My 1001 Albums Journey

204

Albums Rated

3.26

Average Rating

19%

Complete

885 albums remaining

Rating Distribution

Rating Timeline

Taste Profile

1980s

Favorite Decade

Electronica

Favorite Genre

Top Origin

Wordsmith

Rater Style ?

5-Star Albums

1-Star Albums

Breakdown

By Genre

By Decade

By Origin

Albums

You Love More Than Most

Album	You	Global	Diff
My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts Brian Eno	5	2.79	+2.21
Leftism Leftfield	5	2.91	+2.09
Signing Off UB40	5	2.97	+2.03
The Last Broadcast Doves	5	3.05	+1.95
Loveless My Bloody Valentine	5	3.17	+1.83
Homework Daft Punk	5	3.29	+1.71
British Steel Judas Priest	5	3.3	+1.7
The Downward Spiral Nine Inch Nails	5	3.35	+1.65
Blue Lines Massive Attack	5	3.38	+1.62
The Village Green Preservation Society The Kinks	5	3.4	+1.6

You Love Less Than Most

Album	You	Global	Diff
Ten Pearl Jam	1	3.92	-2.92
Jagged Little Pill Alanis Morissette	1	3.72	-2.72
Illmatic Nas	1	3.6	-2.6
Blue Joni Mitchell	1	3.49	-2.49
American Beauty Grateful Dead	1	3.24	-2.24
Tonight's The Night Neil Young	1	3.23	-2.23
Sweetheart Of The Rodeo The Byrds	1	2.83	-1.83
Let It Bleed The Rolling Stones	2	3.83	-1.83
In Utero Nirvana	2	3.83	-1.83
Tracy Chapman Tracy Chapman	2	3.79	-1.79

5-Star Albums (23)

View Album Wall

Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not

Never Mind The Bollocks, Here’s The Sex Pistols

Popular Reviews

Black Holes and Revelations

Muse

5/5

Wonderfully over the top production. Great songs roll on over and over. No-one's going to take us alive indeed.

2 likes

The Last Broadcast

Doves

5/5

Just a wonderful album from start to finish. Sequenced nicely to give it flow and appropriate breaths.

1 likes

American Beauty

Grateful Dead

1/5

A horrible slice of Americana.

1 likes

4-Star Albums (60)

1-Star Albums (8)

All Ratings

Peggy Suicide

Julian Cope

4/5

Julian certainly had a lot to say and as such this album doesn't suffer from CD bloat as many did around this time.

Ten

Pearl Jam

1/5

A lesson in tedium. The opening and closing bass lines of the album are the highlights. Whiny vocal throughout does nothing for me.

Can't Buy A Thrill

Steely Dan

3/5

The singles are obviously the standout tracks. Overall not unpleasant.

Tidal

Fiona Apple

3/5

A very accomplished album for a teenager. A great variety of styles across the set giving the album depth.

The Genius Of Ray Charles

Ray Charles

2/5

In Our Heads

Hot Chip

4/5

The first "new" album that wasn't in my copy of the book. I totally missed it at the time of release. A very enjoyable album. Will be looking out for a physical version of it.

Deja Vu

Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young

2/5

Easy listening. The stand out tracks for me are those written by Crosby.

Rio

Duran Duran

5/5

An almost perfect slab of pop, rock, dance. John & Andy channel Chic through driving funky basslines and sharp guitar work.

Welcome to the Afterfuture

Mike Ladd

3/5

I found it a very interesting album musically. Like so many records I didn't really enjoy the voice but it varied enough to keep my interest.

Master Of Puppets

Metallica

5/5

Probably their best work, 8 tracks over 55 minutes. Thrash with healthy nods to a more mainstream metal.

Who Killed...... The Zutons?

The Zutons

3/5

An interesting listen, plenty of variety. 'Nice' probably covers it but surprised it's in the 1001 albums we must hear.

Blunderbuss

Jack White

4/5

It seems Jack had lots of ideas coming into this album. Some them come off really well, others needed to be more refined. all the same an exciting solo debut.

Sheer Heart Attack

Queen

4/5

Great rock album, I tend to forget about how good they were before the 80s.

Homework

Daft Punk

5/5

Just a fantastic album. Had to play it a second time.

Iron Maiden

4/5

A fine example of NWOBHM. I would probably lose the ballad which seemed obligatory around this era.

Hot Fuss

The Killers

4/5

Their first and best album. Contains the ubiquitous Mr. Brightside (last time I looked 410 weeks on UK chart). Clever sequencing by front loading the album with all the singles to get you hooked in, you can almost forgive Everything Will Be Alright by the end.

Songs Of Leonard Cohen

Leonard Cohen

2/5

Pleasant enough, not something I would be wanting to listen to again. By then end of the album I was glad there was no more. Off to listen to some Joy Division to cheer myself up after that.

The Beach Boys Today!

The Beach Boys

4/5

This was a pleasant surprise. No surf songs. Spectoresque in its production at times. But as the 1001 book says "...containing what is easily the worst track in this entire book ..", at least in the modern era we can block a track. Definitely an album I'll come back to. RIP Brian.

Electric Warrior

T. Rex

3/5

It's hard to know what influence it had on release. Now it seems very much of its time. The "bonus" tracks don't really had much to the experience. The stand out tracks are the most that still get played to death.

Getz/Gilberto

Stan Getz

3/5

The La's

3/5

They run through their favourite bits of the 60's.

Illmatic

Nas

1/5

40 minutes of my life I won't get back. I just don't get this style of rap.

Bitches Brew

Miles Davis

3/5

One I'll come back to. I want to understand this one more. Perhaps a tad on the long side.

1989

Taylor Swift

3/5

Perfectly palatable pop. Similar to La Roux or Chvrches from the same period.

Court And Spark

Joni Mitchell

2/5

Pleasant enough. Raised On Robbery brings a welcome gear change and is the highlight of the album for me.

Siamese Dream

The Smashing Pumpkins

4/5

Here's Little Richard

Little Richard

4/5

Hms Fable

Shack

3/5

Not one I had heard of before. It's OK. A nice bit of variety in there. I wouldn't turn it off but then again I doubt I have the urge to go, I really want to listen to Shack today.

Surrealistic Pillow

Jefferson Airplane

3/5

Wild Is The Wind

Nina Simone

3/5

An interesting collection of (mostly) cover versions. I enjoyed her delivery on these.

Treasure

Cocteau Twins

4/5

17 y.o. me would be disgusted with me not giving this 5* but hearing it back it certainly has its moments but probably not as consistent as I remember it. I still love the production and the bands overall sound.

The Last Broadcast

Doves

5/5

Just a wonderful album from start to finish. Sequenced nicely to give it flow and appropriate breaths.

Led Zeppelin II

Led Zeppelin

4/5

The Band

2/5

I guess you can hear their influence on later artistes. Didn't really grab me at all.

The Köln Concert

Keith Jarrett

3/5

Not something or someone I had heard of before. I found it an interesting album to listen to especially considering it is an improvised piece. Definitely coming back to this one.

Zombie

Fela Kuti

3/5

Loveless

My Bloody Valentine

5/5

if you are going to listen to one shoegaze album this would be it. sonicly very dense at times with seemingly everything mixed to the middle, this gives a claustrophobic almost intoxicated feel. The vocals sometimes are just another noise in this hubbub. at times I would describe this as cocteau twins clashing with the jesus and mary chain. personal note: strange how I enjoy this but am not of fan of sonic youth or pixies etc. - must be the vocals. And yes, lowercase as a tribute.

KE*A*H** (Psalm 69)

Ministry

4/5

Thirty odd year on and this doesn't sound as subversive as it probably did on release. Just a cracking industrial metal album.

Jagged Little Pill

Alanis Morissette

1/5

Painful. Apparently the 13th best selling album of all time. I first heard this while following the 20 Million Club podcast, wasn't impressed then and it still doesn't do anything for me.

The Velvet Underground & Nico

The Velvet Underground

2/5

I appreciate that it has had a world of influence but I'd rather listen to those than this. Similar to Dylan in that covers are so better than the original.

Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not

Arctic Monkeys

5/5

One of the "new" albums (i.e. not in my version of the book). Not a false step here. Very assured debut (fastest selling debut at the time of release). An Indie classic.

Is This It

The Strokes

3/5

Revolver

Beatles

5/5

Here Are the Sonics

The Sonics

3/5

The smattering of originals amongst this predominately covers collection fit nicely. Frantic at times but fun all the way through.

The Only Ones

3/5

Nice example late 70s new wave/ not quite punk / rock. The stand out track is Another Girl, Another Planet, found on many a compilation album over years.

Boston

3/5

I enjoyed this a lot more than I was expecting.

Aladdin Sane

David Bowie

5/5

Roots

Sepultura

4/5

Parsley, Sage, Rosemary And Thyme

Simon & Garfunkel

3/5

Tonight's The Night

Neil Young

1/5

Eli And The Thirteenth Confession

Laura Nyro

2/5

She's a fine singer but I was done after about 10 tracks.

Orbital 2

Orbital

4/5

A interesting piece of IDM. For me not their best album but a solid collection all the same. The newly released extended version has some excellent additions.

Blue Lines

Massive Attack

5/5

Live Through This

Hole

2/5

Led Zeppelin III

Led Zeppelin

3/5

A side is good, flip side a bit too folky for my taste.

Chemtrails Over The Country Club

Lana Del Rey

3/5

An interesting mix of tracks. She has a magnificent voice but doesn't always let it shine.

Black Sabbath

4/5

A fine album. You can hear the influence they had far and wide. Apparently recorded in just 12 hours. In 12 hours these days they would still be miking the drums. Not as accomplished as it's follow up but an excellent debut and set the path for things to come.

Imagine

John Lennon

3/5

A lot better than I was expecting. Nice Spector production.

On The Beach

Neil Young

2/5

Southern Rock Opera

Drive-By Truckers

2/5

The Wildest!

Louis Prima

3/5

Garbage

4/5

Unknown Pleasures

Joy Division

4/5

No doubting the influence this album has had. There are fine tracks on here but a bit of filler too. Martin Hannett's production is dark, dense and doomy.

Fever Ray

4/5

Weird album but I felt compelled to come back for a 2nd listen. Should mess with my algorithm!

The Age Of The Understatement

The Last Shadow Puppets

4/5

Unmistakable Alex Turner vocals set against cinematic 60s style orchestra backdrop.

British Steel

Judas Priest

5/5

An excellent example of British metal of the late 70s/early 80s. The band were probably a bit old to be considered part of the NWoBHM. This is album is all killer no filler.

Spiderland

Slint

2/5

Art for arts sake? The last track is ok

Warehouse: Songs And Stories

Hüsker Dü

2/5

Sounds like a bunch of yanks trying to play The Jam ... badly. Overly long, would have worked better if it was culled to a single album.

Time Out

The Dave Brubeck Quartet

3/5

I Against I

Bad Brains

3/5

The Low End Theory

A Tribe Called Quest

3/5

Smile

Brian Wilson

4/5

An interesting concept to re-visit songs writeen decades earlier and record them as a solo project without any other Beach Boys. The songs are fantastic but they need redoing?

More Songs About Buildings And Food

Talking Heads

2/5

It's an ok album, the cover version is the highlight though. You can see which direction they were heading.

C'est Chic

CHIC

3/5

The singles are good but there are some very average tracks here too. The production is excellent and Bernard Edwards bass is the star of the show for me.

Tracy Chapman

2/5

A lot better than I remember. Perhaps I've mellowed in my old age,

Document

R.E.M.

2/5

just another (tedious) REM album. Highlight is "Fireplace" with the addition of sax.

First Band On The Moon

The Cardigans

4/5

Fun piece of Indie-Pop. Nice nod to Black Sabbath not only in their cover of Iron Man but also in Heartbreaker.

Tusk

Fleetwood Mac

3/5

Amongst the usual MOR pap that FM usually churn out there are some really interesting tracks giving the double album some much needed variety.

Pornography

The Cure

4/5

Production seems a bit muddy at times but that probably adds to the dark feel of the album. A stand out in the genre.

Moondance

Van Morrison

3/5

Rattus Norvegicus

The Stranglers

4/5

Sweetheart Of The Rodeo

The Byrds

1/5

Kid A

Radiohead

4/5

Immigrés

Youssou N'Dour

4/5

One World

John Martyn

4/5

A really interesting listen. A more diverse album than I was expecting having only really heard Solid Air previously. Added to my "have to find on vinyl" list.

Risque

CHIC

3/5

The singles are good, the ballad is dreadful, the rest is just very mediocre. There's no doubting the musical proficiency on show but the songs lack substance.

The Downward Spiral

Nine Inch Nails

5/5

My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts

Brian Eno

5/5

At Newport 1960

Muddy Waters

4/5

Murmur

R.E.M.

2/5

The Rolling Stones

3/5

Nice Anglicisation of the blues making it more accessible.

At Budokan

Cheap Trick

2/5

Stand!

Sly & The Family Stone

4/5

Bridge Over Troubled Water

Simon & Garfunkel

4/5

Side 1 is excellent, side not so much.

John Barleycorn Must Die

Traffic

2/5

All Hope Is Gone

Slipknot

3/5

Not a bad album, probably a victim of the CD era making it overly long. Sometimes less is more.

Dookie

Green Day

2/5

evermore

Taylor Swift

2/5

Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes

TV On The Radio

3/5

Ritual De Lo Habitual

Jane's Addiction

2/5

If I Should Fall From Grace With God

The Pogues

4/5

From Elvis In Memphis

Elvis Presley

2/5

Savane

Ali Farka Touré

3/5

Blue

Joni Mitchell

1/5

Moss Side Story

Barry Adamson

4/5

The Coral

4/5

Sign 'O' The Times

Prince

5/5

Prince at the peak of his powers. He wanted a triple album but comprised on a double. Filled with absolute gems.

Automatic For The People

R.E.M.

3/5

Another Green World

Brian Eno

4/5

Added to my (virtual) collection. An almost ambient album that benefits from repeat listens.

Permission to Land

The Darkness

4/5

Black Holes and Revelations

Muse

5/5

Wonderfully over the top production. Great songs roll on over and over. No-one's going to take us alive indeed.

Electric

The Cult

3/5

Not a patch on its predecessor, fun nonetheless. More commercial and rock oriented, The Cult discovered ACDC’s chords laying around and used them to good effect.

Hard Again

Muddy Waters

4/5

Just good solid blues.

Shaft

Isaac Hayes

3/5

The World is a Ghetto

War

3/5

Signing Off

UB40

5/5

Forever Changes

Love

3/5

Let It Bleed

The Rolling Stones

2/5

A bit too country flavoured for my taste.

Paranoid

Black Sabbath

5/5

42 minutes of perfection.

Group Sex

Circle Jerks

4/5

Suzanne Vega

3/5

Coat Of Many Colors

Dolly Parton

2/5

Astral Weeks

Van Morrison

3/5

I enjoyed this a lot more than I was expecting. Perhaps it was just ideal Sunday afternoon listening.

Every Picture Tells A Story

Rod Stewart

4/5

Brothers

The Black Keys

4/5

Germfree Adolescents

X-Ray Spex

3/5

Proof that punk was attitude more than music. At the heart of this are three minute pop songs. The use of sax sets them apart from the rest of the movement. Overall a fun album. (A great band to use in 6 degrees of separation given their later projects)

American Beauty

Grateful Dead

1/5

A horrible slice of Americana.

Bryter Layter

Nick Drake

3/5

Never Mind The Bollocks, Here’s The Sex Pistols

Sex Pistols

5/5

3 minute "pop" songs played with energy and attitude. Cutting edge at the time, classic now. RIP Soo Catwoman

The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn

Pink Floyd

3/5

The Message

Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five

3/5

A mixed bag, the ballads are very average indeed but the hip hop/rap tracks are excellent. Would have benefited from the inclusion of The Adventures of Grandmaster Flash on the Wheels of Steel.

In Utero

Nirvana

2/5

Nothing special or anything we hadn’t heard before (which I guess is why Albini was chosen to produce). Highlight is probably the addition of cello on a couple of tracks.

Hotel California

Eagles

3/5

Layla And Other Assorted Love Songs

Derek & The Dominos

3/5

A mixed bag (as you would probably expect for a double album), I wasn't pleasantly surprised how much I didn't hate it.

The Rise & Fall

Madness

4/5

Lust For Life

Iggy Pop

4/5

Cracking album. What stood out for me was the number of tracks that got a new life via covers, reworking and film.

Honky Tonk Masquerade

Joe Ely

1/5

Appetite For Destruction

Guns N' Roses

4/5

Out Of The Blue

Electric Light Orchestra

3/5

Country Life

Roxy Music

3/5

Tanto Tempo

Bebel Gilberto

3/5

Talk Talk Talk

The Psychedelic Furs

4/5

Bookends

Simon & Garfunkel

3/5

Moving Pictures

Rush

4/5

Frampton Comes Alive

Peter Frampton

2/5

Easy to see why every bargain bucket and 2nd hand shop had over supply of this.

KIWANUKA

Michael Kiwanuka

4/5

Live And Dangerous

Thin Lizzy

4/5

An excellent collection of Thin Lizzy material, now how much is live we will never know.

Bug

Dinosaur Jr.

3/5

461 Ocean Boulevard

Eric Clapton

3/5

Fragile

Yes

3/5

Wonderful Rainbow

Lightning Bolt

2/5

Leftism

Leftfield

5/5

Sea Change

Beck

2/5

Joan Armatrading

3/5

Pleasantly surprised by this one. A variety of styles, Will come back to this one in the future.

Kilimanjaro

The Teardrop Explodes

4/5

The Sounds Of India

Ravi Shankar

2/5

At Folsom Prison

Johnny Cash

4/5

Entertainment

Gang Of Four

4/5

Common

2/5

Like a lot of hip hop, this would be better as an instrumental album.

Seventeen Seconds

The Cure

4/5

Arrival

ABBA

3/5

Shalimar

Rahul Dev Burman

3/5

Manassas

Stephen Stills

2/5

I don't think anything from the CSNY stable will really grab me. This has so ok moments but I don't think I'll be coming back to it.

Diamond Life

Sade

3/5

Amnesiac

Radiohead

3/5

The Village Green Preservation Society

The Kinks

5/5

The Queen Is Dead

The Smiths

5/5

The sound of a band of a band brimming with confidence and hitting their creative peak. Superb.

Rum Sodomy & The Lash

The Pogues

3/5

Different Class

Pulp

4/5

Their commercial peak but certainly not my favourite. It seems they finally found a formula that resonated. If I never hear Common People or Disco 2000 I won't be disappointed. The rest of the album is really enjoyable.

Sometimes I Wish We Were An Eagle

Bill Callahan

2/5

Not too bad. With that sleeve I was expecting at lot worse. Once again the vocal lets it down for me.

The ArchAndroid

Janelle Monáe

3/5

The Slim Shady LP

Eminem

3/5

Licensed To Ill

Beastie Boys

3/5

No doubting the cultural influence it has had. Is it a favourite of mine? Absolutely not, but you have to give it a nod. An excellent cameo from Slayer's Kerry King on a couple of tracks.

OK Computer

Radiohead

4/5

It is a fine album. The highs are really high but a bit too much filler to warrant 5*

The United States Of America

3/5

Frank

Amy Winehouse

3/5

London Calling

The Clash

5/5