several influences into coherent tracks made for a challenging listening at first, but it clicked for me pretty quickly. She‘s Calling You is probably my favorite song on the album, it‘s ever-evolving nature really intrigues me and i like that it doesn‘t actually end in the bombastic chorus it seems to build-up to. Sacred Love is a great mood-piece and felt like the least-challenging song on the album. This is by no means i bad thing, it was simply the one song i could listen to and get completely lost in. Overall an interesting album that works really well in it‘s middle section, but loses me in the beginning and the end - the talk-sing vocals in Return To Heaven killed the song for me.

This album shows qualities that would really turn me off, if it wasn‘t for Nick Cave with a voice that is beautifully heartbreaking. It‘s pondering, it‘s quite one-mooded (guess that‘s a word i made up?) but goddamnit, Nick and his band sell it to you as a revelation, an emotional journey on a meandering river through a dying countryside in autumn. There seems to be no hope that life will get better on this record, but there is always hope that i can return to Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds.

You have got to respect The Beatles for putting out an album with this scope. You can hear in every song how influencial this album is. The pop songs are insanely catchy. Even the at times mildly annoying Ob-La-Di just sticks in your head. There are so many amazing songs here, but the highlights are the slower and more mellow moments. While My Guitar Gently Weeps and Blackbird are simply stunning. Some of the best songs ever put on record. Some songs i could do without but overall this is a great record. Actually, now that i’m writing this, i’m not sure what songs i personally would cut. Maybe Honey Pie? Ob-La-Di? Honestly, it probably depends on the mood i’m in. I’m happy that i finally listened to The White Album in full and now know what all the fuzz is about. (Revolution 9, i will always have your back!)

There’s nothing quite like a Missy album. Even now, so many years later, i feel that no one really managed to immitate her sound. Missy and Timbaland created something magical, their beats are always so satisfyingly beefed up, Missy glides over them like nobody else. I think there are two songs - Pussycat and Hot - that felt a bit superfluous to me, but that doesn’t diminish the quality of the album too much. The guest verses on here are done very well, i especially enjoy Beyoncé and TLC’s appearences. And of course, there is Worth It. A ruthless banger that knows no boundaries and will forever be one of the sickest tracks known to mankind.

This surely is a concept album with an… interesting concept. I don’t even want to get into the moral implications of the „sex packets“. But man, this thing is musically exhausting. Every single song goes on for way too long. Every interesting idea gets stretched out for WAY too long to the point that it looses any semblance of what made it intriguing in the first place. This was just a disappointing listening experience. There are traces of genius, no question - but they get buried in way too much fluff.

This is The Cure pretty much still finding themselves. All the building blocks that would lead to the seminal Disintegration are alreas here, they juat need some more refinement. This is definitely not among my fave The Cure albums, but it‘s still an enjoyable listen. Funnily enough the generator assigned me this album the day Robert Smith released a song with Olivia Rodrigo.

Jones certainly presents an interesting view on women… They will just leave you for no reason, they will most definitely start loving you when you creep around them long enough, but god forbid they are not immediately agreeing to a lifelong commitment. But of course it‘s fine when Jones is the one sleeping with a married woman because… well it brings him pleasure, i guess. That alone isn‘t a reason to give the album a bad rating. THAT comes from the abundance of country-cliches, the whining vocals and the lack of real variation on here.

The cover (minus the honestly ugly font) really sums up this album. It has a ritualistic, maybe even occult quality. The songs on here are chants that tell stories of magic and fate. This is supported by the instrumentation that manages to create a palpable ceremonial athmosphere. My biggest problem here is Dr. John‘s voice. It‘s nothing special and at parts grating. Just let your amazing background singers take the mic. And stop selling stuff to give to a wife „you can‘t control“ , for heaven‘s sake.

This album was really nice to get lost in after an exhausting day at work. There's always something interesting going on, but the sounds aren't overwhelming. It just feels freeing listening to the album. It pulls many different influences together into a strange cocktail that could easily become utter nonsense, but Frank somehow pulls it off. Heart and centre are the guitar solos for me. Overall there is such strong musicianship at play here that impresses me a lot. Could maybe use one or two songs with more structure, but the jam-esque quality i'm usually not that fond of works for me on here. (And how much fun is It Must Ce A Camel?)

This explores some interesting ideas. The beats themselves are at times quite capturing, but my big problem here are the rap-parts. They just don’t really hit, except No. 1 St which instantly moved to my library. To The Moon’s Contractor is the definitive centerpiece of the album for me, though the title track could also claim that position. Ultimately an interesting listen that i probably won’t return to in full, but some tracks definitely caught my attention.

That’s it… Jazz isn’t for me, i guess. At least purely instrumental jazz. Yes, Davis is an incredibly talented musician. And yes, his music was probably revolutionary back when it was released. But nothing here grips or excites me. It’s nice to put on as background music, but whenever i tried to actively listen to it, my attention would just slip away. So what do i do with this? There are one or two jazz records that i enjoyed more from the list, or at least albums that gripped my attention. I guess compared to them, this is only a two for me.

So… i get that Laibach's approach is to take elements of fascist music and turn it up to the point of satire and ridiculousness. I get it… in theory. In practice i think they do nothing for the listener to actually understand that what they are listening to is a parody. Especially the first two tracks made me incredibly uncomfortable to the point that i was considering not finishing the album. And yes, the point of art is to make the recipient uncomfortable. But this album made me uncomfortable because it felt like listening to actual fascist march-music - which made me nauseous considering the state of the world. At no point did the music reveal to me that i am listening to a parody and critique of it. That only came with reading about the album and band. So if the music itself does not manage to transport the idea of pardoy and critique, isn’t it simply reproducing what it’s trying to critique? I’m sure there are whole theses written about this out there, maybe i will go and read them when i feel like it.

I don‘t think words can express how amazing this album is. A definitive record in music history. Maybe the best thing to come out of the 80s.

So… on here we have four proper songs and some random stuff Yes cooked up in the studio. I loved it on my first listen, on the second listened it showed its flaws. What exactly the idea behind including Cans and Brahms as well as We Have Heaven on the album was is beyond me. But damn - Roundabout, South Side of the Sky and Long Distance Runaround are hard hitting bangers.

This all sounds very much like a collection of demos. This is lacking any polish or refinement. Not that everything needs to be polished to the max, but at least SOME more production work and rounds of revision would have been nice. The beats on here have some really cool ideas, I especially like Blinded By The Lights and Fit But You Know It in that aspect that nonetheless are sadly muddied by the general roughness of the album. The rapping is utter rubbish in parts, the singing isn’t much better. It sounds like a first recording of an idea made on a phone. Mike Skinner seems weirdly off-beat almost all the time, the worst offenders are the first two tracks on here. I kinda enjoy the british accent and vocabulary, tho. The parts sung by others are usually quite competent and nice to listen to, thankfully. The lyrics certainly are an interesting exploration of the life of a british bloke in the early 2000s and the headspace Skinner was in. This album is baffling. I genuinely think this could have been great. It got slightly better in the second half, but i have no desire to listen to this ever again. The only exception is Dry Your Eyes, which is a genuinely great song.

Pacific Ocean Blue is quiet a mixed bag isn't it? To me, the album has two sides. One side are the beautiful, spiritual and cathartic songs. Wilson created soundscapes that add and flow like the ocean. He used a wide variety of instrumental flourishes on them that embrace the listener and lays them down on beach to simply listen. Combined with great background singers and a stunning choir arrangement. That side of the album is a masterpiece to me. The other side, that’s much less exciting to me, is a slew of songs that are more rock-esque and… they just don’t grab me. Some of the instruments on them are fine and fun, but some of the songs are just going nowhere. Wilson’s crooning sounds so strained in some parts and makes it hard to listen to the songs. So yeah, some amazingly beautiful songs with some rather average rock-tunes. My favourite tracks on here are River Sing, Thought of You and Time - those really made me ascend.

…will this shameless string of 80s music-clichés ever end? I fear it won‘t. I‘m trapped inside a insidious plane of existence called Brothers In Arms.

The biggest drawback of the album is it‘s runtime (and i excluded the bonus tracks…). Otherwise this is some very relaxed country-tinged instrumentals with a sort of talk-singing over it. Sometimes the singing works for me, sometimes it doesn‘t. My highlights re Shiver and Dirty From The Rain, the latter bringing me close to tears. It‘s just too monotonous over its runtime, and although the opera-interludes bring some variation, they don‘t make sense to me in the context of the album.

I really enjoy the smoothness of this album. I‘m not very knowledgeable on Bossa Nova but i‘m sure there are albums that represent a „truer form“ of its roots, but i appreciate the emotional heaviness that Sinatra‘s vocals brings to the songs.

A track list of 19 songs usually makes me grown because usually that means there are a bunch of tracks to cut through that just don’t need to be on the album. Astonishingly, this is not the case here. The Clash deliver 19 songs full of life and energy. They never slow down and they never fall into a monotonous slop. Here we have 19 songs that are clearly punk, but more polished - i.e. they definitely know their ways around their instruments and probably established early on that they would love for their songs to have some structure. And the production on this is immaculate. You can hear every single instrument cleary, everything is done purposefully and the production really brings out the best of every single performance. It’s full of energy and life without overdoing it. They display their influences clearly on here, the reggae elements for example are very prominent on some songs but never over the top. It just shows how much of an influence reggae had on (british) punk. I even enjoy the ska-songs. Which says a lot about how good these songs are. Overall this is just a lovely album and a rush to listen to from top to bottom. And the title track hits you like a brick every single time.

What a fabulous work of synth-pop! I only knew Relax! going into this so i was a bit skeptical if it would be a „great single and then the rest“ thing but i was definitely proven wrong. That insanely long title track? Mama, this is art! Relax? Still a stone cold bop. Two Tribes? Joined the tribes into one. The Power of Love? Where’s my handkerchief? I really love this. The only thing i’m unsure about are the covers. While i really like War, of the Ring could do without Born To Run. Not sure what it is supposed to do here.

What a fun surprise! Cypress Hill seemingly cracked the code on how to create funky and groovy hip-hop beats. The samples they employ and how they use them just makes for some fun songs on here all throughout. The album actually went by like a breeze. Overall this album achieves a great level of cohesiveness while still showing variety. Obvious highlights to me are How I Could Just Kill a Man, Stoned Is the Way of the Walk, Psycobetabuckdown and Latin Lingo. The rapping is also contributing to the atmosphere, not too self-serious but simply keeping up with the momentum of the beats and simply spreading cool vibes. Is this the only Cypress Hill album on the list? I’m definitely interested to listen to the rest of their discography.

The album works great as a mood-piece to listen to and make you dwell in an atmosphere of nostalgia and the desire to leave the city, find an abandoned house in the middle of nowhere and start a „simpler“ life. Buffallo Springfield showcase some catchy melodies, enticing guitar-work and at least some variety. Overall though, no songs have real staying power on their own - except the utterly beautiful Sad Memory and maybe Expecting To Fly on a good day. Ultimately, the identity of this album gets muddied because it doesn’t really have an edge or a througline that keeps me engaged. And i’m not sure what to make of Broken Arrow. It’s certainly interesting. A pleasant album that i probably won’t return to any time soon.

Well, i have to come back and change my review. I listened to the album again outside in the blazing summer sun and boy, that was a wonderful experience. This album was made to feel alive while listening to it, to feel the warmth live can give you. Earth, Wind & Fire masterfully craft songs that range from dance-inducing grooves to soulful ballads and make it sound so easy yet so unachievable for anyone else. They interweave such greatly textured instrumentals that ebb and flow with the intensity of the songs with stunning vocal arrangements that drip like honey into the ear-canal and will stick there for a long time. I’m amazed by the craftmanship, the passion and the cohesion of this album. My favourite tracks (as of now) are the faster-paced once, namely Happy Feelin’, Yearnin’ Learnin’ and Africano (AFRICANO!!!). But that doesn’t mean the other tracks are weaker. All eight songs are essential to this album and to its message drained in spirituality. And now I’m simply happy and excited that I have many more EWF albums to dive into and enjoy.

My third R.E.M. album! And my god, this really concentrates what i like and dislike about the band. My biggest problem -and it already starts heavy on the first track- are the lead vocals. Something about them just sounds so strained and… whiny (for the lack of a better word) on some songs. That really is my biggest gripe with the band and i feel a bit pathetic because of it. What i do enjoy are as always the instrumentals - they are full and pack several punches. And in comparison to their debut, the production on here is so clear! Love that. There‘s also a nice variety in mood and tempo here and it strikes a good balance. I genuinely love how emotionally earnest REM are in their songs - well, often i‘m not really sure what they are singing about, but they transport emotions really well. Exhuming McCarthy is the one for me on here, while Oddfellows doesn‘t work for me at all. I‘m pretty sure i will return to this album from time time.

What’s there left to say about Unknown Pleasures? This album is everywhere - it influenced so many artists in the past and present, and it will probably also in the future. This album is raw, the emotions in the lyrics and in the singing are crystal-clear, supported by amazing instrumentation. Yet they do not diverge into cliché or kitsch, it almost feels callous. The music here is so purposeful - like everything you hear was picked specifically to be here, nothing is there that isn’t supposed to be. Joy Division knows when to go all in and when to leave space in the music, which creates such a powerful atmosphere, you can basically touch it. And i also really love Grace Jones’ cover of She Lost Control. Such a great song.

Aaaah i‘m so excited to get this album. Ever since i first heard Oh Bondage, Up Yours! i was intrigued with X-Ray Spex. I love this album. Poly Styrene and her crew are absolutely ruthless on here - in terms of lyrics, vocals and instrumentation. The frustration about living in a messed up world as a woman just drips out of every second of the album. It‘s full if energy, which is the albums biggest asset but at times can get a tad overwhelming. And i‘m sorry, the saxophone annoys me so much in one or two songs. But overall, we all need more X-Ray Spex in our lives.

I guess there is not much to add to the conversation about this album, but man, this is just fundamental. Kid A has got it all - yearning vocals, beautiful strings, lovely electronic experimentation and voice manipulation. All working together to create a gloomy, yet ethereal dimension of sound to just glide into and wallow. My third Radiohead album from this list and definitely my favorite so far.

So um… I don’t know what to say except that i was mostly bored by this album. There wasn’t much that caught my attention and peaked my interest. I definitely prefer the second half over the first, but that doesn’t say too much. I’m gonna take Jigsaw Puzzle, Prodigal Son and Salt of The Earth, and leave the rest.

How are you that good on your goddamn debut album? I thought this would be a bit of an underwhelming listen compared to Led Zeppelin IV, the only album by them i listened to so far, but this is just so good. These guys just knew how to create enganging songs and how to switch between the calm and the storm in order to create tension in their songs. The blues-influences on the album create some nice contrasting textures to the moments where LZ goes completely berzerk. I can see myself yelling Your Time Is Gonna Come during an emotional breakdown in the near future. And that call and response between the lead vocal and the guitar during the end of You Shook Me? I was CACKLING. Damn, i love this album.

Irritatingly pompous and unnecessarily grand. Walker uses every trick in the book to elicit SOME emotion in his listener, but all he mamages to elicit in me is… a 43 minute long expression of cringe.

Huh, this is an interesting one. I quite enjoy it, the laid back energy of it is quite engaging for most of the songs and i like the textures they create, though the first half was much more alluring to me. I just oddly do not like the tracks with vocals, i think they are subpar and don‘t add anything to the listening experience. Especially on Poor Leno (which i find a bit out of place on here with its neo-disco beats) they are a detriment to the overall song.

This jam-band is definitely jamming! While I can enjoy it for a song or two, it just loses my interest over a whole album. The music is perfectly fine, to some it probably is great, but to me it just becomes mush after a while. Calvary on its own is a great and enticing track, but over the runtime of the whole album it just gets lost in the flow of all the other tracks. Generally i prefer the second half over the first one, though.

Quite impressive. The lyricism on here is great, a thorough expression of anger and resistance born out of the social climate they found themselves in. The beats themselves are really catchy and use some great samples. Once or twice i would have wished for a little shake-up within a track, but nonetheless the songs themselves are still banging. Chuck D‘s rapping is so on point, i think he might be one if my favorite rappers on a technical level. Happy to finally have listened to this! My favorite tracks for now are Don‘t Believe The Hype and especially Rebel Without A Pause.

So… i guess Marvin likes to have sex. A lot. Good for him; this album completely transports the mood. Yes it starts with the obvious hit, but the strength of the album is the cohesiveness which makes it an absolute ride, without becoming too one note for me. Smooth, groovy and full of lust and longing, but never over the top or uncomfortable. Physicality becomes the ultimate form of love and connection, the truest form of partnership. And Gaye takes you through every stage of this physicality, the expectation and anticipation, the act itself and the complex emotions afterwards. Ultimately, Gaye’s voice is the thing that holds the album together and elevates it to an impressive piece of music.

Is this to be taken at face value? Is this an elaborate joke? The album sounds like the band that would play at prom in a high-school movie. The principal would probably break a sweat, but everybody else would know this music is completely tame and toothless. It’s like they really tried to make something campy, but were too in on the joke. To say it with Sontag: „Probably, intending to be Camp is always harmful.“ Did The Cramps really want to make an album that explores the psyche of some imagined monsters and garbagemen, or did they simply want to make a cheap Halloween album? I’m not sure, i just know that to me it appears as the latter. (Note: The lead singer’s singing really reminds me of that guy that sings Kisses Of Fire in Mamma Mia 2.)

Aphex Twin really excels at creating these aural meditations. The tracks on this album are like massages for my brain, musical ASMR. Many of the songs found here are like floating along a river in spring, allowing one to get lost in them not knowing where the journey might take you. This might not be my favorite Aphex album, but it is still incredible.

I guess this album is competently made. Elvis’ voice is charming enough to carry the songs and deliver a nice listening experience. Most of the songs are fine, some are standouts to me (Power Of My Love, Suspicious Minds, In The Ghetto). Other songs are mind-numbingly kitsch that i don’t ever want to hear again (Don’t Cry Daddy, Mama Liked The Roses). As an album tho, this does not work for me. There is no throughline or connective tissue between these songs. It’s just Elvis and his band playing whatever came into their mind for an hour, i guess.

Listened to Rattlesnakes a few hours and now i cannot remember a single second of the actual music. While listening to it, I found it simply… boring? This album appears completely toothless, it’s like musical teflon. The only thing i can really remember is that i was constantly wondering, what the singer was trying to achieve with his singing style? It neither sold me on his voice nor his lyrics, which tried to be smart and insightful but because i had such a hard time even focusing on the music, i couldn’t really focus on the lyrics for most of it. So yeah, this one isn’t a keeper.

I‘m not sure what it is, but something about Neil Young and his singing just hooks me. I absolutely loved the first half of this album, though the second half with Crazy Horse is also quite good. I just really got into the vibe with the soft guitar playing and Neil (a bit whiny) singing about a lost past. Not sure what he attempted to do with Pocahontas and I guess you just have to ignore some of the lyrics to enjoy it, but well. I guess he meant good?

Sound of Silver wears its influences on its sleeves. I can hear Bowie, i can hear some Moroder-era Disco and (most troubling) some indie-rock singing and some luke-warm punk-spirit. On some tracks this works incredibly well. Get Innocuous, Time To Get Away and Someone Right just hit a sweet spot. They are fun, focussed and find a great balance between monotony and excitement. And yes, these songs are all on the first half of the album. Other songs are… rougher. North American Scum is vocally challenging for the ears, the piano on All My Friends seemed to pierce my eardrum at some point and the time has come to delete Us vs Them from my library. At some points it felt like LCD Soundsystem was a music class in high school that just wanted to try out every instrument they could find - it gets too messy and annoying. I guess they said it best themselves: It‘s not getting better, it‘s just getting old. The album left me a little baffled. I really enjoy four tracks on here - but the other five just don‘t work for me at all. Yet i am intrigued enough that i hopefully will find the time to dig deeper into LCD‘s discography.

So… apparently I already listened to another album by Doves. And after looking it up, I actually remember the album cover with the hideous font! The thing is - i don‘t remember a single thing about the album itself. Nothing. It completely vanished. So now it‘s time to listen to their debut. To make it quick: This is mediocre indie-rock with all of its signifiers used in mostly uncreative ways. It‘s a slog to get through for most of the runtime, neither the vocals nor the instrumentals induce any form of excitement in mean. Exceptions are Here It Comes and Lost Souls, which intrigued me enough tho add them to my library. That‘s two songs more than i saved from their second album. So congratulations, Doves! You got… worse with time?

Damn, this is a blast of fun! Has a british punk-album ever been more british-punk? Probably, but this album has a lot of the elements i love about british punk from that era. It gives the illusion of a bunch of friends from school just jamming in a garage and letting a tape recorder run. These songs are about a childhood that‘s slipping through your fingers, finding a stance on political issues, trying to figure out relationships and romance as a guy in his early twenties. And during all that the Buzzcocks never even think to pump the break (a bit ironic) but go full speed ahead and they created thirty minutes of pure frenzy and joy. And that accent is just catnip to me.

So um… to me, this is one of the pop albums that in my opinion get as close to perfection as possible. I know consensus is that Thriller is Michael‘s magnum opus, but to me Bad is just even more exciting. Every single song claws its‘ way into your brain and just refuses to let go. Production, songwriting and of course the vocal performance are all top notch. This is basically an all-killer-affair, although Just Good Friends is the obvious weak link to me. Bad is simply a thrilling rush of energy, showing that Michael understood pop like barely anyone else ever would. While Thriller build his throne, Bad defended it.

While if course i knew You Oughta Know and Ironic, for some reason i always shied away from listening to Jagged Little Pill. Thankfully, i don‘t regret listening to it now! The album starts incredibly strong with Alanis‘s literal „I Want song“, only for You Oughta Know to slide in and tell us her Want just crumbled in front of her. What follows is an honest, at quite some points ironic and unfiltrred dissection of her relation to men, to herself and the social rooms she grew up in. The album definitely sounds quintessentially 90s. On songs like Perfect and Head Over Feet that works to their detriment, on other songs it just hits right. All I Really Want, You Oughta Know, Right Through You and Ironic just display the bursting emotions ranging from anger and despair to more hopeful notes. We all have been 20, i think everyone can relate to that state of having to find your place in the world. And no voice can put that feeling to record better than Alanis, moving from soft and serene to full steam ahead between songs. It all just comes really well together - lyrics, vocals and instrumentals. Except for that goddamn harmonica. Never the harmonica.

Uff, this was a tough listen. I was initially excited to give this a play, since i never really listened to B.I.G before. And the strengths he’s being praised for are clear immediately: his flow is amazing, he delivers his rhymes with so much punch and energy. He also just transports an effortlessly cool vibe. And yes, he has some great puns and lyrics. But oh boy, the sample selection and how they are implemented is just so… boring. Maybe that’s because i listened to it with 2026 ears, but sadly i cannot go back to a time before i was even born. Musically, this album is just so repetitive and bloated. This might have worked on a 12 track album, but here we have so many songs that it turns into a slog after a few tracks. Some notable exceptions are Juicy, Big Poppa, Respect and Unbelievable. And then there are the skits… i’m generally not a fan if Skits/Interludes (except for you Janet, you rock at them!) but these here are just grating and don’t really add anything to the album’s substance. And THEN there are the incredibly misogynistic lyrics on tracks like Me & My B**** and Machine Gun Funk. These just really made it a painful listening experience, it’s just such a low to reference Tina’s experience of domestic violence (TWICE) and whatever else he is doing on Just Playing (Dreams).

I really like Aladdin Sane. I listened to it thrice today and had a pretty good time. I just think it doesn’t really come close to its predecessor - which is a hard feat to achieve but a lot of things surrounding the album point back to Ziggy Stardust. The cover shows Bowie, possibly as a new character or a continuation of Ziggy and Bowie himself said Aladdin Sane is Ziggy going to Washington. So yeah, the comparison invites itself. Musically though, i don’t think it comes close to Ziggy. The album lacks cohesion and a clear musical and lyrical focus, in my opinion. The songs themesleves are mostly great - Watch That Man opens the album and makes a big statement, though that energy gets lost within the next few songs ( i’m just puzzled why his vocals are so quiet on the song - is this intentional?), though it picks up again somewhat towards The Jean Genie at the end of the album. Incidentally, these are the two songs from the album that left me the coldest. Then there is some more experimental stuff like the title track and Time - the definitive album highlight for me. The songs are all good to great individually, but they don’t paint an overall picture of the concept Bowie attempted. I still really like it and enjoy pretty much every song, but it doesn’t reach the heights Bowie reached before and after.

This is some stupid and fun glam rock, though they seem to have an affinity for bringing pop-elements into their music. It’s not boundary-pushing or thought-provoking in away, but i don’t think that’s what Hanoi Rocks were going for and that’s fine. The first four tracks are pretty straightforward exactly that: stupid, fun glam rock songs. And Hanoi Rocks are really good at that. They try to break the formula with the fifth track Until I Get You, which attempts to be a more emotionally earnest song, but it doesn’t really achieve that. It feels choppy and any emotion is squandered by the vocals being kind of buried in the mix and at the same time not being… that good and at times a bit irritating. The following song, Sailing Down the Tears sounds a bit too happy-go-lucky for me and becomes grating after two minutes. Thankfully, Lick Summer Love kicks in right after and boy, that is a glorious song. Effortlessly cool, with a strutting rhythm, female guest vocals (gove me more THAT, please) and a saxophone. In my head this pairs well with Bananarama’s Cruel Summer - which to me is a great compliment. Beatig Gets Faster and Ice Cream Summer are… tehre. Nothing special or remarkable (except for that unexpected B**** in Ice Cream Summer, that made me scratch my head). The final and title track is quite fun, but is brought down by the production quality. It didn’t bother me as much with the rest of the songs, but here it really turns me off. Overall, Hanoi Rocks know what they were doing, the front half of the album especially is really catchy, and i’m sure i will return to some individual tracks. As an album though, it’s a bit nothing-y.

Headquarters is really… inoffensive, in the most umcomplimentary sense of the word. It feels out of time for a 1967 release. These songs are all pastiches of other songs. Other reviewers already did all the Beatlels-comparisons, so i won’t bother to. There are some nice songs on here! Some i even enjoyed to a degree, namely You Just May Be The One, For Pete’s Sake and Randy Scouse Git. Doesn’t mean they are great songs, but they are some i would actively decide to listen to. Maybe. When I’m in a specific mood and don’t have many other options. And I’m not against pop-groups being formed for/from a TV-show. Hey, i enjoy Girls Aloud and Little Mix quite a lot. But the Monkees just do not work for me - maybe because i have no clue about the TV-show and their identity around the show, but it is what it is. And what it is is not really exciting in any way.

Well, i expected a truly weird and surreal album - and surprisingly, it‘s not 100% that. Yes, there is a lot of experimentation on here. There‘s also a quiet frankly disturbing amount of kazoo on here. And yet, Freak Out is a tremendously exciting album. It‘s filled to the brim with ideas and thankfully, the band seemingly had no filter in tje studio. There are weird and intense jungle sounds, parody-like doo-woo ballads that show respect for the form but also don‘t take it too seriously, some truly funny lyrics (did anybody count how many times someone gets their car upholstered?), a vocal that sounds like an early attempt at a synth line and so much more. Inject it into my veins and write me a memoir about Suzie Creamcheese. (The album also has a fair share of puzzling lyrics. Of course they are singing about teenage girls. That will never stop being icky and inappropriate.)

The humongous amount of harmonica on here posed an uphill battle for me. I cannot stand the harmonica. Sorry to all the harmonicas out there. Nonetheless it’s clear as day that Dylan is an excellent lyricist and storyteller. That comes through on both sides of the album, but Dylan’s poetic craft truly excells on the second half. Musically, the first half is quite exciting, although in retrospect it is hard to appreciate just how revolutionary the inclusion of the electric guitar was. Still, especially Subterranean Homesick Blues and On The Road Again wormed their ways into my brain. And yes, at first Dylan’s voice on some of the songs (lookinga t you, Maggie’s Farm) was sort of off-putting, but after adjusting to it, it was truly no more problem. The second half is so dense lyrically that i will have to sit with the songs for some more time to truly grasp them. Garden Of Eden especially reads like a classic poem to me that will take time to truly uncover its layers. So maybe i will adjust my rating later, but for now i’m happy to have worked through my first Dylan album on the list.

Gil Scott-Heron just has a charming way with his voice. I really enjoy it a lot. But what really makes the best songs on here interesting are the lyrics. They pack a heavy punch and contrast the sometimes almost aloof instrumentation. The best examples for this are Peace Go With You, Brother and The Bottle. Scott-Heron manages to portrait and dissect societal and political grievances on here so poignantly without saying too much, reducing them to their core essence and thus delivering a raw and all too visceral portrayal. Then of course there is H2Ogate, a scathing reckoning with the US government of the time. Other songs, like A Very Precious Time and Your Daddy Loves You don’t really have this explicit political nature but seem to be more about personal experiences but unfortunately, they left me rather cold. So yeah, Gil Scott-Heron was an amazing political singer and poet who i can listen to for a long long time. But in my opinion this album is a bit too uneven for me to fully embrace it.

In some ways it feels pointless to talk about this album. Rarely has an album presented itself so clearly, viscerally and almost chokingly to its listener. Every single song on In Utero extrapolates Kurt’s struggles with every single facette of his life into a piece of music that cannot be misunderstood as anything other than a man that has lost his path in life and is struggling to find it again. Lyrically, this is one of the most gut-wrenching yet on point album i have ever listened to. All of that unfolds on songs that are rough, pulsing with a raw punk-energy that masterfully underpins the emotional depth of Kurt’s lyrics. I can’t really point out any best or favorite tracks on here. I think All Apologies is an all-time greater and was improved by their MTV Unplugged and - I would argue - perfected by Sinéad O’ Connor on her album Universal Mother. So yeah, this album is freaking amazing and utterly devastating at the same time.

Before i get into the album itself: What the hell is this album cover? Did he want to stare creepily into the camera like a guy that makes you cross the street when you see him at night? Why? WHY? But i have to admit, this cover kind of represents the album itself quite well. I had only ever heard of Morrissey for… non-musical reasons but had no idea what he got going on musically. And what he got going on musically is whiny singing above average instrumentals - but the two have nothing to do with each other. Morrissey is just exercising an most exhausting and self-centered form of navel gazing ever put to record. This guy’s ideas and experiences are IMPORTANT and you should definitely hear him singing about stalking a woman, i guess? Is that what he’s doing on The More You Ignore Me, The Closer I Get? Oh and he’s such a great human being because he doesn’t spill another guys’s secrets while being on blast himself? I can’t even say much about the instrumentation because the singing and lyrics irritated me so much. Used To Be A Sweet Boy and Speedway got my interest, but i could only listen to them again with another singer. Or as instrumentals. Anything that isn’t this album.