I’d describe this as the “deep cut” of The Cure anthology — just a buried gem that was both unique and prescient to what would come from them. Listening to it reminded me of the almost unfathomable way that music was consumed in the 80s. You couldn’t buy this album, and maybe some gloomy friend had an older college-age sibling that could dub it for you. I was nine years old when this came out, and would be another six years at least that it would even interest me. Sam Goody did not stock it, there was no internet and no eBay, and most independent music stores had a small section of “alternative” music that was basically a dozen copies of REM’s Green. It’s been a few weeks, but this is definitely an album lost in history but worth listening to.

My spiciest music take is that Bob Dylan is overrated. That’s not to deny his significance, though i think his role as Supreme Influencer is exaggerated, as if The Beatles, Springsteen, and U2 would be chimps scratching themselves with their instruments if not for Dylan’s obsidian obelisk. There was probably a time in my life that I would have gotten really into Dylan too, likely as an angsty twentysomething, but instead we ended up as missed connections and I listened to something stupid like Phish. The heart wants what it wants, Mr. Zimmerman. Anyway, this is fine. I still struggle with finding it appreciable, nevermind GOAT, especially since Led Zeppelin IV came out like five years later. Like Thai food, single malt scotch, and Las Vegas — I get it — but it’s just not for me.

Aside from knowing the obvious hits on this album, I’ve never actually listened to it in totality. I guess I was expecting the hits surrounded by eight versions of “Listen to the Flower People.” Pleasantly surprised, it’s not that. What I like about this is that it doesn’t doodle around. Aside from the one mandatory blues ripoff — it was the law back in the 60s that bands had to do at least one boring blues track per album — the other songs are a neat and tidy three minutes long (approximately). Each song is representative of the area and time, with hints of The Dead, The Byrds, The Mommas and Pappas, etc. But unique too. Factor in the two classic hits here, with White Rabbit being one of the maybe top 100 songs ever, I think I’ve slept too long on JA. It didn’t blow me away, but maybe I’d listen again.

This is an album your dad likes.

Very listenable 80s album with several big hits.

Great sounds, so many drums. I would assume that Fela Kuti doesn’t come across in the studio versus live performance, so this is probably the best representation of an important artist/genre. But it’s only like four songs and a drum off.

Speaks to a time and place in America that’s almost unfathomable now: twangy country dance halls on a Saturday night with a band politely singing about honky tonk angels and repentant drunks. Nothing stands out particularly, however. Like Bob Dylan, I think the idea of the music has outlived its actual quality.

Sure? As someone who wore out a Go-Go’s Greatest Hits cassette in the 90s, I’m here for this, but other than the novelty of the all-girl band, it’s just an ok album surrounded by a hit song. I get that 1001 albums has to be a long list, but does that mean that every Taylor Swift album makes it? Or Radiohead? Or The Rolling Stones?

Thanks for making me review this on the day of his death. Smile is unlistenable, like a book that took too long to finish.

Thanks for making me

“Rumor Has It” is a great song.

Somewhere between Flaming Lips and Weird Al, I guess. Not for me.

Haha, I forgot how silly this album is.

Haha, I forgot how silly this album is.

Stuart Copeland is a god. So many cymbal tinkles.

I concede this album forms the foundation of alt music that developed through the 80s and 90s. Could have used a few more hits though.

I don’t know. This isn’t even a top five album for him. As a huge Bowie fan, this isn’t one I’d even recommend.

Is Dragonforce on this list? Cause they’re awesome.

I love music from this era, and recently threw positive reviews at Duran Duran and The The. But for some reason, The Fall could never interest me. Maybe I miss the point, but it’s not particularly defiant, passionate or even fun; it’s just mediocre.

Like with The Rolling Stones, you can hear the foundational elements that are going to make subsequent albums/songs the classics they are.

This is my second Dylan album, and if my rating from the first is any indication, I am not a Dylan fan. That said, this is my favorite of his works. Where we are now, musically and culturally (in general), I think it’s hard to explain Bob Dylan. It’s like explaining a rotary phone — it’s inconceivable to think of the time before its existence, but so much has happened since its heyday that it’s no longer appreciated.

Any person that can play and write music to me is worthy of admiration, and any person/band making a list like this is a true talent and credit to artistic achievement. Not every album on this list is going to grade well for me, and this is going into that pile. I struggle to see who would listen to this in 2025. Sure, it’s hard for me to hate on this and be a fan of a band like The Decemberists, but they at least have some edge and catchiness. This is like something you hear in the background at a Ren Faire.

I can never remember track listings for The Beatles, so I don’t think this is my favorite of their albums, but I can’t remember which one is. I’m sure it will be on here at some point. Ironically, this was my album on the day Taylor Swift announced a new album.

Sorry, not interested.

Listening to this straight thru, I don’t think I learned anything about Coldplay that I didn’t already know.

As a reward for giving a bland review to Coldplay’s first album, the next album was … more Coldplay. I’ve had enough, Chris.

I always have time for Jack White. This isn’t a classic, probably not his best work, but with all his songs you get the feeling that he just really loves making music, whatever he’s playing.

I tried. I’m a 50-year-old white man. I’m sure it’s empowering for women to finally get to sing/rap about their genitals too, but it’s hard for me to seriously consider this within days of getting to review The Beatles. I’m sure SZA will do fine without my approval.

The Jam are probably the definition of underrated for their era. This is just a solid album that serves as a nice alternative to when you’re in the mood for The Clash or Elvis Costello but want something different.

I fucking love this album. Poor Amy. This begs the theme timeless question of the universe as to whether her end was tragic or perfect. In another time, would this album be tarnished by a weaken Amy Winhouse doing her inevitable residency at The Sphere? Probably.

As a child of the 80s, of course I know this album. I was pleasantly surprised to listen straight through, remembering the hits and enjoying the deep cuts. THAT SONG and Cyndi’s personality probably overshadowed what is an underrated and otherwise great pop album.

I was thinking about the scope of this project, arguably spanning over 50 years with 1000 albums, which calculates to like 20 albums per year. Perhaps that explains how this one snuck through. I line Alice Cooper and it opens with a classic rock anthem, but then it’s mostly crap. Maybe there’s an interesting backstory here, but I don’t even think this is representative of the somewhat innovative artist that Alice Cooper was. Is Britney Fox going to make this list? What about Silverchair?

Oh God. Back in the 90s, before streaming music, Yes was the bane of my existence. They would stop your classic rock radio station in its tracks. “Muthafucka, I came for Led Zeppelin, not ten minutes of carnival organ.” Swearing off this for 25 years, now it’s … pretty good. I get it. Let’s bury this thing, Yes.

As context, I was going to offer a spicy take that this album is better than Nevermind. But in listening to it for like the 1000th time, there’s something missing from it. It’s (perhaps unintentionally) a concept album about the destruction of addiction, and grounded by the real tragedy of Layne Staley … it feels like it’s too dark, if that makes sense. Like a book or a movie you experience once, recognize for what it is, but then never need to experience it again. I think there’s utility in using art (music) to feed emotion, even our darker emotions, but this is too much. Maybe this came up on the wrong day, but an album I was for-sure ready to give five stars only gets four because it wasn’t diverse enough. At least, not today.

It’s unfathomable that these shows even happened. How fast would Johnny Cash be cancelled in 2025? Celebs can’t even advertise jeans without causing national uproar. Anyway, the nice thing about this expanded version is you get the between songs banter, which highlights his humor and humanity. The Fulsom album was probably better production value, but this is worth listening to.

I didn’t get a chance to hear this. I’ll default give it three stars.

This is the second album I’ve had to review from The Jam. It’s fine, I guess.

I’ve seen dozens of iterations of these lists, and they always manage to place a different album by The Kinks on it. I don’t think this is a positive. They’re clearly a good band and have some type of branch on the Tree of Rock, but lacking a universally accepted watershed album is really a detriment, IMO. And honestly, if you snuck “Listen to the Flower People” into the mix of this album, I wouldn’t have noticed.

Music to shop to.

Strong evidence for an argument that music is a drug that alters us chemically is the fact that it can affect us differently as we evolve/change chemically too. I know every note by heart on this album and it’s one of the most important albums to me, in terms of emotional development through my late teens and early 20s. Now? It’s fine. Trent’s success several decades later and how he’s evolved probably speaks to that too. The collapse and drama of TDS seems kinda silly when you picture him holding an Oscar twenty years later, and the raw music he made just hits different when you’re older. I can think of probably a dozen other angsty albums from that era that I’d recommend to a brooding teen who needs art to feel connected. It’s still really good though, maybe just a little much.

I’ve commented about the size of this project before and how ranking 1000 albums is going to inherently result in many mediocre choices being ranked. I’m a middle aged white guy, so I have plenty of time for Steely Dan. But this is obviously not their best work, and not even a fan’s choice of underappreciated album (I like “Coubtdown to Ecstasy” personally. It’s fine, and again as a middle aged white man, who doesn’t like to be reminded of that scene in Say Anything when John Mahoney is cruising around to “Rikki Don’t Lose That Number”?

ChatGPE. I was there for this. After banging out three of the best rap albums of all time, I think the PE-o-sphere got disillusioned with the success, which inevitably involved their fan base shifting to white suburban kids like me, and they phoned in this album before evolving into their next phase. I don’t remember albums of theirs after this, which there clearly was, which was probably the way Chuck wanted it. Love PE, but this is not their best work.

I was excited for this album, as I’ve always liked what I’ve heard from The National and “Bloodbuzz Ohio” is a phenomenal song. First pass through of this … I liked it. It’s not a ringing endorsement to call something “accessible” but that’s how I felt about it. I’ll listen to it again, but I don’t feel like I was listening to anything timeless or classic. Solid three stars.

I’m like 70 albums into this and I’ve had to review two albums by The Jam and one now by Paul Weller. As the kids say, I’m tired, boss. It’s fine but, as the kids also say, suss.

Any time I listen to legendary jazz, it always evokes cinematic images of big cities bustling with movement and life. Jazz is organic. It didn’t really hit well enough, however, to keep my attention while driving down semi-rural roads. I also don’t think that jazz is ever going to soothe/heal me in the way that lyric-based music does.

I’d describe this as the “deep cut” of The Cure anthology — just a buried gem that was both unique and prescient to what would come from them. Listening to it reminded me of the almost unfathomable way that music was consumed in the 80s. You couldn’t buy this album, and maybe some gloomy friend had an older college-age sibling that could dub it for you. I was nine years old when this came out, and would be another six years at least that it would even interest me. Sam Goody did not stock it, there was no internet and no eBay, and most independent music stores had a small section of “alternative” music that was basically a dozen copies of REM’s Green. It’s been a few weeks, but this is definitely an album lost in history but worth listening to.

Eric Clapton is a really good guitarist.

I’m embarrassed to admit that I’ve never heard of this dude. The instinct is to classify it, which I guess is crooner parody, maybe, but that also insults it, because it’s not musically composed to be written off as a joke. Vastly different sounds, but it reminds me of Frank Zappa, in the way that it’s smarter than it comes across. But at the end of the day, this isn’t making it into my collection.

Lacks maybe the pep of his subsequent albums, but still a fun listen.