175
Albums Rated
3.2
Average Rating
16%
Complete
914 albums remaining
Rating Distribution
Rating Timeline
Taste Profile
1970
Favorite Decade
Singer-songwriter
Favorite Genre
UK
Top Origin
Wordsmith
Rater Style ?
48
5-Star Albums
27
1-Star Albums
Breakdown
By Genre
By Decade
By Origin
Albums
You Love More Than Most
| Album | You | Global | Diff |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Brutal Youth
Elvis Costello
|
5 | 2.82 | +2.18 |
|
Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge
Mudhoney
|
5 | 2.84 | +2.16 |
|
Tellin’ Stories
The Charlatans
|
5 | 2.94 | +2.06 |
|
Slanted And Enchanted
Pavement
|
5 | 3.03 | +1.97 |
|
Sometimes I Wish We Were An Eagle
Bill Callahan
|
5 | 3.03 | +1.97 |
|
Chemtrails Over The Country Club
Lana Del Rey
|
5 | 3.05 | +1.95 |
|
Manassas
Stephen Stills
|
5 | 3.07 | +1.93 |
|
Repeater
Fugazi
|
5 | 3.12 | +1.88 |
|
Crooked Rain Crooked Rain
Pavement
|
5 | 3.24 | +1.76 |
|
The Specials
The Specials
|
5 | 3.3 | +1.7 |
You Love Less Than Most
| Album | You | Global | Diff |
|---|---|---|---|
|
The Doors
The Doors
|
1 | 3.94 | -2.94 |
|
Ten
Pearl Jam
|
1 | 3.91 | -2.91 |
|
(What's The Story) Morning Glory
Oasis
|
1 | 3.84 | -2.84 |
|
Green River
Creedence Clearwater Revival
|
1 | 3.78 | -2.78 |
|
Raising Hell
Run-D.M.C.
|
1 | 3.51 | -2.51 |
|
The Marshall Mathers LP
Eminem
|
1 | 3.48 | -2.48 |
|
James Brown Live At The Apollo
James Brown
|
1 | 3.46 | -2.46 |
|
A Rush Of Blood To The Head
Coldplay
|
1 | 3.44 | -2.44 |
|
...And Justice For All
Metallica
|
1 | 3.43 | -2.43 |
|
Blunderbuss
Jack White
|
1 | 3.4 | -2.4 |
Artists
Favorites
| Artist | Albums | Average |
|---|---|---|
| Pavement | 2 | 5 |
| The Velvet Underground | 2 | 5 |
| Beatles | 2 | 5 |
| R.E.M. | 2 | 5 |
Least Favorites
| Artist | Albums | Average |
|---|---|---|
| Creedence Clearwater Revival | 2 | 1.5 |
Controversial
| Artist | Ratings |
|---|---|
| Muddy Waters | 2, 5 |
| Joni Mitchell | 5, 2, 5 |
| Bob Dylan | 4, 2, 5 |
| Bruce Springsteen | 5, 2, 3 |
5-Star Albums (48)
View Album Wall
Popular Reviews
Paul McCartney and Wings · 4 likes
5/5
Such a great pop record that still sounds remarkably fresh. I love all the tales surrounding its creation too - the stories of McCartney's retreat after the Beatles fell to pieces; recording a couple of albums by himself in an isolated Scottish farmhouse; forming a band, jumping in a van and turning up unannounced at university union bars asking to play... After two or three low-key, poorly received (at the time) albums, he wanted to go for a big production pop record and jetted off to Nigeria to record it where he was mugged at knifepoint and robbed of the demo tapes... You could write a book about his first three post-Beatles years alone, never mind the rest of them. It's probably fair to say Band on the Run is the record that properly launched his solo career, and it still sounds great (even though I can't listen to Jet without picturing Alan Partridge dancing in his hotel room...)
Stevie Wonder · 2 likes
5/5
Finally, after a run of absolute drivel, a record thoroughly deserving of a place in this list. What an extraordinary record - there’s enough here for three great albums.
It’s clearly a masterpiece and I’m never going to be able to write anything that comes close to capturing its greatness, so I’ll say this instead: 46 seconds into Sir Duke, I’m pretty sure he sings ‘Mick and Phylis are lovers…”
Creedence Clearwater Revival · 2 likes
1/5
I get how influential they are but to my ears, this stuff just hasn’t survived the test of time. It sounds tired and cliched. All it inspires me to do is to switch it off. In fact, listening to it now, it strikes me they well be partly to blame for Ocean Colour Scene, which is reason enough to wish this record out of existence.
The Magnetic Fields · 2 likes
3/5
12 love songs would probably have done me. Long albums like this invariably end up including lots of tracks that should just have been b-sides, or left as demos to be released on coloured vinyl for Record Store Day years down the line. On the upside, I quite liked it! There’s some funny and moving songwriting here and if it was a 12-15 track album, I’d be all over it. That probably misses some kind of point, but I do think you can have too much of a good thing.
Aimee Mann · 1 likes
2/5
Fairly bland, 90s singer-songwriter fare - pretty forgettable. I’m not sure what qualifies this album for the list given how many almost identical records there are out there. I kept expecting to hear one I recognised that would whisk me back to some memorable time and place but it didn’t happen. It was perfectly nice to listen to but it probably won’t occur to me to listen again.
1-Star Albums (27)
All Ratings
Creedence Clearwater Revival
2/5
Bob Dylan
4/5
A justifiable classic, Dylan at his best. Tangled up in Blue never gets old but I also love the bluesy Meet me in the Morning and the wonderfully bitter Idiot Wind - “As a matter of fact the wheels have stopped, What's good is bad, what's bad is good, You'll find out when you reach the top, You're on the bottom”
Peak Dylan, but I’ve knocked one star off because off because of the wretched Christmas song he wrote decades later.
Iron Maiden
2/5
I don’t think this one’s aged well, it’s pretty stodgy rock music - more proggy in places than I remembered, especially tracks like Strange World. But it paved the way for what was to come - it’s a paving slab of a record. Phantom the Opera is the obvious standout for me.
Keith Jarrett
1/5
Just… not for me.
Neil Young
5/5
It’s always a pleasure to spend time in the company of this one. For this listen, I dug out the posh headphones, gave it the Dolby Atmos treatment and soaked up every second. It’s the same age as me but has worn considerably better. Timeless really. A wonderful record.
Queen Latifah
2/5
This record sounds very dated to me. De La Soul inject their own magic into the proceedings but it’s just not a genre I’ve ever managed to really connect with - I can hear the record’s influence though.
Carole King
5/5
I love this record - highly deserving of its classic status. As moving and catchy as the day it was released. I could listen to it every single day. In fact, I think I will.
Ray Charles
4/5
Because of the radio my mum listened to when I was growing up, this kind of thing will always be ‘Sunday Roast Music’ to me. This is no bad thing. I really enjoyed the big band sound - I’d never knowingly heard the album before but it was all cosily familiar. I’ll definitely listen again. Probably on Sunday.
Derek & The Dominos
1/5
I’d never listened to this album before - it sounds like a parody. I can see why Layla is the famous one - the first half of the song bursts out of the album as if it’s trying to escape, only then to be dragged back in by the second half, an interminable lump of nothing nailed on seemingly to remind the listener just how excruciating the album actually is..
Aimee Mann
2/5
Fairly bland, 90s singer-songwriter fare - pretty forgettable. I’m not sure what qualifies this album for the list given how many almost identical records there are out there. I kept expecting to hear one I recognised that would whisk me back to some memorable time and place but it didn’t happen. It was perfectly nice to listen to but it probably won’t occur to me to listen again.
Fats Domino
4/5
I know he’s one of the Godfathers of Rock n Roll, but I only really know Blueberry Hill by Fats Domino. It’s a great song and I can see why it endures but listening to this, I wonder why I’m not more familiar with the rest of his work. I know plenty of his songs but mainly as covered by others. I liked this. It felt good. I’ll dig deeper.
New Order
4/5
I’ve always found New Order albums confusing affairs - is it an album? Is it a compilation? I always thought of them as a singles band, then they released that God-awful football song and I took to disliking them, in spite of everything. I like this though and it surprises me that I’ve never listened to it properly before now.
DJ Shadow
1/5
Not even forgettable as I barely noticed it was playing in the first place.
Pink Floyd
4/5
I don’t think I’ve ever listened to this album during the day before, and certainly never just with tea and biscuits to imbibe. I still really enjoyed it though. So that’s good.
The Associates
4/5
It’s probably sacrilege to say this but I always found Billy McKenzie’s vocals a bit much - he seems to be frantically over-singing everything, to my ears at least. Perhaps that was the point. I like the music though - extraordinary as his voice was, it’s the music on this album that stands out for me. Aside from Party Fears Two of course, where the two come together brilliantly.
Arcade Fire
4/5
It’s hard to listen to Arcade Fire these days with the unresolved allegations around Win Butler still circulating but I soldiered in and quite enjoyed it. The well known songs were the least interesting, probably because I’ve over-heard them, but tracks like Ocean of Noise stood out and reminded me a bit of Calexico, who I love.
Epic, cinematic, US indie rock - enjoyable enough, but I much preferred their earlier album, Funeral.
Pavement
5/5
A bona fide, stone cold classic. Every track transports back me to when I first heard it in ‘92 when it flung the doors open for me to a world of US alternative rock I’d previously paid little to no attention too (Fugazi, Husker Du, Superchunk, et al)
Every track is a joy but I’ll always have a special place for Conduit for Sale! I can almost taste the warm cider…
Miles Davis
3/5
I know this is damming with faint praise but it’s nice to have on in the background. I like Miles Davis and especially enjoy it when he’s pushing the boundaries but this one just doesn’t have enough grit to hold my attention.
Franz Ferdinand
4/5
A fun album with no duff tracks - I haven’t listened in years so it was nice to revisit. It wears its post-punk/ new wave influences on its sleeve but that’s no bad thing. Good as it is, it probably wouldn’t be on my own list of 1001 essential albums, if I made one. Which I won’t.
Pavement
5/5
Having spent the last 30 years putting Cut Your Hair and Range Life on just about every mix tape and playlist I’ve made, it was nice to hear these songs in their natural habitat again.
Slanted and Enchanted cropped up on this list the other day - both albums have served to remind me just how much I like Pavement.
David Bowie
4/5
I’ve never really familiarised myself with this album before and only really knew Golden Years and Wild is the Wind. I enjoyed it a lot and listened through twice - I love the production and the bass sounds great. I’ll definitely be digging deeper.
The Beach Boys
5/5
Obviously, and quite famously a masterpiece - listening to it now it’s hard to believe it’s almost 60 years old. All these years later, it’s easy to take these song structures and production techniques for granted but this one album changed the pop record format forever. It’s hard sometimes to listen to a record of this stature and hear it objectively but really, everything else aside, these are all great songs. What an incredible album.
Sade
4/5
When I was growing up in the 80s, I assumed being an adult meant wearing pastel coloured suits with the sleeves rolled up, driving a Ford Capri, drinking cocktails in wine bars and listening to Sade. Mercifully, most of these things never came to pass - I do like a bit of Sade though. In my mind this music is inescapably ’wine bar’, but the soulful, understated vocals and smooth, jazz-lite music have a pleasing effect. I enjoyed listening to it.
Cocteau Twins
5/5
One of those bands where I find myself listening more to the bands they’ve influenced. I know I like Cocteau Twins, and if it wasn’t for them, most of the bands I adored in the 90s probably wouldn’t have existed, I just rarely listen to them. A wrong I will right on the back of immersing myself in this gem. Some of the tracks, in particular the title track, have somehow been engrained in the psyche over the years, but it was a real treat to hear them again in the context of the album. If you need me, I’ll be down a Cocteau Twins rabbit hole.
Jamiroquai
1/5
Bloody hell, I had to grit my teeth for this one. In fairness, the chap can sing. The tunes have a mildly infectious quality. And I’m glad to live in a country where anyone can adorn themselves in the headgear of their choosing. But every time a new song started, I just wanted it to be over. I don’t know why, and I’m not going to spend any more time pondering it. And this lark is playing havoc with my algorithms.
Jimmy Smith
3/5
I tend to recoil from that Hammond organ sound as it just reminds me of bad 70s quiz shows. This is a shame as it was probably the height of music tech when this was recorded, but for me the album takes off when the sax kicks in. Nice to listen to though.
The Saints
4/5
A fine dose of proto-punk, and another one of those bands where I’m far more familiar with the groups they inspired.
Much as I enjoyed the more energetic tracks, it’s songs like ‘Untitled’ that made me appreciate how far ahead of their time they were. That acoustic sound is great - something punk bands just didn’t do at the time but now is obligatory. And the brassy sound in ‘Know Your Product’ was great. Often compared to the Ramones apparently but way more interesting as far as I’m concerned.
The Velvet Underground
5/5
I don’t think I’ve ever listened to this album before - I’ve been missing out. It sounds like nothing else from that time - it’s testament to their influence that it sounds more like a 90s low-fi indie record. The Murder Mystery was a real standout track for me. I’m going to be returning to this album again
Creedence Clearwater Revival
1/5
I get how influential they are but to my ears, this stuff just hasn’t survived the test of time. It sounds tired and cliched. All it inspires me to do is to switch it off. In fact, listening to it now, it strikes me they well be partly to blame for Ocean Colour Scene, which is reason enough to wish this record out of existence.
David Bowie
2/5
I can see why he called it Low. Listening to this is a bit like doing maths homework - I know it’s important, and making the effort now might lead to greater things, but, ugh, do I have to? At times, it clicks into place and makes glorious sense, and I can hear how it influenced those post-punk, synth-pop records that I love, but for the most part, it just gave me a headache.
Can I have a snack?
Gram Parsons
2/5
Yet another one of those artists where I like who they influenced more. I get why he’s influential, I just found this album a bit dry and… dull. Give me Gene Clark over this, any day. The Byrds and the Flying Burrito Brothers too. I just don’t get the appeal of this record…
Sleater-Kinney
3/5
I quite like Sleater Kinney - I like their frantic energy. Enjoyable as I find them, I’m not sure what marks this album out given they all sound essentially the same. I guess if you’re going to pick one, you may as well make it this one. I’d probably have suggested All Hands on the Bad One myself, but no one asked.
Patti Smith
5/5
I bought this album years ago as it was so frequently cited as an influence by artists I loved as a teenager. It was an acknowledged classic when I came to it and more often than not, such records don’t have the impact on me I thought they would. Not this one though! It’s so unlike anything else and I can really appreciate how extraordinary it must have sounded when it first came out. I’ve never really enjoyed much else by Patti Smith, probably because I haven’t tried hard enough - maybe I’ll try harder having just listened to this again. What a great record.
Beatles
5/5
It will never cease to be anything less than mind-blowing to me that just three or four years after recording songs like Til There Was You and Please Mister Postman, they were coming out with Tomorrow Never Knows and I Am the Walrus. Literally everything they did was groundbreaking and brimming with that magical, larger-than-life quality, yet I’ve had socks for longer than the Beatles were together. They were incredible. And so were the Beatles.
Siouxsie And The Banshees
4/5
Much as I always liked Siouxsie, I never LOVED them in the same way I did The Cure or Sisters of Mercy. It was nice to listen to this after so many years though. I still have them down as a goth band but on this listening, I was far more aware of their choppy post-punk sound. I can definitely hear their lasting influence, might have to dig deeper…
Dolly Parton
5/5
This was a real eye-opener for me - these days, Dolly Parton is one of those celebs who’s synonymous with so many things you kind of forget just how great a singer-songwriter she is. The title track alone is up there with anything Johnny Cash did and She’d Never Met a Man… put me in mind of Willie Nelson. I’d always had her down more as a movie star/ pop singer (and philanthropist of course) but this is great songwriting, I enjoyed it a lot.
The Doors
1/5
I really, really, dislike the Doors. The reverence heaped on Jim Morrison is baffling to me - to my ears, his lyrics are pure 6th Form. I tried to give this record a fair listen, and failed. Actually, I didn’t try very hard, and I’m fine with it.
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
2/5
Well that was remarkably unremarkable. The album just finished playing and I literally can’t remember ever listening to it. I gave it two stars because it didn’t have Free Fallin’ on it. If it did, I would have given it one star.
Joni Mitchell
5/5
Probably my favourite Joni Mitchell album, certainly my most played. Car on a Hill is just perfection. A beautifully arranged, sumptuous-sounding record that I could (and do) listen to over and over.
The National
4/5
It took me a while to warm to the National despite seeing them live a couple of times, including once in a comparatively small venue when they were touring their Boxer album. It wasn’t until The First Two Pages of Frankenstein album that the penny dropped and I fell under their moody, broody, almost Tindersticks-like spell. This isn’t my favourite National album but I really enjoyed listening to it - Anyone’s Ghost, the understated anthem Bloodbuzz Ohio and England probably being the standouts.
Sly & The Family Stone
2/5
I like that this record exists, I just don’t really want to have to listen to it. I can enjoy stretches of it in the right mood, but it’s the kind of record I’d rather read about than actually listen too. Spaced Cowboy was a right shocker though - yodelling should be left to Focus, or better still, just left.
The Magnetic Fields
3/5
12 love songs would probably have done me. Long albums like this invariably end up including lots of tracks that should just have been b-sides, or left as demos to be released on coloured vinyl for Record Store Day years down the line. On the upside, I quite liked it! There’s some funny and moving songwriting here and if it was a 12-15 track album, I’d be all over it. That probably misses some kind of point, but I do think you can have too much of a good thing.
Bob Marley & The Wailers
5/5
So, how does Bob Marley like his donuts? Wi jammin’. Ah, I’ll never tire of that. Nor will I tire of this record - it’s perfect. I think these songs are just part of the human DNA now, and we’re all the better for them.
The Velvet Underground
5/5
Boston
2/5
I expected easy going ‘yacht rock’, so the proggy elements of Long Gone… were interesting, but overall, it didn’t do much for me. It kind of reminded me of Manic Street Preachers and I can’t decide if that’s a good thing or a bad thing. It probably sounds less dated today than it did twenty years ago - maybe I’ll listen again in twenty years’ time to see how it’s faring. Maybe I won’t.
Elvis Costello
5/5
I excitedly bought this album when it came out as it was his first with the Attractions for years, and I still listen to it often. 13 Steps Lead Down and You Tripped at Every Step are as good as anything they’ve ever done, as well as being among the best songs ever written about steps. My favourite here though is London’s Brilliant Parade - one of my favourite EC songs and one that was always playing in the back of my mind in the ten years I lived there. The old Hungerford foot bridge was replaced around 2000 but it’s a tiny piece of ‘my’ London captured perfectly and forever in this song.
Daft Punk
2/5
When the mood takes me, I can really enjoy Daft Punk, especially their later stuff. Unfortunately, the mood left me pretty much where I was for this listening and I found it fairly plodding. I suppose it paved the way for what was to come but this one doesn’t really do it for me.
The Band
2/5
There’s so much praise and reverence heaped on The Band, it’s hardq to know where to begin. I decided long ago not to bother, I’ll just accept they’re legendary, quite probably for good reason. I’m sure if you were watching them in a field at a festival, stoned out of your mind, semi-naked and covered in mud, they’d be quite something. However, I’m at the kitchen table looking at a spreadsheet and their effect is a little lost on me. I don’t dislike it, it just sounds pretty ordinary.
The Kinks
5/5
I like The Kinks. They played a big part not just in shaping Heavy Metal and Britpop (whatever that might be), but also in pioneering the concept album — and they managed most of that within their first five years. I’m not entirely convinced that the so-called ‘quintessential Englishness’ they get labelled with ever actually existed, but that just shows how great their storytelling was, as well as their songwriting. This album nails their essence. Clever gits.
Bruce Springsteen
5/5
My introduction to this record, and to Springsteen generally, was Frankie Goes To Hollywood’s cover of the title track which I still think packs a lot of punch. I love the meandering tunes and the stories, characters and places on this record. It’s all very cinematic - an album you can lose yourself in, especially if you have the lyrics in front of you. And that full band sound is just perfect. Hard to believe this record is fifty years old, it certainly doesn’t sound it.
Black Sabbath
3/5
This is a big slab of proggy metal by a band that paved the way for so much of the music I grew up obsessing over, but even in my most metal-devouring years as a young teen, I never fully clicked with Black Sabbath. I ‘get’ them today but this isn’t an album I find myself turning to (I’ll take Sabbath Bloody Sabbath though, or Master of Reality). I find a lot of the stuff on here to be a bit stodgy for my tastes, and ‘Changes’ and ‘Laguna Sunrise’ sound like they’re on the wrong record. I love that Black Sabbath existed, but I can take or leave this one.
Madonna
3/5
I quite enjoyed listening to this. I was an indie kid in the 80s with a stereotype to adhere to so I’ve never knowingly listened to a Madonna album before. I’ve quietly approved of some of her singles over the years (Borderline and Ray of Light for example) but I’ve never really considered myself to be in her demographic. Obviously, gospel singers can make anything sound good but this is neatly crafted pop and I was surprised at how many of these songs I knew. That said, I’m not sure how it qualifies for the list, it doesn’t stand out particularly, it’s just… quite good. If you like that sort of thing.
Run-D.M.C.
1/5
Walk This Way is the big one here. It really does represent the worst of two worlds that I have zero interest in. This album is completely lost on me. But what do I know?
Bob Dylan
2/5
I always think I quite like Bob Dylan until I start listening to him. I find his story pretty fascinating but I could do without listening to the records. I went to see him live in the early 2000s - what a long night that was. He got ten minutes into one song before I realised it was Blowing in the Wind. As with so many of the classic, hugely influential albums from the birth of the pop record, it sounds very much of its time today, but I’m glad it exists.
Paul Revere & The Raiders
2/5
They sound like the Monkees but with the fun stripped out. It’s all reasonably enjoyable for what it is (other than Melody for an Unknown Girl which was unspeakably dire - I almost cringed myself inside out listening to that) but others clearly did it better and more memorably. They sound to me more like an interesting footnote than anything especially essential. Surprised I’ve never heard of them though.
Elvis Presley
1/5
I asked an AI thingy how many rock/pop albums had been released since 1958. Its conservative estimate was 3-5 million, its more inclusive estimate was 8-12 million. So quite what this dross is doing on a list of 1001 ‘must-hear’ records is beyond me.
The Cure
5/5
I love The Cure and consider this their first great album; it’s their first consistently Cure-ish album, and it set the tone for the next forty-plus years. Play For Today, M, and the title track Seventeen Seconds are probably among my favourite Cure tracks but the whole record hangs together brilliantly.
Bruce Springsteen
2/5
We had Born to Run recently, and there’s something about the songwriting, production, and the majestic-sounding band, especially the keys and brass, that really make it stand out as a great record. This one just doesn’t work the same magic - in fact it sounds like a compilation of b-sides to my ears. It’s pretty plodding in places and he often doesn’t sound like he has the energy to get through a whole song (e.g. Something in the Night and Racing in the Street). I’m not convinced it belongs in the list - I’m either really missing something or it’s an admin error.
Deep Purple
1/5
I don’t like live albums at the best of times so a live album by Deep Purple… well, I feel like I’ve just done a 12 hour shift in a factory. In fact, I honestly think I should now be paid. An hour or so ago, I didn’t know this album existed. Great times.
Eminem
1/5
What an absolute pile of dog shit.
Dennis Wilson
4/5
For some reason, I’m surprised at how much I enjoyed this. I don’t know what I expected but it wasn’t this. It’s definitely one I need to listen to again to really get under its skin - there seems to be a lot here to unpack. There’s a curious, awkward, inventiveness lurking under its surface - it really feels like it’s holding something back. This is an album I’d like to get to know.
Nick Drake
2/5
It’s hard to listen to Nick Drake objectively - he’s overly revered and his sound has drifted into cliche land over the years. I find it hard to shake off those sunny evening campfire vibes and just listen to the songs. All perfectly charming, just a teensy bit boring.
Fun fact: Nick Drake’s second cousin, once removed, is William D Drake of Cardiacs, who happen to be the best band ever. What a world.
Johnny Cash
5/5
I love all the ‘American’ records - what a way to book-end a career. That raw, emotional production is perfect; there can’t be many artists with such a long career behind them that manage to produce some of their best work in their final few years. There’s lots to love on this record but the cover of NiN’s Hurt is the one that, reasonably enough, gets the most attention. Truly sublime.
Paul McCartney and Wings
5/5
Such a great pop record that still sounds remarkably fresh. I love all the tales surrounding its creation too - the stories of McCartney's retreat after the Beatles fell to pieces; recording a couple of albums by himself in an isolated Scottish farmhouse; forming a band, jumping in a van and turning up unannounced at university union bars asking to play... After two or three low-key, poorly received (at the time) albums, he wanted to go for a big production pop record and jetted off to Nigeria to record it where he was mugged at knifepoint and robbed of the demo tapes... You could write a book about his first three post-Beatles years alone, never mind the rest of them. It's probably fair to say Band on the Run is the record that properly launched his solo career, and it still sounds great (even though I can't listen to Jet without picturing Alan Partridge dancing in his hotel room...)
Joni Mitchell
2/5
I like Joni Mitchell a lot and I know how highly regarded this record is, but I struggle with it - there's some great songwriting but it just doesn't grab my attention. It seems quite rambling and there are no melodies I can engage with - maybe that's the jazz influence, and I just need to keep at it and let it click into place. I probably won't though - I'll put Court and Spark on instead.
Circle Jerks
2/5
I’ve never really listened to Circle Jerks before, and now I have. That’s about as much as I can say, to be honest. None of it really stood out for me. Dead Kennedys and Husker Du remain my go-to for this kind of racket. Group Sex? I’ll stay on my own, thanks.
Joan Armatrading
4/5
I don’t think I’ve ever listened to a Joan Armatrading album before - I really enjoyed this. I’m familiar with Love and Affection but it really struck me while listening just what an odd song it is - a really unusual arrangement. Wonderful stuff, I enjoyed the whole album - Tall in the Saddle also really stood out. I’m going to dig out more by her.
John Lennon
3/5
Much as I love Lennon’s solo work, and famous as the title track is, this is probably one of my least favourite of his records - Walls and Bridges, and Mind Games are my own faves and this one just doesn’t come close to them. He was in a pretty bitter and angry place when he recorded it and it shows in its disjointedness - it just doesn’t hang together as well as many of his other records. I find him and his life story endlessly fascinating though, so I know it’s a record I’ll always come back to.
Pearl Jam
1/5
Back in 91, my appreciation of grunge stretched as far as Mudhoney and Nirvana - 30+ years later, my I appreciation of grunge stretches as far as Nirvana, as I now know Mudhoney are essentially a garage rock band who continue to be way better than anything the grunge scene churned out. Pearl Jam always sounded like bad pub rock played by dads. Those wretched guitar solos that leap out of nowhere and just make you want to cry; that pained, phlegmy voice... And the songs just don't seem to end! I wondered if the years might have been kind to them - my tastes have certainly changed, so I was keen to give this record a fair go, but no. It's awful. I hope never to hear it again.
The Mothers Of Invention
3/5
It’s adventurous, challenging and groundbreaking but also a bit jokey - more Bonzo’s than Beefheart. Maybe that’s a good thing, but I’m not sure it’s intended.
When in the mood, I can enjoy the music but Zappa’s vocals can grate a bit.
Not something I ever really need to put on, but I’m glad it exists.
Pantera
1/5
Sweet Christ alive. What a turgid, stodgy, wedge of execrable dross. How did it get on the list? How did it even get made? Can I be put in charge of this list please? No one should ever have to listen to this rubbish.
The xx
1/5
Is it me? There’s always been a real buzz about this band, and this album in particular, but it completely washes over me - it doesn’t seem to have any defining characteristics at all. Maybe that’s the appeal - you can’t really compare it to anything or work out what their influences are, but those things alone don’t make it good. Unidentifiable and completely forgettable.
Stevie Wonder
5/5
Finally, after a run of absolute drivel, a record thoroughly deserving of a place in this list. What an extraordinary record - there’s enough here for three great albums.
It’s clearly a masterpiece and I’m never going to be able to write anything that comes close to capturing its greatness, so I’ll say this instead: 46 seconds into Sir Duke, I’m pretty sure he sings ‘Mick and Phylis are lovers…”
Muddy Waters
2/5
I really have to be in the right mood to listen to blues, and even then, I can only tolerate short bursts. This is a comparatively late-era Muddy Waters record and the sound hasn’t evolved at all. The early blues records can be interesting in a historical sense, but this is just re-treading a formula . I can’t see what makes it stand out. I confess I didn’t actually make it through the whole album but I don’t think I really need to in order to know it sounds largely the same as every other blues record.
Travis
1/5
Travis? Really?? If you’re looking for an example of a desperately uninteresting, ‘vanilla’, background record, look no further. Utterly nondescript songs by a band whose only vague contribution to popular culture is a haircut. Up there with Dido in terms of lowest common denominator, coffee shop, blandness. It’s hard to listen to Travis without thinking that maybe pop is dead after all. If not dead, certainly pale, sickly and very, very tired.
Bill Callahan
5/5
After some of the records this list has been churning out, it was a very pleasant surprise to see this one pop up. Safe to say, I can listen to pretty much anything by Smog/Bill Callaghan and fall immediately under its spell. This is a particularly good one - that rich orchestration and his sublime voice creating a rich, dream-like sound. A fabulous record.
The Rolling Stones
5/5
I think it’s pretty much been agreed that Gimme Shelter has the greatest intro of all time - in fact, there’s a strong case for it being one of the greatest singles of all time. Jagger is obviously outstanding but Keith Richards and ‘backing’ (co-lead, more like) vocalist Merry Clayton steal the show. Any album with this track on it gets an immediate 5 stars, but the rest is pretty great too. Love in Vain, Monkey Man, Midnight Rambler, You Can’t Always Get What You Want, Country Honk… wait, not that one… I think that one was included by mistake. But what an album.
The Stone Roses
2/5
I bloody hated the Stone Roses at the time and I’m pretty sure this is the first time I’ve ever listened to this album. It must say something about them though that I knew all the songs, and it probably says something about me that I still think they’re rubbish. I just can’t get past the fact that Ian Brown absolutely cannot sing. Some front people get away with that pretty spectacularly (Mark E Smith for example) but check YouTube for ANY live Ian Brown performance and his vocals are so unlistenable, it’s hilarious. They struck a chord with the kidz at the time though, and there’s no denying their influence, I’m just relieved I don’t have to listen to them.
Bob Marley & The Wailers
3/5
I’ve never listened to this before - I liked it. It doesn’t remotely sound like something from 1974 - his sound seems to have become timeless. This one doesn’t have quite the same feel about it as some of his other stuff, but a good listen nonetheless.
LL Cool J
1/5
I just don’t think I’m built for hip hop - there are exceptions but for the most part, I just can’t connect with it. It’s just not for me. In the opening track, he just sounds bored! I didn’t think I’d make it any further but I enjoyed the music of the next one, Around the Way Girl - it has a more soul-like feel that I liked. It gave me hope for the rest of the album but, nope, it was an isolated incident. Nothing to see here. Move along.
Bruce Springsteen
3/5
Another Springsteen album? There must be literally millions of great albums out there and this is a list of just 1,001 of them - it feels like 500 are going to be by Springsteen. I like him, but not for breakfast, lunch and dinner. It’s a perfectly good album, all very Springsteeny, but of the millions of albums in existence, is it among the greatest? Probably not, but I’d definitely put it in my top 500,000.
Snoop Dogg
2/5
I like the music and general feel of the production (especially the souly female vocals in tracks like Lodi Dodi) but the genre is just not for me. It was fun to hear the original version of Gin and Juice as I’m only familiar with the cover by The Gourds although, great a cover version as it is, I can’t decide how sincere it is. And I think that’s part of my problem with records like this Snoop Dogg one. I can’t work out how much he means it and how much he’s playing a character, and I feel completely unqualified to enter a discussion about it, but the language and tone just doesn’t resonate with me, in fact, it puts me right off. It doesn’t offend me - if they made a movie out of one of these tracks, I’d probably love it but as it is, I just feel a complete disconnect. My problem, not Mr Dogg’s.
Simon & Garfunkel
3/5
Short and very sweet but, to my ears at least, it’s lacking the punchier, more robust production of records like Bookends and Bridge Over Troubled Water. It has a very, thin, whimsical quality to it. A nice listen nonetheless.
David Bowie
4/5
I’m not a giant Bowie fan - I do really enjoy much of his work but I’m no obsessive and my patience has its limits. Yet, every track here is seemingly engrained into my psyche - each song is so ridiculously familiar it’s like they’ve always been there. And the really odd thing about it, is I can listen to them again and again without (much) complaint. It was a pleasure listening to this - I didn’t skip a second and when it finished, I could have listened again. I didn’t though.
Charles Mingus
4/5
When it comes to ‘proper’ jazz, I think Charles Mingus is probably one of my favourites - he’s certainly the one I reach for the most when the mood takes me. The thing is, I have no idea how to express what I think about it - I just know I really enjoy losing myself in it. The genre can often be tricky to make sense of but although Mingus’ records always feel like the real deal in terms of the gritty technicalities, they often feel very accessible to an untrained ear. This isn’t my favourite Mingus record but it’s a mightily immersive album that will sweep you away if you let it.
Leftfield
3/5
I haven’t listened to this all the way through since it came out when I was a student in the 90s and this kind of thing was de rigueur, especially in the wee small hours. It was never really my kind of thing - I’d have been more likely to reach for the Orb or Future Sound of London to scratch whatever itch it is this scratches, but I’m surprised at how much I enjoyed it this time round. While some of it drifted past without me really noticing (Melt, for example), other tracks really drew me in, especially the Afro influenced ones. Open Up is the obvious biggy - I’ve seen John Lydon perform it live with PiL and it still sounds great - and Original was nice to hear again even if it now sounds like something from a TV ad. The album as a whole sounds very much of its time though. It was fun to hear it again, I almost felt nostalgic for a period of my life I don’t miss at all, but it’s still not something I’ll find myself reaching for.
R.E.M.
5/5
Much as I love REM’s stratospheric years that followed the album after this one, it’s the records up to and including Green that stay with me the most. This one is the first of their albums I bought on release so I’ve always felt a special attachment to it. Although songs like Stand, Orange Crush and Pop Song 89 lean towards the stadium-friendly pop end of the spectrum they ended up embracing, they still sound wonderful and somehow unique. And World Leader Pretend and You Are The Everything remain among my favourite REM moments to this day.
Pretenders
2/5
I was expecting to like this more than I did. Although the influence of this record on that skinny-jeaned NYC new wave indie sound is very obvious, I found the whole album a bit of a tuneless slog. They’re very much a singles band to my mind, the famous tracks being the only real standouts for me. And it might just the version I was listening to (2006 remaster) but Chrissie Hynde’s vocals seemed way too upfront, it was distracting just how much they seemed to dominate the record. I think I’ll stick to their Best of…
Britney Spears
1/5
Every once in a while, a record crops up on this list that makes me think, ‘God, this is going to be awful, I can’t do it.’ But I pull myself together, park my preconceptions and dive in with an open mind only to be rewarded by something surprising and oddly enjoyable, even if it’s something I wouldn’t normally give the time of day. Sadly, this wasn’t one of those records and I feel like every last drop of enthusiasm I may have had for life on earth has been sucked out of me. So yeah, thanks for that.
Lana Del Rey
5/5
I’d been vaguely aware of Lana Del Rey for a good few years before this album came out but had never really paid her much attention, assuming her work just wasn’t aimed at me. A friend sent me a link saying, ‘Heard this? It’s quite good’. And that was all it took - from the opening few seconds I was utterly transfixed. This is an extraordinarily good record - the mood, that strained, intimate vocal delivery, the cinematic feel it conjures… It’s one of a handful of albums I’ll never tire of. An actual masterpiece.
Eurythmics
2/5
The title track is an undeniably great pop song and stands head and shoulders above everything else here. Jennifer caught my attention too in fairness - it left me wondering what a Sisters of Mercy cover of it would be like. Everything else washed over me really. It’s a perfectly good album but not much more than that…
The Smiths
4/5
“So I broke into the Palace
With a sponge and a rusty spanner
She said: "I know and you cannot sing!"
I said: "That's nothing, you should hear me play piano!"
I spent years quoting these lines to anyone and everyone who complained to me that The Smiths were depressing. Yes, there's some morbidity littered about Morrissey's lyrics, but they were never depressing - there's a sharp sense of humour present in so much of what they did and it rings throughout this album, especially in tracks like Frankly, Mr Shankly, Cemetry Gates, Bigmouth..., and of course, There is a Light...
I was 12 in 1984 when I first heard The Smiths - the perfect age. I overheard What Difference Does it Make on the radio at a friends house and my life was immediately redirected down an alternative-music-loving path that I still travel all these years later. For me, The Smiths came along at just the right time; I still love everything they did and play them often.
Mercifully, I am these days able to separate the Morrissey of then from the Morrissey of now, although it pains me to think that the stubborn, joyless racist he appears to have become might always have been the real him, bubbling underneath the outward character that wrote and performed these magnificent songs. I still love this album, but I'm giving it four stars as, for me, Meat is Murder is their finest studio album, and Hatful of Hollow the best collection of their songs.
R.E.M.
5/5
Hard to believe this is their first album as they sound so fully formed - hard also to believe it came out in 1983. It sounds so unlike anything before or since. I’ve always thought Radio Free Europe is the odd one out here - it was released a couple of years earlier on the Chronic Town EP where it sounded far more at home. It sounds weirdly clunky and out of place here; it’s an odd choice for the opening track given the strengths of the others. We Walk is another oddity - much as I like it, it does sound like a B-side, albeit a great one. As for the rest of the tracks, it’s hard to pick a favourite. I’ve always thought of Murmur as a kind of blueprint that they stuck with until 1989’s Green when they took a slightly more adventurous turn. Much as I love Green, and the records that followed, the IRS years is the REM I fell in love with, and this record still sounds great.
4/5
Not a band I know anything about, only really being familiar with the big hit, Low Rider which I’m not a fan of due to over hearing it in the Marmite ad in the 90s. However, I really enjoyed listening to this - I’ll need to go back to it to get under its skin and I’m looking forward to doing so.
2/5
I have a strong suspicion there are hidden depths to this record that have passed me by completely - I’d be willing to give it another go at some point to see if it clicks. It may well do but right now, it’s just… a bit boring .
Iggy Pop
2/5
Lust for Life and Passenger are the big hits on this album for good reason - they’re great tracks, and way better than everything else on the record. I hoped something else might grab my attention in the same way - Some Weird Sin came close, but the rest just passed me by.
Television
3/5
This really is one of those records that will always crop up on any 'greatest album ever' list - I get why, it is great, but I'm sure it's included out of habit these days. It's been bettered since it came out. I love the guitar sound but those slightly frantic-sounding vocals have always rankled a little and each track tends to ramble a bit. The influence it had on all that followed is clear for all to see, but it's time to move on, I reckon.
1/5
God, I wondered when this would crop up. The ongoing appeal of Oasis' stodgy, turgid, plod-rock is mystifying. Some of the tunes can snare you but this just distracts from the fact that none of the lyrics make any sense at all. This is tedious, lowest-common-denominator sludge for piss-hurling thugs. Liam Gallagher bought me a pint once but I've never spent a single penny on Oasis. This puts me up on the deal, and that's the only good thing I can say about them.
Lucinda Williams
4/5
I like this record - it’s good. I like her voice, I like her evocative lyrics, the music is good. I like the cover art. I bought it when it came out - I thought it was good then and I think it’s good now. Is it among the greatest 1,001 albums ever? No. But it’s good.
Alice Cooper
1/5
I liked the song School’s Out for a brief period in the 80s when I was at school - it’s definitely a song you grow out of but I can still just about appreciate its charm. It’s never really occurred to me to listen to anything else by Alice Cooper though - in fact, I’d never listened to anything else by him until today when I heard a whole album. A whole album! Who knew such a thing existed? Anyway, it was all pretty awful so I can see why he only has one famous song. There were moments when I quite liked some of the music but they were few and far between. He sounds like he needs a Strepsil.
Morrissey
4/5
It's hard to consider this album without thinking about the Morrissey then and the Morrissey now. The 90s Morrissey apologist I was wouldn't forgive me for giving this any fewer than five stars. It's his first great solo album - his previous record, Kill Uncle, was dreadful but with this record, Morrissey really bounced back into life. The opening track, You're Gonna Need Someone... sounds like it's straight off the follow up to Strangeways, that never was - as do many of the songs here, but... But... BUT... then there's The National Front Disco, a song about a family losing their boy to the extreme right wing, elsewhere there are lyrics like, "We are the last truly British people you will ever know", "England for the English", etc... "But he's singing from the character in the song's point of view", we whimpered, in his defence...
Well, he fooled us all, but there's no denying this is a really good record and I sang my head off (almost) all the way through. In terms of his solo stuff, it was bettered only by Vauxhall and I a couple of years later. He's dead to me now though.
Gorillaz
5/5
The first time I heard Gorillaz, someone played Tomorrow Comes Today on the radio saying they were a new band and Damon Albarn had contributed guest vocals to the track. It piqued my interest and it was a while until I realised it was actually Albarn's new project so it's funny, listening again now for the first time in years, how much of it sounds like a lost Blur album. It felt like such a departure for him at the time. This is a really adventurous, fun, creative and intriguing album that's really standing the test of time.
Little Richard
5/5
The charts when this came out were full of schmaltzy crooners and saccharine orchestras - this record must’ve been a wake up call for the kids of the day. Yes there was Elvis, and all the other nascent rock n rollers starting to make waves but they all pale next to the energy of this record. Even all these years later you can appreciate the sheer joy and exuberance these songs must’ve generated. Little Richard just pounds each song out, even the slow ones, and they still sound great today. The influence he had on all that followed is incalculable. This was great fun to listen too.
Jack White
1/5
There’s just something about Jack White’s voice that puts me right off everything he does - Hotel Yorba by the White Stripes is about the only song of his I can get all the way through, even then I’m grateful it’s only two minutes long. I quite like the music on this record - each time a new track started, I thought, Oh, this might be okay… then he’d sing and spoil it. I think, apart from anything else, I always have that wretched doorbell song in the back of my mind and I can never forgive him for it.
Hot Chip
3/5
I like Hot Chip - I like their tunes, I like the vocals and listening to them tends to put a spring in my step. This is a really good record, I really enjoyed listening to it, I just wouldn’t put it on a list of 1001 albums to hear before you die - if I’d died while listening to it for the first time, not getting to the end of it would be way down the list of things that would’ve bothered me.
The Smiths
5/5
If there was a fight between Strangeways, Here we Come and Meat is Murder, I think this one would win, and be crowned my favourite studio album by the Smiths. Their eponymous debut was a disappointment after those early singles - that stodgy production pulled the life out of some great songs, and The Queen is Dead, while obviously a great record, has a couple of tracks that I really need to be in the mood for. Meat is Murder sparkled production-wise - this is peak Smiths: the humour, the melodies, those guitars and THAT bass - I swear Andy Rourke is the unsung hero in the Smiths... Anyway, yes, five stars - a belter.
Common
1/5
I think there might be something wrong with me - i just can’t make sense of records like this. It might be amazing, I just can’t tell. It’s like I can’t hear it. The problem is all mine. Give me three chords, a middle eight and some shouting and I’m all over it. Sorry Common, I bet you’re great, you’re just not what I’m looking for.
Pixies
5/5
I remember buying this on cassette when it came out and playing it endlessly for months - it's one of those albums that's just part of my DNA now. Lifelong friendships were formed around a love of this record. Each track is extraordinary. It's peak-Pixies, and a record I don't think they've ever bettered.
Muddy Waters
5/5
My heart sank a little when this one popped up. I know how influential this stuff is, and the history of blues music is something we should all be aware of and never forget, but I have to be in the mood to listen to it. And I really wasn't. At least I didn't think I was. The moment he started singing, I completely switched on to it. I had actual goosebumps at one point, and when the record finished playing, I played it all over again. I'm probably more familiar with the his later material when he was older and gruffer and I think that's what I was expecting, but this was just wonderful. His vocal performance really caught my attention and the music was a total joy. A great record that I'm glad to have finally found.
Mudhoney
5/5
Although it's a record that would most certainly appear in my own list of 1,001 greatest albums, it's not a record I expected to see here for some reason. Although they had some of the spotlight in the late 80s and early 90s when they were saddled with the grunge tag, they've always seemed to operate just beneath the surface. It's a shame they're not better known - their brand of raw, garage rock (not grunge - leave that to bloody Pearl bloody Jam) has always cut right to the quick. Mark Arm's distinctive vocals, belting out over those jagged guitars are immediately identifiable. This whole package is great - the title, the artwork, the tunes. And it's got Broken Hands on it - an alt anthem everyone should know, but sadly very few do.
Talvin Singh
2/5
In places, it sounds like two or three completely different records playing at the same time. That drum 'n' bass sound was probably great at 3am on a Sunday morning in the late 90s while you were waiting for the drugs to ease off so you could go to your mum's for lunch, but in 2025 it sounds like someone in the studio made a mistake. I like some elements, like the string sounds and the Asian influences but for the most part, it sounds like the kind of record that gets played slightly too loudly in the kinds of bars I don't want to be in.
Beatles
5/5
What can possibly be said about this album? Every song is an utter joy, and notably it’s their first record with no cover versions - they were really hitting their stride here. Yep, good, this.
Rush
3/5
Remarkably, this is the first time I’ve listened to a Rush album and quite enjoyed it - maybe the wind was blowing in the right direction, or perhaps I pressed play at the very moment the meds kicked in. I’ve tried to like Rush on many occasions and failed miserably - I often like the music, but that voice! I just can’t get to grips with it. Mercifully, it seemed quite toned down on this record - he sounds less like a Muppet on helium which helped me to enjoy things a little more. Growing up, I always had Rush down as a metal band, but musically, this sounds like a lot of contemporary prog bands. As a Porcupine Tree fan, I can really hear their influence. I’ve long since written Rush off as a band I might like, but this record might yet prove to be a way in…
Buena Vista Social Club
2/5
it's all perfectly charming, but it just feels weirdly cliched these days. There’s something ’middle-class-coffee-table-book’ about the whole thing - for a while in the late 90s this stuff was everywhere which, although initially interesting, ended up rendering it all a bit boring. Harmless background music, at best.
The Byrds
2/5
Much as I like The Byrds, it's the Gene Clark/David Crosby era that really grabs my attention, especially when they were doing Dylan’s songs better than Dylan did them. With Gram Parsons, it all went a bit too 'Dukes of Hazard' for my liking, with the vocal harmonies and that signature chiming 12-string seeming to take a back seat. 'One Hundred Years from Now', stands out, harking back a little to their earlier sound, but for the most part, this one loses me a bit.
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan
1/5
I really enjoy digging deep into ‘global’ music, or whatever the most appropriate term is. There’s so much incredible music out there, it seems a shame to restrict yourself to what are essentially variations if the same thing. Not this though. Definitely not this.
A Tribe Called Quest
3/5
I enjoyed listening to this - it really isn't my thing, but I always thought there was always something quite fun about A Tribe Called Quest. Rightly or wrongly I put De La Soul in a similar bracket. It's the music that makes it for me in records like this, and this one just has a nice feel to it. I don't feel the need to hunt down everything they ever did, but I didn't want to turn it off screaming either. So that's good.
OutKast
2/5
I don’t know what I’ve just listened too. I know I don’t like it, but it’s definitely interesting. I’ve a grudging appreciation of Ms Jackson too. The whole thing is quite unlike anything else, which is great butI can’t imagine listening to it out of choice.
Les Rythmes Digitales
2/5
Perfectly enjoyable for what it is, but it’s pretty generic at best. It sounds exactly like lots of other records released 1998/9. I played the whole thing but pretty much forgot it was on.
Pulp
5/5
This wonderful, sophisticated, pop record is what we get when artists are allowed to grow and develop over a number of years rather than being rapidly built up then brutally knocked down by a revenue-hungry industry. In fairness, the time it took Pulp to reach these heights probably wasn't part of any grand plan, but that's the way things unfolded, and glorious records like this are what we get as a result.
From the masterful pop of Mis-shapes and Disco 2000 to the rather more creepy, sinister epics like I Spy, Pulp deliver their sprawling tales of love, lust, revenge, obsession, regret, chance, class, suburbia, and anxiety with a brand of flare, humour and panache that I don’t think we’ve seen from anyone before or since.
And I haven't even mentioned Common People - now so incredibly familiar but when you step back and consider it afresh, the lyrics, the structure, the energy - everything! It's like nothing else. One of the greatest pop singles ever and surely almost universally relatable.
A great record from a band at the height of their powers.
Emmylou Harris
3/5
Another one of those records where I think you had to be there to really appreciate it. Listening in 2025 it sounds like a good record by a great singer songwriter - I know there’s more to it but I just can’t feel a connection. I suspect there’s a context I need to be aware of to really get it. I did listen a couple of times and it’s probably a record I will click with given time but I don’t think I’ll ever consider it to be essential. That said, the cover of For No One is sublime.
Sam Cooke
3/5
This was fun to listen too - I especially enjoyed the live versions of familiar songs, like Chain Gang and Cupid but I can't get as excited about it all as Sam Cooke does. It captures these early soul/R&B club gigs very nicely but it feels like more of a historical document than a record I'd put on and listen to. And, dare I say it, it all sort of starts to sound the same after a while.
Prince
3/5
It feels like the lead track, 1999, has been played to death so I approached it expecting to be instantly bored. Good though, innit? It's almost impossible to believe it came out in 1982. This song, and the track that follows it, Little Red Corvette, are like pop music masterclasses, and both feel almost timeless. Then came Delirious, which sounds exactly like something that came out in 1982 - that chirpy little synth sound quickly became irritating and I had to skip the track. The rest of the album drifted into similar synth-funk territory that all sounds quite dated now, to me at least. I enjoyed listening to it though. I get the appeal of Prince - he was highly prolific, and seemingly consistently good, as well as being an extraordinary live performer who gave his fans 100%. I've just never really surrendered myself to it all - there are other Prince records I know I like more than this one (Parade springs immediately to mind), but I can see myself returning to this and maybe digging deeper into his back catalogue.
Devendra Banhart
2/5
Devendra Banhart has largely passed me by for some reason, although on the evidence of this record, I don't feel like I've missed a great deal. The worst bits sound like songs that Donovan threw away, but the better moments put me in mind of Sufjan Stevens. It's an interesting enough record in places and I think if I'd paid attention to it at the time, it would have made a more positive impression. As it is, I find the vocal stylings overly-affected, and a bit annoying, and the whole thing just left me wondering if I could make my own Album You Must Hear Before You Die. (I couldn't).
Stephen Stills
5/5
Back in 2010, I saw Crosby, Stills and Nash supporting Paul McCartney in Hyde Park. It was a hot summer's day and the dust was being stirred up by the thousands of feet in attendance - despite being in the middle of London, the setting felt perfect, and to this day, that CSN show is one of the greatest life performances I've ever witnessed. They were utterly magnificent, capturing that laid-back, Laurel Canyon vibe in the way I'd hoped they would, but didn't for a second think they'd be able to pull off at this late stage in their careers. Anyway, it set me off on a journey exploring all things CSN&Y, and their multiple connected universes, and this record really stood out. I hadn't played it in ages, so it was great to turn it up and lose myself in it again - I'm playing it for a third time as I type. Yes, there's a degree of hippy-dippyness involved, the folky violins can be a bit yee-hah, and Jesus gets the odd mention, but these things just seem to belong in records l like this. I'm not going to pick through favourite tracks - suffice to say, I like this album a lot and it was great to be reunited with it.
De La Soul
3/5
If I had a favourite hip-hop/rap album, which I don’t, but if I did, it would probably be this one. But I don’t. The genre leaves me feeling old and bewildered, but this is a fun record and I enjoyed listening to it. As with all records in this genre, it’s the music that makes it for me.
ZZ Top
1/5
Well. I could never have imagined I would find myself on a rainy Monday morning in 2025, listening to an album by ZZ Top on the premise it's essential I do so before anything terrible happens to me.
The plodding, sludgy music aside, the lyrics are mostly horrendous and really do not belong on the 21st century. They're of their time, and fair enough, I just don't think they need to be trumpeted today.
I honestly believe you could live a long and happy life without ever encountering this record. It should probably be returned to the 80s and buried in concrete.
Elvis Costello & The Attractions
5/5
There's only one Elvis. I can listen to (almost) anything by Elvis Costello at any time of the day or night. I love his voice, his songwriting and wordplay, those tunes - the whole lot. And I love his work with the Attractions even more - that distinctive keyboard sound and, more than anything else, Bruce Thomas' extraordinary bass playing...
Yep, this album's a belter. Released at the tail-end of punk's peak, it bursts with an urgent, melodic, punchy energy that I just don't think anyone else came close to. What a great record.
Happy Mondays
4/5
Ah, I will never forget the laughter in the pub when I innocently announced to my mates that I'd like to get Bummed by the Happy Mondays. I did though, and I've no regrets.
The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion
2/5
On paper, this should be right up my street, but I’ve never got it. I just hear forgettable, thin, scratchy indie rock that paved the way for the White Stripes. Not a good thing. I think I’d like them more if people didn’t keep banging on about them - the praise they received seems hugely disproportionate to how good they are.
Led Zeppelin
2/5
If you're interested in the evolution of the rock and pop record, then Led Zeppelin are essential listening - that rock sound, rooted in the blues, the soon-to-be-known as 'heavy metal' vocal delivery, the birth of the 'rock god', the arena-filling live shows... Led Zeppelin were at the forefront of it all. However, as with anything so popular and influential, it can quickly become tired and cliched - I find them a tough listen these days. It all sounds a bit Spinal Tap to me. It IS an adventurous, creative album, and if you try and imagine how it sounded when released in 1969 you can appreciate how groundbreaking it was. But there's also a weighty dourness to it, and listening right now, that's something I just can't get past.
Bob Dylan
5/5
Lots has been said about the best opening lines in a song but if there’s any discussion around the best closing lines, “The pump don’t work, coz the vandals took the handles” gets my vote. I have to admit, I let out an audible groan when another Dylan album cropped up and I nearly didn’t bother listening. Glad I did though, this is great. Subterranean Homesick Blues is a monumental opener that really sets the pace for the rest of the record. Bursting with sharp, entertaining wordplay throughout, this was a great listen. Next time I find myself thinking Dylan is massively overrated (it happens a lot) I’m going to listen to this album.
The Pogues
4/5
Not my favourite Pogues album (that'll be Rum, Sodomy, & the Lash) but it served as my introduction to them, with Fairytale of New York and Fiesta being the first of their songs I heard. This feels more 'pop' than their first two albums - slightly more polished, with fewer rough edges but the songwriting and storytelling are still great.
Emerson, Lake & Palmer
1/5
What load of overblown guff. It reminds me of a stomach ache I once had that ended very badly.
Songhoy Blues
4/5
This was a great listen - I was familiar with the first track as it had quite a bit of radio play at the time on BBC 6Music, but for some reason I never explored them further. I'm glad this record cropped up, I've a feeling it's going to send me down a bit of a rabbit hole. Their description on Apple Music as a 'Desert Blues' band doesn't nearly do them justice - this is energetic, spirited, infectious music that needs to be played loud. The Led Zeppelin and Clash covers were good fun too.
Coldplay
1/5
I know it's cool to knock Coldplay, but I am absolutely not cool, and knock them simply because I think they're awful.
Parachutes admittedly had a sprinkling of good tunes on it but everything thereafter is the epitome of dreary, pedestrian, guitar pop. They seem to be decent enough people though, and they appear to use their bafflingly elevated position to be a force for good, but I don’t understand why people love their music so much. This is a very dull and lifeless record.
The War On Drugs
4/5
I was pleasantly surprised to see this record crop up although I really can't put my finger on what it is I like about them. There's nothing especially different or unusual about The War On Drugs - they don't stand out particularly. If anything, their sound seems quite dated - they put me in mind of those 'grown up' bands that hung around just outside the Top 40 in the late 80s, like World Party, The Blue Nile, at al. They don't sound like those bands, they just remind me of them. Their sound seems to adhere to a well trodden path - I really don't think, in the grand scheme of things, this album is an essential listen, but I'm glad it exists. Crap name for a band though.
The Police
3/5
I always think Sting sounds like he needs to do his breathing and just calm himself down a bit. He often sings at levels of urgency that make him sound like he’s about to do himself a mischief. Obviously, Message in a Bottle and Walking on the Moon are the big ones here and they both still sound great, but, not being familiar with their album tracks, it was good to have my interest piqued by several others. For the ultimate version of Message in a Bottle though, look up the one by Leatherface. That’s how you do it.
Death In Vegas
3/5
I liked this record when it came out - 26 years later though, it all feels a bit... relentless. It was like chewing an oversized ball of gum with a headache. But in a good way. Possibly. Maybe I'm just happier now than I was then. Maybe I just like a nice chorus.
The standout track by a country mile is Broken Little Sister, the guest vocals by Jim Reid making it sound every bit like a lost Jesus and Mary Chain track - it was great to hear it again. There's a decent list of guest vocalists with Reid, Iggy Pop, Dot Allison and Bobby Gillespie all getting in on the action and yes, it's a good record... it's just a bit of a chewy slog.
The Mamas & The Papas
2/5
I was surprised by how dated this one sounded - I thought it would sparkle more. The well known tracks still sound great and Cass Elliot’s voice still shines but some songs, like Spanish Harlem, with those strings, sound like something by a crooner from 10 years earlier. I think I’ll stick with the Best Of…
Megadeth
2/5
Fairly standard sludgy rock with exhausting axe heroics liberally sprinkled throughout, but this album wasn’t quite as awful as I was expecting. The vocals didn’t annoy me as much as I thought they would and I almost enjoyed the overall choppiness and occasionally varied time signatures. I surprised myself by listening to the whole thing and although I hope never to hear it again, it’s not an experience I regret.
Yes
5/5
I love how divisive this kind of thing can be - people will probably either ADORE this record, or they they'll HATE it with every fibre of their being. Personally, I sit comfortably in the former camp. I'm not a big fan of the 'prog' label, but I do love music full of surprising twists and turns - to my ears, this kind of thing is endlessly compelling and it feels like there's something new to discover with each listen.
I loved losing myself in this and when it had finished I went on to Relayer and Going for the One before moving on to some Gentle Giant, followed by, naturally, the mighty Cardiacs. Wonderful stuff.
Rage Against The Machine
5/5
As debut albums go, this is pretty spectacular - and a brilliantly appropriate band name too. I loved this record when it came out and it sounds every bit as furious today as it did 30+ years ago. I belted it out at battle volume (while the kids were at school, obviously) and it sounded great. It still fizzes with a raging energy, and there isn't a single weak moment in the whole thing. It's alarming to think, their message is probably more relevant today than it was when it came out.
Nothing else they did ever caught my attention quite like this record - it's really not the kind of thing I listen to much these days so it was great to reacquaint myself with it.
Boards of Canada
2/5
I love the band name, I love the album title, I love the artwork (I love the font!), I have friends who love them - I like what I've read about BoC, and when I hear them referenced anywhere, I feel a warm smug glow because I know who they are... but bloody hell, it's a bit boring, isn't it? It just sounds like everything else by everyone else just like them. I feel like I could probably make a record like this on my phone if I had time to kill. It's a shame, that really is a nice font.
Blur
5/5
It's hard to listen to this objectively as it's been part of my life since it came out. I've been a fan of Blur since Modern Life is Rubbish, their best record in my view; I was lucky enough to see them touring the university circuit when Parklife came out, just before it launched them into the stratosphere. They were always a great live band, and this is a great, fun, pop record, bursting with Kinks-esque songwriting, wonderful tunes and just enough quirky twists and turns to keep it interesting, even after all these years.
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
2/5
Remarkably unremarkable, and yet here I am, remarking.
Joni Mitchell
5/5
I really wanted to stand back from this one a bit - it’s one of those archetypal ’classic albums’ that appears in every list, to the point that you wonder if there some kind of conspiracy at play. How good can a record be? It’s surely now a habit now to call Blue a great album. It’s just a record. I didn’t want to call it great just because everyone says it’s great and therefore, it’s great. So I planned to pull a few bits off of it - I was going to have a stab at the occasional tendency for over-singing, like for example on My Old Man where Mitchell’s stretching the vocal cords into warbler mode but really, how could it be sung any differently? How could these songs be presented in any other way? This is perfection. A brilliant, brilliant record. Every second is pitch-perfect. A masterclass record.
Radiohead
5/5
I don’t know what to say about this album other than I love it just as much today as I did when it came out. It just doesn’t age - in fact, it still sounds like an album from the future. Impossibly good.
Drive-By Truckers
3/5
I love Drive-by Truckers so it was nice to see them crop up here. Wrong album though! This was the record that got them some attention, the concept double album that gave the critics lots to write about, but I’ve never really clicked with it. It’s lumpy southern rock by a great band one album away from really hitting their stride with Decoration Day, followed by The Dirty South - both records towering head and shoulders above this one. There’s still a lot to love here but there’s too much of it and the quality is inconsistent. A great band though, and some of the best live shows I’ve ever seen.
Green Day
4/5
Great to hear this again, I hadn’t played it all the way through in years. My brief tenure as a Green Day fan began with their previous album, Kerplunk, and ended with this one - not because everything else wasn’t any good, just because these two created the blueprint and I didn’t need to hear them trying to make the same records over and over. This is great fun though - Longview, Paradise, Basket Case and She in particular still stand out as perfect blasts of punky pop.
Miles Davis
4/5
I like this but, as with other jazz records on this list, I can't explain why. It just feels good. I can be in any mood to listen to it and it always makes me feel the same way. It's just good music. I know that a musician could probably talk for hours about why and how it's good, but I'm not one and so can't, which is probably for the best. A jazz aficionado would probably kick me square in the shin for saying this, but I don't think I mind if it's Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Duke Ellington, Charlie Parker, Thelonious Monk, whoever... I just like it. It's good.
Kanye West
2/5
I decided to put everything I think I know about Kanye West to the back of my mind to give this record a fair go but I really bloody hated it within the first three seconds. Once I got past that horrible narration, or whatever it is, and the music started, yeah, okay... it's not terrible. The music and the tunes were okay - the melodies are there and that's something I think is usually missing from hip-hop/rap records. It hasn't relieved me of my general disconnection with the genre but I didn't stamp on my laptop which is what I thought would happen. In fact, I listened to the whole thing and didn't hate it. Trust me, that's high praise. I didn't listen too closely to the lyrics - I suspect if I did, my rating would be adjusted downwards but I know I will never listen to this again, so let's move on.
3/5
Another concept album by the Kinks which, again, is packed with wonderful songwriting but this one is somehow not as compelling as Village Green. It feels a bit lacklustre in places - missing the oomph. That said, Victoria is an obvious classic (even if I prefer The Fall's cover version), and Australia and Shangri-La have a more adventurous, epic feel about them.
I think it's probably an album that will make more sense the more I listen, and I'm certainly willing to put in the work. Lyrically, it's a joy throughout.
Joy Division
5/5
I hadn't listened to this album all the way through in YEARS. In the opening track, Disorder, you can immediately appreciate the influence the record has had over the years - straight away it reminded me of Interpol. This is definitely an album to wallow in - especially if you're in your teens as I was when I first heard it. Listening now, I was transported to those years in the late 80s when I was discovering this kind of thing for the first time, and the likes of Joy Division, Sisters of Mercy, The Cure and Bauhaus were on high rotation. It's good to have that connection to these songs because if I heard it for the first time today, much of it, especially the darker, gloomier ones, (so most of them then) just wouldn't resonate in the same way. That said, while it was a trip down memory lane for me (Disorder, New Dawn Fades and She's Lost Control sounding particularly brilliant), I love how the record continues to resonate and influence young musicians today. Who could've imagined this would all lead to that God awful World Cup song.
Badly Drawn Boy
3/5
I always liked this record. It’s clearly an accomplished album by a talented chap, but in no way, shape or form is it essential listening. I just can’t work out what it’s doing on this list. I remember buying it on the strength of the single, Another Pearl, which still sounds good today. It’s an album of nice melodies, nice songwriting, a rich sound and production… it’s just… nice. But that’s about it. Pleasant as it is, none of it has had any particular lasting influence so far as I can tell.
The Byrds
3/5
I love the cynical, self-referential Rock n Roll Star, and tracks like Renaissance Fair and Everybody’s Been Burned gleam with David Crosby’s magic touch. The harmonies and chiming 12-string are in full flow, the signature sounds are all there, but it does feel like they’re getting to the end of something with this record. Mind Gardens in particular shows the listener where Crosby was heading. It’s a mish-mash of an album, but an interesting listen.
David Bowie
5/5
I love a bit of Bowie - I get his importance and influence and feel he deserved the fawning adoration he received but I don't consider myself a fan as such. He's way down the list when I think about my favourite artists - I also think he was responsible for some absolute rubbish. But this album, when it came out, blew me away - obviously, there was the tragedy of his death, and the way he seemed to combine the record's release with his passing to create one final, extraordinary artistic statement was very beautiful and moving but it made it hard to listen to the record in isolation from all that. But when you do, you're left with an amazingly progressive piece of work by someone who really should have stopped being essential many years before. Very probably my favourite Bowie album. No one can reasonably expect such a sumptuous, cohesive, adventurous record from anyone after so many years in the business. What a way to go.
Foo Fighters
4/5
I’d forgotten just how good this record is, all the more so when you think he did everything himself so soon after Nirvana came to such sudden, tragic end. Over the years, they’ve morphed into a fairly generic stadium rock band, but this one’s quite a belter.
Shivkumar Sharma
3/5
I enjoyed reading about this record more than I enjoyed listening to it - that's not to say I didn't enjoy listening too. It was interesting to hear about the record's influence on artists I'm really fond of like George Harrison and David Crosby. It's not something I'll be reaching for myself, but I appreciate the introduction.
Fugazi
5/5
I can’t remember the last time I listened this record all the way through from beginning to end; I know for a fact I’ve never listened through and followed the lyrics as I have just now. Every second spent in the company of this record is a second well spent. Great band name, masterpiece of an album. I wish I didn’t hear ‘Ribena’ instead of Repeater, but what can you do?
Various Artists
3/5
The fact that Spector ended up dying in prison a convicted murderer somewhat taints the festive shimmer of this one. It also doesn't help that I'm listening to it in January. They're perfectly charming Christmas songs though, and there's no denying 'that' production style does bring a certain something to proceedings.
Paul Simon
5/5
Every once in a while, I find myself disappearing down a Paul Simon rabbit hole. Much as I enjoy a bit of Simon & Garfunkel, it's Simon's solo work that really shines for me. With this record, he seemed to actively step away from that whimsical, folksy sound he'd honed with Garfunkel - a bold move when you consider how enormously successful that formula had been, but he absolutely nailed it. A beautiful, plush production that suits his voice fantastically, and some masterful songwriting - this is a great record.
Lorde
1/5
I've never knowingly heard anything by Lorde before. I have now though, so... thanks? I suspect if I was fifteen rather than 53, this record might mean more to me than it does. As it is, it seems unremarkable and entirely forgettable. The world seems to be awash with records exactly like it.
Big Star
3/5
I totally get how influential Big Star are because I really like loads of the bands that cite them as a key influence. I've never clicked with them myself though. I quite enjoyed listening to this - it sounded quite Bowie in places, which I wasn't expecting, but there's something about that almost glam-style vocal sound that rattles me a bit. I'm glad they existed as we might not have Teenage Fanclub without them, and I really like Teenage Fanclub.
The Charlatans
5/5
Other than their single, 'Can't Get Out of Bed', which I loved, I had no strong views on The Charlatans until seeing them live at a festival in 2004 when they completely blew me away. I came away a full blown fan, digging into their back catalogue and looking forward to each new thing they did. They've never released a bad record - in fact, some of their later records are my favourites. There aren't many bands these days that can get this far into their existence and still release truly great records. Tellin' Stories is a glorious pop record with a giant sound that needs to be played loud. Wonderful stuff.
Kate Bush
5/5
There truly is nothing else quite like this record - people try but no one else comes close. It's one of those records that seems to exist in its own universe where even Kate Bush's other albums don't comfortably sit. It's a beautiful, bouncing, jarring, wonky, melodic, cinematic, pop masterpiece by a true artist.
James Brown
1/5
I nearly didn't listen to this one, convinced as I was that this sweating waxwork of a singer would just screech and yelp his way through the whole thing and leave me wanting to kill people. But here we are. Who's first?
Bob Marley & The Wailers
4/5
Bob Marley? Again? Good as this record is, I can't help thinking that if my days were numbered (which, thinking about it, I suppose they are - great, thanks for that) and I had 1,001 albums to wade through, I wouldn't necessarily want them all to be by Bob Marley. Yep, he was good, and this is another good album, one that in fairness, I'd never heard before, but shall we move on? And I don't mean to Bob Dylan.
Nanci Griffith
3/5
A perfectly enjoyable listen but I can't for the life of me work out what makes this record stand out from the many others just like it. It actually sounds like something from ten years earlier so it's hardly a trailblazer either. I like it. I like toast too, but I wouldn't put it on a list of greatest foods ever.
Metallica
1/5
I had to break my own rule and skip every track as there’s just no room in my head for this kind of turgid silliness. Each track is just a thudding dollop of merit-free tosh. I’m actually partial to a bit of metal, especially of the prog variety (I’m really hoping Tool make an appearance on this list at some point) but this, and every other Metallica record I’ve ever endured just bursts at the seams with everything I hate and absolutely nothing whatsoever of even the vaguest appeal. I can’t give zero stars so they can have one for the fade-in at the beginning. I can’t think of any other albums that fade in although there must be some. If there was a god, it would fade right out again though.
Cypress Hill
2/5
I'd sort of forgotten about Cypress Hill. When Black Sunday came out in '93 they were pretty much inescapable - they seemed to me to be at the more tolerable end of the genre and I would go so far as to say I quite liked that record once I got past the whiny vocal delivery. I'd never heard this record before but I do quite like their sound, even if the words are a bit shooty for my tastes. As with pretty much every record I've ever heard in this genre, I can't relate to a single word of it, but I guess I don't need to. It also starts to sounds very samey after a while - when it finished playing, I couldn't really remember any of it, and I was left with no real desire to remind myself.
Earth, Wind & Fire
4/5
Once, while I was listening to a disco playlist on headphones at the gym, a man came up to the treadmill next to mine and started doing some very elaborate warm-up exercises. They fitted perfectly with the Earth Wind & Fire song that was playing and it looked exactly like he was strutting his stuff to it. It very nearly killed me.
Anyway, yes, I love this. I swear you could put this record on at any time of any day, irrespective of what you're doing, and your world will be a brighter, happier place for it. Most songs exude a very pure joy that it's hard not to like. The musicianship is extraordinary, especially the bass on tracks like Happy Feelin'. And Just look at them on the cover. They're loving it, and rightly so. More like this please.
The Specials
5/5
There's such a bounding, urgent energy to this record, it's hard to believe anyone could possibly feel anything but total love for it. It's one of those era-defining records that lifelong friendships are formed over and it remains every bit as essential today as the day it was released which, given some of the subject matter, is a shame really. Five stars is not enough.
The Kinks
3/5
An apt title given this is the fourth Kinks album I've encountered on this list. As I've said about Bob Marley and Bob Dylan, yes, it's a great record but if you're selecting 1,001 albums from the whole of human history, it seems a bit restricting to keep selecting the same artists.
This is a perfectly good pop record by a band I like a lot, but I don't think it would make it on to my list of 5,000 most essential albums, so I can't for the life of me fathom what it's doing here. I guess the point is to review the record rather than the list though so, yeah, it's good. It has some of my favourite Kinks tracks on it but the instrumentals sound dated - more like background music to an old TV show. Not even an essential Kinks album.
4/5
A cut above your average 80s pop album - brimming with tight, complex arrangements and a sense of drama, all wrapped in a lush, glossy production. The bass is especially striking. It's still very much an 80s pop album but you can hear the influence it's had on much that followed. I can't believe it's 44 years old - it's held up incredibly well, maintaining that fresh, punchy feel. It in no way sounds like a debut album either - it bursts with a fully-formed confidence. I enjoyed the whole album but All of my Heart really stood out as a highlight.