1001 Albums Summary

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

Heartland rock. George Harrison meets Bruce Springsteen in Nashville.

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.

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.

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.

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).

Great voice, classic songs. A fun listen.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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

Solid classic, not quite Nevermind

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

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

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

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

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.

Not interesting to me, dull blue eyed soul, unimaginative

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.

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.

Great voice, solid songs. Nothing too innovative.

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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

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.

Sam Cooke’s spontaneous laugh is the highlight.

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.

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

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

Wallpaper magpie music

Good balance of power pop, arty stuff, and on occasion surprisingly raw.

Proto yacht rock, nothing particularly exciting

Influential rather than completely listenable. But interesting and innovative in parts.

Some interesting bits, especially the songs I’ve never heard before. Also some Costello-esque boredom.

Atmospheric but didn’t completely grab me.