1001 Albums Summary

Not my thing. It wasn't terrible and it was certainly eclectic, but I couldn't get into it. Sorry, I tried.

This album has GOT THE FUNK!!!!

So great! Beautiful guitar work here by Cat Yusuf Stevens. He is a master of the melancholy.

Paul Simon parka. Dazzling acoustic work. Funky reggae vibes.

This one is already in my collection, so I've heard many times. So amazing! Every song is a hit on this record. Peak CCR!

This is not going to be a fair review because I LOOOOVE Amy Winehouse! Such a tragic ending to such a promising life. She was a real artist and a person that had such feeling in her music. So unique and special. RIP Amy.

Oh man, crazy memories come flooding back for me listening to this album. I saw Metallica open for Ozzy on this album's tour. 1985, Brendan Byrne Arena in NJ. In the parking lot, fans were divided between the old guard of Ozzy Osbourne and these new up and coming metal studs, METALLICA!!! You would hear a fan, yell, OZZY!!! and an opposing fan, scream, FUCK YOU!!! METALLICA!!! Once inside the venue, the atmosphere was tense. People were shoving each other and some guy shoved me from behind. I was like 15 and I just turned to the guy like, "I don't want any trouble man." We made it to our seats alive and Metallica hit the stage and just blew the roof off the place! This was one of Cliff Burton's last shows as well, so I feel privileged to have seen them with him on the bass. I mean, talk about an opener! These guys had the whole crowd whipped into a frenzy! When Ozzy came out, the place absolutely exploded! People were somehow ripping or cutting(?) seat cushions out of the seats and they were flying everywhere! Ozzy grabbed one off the stage and threw it back into the crowd and yells, "ROCK 'N' ROLL!!!!" I'd say Metallica had that crowd warmed up.

I've honestly never even heard ot this record. I have Autobahn on vinyl and love it! The first thing that comes to mind with any Kraftwerk is that it's super futuristic and sort of other worldly. The synth work is so ahead of it's time. This record was released in 1978 and I definitely hear a Star Wars influence. Especially on the first track, "Robots". There's like an R2D2 whistley thing going on there. The rest of the record is great too. Just a perfect background soundtrack to life. Putting this one on the buy list.

I'm from San Francisco. Too young to have been part of this generation, but I've always been fascinated with this part of my city's history. There is a house here somewhere that the 'Airplane' used to live in together. This band really seemed to capture the spirit of those hippy dippy years of San Francisco. The two standouts on this record are the familiar favorites, 'Somebody to Love' and 'White Rabbit' with Grace Slick's vocals on full display. But the record as a whole is pretty fantastic! I can just imagine them busting these tunes out at a house party and just blowing people's minds!

Sublime! Just an absolute work of art!

Writing this on the heels of Ozzy Osbourne's passing feels somewhat apropros. The debut album of one of the most influential bands in music history was not received well by critics, but it quickly shot up the charts reaching number 8 in the UK and number 23 in the US. This album was recorded in one day at the end of 1969 and released in the UK fittingly on Friday the 13th of February 1970. Driven by Tony Iommi's unique playing style that was forged out of an industrial accident where he lost two of his fingertips at the age of 17, working in a sheet metal shop. Iommi created makeshift fingertips from a dishwashing detergent bottle and carried on, creating a sound that was heavier than pretty much anything anyone had ever heard. Everything about this record is dark. From the cover art to the the heavy, pounding guitar riffs, to Ozzy's shrieking vocals. This darkness gave the band an immediate reputation as Satanists, but in reality they were a bunch of good lads from Birmingham that liked a pint or two at the pub. The industrial landscape of Birmingham certainly seems to have shaped the heavy metal sound that Black Sabbath had created and they became pioneers in the genre. The band was active on and off for the better part of 50 years and would go on to create some of the most recognized Heavy Metal anthems. Rest in Power Ozzy! What a debut and what an ending to a crazy life! I'm glad he was able to tour one last time before his passing.