My 1001 Albums Journey

129

Albums Rated

3.04

Average Rating

12%

Complete

960 albums remaining

Rating Distribution

Rating Timeline

Taste Profile

2000

Favorite Decade

Punk

Favorite Genre

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5-Star Albums

1-Star Albums

Breakdown

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By Decade

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Albums

You Love More Than Most

Album	You	Global	Diff
Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables Dead Kennedys	5	3.26	+1.74
The Specials The Specials	5	3.29	+1.71
Fever To Tell Yeah Yeah Yeahs	5	3.29	+1.71
Nebraska Bruce Springsteen	5	3.31	+1.69
Never Mind The Bollocks, Here’s The Sex Pistols Sex Pistols	5	3.45	+1.55
To Pimp A Butterfly Kendrick Lamar	5	3.63	+1.37
Wild Is The Wind Nina Simone	5	3.64	+1.36
A Grand Don't Come For Free The Streets	4	2.65	+1.35
New Boots And Panties Ian Dury	4	2.69	+1.31
Dookie Green Day	5	3.79	+1.21

You Love Less Than Most

Album	You	Global	Diff
Van Halen Van Halen	1	3.62	-2.62
The Downward Spiral Nine Inch Nails	1	3.34	-2.34
It's Too Late to Stop Now Van Morrison	1	3.25	-2.25
Crazysexycool TLC	1	3.07	-2.07
Electric The Cult	1	3.01	-2.01
Goodbye Yellow Brick Road Elton John	2	3.92	-1.92
(What's The Story) Morning Glory Oasis	2	3.85	-1.85
Black Sabbath Black Sabbath	2	3.82	-1.82
Brothers In Arms Dire Straits	2	3.74	-1.74
Appetite For Destruction Guns N' Roses	2	3.72	-1.72

5-Star Albums (11)

View Album Wall

Never Mind The Bollocks, Here’s The Sex Pistols

1-Star Albums (6)

All Ratings

Joan Armatrading

3/5

Black British singer-songwriter. Contralto. Serious without being pretentious. Some interesting intersection of folk and funk. Nice enough background music.

Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers

2/5

Heartland rock. George Harrison meets Bruce Springsteen in Nashville.

All Directions

The Temptations

2/5

Psychedelic soul from Motown vocal harmony group. All Directions is correct - influences from smooth NYC jazz, through to funky, jarring sounds. Good songs but production not great on some side 2 tracks, flat vocal on The First Time Ever cover is off-putting.

The Marshall Mathers LP

Eminem

2/5

Best viewed generously as a transgressive provocation piece, like if the most messed up kid you knew turned out to be very good at writing rhymes, and decided to try and make everyone hate him more. Elevates outrage to an art form, and extremely self-conscious about what it’s trying to be. But still jarring to listen to the degree of homophobia and misogyny. Weakly tried to palm it off saying the F word was just a contextless insult - not credible if you ever listened to the album. Music deliberately simplistic to avoid distraction from the lyrical limelight, but sounds hollow and aged.

Never Mind The Bollocks, Here’s The Sex Pistols

Sex Pistols

5/5

Genuine enjoyment to listen end-to-end. From the profound influence, the aesthetic, the hits, to the less known gems. A very important album for me personally. No Feelings is fantastic, and Bodies is one of the best songs of the decade put on record.

Superfly

Curtis Mayfield

3/5

Funky and powerful. Great musicianship, drums and percussion a highlight with some innovative rhythms. Surprisingly forward about social issues, especially drugs and the effect of Black communities. Pretty short, felt over before it began (and that includes some film filler music, as expected from a soundtrack).

This Is Fats Domino

Fats Domino

4/5

Great voice, classic songs. A fun listen.

The Suburbs

Arcade Fire

4/5

Listened whilst walking through fields on a hot summer evening as a storm started to blow in. The effect was “the apocalypse is here, and we’re not too unhappy about it”. Marching band for the indie scene, always driving on. A sense of hope but sprinkled with an unsettling extra beat in the meter, or a chord progression that throws you off balance. Helped me pin down the fact that I stopped listening to new music in 2009, as I obsessed about their first two albums but didn’t recall a single song from this.

Moving Pictures

Rush

3/5

Having never listened to Rush, and not being a fan of Prog, I wasn’t looking forward to this. But Geddy Lee’s voice wasn’t as marmite as some make out, musicianship (especially drums) solid, as you would expect, if soulless. Not as overwhelmingly synth heavy as I thought it would be, some genuinely heavy parts, more like a math-y Led Zeppelin than Yes.

Peace Sells...But Who's Buying

Megadeth

2/5

I don’t really know Megadeth. My impression had always been some kind of bridge between 80s Thrash and 90s extreme metal. But a lot of this was more conventional heavy metal with some thrash bits, half Metallica, half Iron Maiden. Not my thing, only benefit was to remind me how far heavy music progressed in the next 10-15 years.

Millions Now Living Will Never Die

Tortoise

4/5

I like post-rock, but missed Tortoise until now. Very chill, like the Lofi Girl of post-rock. Great as a daily life soundtrack, probably wouldn’t see live.

I Against I

Bad Brains

4/5

At Newport 1960

Muddy Waters

4/5

A great live album, compelling blues. Good lyrical storytelling.

To Pimp A Butterfly

Kendrick Lamar

5/5

Eye opening hip hop. Hadn’t taken seriously before. I like alternative rap and jazz rap like Pharcyde, J5 but this is another level.

In Utero

Nirvana

4/5

Solid classic, not quite Nevermind

m b v

My Bloody Valentine

3/5

When the guitars go hard but nothing else does. Atmospheric, cool but ultimately unsatisfying.

Come Find Yourself

Fun Lovin' Criminals

2/5

Mediocre rap, mixed with mediocre funk, mixed with mediocre rock. Unexciting, not massively offensive but wouldn’t listen again.

Kind Of Blue

Miles Davis

5/5

Like hearing Mozart, if you could hear the actual breath of Mozart on the recording of the music.

A Hard Day's Night

Beatles

3/5

Blonde On Blonde

Bob Dylan

2/5

I can respect the poetry of the lyrics. Just not a Dylan fan, although I can tolerate the more folky earlier stuff.

Black Sabbath

2/5

Quite bluesy, first track is a bit more of a standout. A historical landmark, arguably heavy music may not exist in the same way without this album.

It's Too Late to Stop Now

Van Morrison

1/5

Not interesting to me, dull blue eyed soul, unimaginative

Reggatta De Blanc

The Police

2/5

Some flourishes, Copeland’s drumming is to be admired. Some interesting deep cuts that got me to understand the “post-punk” label a little, but still feels like music students who studied punk, jazz, blues rock and reggae rather than anything organically related. Overall, I’m not a fan of Sting’s voice, and the white reggae thing sits uncomfortably - it feels like they understood reggae better musically than eg The Clash, but profited well from an accurate reproduction rather than letting it flavour their own music.

The Specials

5/5

Sums up a time and a place perfectly. Can’t think of a more successful, authentic hybrid of black music with rock. And just a great party album, enjoyed to listening from front to back.

Lady Soul

Aretha Franklin

3/5

Great voice, solid songs. Nothing too innovative.

Imperial Bedroom

Elvis Costello & The Attractions

3/5

Kind of get it. Baroque pop with the Beatles a big influence here. Not too keen on Costello’s voice. Lyrics are probably a bit overrated. But one I might come back to.

Punishing Kiss

Ute Lemper

2/5

I was wondering what Elvis Costello and Divine comedy baroque pop/avant pop songs would sound like with a “traditionally good” singer. Turns out, less enjoyable. Very cabaret and not something I would want to listen to a second time. Second star given as the first song was slightly interesting - turns out that is the Nick Cave song.

OK Computer

Radiohead

5/5

It’s got a bit of everything, mathy, poppy, arty, thoughtful.

It's Blitz!

Yeah Yeah Yeahs

4/5

Karen O has a compelling voice. Heads Will Roll is top tier. Loses some of the NY garage punk edge from earlier work, diving more headlong into the house-inspired synth-indie. Definitely sums up a time, but loses place as this sound was fairly widely established by this point (Goldfrapp broke though 4 years earlier). But YYYs still do it well.

Femi Kuti

3/5

It was a fun listen, didn’t realise how much jazz was in Afrobeat.

B-52's

The B-52's

4/5

When Rock Lobster is one of the saner tracks in side A, you know you’re in for a fun ride.

Better Living Through Chemistry

Fatboy Slim

2/5

Magpie music. Jeremy Usborne music. FIFA menu screen music. Edgy advert music. Quite tedious. Too high energy for study beats, too low energy for party beats. Music for dads who were quite into their Stone Roses but are now “passionate“ about EDM. They’ll even DJ at your 50’th if you want.

Live At The Harlem Square Club

Sam Cooke

3/5

Sam Cooke’s spontaneous laugh is the highlight.

(What's The Story) Morning Glory

Oasis

2/5

Trying not to overthink it, but this band doesn’t make any sense. Apart from the cliche that they want to be the Beatles and the Sex Pistols at the same time. But do neither. Sonically a bit of a mess. Lyrically awful. One or two redeeming moments and a bit of nostalgia.

Maxinquaye

Tricky

3/5

Enjoyed the vibe, some parts not aged well but overall an interesting listen.

Hot Fuss

The Killers

3/5

Enjoyed the vibe, some parts not aged well but overall an interesting listen.

Play

Moby

2/5

Wallpaper magpie music