My 1001 Albums Journey

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1960s

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5-Star Albums

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Albums

You Love More Than Most

Album	You	Global	Diff
Slanted And Enchanted Pavement	5	3.03	+1.97
Ambient 1/Music For Airports Brian Eno	5	3.07	+1.93
Goo Sonic Youth	5	3.24	+1.76
Let It Be The Replacements	5	3.25	+1.75
The Soft Bulletin The Flaming Lips	5	3.29	+1.71
Tidal Fiona Apple	5	3.45	+1.55
Maggot Brain Funkadelic	5	3.6	+1.4
The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan Bob Dylan	5	3.62	+1.38
The Score Fugees	5	3.69	+1.31
Kid A Radiohead	5	3.71	+1.29

You Love Less Than Most

Album	You	Global	Diff
The Slim Shady LP Eminem	1	3.29	-2.29
Post Orgasmic Chill Skunk Anansie	1	2.99	-1.99
Come Find Yourself Fun Lovin' Criminals	1	2.93	-1.93
Gold Ryan Adams	1	2.84	-1.84
Moon Safari Air	2	3.58	-1.58
Brothers The Black Keys	2	3.57	-1.57
The Marshall Mathers LP Eminem	2	3.48	-1.48
All Directions The Temptations	2	3.45	-1.45
Strangeways, Here We Come The Smiths	2	3.44	-1.44
Cheap Thrills Big Brother & The Holding Company	2	3.42	-1.42

5-Star Albums (15)

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Popular Reviews

Live At The Harlem Square Club

Sam Cooke

5/5

I’ve owned this one for a long time. Captures lightning in a bottle: both the crowd and the performers.

1 likes

1-Star Albums (4)

All Ratings

Nixon

Lambchop

3/5

"The Old Gold Shoe" -- sounds like low-volume YLT ("Our Way to Fall" maybe?). Syrupy in a not-too-bad way Production, engineering sounds great. This dude's voice is not my bag (which is why I avoided listening to it when it came out). Strangely felt a little like David Bowie's Blackstar at points -- maybe it's the clean production. But without jazz influence.

To Pimp A Butterfly

Kendrick Lamar

4/5

Kid A

Radiohead

5/5

I mean. It’s Kid A

Maggot Brain

Funkadelic

5/5

Title track sounds closer to Pink Floyd than any PFunk album I’ve heard before. The other songs are a sprawling eclectic mix of soul / funk / rock and experimental music that is infectious. A great listen!

The Slim Shady LP

Eminem

1/5

A really unpleasant listen. I bought this album in high school when it came out and remember being impressed with the cleverness of some of his rhymes. But even those lyrics are elementary compared to the subsequent albums. So many of the songs fall back on pure shock value. “Just Don’t Give A Fuck” is probably a favorite because it seems to have the closest thing to a genuine message. If I could give half stars this would get a 1.5 just for the humongous impact this album had and for its impressive use of repeated multi-syllable internal rhyme spurts.

The Man Machine

Kraftwerk

4/5

The feat of achieving the level of atmosphere at such an early time in electronic music is astounding. Some of the songs sound a little cheesy or cliche now, but probably just because they were so influential.

Surf's Up

The Beach Boys

3/5

Pretzel Logic

Steely Dan

2/5

Aftermath

The Rolling Stones

3/5

A few good ones (Paint it Boack, I am Waiting, High and Dry), otherwise pretty mediocre. The second half is better than the first. Note: I listened to the American version.

Dub Housing

Pere Ubu

3/5

Post Orgasmic Chill

Skunk Anansie

1/5

Couldn’t finish. REALLY not my cup of tea

Dirt

Alice In Chains

3/5

Paris 1919

John Cale

4/5

Siembra

Willie Colón & Rubén Blades

3/5

The Good, The Bad & The Queen

4/5

Strangeways, Here We Come

The Smiths

2/5

Crime Of The Century

Supertramp

2/5

Good Old Boys

Randy Newman

2/5

Some good instrumentation and lyrics. Hard R n-word loses a star.

In Utero

Nirvana

5/5

The recording preserves the rawness of the songs while also feeling immaculate. The image in my mind of this era of Nirvana is the Unplugged performance and to hear these songs again in their album form brings back that they weren’t that far removed from many of the other grunge /alt rocks acts of the time. I think without the unplugged performance Nirvana wouldn’t have reached the legend status that they have attained in the past 30 years. But, I think this is their best studio release.

Gold

Ryan Adams

1/5

“New York, New York” being hyped up in the wake of 9/11 is what turned me off of Ryan Adams. And then him skipping NC on tour for subsequent 5(? 10?) years. But listening to that song now reminds me of the Jason Isbell song “Relatively Easy”, except unlike Isbell’s heartfelt and gut wrenching lyrics, Adams’ song makes me feel nothing. Just dreck. Makes me want to listen to the superior artists he’s imitating (current candidate Van Morrison on “Answering Bell”, later, The Faces on “The Rescue Blues”) The fact that David Rawlings and Gillian Welch’s genius get smeared by the association with this is too bad.

Definitely Maybe

Oasis

3/5

Bookends

Simon & Garfunkel

3/5

A couple of really good ones. Interesting to hear what I know as a Bangles riff in its original (acoustic!) form. Not all the songs were great. 3.5/5

Cheap Thrills

Big Brother & The Holding Company

2/5

Joplin’s voice is occasionally great, but the band never is. The band either sounds like a really bad jam band or a mediocre blues band.

KIWANUKA

Michael Kiwanuka

3/5

Deja Vu

Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young

3/5

Lays a foundation for southern rock and alt country. But a lot of it is schlocky and lame. A couple of bangers though

On The Beach

Neil Young

4/5

Pretty, pretty good. Complete blindspot for me.

The Atomic Mr Basie

Count Basie & His Orchestra

4/5

Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge

Mudhoney

3/5

Somewhere in the nexus of punk and the emerging alternative /grunge wave.

Pornography

The Cure

3/5

Vulnicura

Björk

3/5

This was a Bjork album. Homogenic was a favorite in high school and I still put it on every once in while and it feels raw and fresh nearly 30 years on. On one listen (maybe not enough), Vulnicura feels like a retread. Lush and beautiful, but no real new territory explored sonically. Postscript: Joanna Newsom's "Baby Birch" auto-played after this album. And with Bjork and Newsom sharing a similar space (unique voice with lush orchestration), I'm struck with how incredible "Baby Birch", compared to anything on the Bjork album I just listened to. My rating: 3/5

Paranoid

Black Sabbath

5/5

There was a kid on my bus in middle school who I didn't particularly like. Did I hang out with him sometimes? Yeah. But something about him rubbed me the wrong way. I think he was going through some shit and I guess I wasn't very empathetic at the time. Anyway, he loved Pink Floyd and Black Sabbath and that kinda put me off of both for years and years. I've come around on both here and there since. I already basically knew that I was missing out on great stuff with Black Sabbath. War Pigs into Paranoid: What a 1-2 punch! Many classics here and the sound is a little more varied than I was anticipating. Not all the songs hit like the classics, but most are great. Not exactly my normal cup of tea, but will definitely be listening again. My rating: 4.5/5

Music From The Penguin Cafe

Penguin Cafe Orchestra

4/5

The Score

Fugees

5/5

I got this in the Columbia House cd club not too long after it came out. My only knock on this album would be Mista Mista which I’ve never loved, but I guess that was an addition to later versions of the album. 5/5, favorites: Zealots, Ready or Not

Doolittle

Pixies

5/5

The highs (Debaser, Monkey Goes to Heaven, Hey, Goige Away…) are incredibly high and it was insanely ahead of its time and influential. A few duds sprinkled in (Crackity Jones, Mr Grieves, There Goes My Gun) 4.5/5 (will round up for official rating)

Rum Sodomy & The Lash

The Pogues

3/5

Like A Prayer

Madonna

2/5

A few undeniable pop classics surrounded by bland and/or saccharine songs.

1984

Van Halen

3/5

A few classics, not really my thing though.

Ambient 1/Music For Airports

Brian Eno

5/5

Loved this one for 25ish years. Great for engaged or background listening. Insanely influential.

London Calling

The Clash

3/5

Fully expected to be giving this one a 4 or 5 based on the 4-5 songs I knew from it, but most of the rest of the (overlong) album felt like filler.

Joan Armatrading

4/5

Great vocals and instrumentals. Wild I’ve never heard of her before

Porcupine

Echo And The Bunnymen

4/5

Like a lost early U2 album where they had listened to some Joy Division. I had listened to Ocean Rain before, but never any of these songs. Really enjoyed it!

The Soft Bulletin

The Flaming Lips

5/5

The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan

Bob Dylan

5/5

Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

Beatles

4/5

Ten

Pearl Jam

3/5

All Hail the Queen

Queen Latifah

2/5

Come Find Yourself

Fun Lovin' Criminals

1/5

American IV: The Man Comes Around

Johnny Cash

4/5

Opens really great with The Man Comes Around and Hurt. He’s at his best in the songs that fit with the grizzly-voiced rebel aesthetic he’s known for. In My Life doesn’t work for me and some of the other curve balls don’t always hit. Great arrangements and performances by Tom Petty backers Mike Campbell and Belmont Tench.

Layla And Other Assorted Love Songs

Derek & The Dominos

2/5

Clapton sucks. Most of this is ponderous trash. Only reason it’s not 1/5 is Duane Allman.

Sex Packets

Digital Underground

2/5

Really feels dated. Some fun verses. Interesting combo at points of live instrumentals + beats. That said, it’s pretty hokey and repetitive.

Risque

CHIC

3/5

3/5 for the most iconic bass line of all time.

The Pleasure Principle

Gary Numan

3/5

Paul's Boutique

Beastie Boys

3/5

My Aim Is True

Elvis Costello

3/5

John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band

John Lennon

4/5

Goo

Sonic Youth

5/5

Low-Life

New Order

3/5

Here Come The Warm Jets

Brian Eno

4/5

Great album with shades of all the influences of mid 70s NYC music: John Cale / VU, Bowie, and John Lennon — and shades of nascent Talking Heads. A few of the experiments didn’t land, but many were excellent. 4.5/5

All Directions

The Temptations

2/5

Live At The Harlem Square Club

Sam Cooke

5/5

I’ve owned this one for a long time. Captures lightning in a bottle: both the crowd and the performers.

Mott

Mott The Hoople

2/5

The Köln Concert

Keith Jarrett

4/5

The Marshall Mathers LP

Eminem

2/5

A couple of good songs (Stan Real Slim Shady) and better production than Slim Shady LP (eg Bitch Please 2). But mostly, this suffers from the same lack of direction that the Slim Shady LP had. It only has a couple of things to say. Stan is a standout song with something unique to say and done in an interesting way. The rest of it is basically "you can't shut me up!"

Roger the Engineer

The Yardbirds

4/5

Slanted And Enchanted

Pavement

5/5

In A Silent Way

Miles Davis

4/5

The Low End Theory

A Tribe Called Quest

4/5

Microphone check one two what is this? The five foot assassin with the roughneck business I float like gravity, Never had a cavity Real classics on this one. Young Busta to close it out. Some of my all-time favorites in "Excursions", "Buggin' Out" and "Scenario". Some of the middle tracks feel dated, but overall a great one.

Graceland

Paul Simon

5/5

Moon Safari

Air

2/5

Filler. Appropriately named band

Arthur (Or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire)

The Kinks

4/5

Let It Be

The Replacements

5/5

Wonderful bridge between punk, alternative, indie and post-punk. Had heard some of it before, but not listened to the album in one sitting before this.

Tidal

Fiona Apple

5/5

All time favorite. Inspired me to plunk around on the piano in high school. FA doesn’t miss.

Bryter Layter

Nick Drake

4/5

Dire Straits

4/5

Like 70s Dylan with trite lyrics. So still quite good. 3.5/5

Dusty In Memphis

Dusty Springfield

3/5

Brothers

The Black Keys

2/5

A real "Meh" of an album. At the time, this was the album that made me check out on The Black Keys. And I checked out about two songs into this listen. A once-unique sound that they drove into the ground

evermore

Taylor Swift

2/5

Good first: many of the instrumental parts are very good. “Cowboy Like Me” was a highlight for me. The last four tracks were the most successful by a longshot. If the last four songs were released as an EP, this would have probably been a four star EP. Other than CLM and a couple of others, the lyrics and vocals all seem mismatched to the songs and are very pedestrian. The more the songs lean into the pop end of things (“long story short”), the less this feels like a cheap imitation of Phoebe Bridgers or other indie-ish folk/country. The track featuring The National was particularly bad, with Matt Beringer singing badly-metered, trite lyrics, it really underlines how lacking the vocal parts are throughout. Beringer can deliver vocal lines with the best of them, but this falls flat. Justin Vernon does a good job on his songs and I get the impression that he has a big hand in the composition of the last couple of songs — they sounded much fuller and more natural.

Your New Favourite Band

The Hives

3/5

Debut

Björk

3/5

Exceptional singing, but the songwriting and instrumentation haven't quite caught up.

Who's Next

The Who

4/5

Sulk

The Associates

3/5