Prologue: This was selected as my first album out of 1001, although I have the book and have done some random picking / listening / discovering before. I totally understand people who love this album. I totally understand people who hate this album. I'm not sure to which group I belong to though. Elo is not so familiar to me (not even blue sky, I am sure I've heard it...vaguely), overproduced aor (i wouldn't call this progressive rock) isn't my beef. But damn the production is magnificent. Too magnificent perhaps? I can hear the influences, but also can here ELO in so many things that have come later, from Daft Punk to Divine Comedy to Quincy Jones productions and hoards of indie and electronic musicians of today. I don't care so much about the more or less traditional, basic rock songs which have been over-ornamented, but there are beautiful melodies and interesting song structures, some of which almost get hidden under the production, some of which would probably sound lame without the production. As someone mentioned here, the Concerto as a sort of minialbum in the middle is a masterpiece, have to agree on that. Epilogue: In the end, would I buy it? Probably in a good enough condition from a discount bin. How often would I listen to it? Maybe once in 10 years. From the year 1977 I'd choose 10-20 punk records over this one. But it remains still quite an amazing gesamstkunstwerk. So I'll settle in a 4.

2/1001 I actually used to own this back in the early 90s, I don't remember if I sold it, gave it away or did it just vanish, as seems to happen to some LPs. Of course some of these tunes (white rabbit & someone to love especially) play more or less regularly ubiquitously. So anyhow this listen was a nice reminder as a whole. Actually there are many things here I've come to love over the years - acoustic folk guitaring especially. But for that I rather turn to British folk, mcCarthy, Jansch et al, Graham, etc. And If I need a soundtrack od the Pyschedelic era, the summer of love, California hippie scene, there are excellent compilations which gather all the hits (and yes, they probably include the two mentioned ones from this album). So nothing really wrong here, of course - like so many other bands and records from the same area / era - it hasn't aged so well, but still it is varied and interesting and full of great tunes, but it is not for me, not anymore. My favourite LP dig from Haight-Ashbury area is a record for training your parakeet to say sentences. The image - no matter how inaccurate it may be - of hippies stoned and listening to 20 minutes of monotonous voice speking "hello budgie" over and over again makes me smile more than any late 1960's pop record ever can. Happy to say that record is now in Finland at the Arctic circle, I'll set up a listen any time you might pop around. But for the White Rabbit alone a 4.

8/1001. Ok amd rhe review I wrote got lost great. To cut the story short: heard? Check? Own? Maybe. Listened to in 20 years? No. Enjoyable album which has been obscured by the Bittersweet megahit, which must be in top 10 (5?) songs from the 90s. It's story of Rolling stones stealing "This May Be the Last Time,” from the Staple Singers and then getting pissed that the Verve used too much the sample from "Last time" and claiming 100% writer rights still makes me laugh and feel sorry for the Stones. Glad to hear that since 2019(!) Ashcroft has been returned the rights. Come on, one sample - although it makes most of the song, but it is really like claiming that our album cover had yellow init and now you are using it. After listening ro this now it feels a tad too long (cd era, let's put everything in it, and I never got too fond of Brit pop, and it is not so dreamy, spacey and druggy as the Spiritualized (it must be included in 1001 albums, right?), but more than Oasis so 4 stars.

3/1001. I listened to this twice with about a week delay, the 2nd listen since I thought perhaps I didn't pay enough attention to the music or something. But no, this music doesn't speak to me. Somehow it sounds like a 17-year old who wants to tell her life story, cry her heart out, but there is not much to tell yet. Nothing too wrong about the music, but the songs roll out one after other without too much variation. I suppose she was one to start or at least to establish a genre, but the ones who came after really mastered it (perhaps her later albums as well). Nevertheless imho a surprisong pick for 1001 albums.

Who else sang like this in the U.K / Europe in 1964? Ok, Lulu's Shout appeared a month later from the release of this, and then there was Cilla a bit later... But anyway Mary Isobel Catherine Bernadette O’Brien has to be seen as the pioneer, inspiration and role model to so much to what happened in the mid 60s in the whole Europe, be it yé-yé, schlager in Germany, Finland or France and even the Eurovision song contest. The Merseybeat did one thing, this one another. Then again the question is why this album in this list? A few years later Look of Love, Dusty in Memphis... songs written for her or songs made immortal by her... Here we are looking at a beginning, an interesting beginning, but shouldn't this type of collection concentrate on the madterpieces? Or then name the book 1001 records which changed the world. If they could find that many. For me it was a nice chance to get to know some Dusty songs which are not in the classic albums or in the collections.

10/1001. confession #1: i'm an 80s fan boy. Confession #2: I've nevee listened to a full Police album. The hits have turned me away, and what a lost it seems, at least I felt that during the first few songs. But more the album went on the more I was ok with initial confession #2. There was a sense of a story - a dramtatic curve in the beginning (almost like a pop proge album) which faded away. Ok, so that's not what an album must need, right? But somehow while many of the non-hits were interesting they are overshadowed by the hits. And at least I have become so comfortably numb (yes i know a pink floyd not a police quote) to the hit(s) that they feel like every breath or daily bread.

12/1001. What do you get when an angry and depressed band gets world famous, pushed and pulled around? Add a bit of drugs to the mixture and they get angrier and more depressed, and it shows here. So for me this album is a diary of what was happening at that time to Nirvana / Cobain. Somehow I can't imagine what would have happened after this if what happened didn't happen with the band? Cobain sobered out, grunge craze gone by, next big thing in everyone's cd-walkmans — would they have mellowed out, wrote more savvy, still a bit grungy songs a la the Foo Fighters? Would the world have wanted that? And does this make this album better because of that improbable future never happened? The album is honest, with great songs and amazing energy and rawness, but I don't really feel too comfortable reading or listening to someone's private life splattered over 12 songs. I liked Bleach when it came out and Nevermind was out of this world, and this album reminds us that Grunge Lives Matter.

13/1001. Guess I have to listen to a complete Oasis album. Wankers wanking with their guitars, and then putting up immortal classics is a tough mixture for me. I'm slowly realising this book seems to like electric guitars, and western pop way more than what my personal preferences are. But there is no similar website for the 1000 recordings you must hear before you die… So what to say. Most of the songs for me are boring and bland and the attitude is obnoxious. But Wonderwall and Don't Look Back in Anger are undisputed classics to be ruined time and again in campfires around the world. A 2 for that.

14/1001. After some grunge and brit pop it is so refreshing to hear guitars used for something creative :) It takes quite a lot of courage to strip down to so much, to remove chord progressions, riffs and what not. Many seem to claim they could do it, but I really do doubt it, at least on this level. The songs undulate, grow, fade away and (some) contain beautiful melodies. I'm a fan of the Spiritualized, in knew about Spacemen 3, but never listened to them too much. The meditative / religious themes seem to stem already from here. Have to dig in deeper after this :) If you open your mind a bit and think that music can also be about texture and tone rather than about Pop tunes crafted in an A B A or some other format this is for you. After all this I feel even more sad Spiritualized cancelled their show in 2023 for Epäjohdonmukaisten tanssiaiset.

Simple yet complex. Delicate yet powerful. Quirky, sad, joyful, blue. I don’t know how this much of everything is possible to put in one album, but here it is.

5/1001 This is the first time I listened to a full album of Aguilera. But hey, we all have to test our limits someday. It is worrying and troubling that a singer / star of such proprtion has to convince herself that she is good and shouldn't be looked down upon. What does that mean to an average 13-year old trying to survive in the pressure of today's surface-is-what-counts-world? The music is so pathetic as well, how much pain does she really hold inside? Or is it just a big performance of something totally empty inside? Do I smell Mickey Mouse club here? While I am sure this speaks to millions out there it left me more wondering than admiring. And yes, I do own quite a many R&B albums. Beautiful stuff here and there, awesome production, but when this doesn't speak to me then it doesn't. I am sort of sorry to say I am glad I don't have to listen to another album of her again.

15/1001. A familiar album from my childhood, but still some songs seemed quite unfamiliar. Besides the title there are some other classics here as well, Jealous Guy being my favourite. I was quite surprised how boring and similar some of the songs were, to be considered such a classic. Also the honesty Lennon wanted to bring in to his lyrics doesn't make the listener at home. First he sings the most universally know anthem about people living together in peace and then goes about trashing McCartney. That just doesn't feel right. Or Yoko again. I mean I like Yoko's stuff, perhaps more than Lennon's solo efforts, her music in all its naivete is much more interesting than Lennon in the 70s, sorry to say. But of course an anthem is an anthem, and there are not many people in the world who have been able to produce so many of them.

16/1001. I was never a big Pixies fan, although their music and style was exactly what I listened to at a certain time, before and around grunge broke off. They were in my radar and I remember watching their live concert on Finnish TV (now that's revolutionary considering late 80's early 90s Finland and pop/rock music in national channels). After all these years listening to this reveals it has aged quite well, it is varied, interesting, full of energy and sprinkled humour. Melodic and harsh one after other, sometimes even simultaneously, quite an accomplishment. 15 songs totally felt much more than 38 minutes, perhaps a song or two made my mind wondering about, but focus was re-grabbed soon. A second or third listen will surely liven up those songs as well. If I would have to recommend someone an alt/rock album this might be it, although I am more of a sonic youth fan (perhaps that's post rock then?). 4/5, I'm stripping one star, since this really is not my type of music anymore, and replaying or digging deeper is not very likely.

17/1001. An R& B Björk? Interesting? The album start is promising, the electronic production is great, her voice of course as well. But the atmosphere, mood, the energy level stay the same throughout the record. It feels there is no real songwriting? Her voice goes up and down, repeating the same-ish melodies over and over. Thanks for 1001 project for introducing this artist, something to keep an eye open for sure.

18/1001. One more album I had in the shelf. But this one was in my "b-pile" for some reason. So a quote "Well now that I heard the whole thing it is actually quite good. Should we listen to it again?" fits. There are songs I recognized but would never have attributed to Nilsson. Coconut - I'm sure was in the Muppet show (they always had the best songs, right ;)? Without you, really written by him? Great. And to balance that you the have boring "I want to be like the Beatles after they broke up stuff" like Let the good times roll. Come on, who needs yet another song like that? Some of the echoes of the fab four or even similarities with the Mael brothers sprinkled here and there along with the epic Coconut and some quirky production lifts this back to my main LP shelf :)

19/1001. The first "world" music album to my list, which goes to show the bias of the book. Would be lovely to do a 1001 African albums you must hear before you die…or Asian, Caribbean or Brazilian. Oh, I'm sure we get some here, but this album alone is worth reminding that there is great music everywhere, and listening outside your typical Pitchfork/Rolling Stones/1001 selection can be an elevating experience. So I'm realising sadly, that the majority of this book and the project won't be about discovery but flogging on more or less dead (race) horses. I'm sure nice and new (to me) music to be discovered over there as well, but… I've listened to Ali Farka Touré before, and the newer "Sahara blues" acts. (And of course Mulatu and basically the whole Ethiopiques collection, to South African Kwaito and more contemporary urban rhythms not to mention Tony Allen, Fela Kuti and many other Afro beat / Funk acts, compilations, online bootlegs. Analog Africa anyone?) This one not, but definitely will again. Such skill to craft hypnotic tunes from a few notes, with authenticity, feeling, passion, evident sense of death coming upon the maker. I hope I keep getting albums like this (anywhere in the world) to be listened to during the next 1070 or so albums (I just came to understand there is more than 1001 on this list!, cheaters :D)

5 (or 6?)/1001. I used to own two LP copies of this one, the other one I probably got either from my mom or sister, and the other I bought because I remembered how good this was, not remembering I already owned it. For me this is an album one can put on any time there is a moment not to know what to play. It sounds really good on the background, but perhaps now giving a dedicated listen reveals a bit of inconsistency or I don't know what, something missing?. The songs are strong and musicians great, and I still love it. There are some albums between this and Graceland which I've never heard (not to mention stuff after that one), so perhaps I will dig into those at some point.

7/1001. Many of my friends have said that recently they listen to mostly country music. Well screw them! ;) Ok, jokes aside. As a matter of fact I do own one Lucinda Williams cd, her voice is great and songs are simple enough. But thats maybe the problem - too simple songs – for me nothing really stands out here, and to call this album a masterpiece, or that it should be included in the list of albums one should hear before they die is just too much for my musical taste. Mellow and smooth and sometimes sad, sometimes funny, but hey, so are millions of other albums as well. Blame me for not understanding country & western and I'll go drink one for you. When I get to Inari I don't think I miss this record that much. Or even remember any of its songs.

11/1001. Should this list be more like 1001 similar albums? Maybe not too fair, but for me this album is here because a) the book is getting old, and b) someone was a fan of brit pop back then. Back in the 90s this was ok, I guess, and in 2025 this album doesn't really qualify even for that. It's perhaps a nice document of an era which came and went, nothing everlasting for me in this album. I agree the best tune is the cover of Simon & Garfunkel, and who gets the credit for that? It's a shame about Lemonheads.

20/1001, and catched up missed albums (although this is bound to happen hundrerds of times). I haven't really paid too much attention to Norah Jones, I think my sister liked her quite a bit, but that's about it. The initial reaction was: I love this. Then: is this a Christmas album? Then: are all the songs the same? Then: how to rate it? Then: when does it end? So from 5 to…2 I think. I don't know why I would listen to it again, the mood stays the same throughout the record, there are no standouts, it feels to made for the foreground, headphones didn't really reveal anything new. A few sassy but jazzy tunes here and there please, lift the tempo up, change instrumentation… Come away where? Sorry, but no thanks.

Wow, I really must listen to rap/hiphop more, if it is this good. Soulful, uncompromising (but sort of apologizing with all the spoken stuff?), fun and funny, groovy, nasty, varied, and it is always great when the n- or b-word count is in reasonable limits. This became one of my favourite albums of the genre, but have to admit, that my knowledge of the genre is quite limited — it basically consists of the hits, old school, some of the stuff of some of the well known acts and some local (Finnish) stuff. Maybe more than many, but nothing to brag about. Sure there are more gems out there, let's keep diggin. 4 for now, perhaps after a few listens a fiver?