1001 Albums Summary

I had forgotten how good this is. The standout is Don’t Give Up. Absolute goosebumps with that track!

Never heard of them before despite them apparently being an influence on some reasonably big-hitters. 60s rock and blues standards done well in a fairly raw style. It was an easy listen but not one I would probably reach for again.

Not really my usual style of music. I can absolutely appreciate the quality and creativity of the music delivered, but it feels a bit too much of an era and style that just don't appeal that much.

Excellent album. New to me as I am only really familiar with their Best Of (although a lot of it seems to be from here!)

Not the album of theirs that I would have chosen, but it is still a really good one.

I'd forgotten how fun and lively this album was, so it's been a welcome reintroduction

Not really my style, but I could appreciate the quality of production. I actually enjoyed reading about the story behind the album more than the album itself

Still a band that I don’t really understand all the love for. Doesn’t help that I really don’t like Thom Yorke’s vocals. This one at least has familiarity on its side because everyone was playing it when it came out.

Still a great catchy album, but they are not a great band

Logically, I know that they must have made albums, but because of that one ubiquitous and unavoidable single, I had never thought to check out their other stuff. Surprisingly good as it turns out

Definitely better than I expected, but still not really my sort of thing

I feel like I should have discovered this years ago. Excellent to find it now at least. Definitely going to get more listens soon

Yet another band that have been solely Best Of collections for me, so I don’t think I have ever listened to most of their albums. Overall for this one, it didn’t really rise above or add much to the songs I already knew

The deliberately contrived cheeky Cockney vocal stylings grate a little bit (“…lazy Sunday afternoon-ah…”), especially when compared to the more grandiose style elsewhere. Musically and creatively, it’s really interesting but it gets at least a point knocked off for the Stanley Unwin interludes and the aforementioned London-boy vocals.

Surprised me how much I enjoyed this, but not the sort of album I would be likely to return to

Not something I would have chosen, but I enjoyed enough of this to feel it needs revisiting in future

Absolute classic and still their best, in my opinion

She’s got a fantastic voice, but I found this album bland back then, and I still found it bland now

Never heard of before, and very unlikely to revisit again in future. Just not my thing at all. Felt like elevator music with occasionally raised BPM

I’m a sucker for a lot of Paul McCartney’s stuff and this one is probably peak among his non-Beatles output.

A little disappointed by this to be honest. Given how revered they seem to be among music lovers, I struggled to find much exceptional about it. It’s good, very listenable, but ultimately a little bit average

A classic even on its release, sounding unique among its contemporaries

Another of those popular beat combos. I’m sure they’ll never amount to anything 😁

Smooth easy listen, but ultimately washed over me more than grabbed me

I really should revisit this more often

I was just a bit too young to properly appreciate them at the time, so it was good to hear this one and find that they were just as good on their album tracks as their iconic singles

Obviously influential and iconic, it’s not an album I have reached for too often over the years. Deserves more attention than I have given it really though

Not sure I have ever heard a note from her. Turns out I have been missing out

Puts the L in LP. Tediously misogynistic and homophobic content overwhelm admittedly catchy backing tracks. His delivery is excellent but the content is often vile

Really enjoyable and energetic

Generally really catchy, but vocals began to grate a bit towards the end

Utterly brilliant. Can’t believe I had never listened to this

Impressive but perhaps a bit self-congratulatory in the cleverness of the musicianship

An absolute classic. Perhaps a little overproduced but full of amazing tracks

Didn’t land quite as immediately as the previous PJ Harvey I listened to, but it’s made me want to come back for more

Excellent. Surprised I hadn’t listened to this sooner

Amazing voice and skills but just not the sort of album I would reach for often (if ever)

Nope. Still not a fan.

Musically brilliant but I get irritated by Morrison’s vocal stylings.

Doesn’t quite meet its sensational tag, but pretty good overall

Really interesting. Completely new to me, but I want to hear more

Inoffensive but inessential listen. Enjoyable enough

Like any good live album, this provides a best of, and it is delivered at their best, but it is a shame not to see some of their studio albums being recognised, especially when certain artists have multiple entries in this 1001.

Never been keen on the vocals, but still a great catchy album

Iconic sound, amazingly delivered, but not an album I would reach for often

Impressively immersive but still not really my thing

Surprised I have never listened to Bert Jansch before. Really enjoyed this. Going to seek out more of his work

Full-on prog is like Marmite. I love Marmite

Very much the classic Stones sound. Enjoyed it a lot

Still don’t reckon it’s the masterpiece some claimed but it was a huge part of my teens

Beautiful voice, but just not my thing

Excellent 60s blues pop sound, expertly delivered but I can’t say it stands out enough for me to return to it

Can’t deny the quality and skill in these three-minute pop gems, but nor can I say that I love them

Not a genre I’d usually go for, so surprisingly enjoyable

Not quite as good as the follow-up, but for a debut, this is pretty spectacular

Far better than I expected

Surprisingly enjoyable considering I usually try and avoid jazz

Still don’t really get the adulation. Loses a point for Morrissey being a cock.

Classic rock. A tad cheesy, but quality cheese

The beats and samples under this were really good, but the lyrical content was pretty much what I would expect

Some of the tracks outstay their welcome, but the hits are undeniable

Starts well, but failed to set my world alight. Solid but unremarkable

Better than I had expected (only really know their Best Of), certainly in terms of the guitar work, but there’s something about Damon Albarn’s delivery that irritates me.

Hilariously suggesting that we don’t see Donald Trump arguing with people because he’s got money, Missy suggests that we all need to stop having beef and just get on with getting rich. And having sex.

If nothing else, this 1001 challenge is challenging my perception that I hate jazz. Can’t say that I loved this, but I was fascinated by how much it pulled apart each player then managed to pull back together

I can only imagine that whoever wrote this list of 1001 albums to hear before you die must have been having a laugh by including this. Kool Keith pretends to be a time-travelling homicidal alien gynecologist so that he can hide behind a “it’s not me saying this, I am just playing a character” defence for including samples from porn films and descriptions of surgical violence. The backing tracks are good, but the vocals and themes make it feel like a novelty album that wore its joke thin within the first couple of tracks.

This landed much better with me than the previous Talking Heads album I was given. A real sense of fun in the funky

It’s not going to sweep the boards at the dance awards, but it is quite a beautiful listen

If this was in the list of 1001 Albums To Be On Hold With (Your Call Is Important To Us But We Are Experiencing An Unusually High Volume Of Calls) then this would absolutely be number 1. As it stands, this is pleasant and well-delivered but not something I would return to.

Unclear why this is on this list. Not unlistenable but not particularly engaging either

Dull

Funky soul and blues. What more do you need…?

A little bit too conventional for Bowie but still a great album

I can see why people have loved this album. Hasn’t quite got its hooks into me yet, but it probably will

Hard to talk about this without the word iconic.

It’s the archetype of the ZZ Top sound and I was all-set to dismiss it, but this ended up being a great fun listen.

Always been quite a fan of this one. There’s enough variety and invention on here to give it good re-listen value, but it’s a bit too long

I can only assume that there’s been an administrative error and that this was meant to be on the 1001 Ways To Die Before You Listen To This Album, as this is possibly the blandest and most pointless album that I have heard from Madonna (and I genuinely love some of her stuff). Bland lyrics, insipid delivery, plus a pointless cover version to round off the whole package. Seriously, what the hell is this on this list for…?

Impressive but uninvolving. Which seems to be my standard response to Rush.

Yet another band I should have listened to many years ago. Right up my street, but I evidently wasn’t home that day

Never got The White Stripes. Always felt like the emperor’s new clothes, loads of people celebrating them, but as far as I could see there really wasn’t much underneath.

A real revelation for me. Should have listened to this a long time ago

A real eye-opener for me. Initially seemed to be exactly the type of 60s pop I expected but it improved as it went along.

If you’re going to get pompous and embellish your greatest hits with an orchestra, then this is the way to do it.

Pleasant, well-delivered but unexceptional.

Respect is iconic and the rest here are also solid slices of 60s soul, but just not really my thing

As with all Rod Stewart’s stuff, great voice, but pretty average songs. Maggie May is the most familiar and therefore perhaps the best but overall, there isn’t much that would drag me back to this album.

Some great tracks, but lots of average ones as well

On this basis, I don’t get the hype for the band and don’t really get why this is on this list. Not bad, just average

Very pretty orchestration around an iconic voice, but just not my thing

Not a combination I would have expected, but reading up on it I can understand why this one was important. Ultimately not really my thing, but it is good.

This was quite something! I imagine this will divide views as it’s borderline musical theatre, but for me, it really worked

Never really got her, I’m afraid. Very overrated, in my opinion.

Impressive, but didn’t really engage me

Pleasant, enjoyable, and in a list of 1001 tracks, I guess it earns its right to be included

Kate Bush frustrates me. Undoubtedly an artist with vision making art the way she wants, capable of some fantastic pieces (the singles on this were great) but often that vision is just too weird. Tracks like Under Ice and Waking The Witch are just odd.

Why on earth are there six Elvis Costello albums on this list? I am tempted to downvote every one of them on principle alone! Ultimately this one is okay, a reasonable showcase of his ability to write three-minute pop songs, but nothing exceptional

Far better than I had expected, but still knocking it down a point for having a near 13-minute track near the end of the album.

Horrible 80s sound to this album. Only his lyrics and delivery gain it a second star

Probably their most perfect album. Quality.

The title track is overplayed and inescapable, but the rest of this was really enjoyable

I seem to have outgrown my hatred of The Carpenters as this was far more listenable than when I used to hear it weekly as a kid. She always had a beautiful voice though

Pleasant pop rock. Fun but unmemorable.

Quality 60s soul. Enjoyable

Sounds like a dull Bob Dylan

I struggle with a lot of Tom Waits, but this is a high point

Overlong and more than a bit pompous but I rather enjoyed it anyway

Didn’t do much for me

Really liked this. Definitely worth another listen

Strictly a Best Of band for me up until now, but this was pretty good

Nice but bland. Why has this been included in a list of essential albums…?

Ironic for an album called Timeless, that this has a sound that so clearly dates it to that particular time

Absolutely Damned perfect!

Never really been my kind of thing but it’s got a lot going for it.

Really enjoyed this once I took the time

I had forgotten just how good this one was. They went on to do even better, but as a debut, this was pretty excellent!

As a Best Of band, Queen have a pretty phenomenal catalogue, but I wasn’t that impressed with this one. Maybe with a bit more time and familiarity, this might grow on me but for now…

Never going to be on a regular playlist for me, but I salute its inclusion on this list. Well worth a dip now and then

An iconic and flawless album

They were a really fun rock & roll band, but are they an essential listen before you die…?

Cool cosplay and album title. Otherwise, nope

I am only familiar with a couple of Beck albums, neither of which really sounded like this. Sea Change indeed. Ultimately, I didn’t find this one particularly exceptional

New to me, but really enjoyed it

A little too long, but frankly, having Sabotage on there wins it a lot of points

Good early 80s angular pop sound, easy listen, but why’s it on this list?

Nice West Coast sound, easy listening, but unlikely to reach for this too often

Pretty good, but not particularly outstanding

AC/DC doing AC/DC stuff. What’s not to love…?

I have no real reference points for this. It wasn’t terrible but I would be extremely unlikely to revisit it

Utterly average pub rock. Not terrible but inexplicable why they are so revered.

A near perfect album and a high point for an iconic band

Stronger than I expected. Worth another listen

Pretty good but not the sort of album I would usually reach for

Much more traditional blues than I was expecting. I always think of them having more of a rock & roll edge, but this had more of a nod-along feel to some of it. Impressively delivered though

Really impressive playing, sitting somewhere between easy-listening and jazzy, but far too long to sustain my attention.

Can’t help but compare this to Lennon’s and Harrison’s post-Beatles solo efforts - this doesn’t feel as cohesive as those, seeming more like some truly great songs that hadn’t been polished enough. Having said that, even half-baked ideas from McCartney are streets ahead of many artists so it’s far from a bad album, just not a brilliant one

Really surprised how fun I found this.

It’s a classic sound (that I grew up hearing) but Neil Young sounds like a yowling cat

Pretty good overall, but in starting with American Pie, I then spent the whole of the rest of the album comparing every track to that.

Excellent pop punk!

A glaring gap in my musical knowledge considering how many bands who cite them as an influence. Did not disappoint!

Surprisingly enjoyable

More going on than I expected. I had assumed that this would be something of a Duran Duran clone, but it turned out to be more than just that.

First time listen. Long overdue.

Huge sound and huge influence

Very good but I would still probably stick to the Best Of

Far better than I expected as I usually don’t like his yowl

Largely felt unexceptional but the last few famous tracks really lifted it

It was okay, but really struggled to understand why this is an essential to hear before you die

A real surprise considering I don’t think I’ve ever heard of them before. Very much of its time, but a really impressive slice of late 60s San Francisco

Not quite as good as I was hoping but still very good

Enjoyed more than I expected to. He still has a weird voice but he is a great lyricist

Overblown, overproduced twaddle. It scraped a second star mainly for the slight redemption of the soul selection at the end

Excellent album. Superstition is one of the greatest funky riffs ever

Well-produced, some great playing, but just one of those albums I find a bit dull.

Pleasant but non-essential

The KLF showing that it’s not just the beats that are repetitive, but that you can keep bringing back the same tune over and over again as well.

Iconic, although it loses a point for sounding a bit too thin and reedy as a studio album

For a Who album, this is pretty good, but if you’re having to select a live best of selection as an essential listen, that doesn’t really say much for their studio output

Just not my sort of thing. Hard to understand why this has been included in the 1001

Pleasant, good creativity and changes in style, but essential for the 1001…?

Never been a fan. They were top quality at what they did, but just not my thing.

Still don’t quite get the adulation for this album. Very good but not the perfection that some claim

Raining Blood is an excellent track but I find the rest of the album pretty so-so

Mystified why this has been included. Not terrible but achingly average

Excellent songwriting, but man that voice just whines like a dentist’s drill

Really enjoyed this one. Unknown to me, but definitely my sort of thing

Impressive in its composition, but not really my sort of thing

Ah, the ever-present Mr. Costello who must be rubbing his hands in glee at the streaming revenue that comes from the 1001 Albums… listeners. Considering every other album on the list seems to be one of his, it’s got to be a bonus for him. This is actually one of the best ones of his that I have heard though

Never listened to one of their studio albums but pleased to report that pretty much all of this could sit comfortably on their Best Of

Could never live up to the hype I heard at the time it came out, but listening to it now, I like it far more

Glorious album!

Really surprised. Never really liked Radiohead before but this one really clicked

Love the mellow vocals, but very much of its time

Pretty much as expected, undoubtedly influential, great tunes, but not something I would go out of my way to listen to

Essential to listen to before you die, yes, but only around this time of year.

Really surprised how much I enjoyed this. Well worth a revisit

So much better than I remembered. And the final track is an all-timer

Surprised to discover that I actually knew this one reasonably well. Still didn’t like it much

Easy one for me to love as I grew up in a household with their albums playing

Beautiful tone to her voice, and a beautiful collection of songs, but I am not convinced it is an essential album

Never heard of this one but quite enjoyed. It felt a bit like a smoothed out Bjork

A finely crafted set of songs, worthy of inclusion

If you’re going to go for classic blues, then you can’t go far wrong with a bit of BB King. But if you don’t like blues, you’re going to struggle with this

Not quite their best but still streets ahead of most

It’s an iconic voice but it’s a shame that this is essentially a collection of cover versions

Not as dark and goth as I expected but pretty cool

Being an arrogant knob is always a tricky choice. There is an argument for faking it until you make it, but you run a risk if you’re not as good as you claim to be. Kanye falls well short of the genius he thinks he is

Not particularly earth-shattering but distinct enough to deserve a place on this list

Excellent short spiky punk

It’s an absolute classic, but I still don’t think it’s as perfect as most seem to

I completely get why this is on the list as it is formative and deserves A listen, but having heard it, I am not sure I will ever return to it

Fairly average lyrical content and flow, but good tunes behind it. But should Nas get the credit for this, or just his producers?

Still a propulsive and exciting album. Doesn’t quite sustain the quality across all the tracks but when it works, it works incredibly well!

Unexpectedly really enjoyed this. Late 50s / early 60s movie soundtrack vibes

Pretty reasonable bluesy rock, but I don’t get the adoration for Joplin’s voice. There are points where she ends up sounding like Marge Simpson

Genuinely surprised by how much I enjoyed this. Music to relax to

Three of my favourite Who tracks on a nine-track album is a pretty good hit rate

A complete unknown to me. Really pleasant easygoing and enjoyable indie

Some good moments, but the long meandering stretches just got boring

This really benefits from not having the overplayed feeling of Nevermind

A bit too dour and proto-indie for me, but some of the orchestration on this really lifts it

Lots to like in this - great beats, socially conscious lyrics, laid-back delivery, but ended up feeling like a TED-talk that went on too long

A live album of cover versions is hardly a great demonstration of an artist. Not bad, just pointless

Really impressively diverse. Borders on the Beyoncé a bit too much at times but has plenty to outweigh that flaw

With their drum machines, synths and OTT goth imagery, the Sisters always felt just a bit too plastic and fake to me, but they’re fun

Quite pleasant but it didn’t feel like a particularly essential listen

Catchy and a classic, but the title track and a couple of others on here almost feel like novelty songs. When they’re not playing up to the cockney geezer role, they could be a really great band.

Good playing, excellent groove and bounce to it, but not being able to latch onto the lyrics is a shame. With some artists, their vocals can just be a texture but it sounds like the lyrics are important to them on this.

Good funky sound to this and fairly upbeat. Choice lyrics here and there, but pretty good overall

Yet another album I dismissed in my teens because my parents liked it that turns out to be really good. Oops!

Still not too keen on his voice, but his skills as a player and a songwriter are really impressive

This always felt like music to sit in a dark room and get stoned to. Never really got it back in the 90s, but I can appreciate it a lot more lyrically now

This was excellent. A band I have known by reputation only for far too long

It stays a bit too long but in the first half at least it has a bit of a funkier groove than their bluesier origins.

It’s a bit of a cliche to complain about disliking his vocals, but like all cliches, there’s a lot of truth in that. It’s a shame as he’s obviously a good lyricist

A complete unknown to me - not quite my thing but interesting enough to warrant a couple of listens

Maybe my expectations are too high as the guy is a legend, but this just felt achingly average. If this wasn’t him, would people love it so much

Impressive playing, but it all pretty much just blended into one long song after a while

Definitely prefer the follow-up but this was pretty strong

Impressive throughout. I really like his delivery. Not really my style but I respect this being included in the 1001

Hard to hear as anything but parody, yet it still sounds cool.

Nope. Sorry. This is just irritating and pointless. Why don’t you have a zero stars option?

Less “Back to basics” more back to bloated and overloaded pop with questionable lyrics. She’s got a fantastic voice but this is overlong and fairly average

The roster of producers, including Timbaland, add a lot of welcome texture on this. Not really my sort of thing but it was a pretty good listen overall

Gorgeous and comforting sound. Not his best but still so good

Just not my sort of album really. Perfectly pleasant, chilled vibe, but just ended up becoming unchallenging background soundtrack.

Usually strictly a Best Of band for me, but this was really pretty good

First listen (don’t judge me!) but this was a good listen

Always been quite a fan of this. Still sounds great

Easy to forget how effortless they make this seem.

Revelation! I tend to think of them as essentially a novelty act, but this was far more fun, skilled and inventive than I expected.

Gorgeous. Elton at his best

On the positives, good delivery, some great backing tracks, and some glimmers of humour, but on the downsides, it just doesn’t stand out that much and covers many of the same preoccupations of hip-hop

Does the flute really have a place in rock? Arguably yes, according to this.

Ian Brown’s wafty vocals aside, this is pretty good, and it’s about as iconic as anything from the Madchester era.

Absolutely iconic theme tune. It maybe suffers a bit as an album with it being a soundtrack, as certain themes and melodies get recycled in different forms and there isn’t as much variety as a standard album, but it is still such a cool soundtrack

As with every Muse album, this has some amazing highs, but also seems to go on too long with some serious drag on some tracks.

The 90s production maybe makes it sound a bit dated, but let’s be honest, that was a better time so I can live with it. Plus I had such a thing for Shirley Manson… 💕

This came freighted with huge reputation and expectation. Largely it met those expectations but not everything landed with me on a first listen.

I like his delivery and some great samples in here, like the Clubber Lang sections in The Champ, but there’s also a lot of the same old stuff including seemingly endless skits that just made it tiresome after a while.

Great voice, but just never could muster much enthusiasm for the musical style choices. Her voice is perfect for the genre, and it undoubtedly generated a renaissance of that sound, but I just find it boringly pleasant background music.

Far better than I remember it. Never going to be my favourite band as I struggle with the vocals but this is far more than just that.

By turns quirkily interesting and quirkily irritating, this is still an impressive set of pop tunes that seem to echo through to a lot of 90s guitar pop.

Really surprised by how much I enjoyed this considering several of these tracks are ubiquitous iconic classics. I had almost overlooked what a phenomenal voice she had.

This is certainly not terrible but it is far from an essential album to listen to before you die. I am not going to vote it down just because it’s far too average to be on this list, but this is just taking up space that could be given over to something that provokes actual emotional responses.

Never heard this one before but it feels like a gorgeous late career review, melancholic but still sometimes spiky.

With apologies to the fans out there (and I know there are many), I can see why this is lauded as influential and it was probably groundbreaking at the time, but it wouldn’t be an album I would return to that often.

This felt very familiar although I didn’t think I had heard the album before. It’s probably because certain tracks have been sampled to death on TV and in adverts, but also because they sound similar to The Flaming Lips, so I might just be getting confused.

Considering the number of singles and the amount of airplay that this got, I ought to be sick of it but, nope. Perfect still cuts through me 🥲

If I recognise an artist name but can’t name any of their tracks, that’s usually a sign of radio-hype without sufficient substance to back it up. Glad to be proved wrong with this. A really strong listen throughout.

Just no strong feelings either way to be honest

Pleasant enough country pop. Nothing wrong with it, nice enough but hardly essential

Only my second ever Bruce Springsteen album and it’s essentially exactly what I would expect. Solid and instantly recognisable as him

There was far more on here that I recognised than I expected, and musically at least, there’s a lot to like. But he’s still a self-aggrandising cockwomble who vastly overestimates his own brilliance.

Fairly average country delivered by a fairly generic country voice. Loses points for mostly being written by other people - at least St. Dolly writes her own

Absolutely iconic sound, but so overplayed and overused that it almost feels like a parody now

As ever with this genre, beats and tunes are excellent, lyrical content is mostly bilge. At least there’s some humour in this, but still too juvenile for me really.

I am really sorry for offending whoever keeps putting their albums in the 1001 list, but it’s not just “…The Girl” that’s missing. The list of what this is Everything But… could include Interesting, Noteworthy, Boundary-Pushing, Suitable For This List etc. etc. etc.

To be honest, I might have heard some of this at the time and it still would have passed me by. It feels like the sort of stuff that has probably been used as snippets in adverts for mid-range family cars or package holidays. Nothing wrong with it, good production values, but essentially Teflon for me.

Big nope. Easy listening dross. Gives jazz a bad name

Serviceable but unexceptional. Part of the 1001 albums to be uninspired by before you die collection

Very good quality pop, but frustratingly predictable and unchallenging. I guess that’s kind of the point though if you want to be a global megastar

Not a mention of car keys in a bowl, pampas grass or pineapple purchasing in the supermarket, so I guess swinging didn’t have quite the connotations back then. These are classics, perfectly delivered, but while some think them timeless, I think they are just dated.

I grew up in a home full of Elvis vinyl, so I find it tricky to either hate or rate Elvis. He’s basically musical wallpaper to me - familiar, ever-present, yet rarely given dedicated attention. This is yet another serviceable yet unexceptional example for me.

Not sure why but I was expecting more of a sparse Orbital-style electronica, so the vocals on this were quite a surprise. Pretty good but just not something I’d listen to that often.

While Black Sabbath introduced the concept, Deep Purple took the concept of heavy metal and ran with it. So near perfect as a template, I am going to round it up to full marks.

Got to love a solid blues album and this is a classic. Unlike a lot of blues which seems designed to focus the listener on the playing, Muddy Waters guitar work is understated and unshowy, part of the structure that exists for his vocal delivery. Sounds fairly simple and basic in a lot of ways, yet it’s how tight and solid the whole band are that sells this for me

A little overlong and samey, but On A Rope is a precision-tooled weapons-grade earworm!

Like a lot of prog, it can sometimes be hard to defend Yes against claims of being self-indulgent and overstaying their welcome, but this one has a bounce and energy that’s missing from their later stuff.

The title track is an absolute classic but the rest of this just became the Hammond organ pops.

A really pleasant collection of pop songs. Nothing earth-shattering, challenging or influential, but very easy to listen to.

A band that I just never got the appeal of (nor the whole Madchester baggy scene to be honest). Poor vocals, fairly average tunes. Not terrible, just massively overrated.

Absolutely amazing for a debut. In fact, there were several more successful bands around this time that never achieved anything this good. It’s a shame that I tend to forget about this album because it blows me away every time I actually put it on.

Refreshingly different on its release and still holds up reasonably well.

Really didn’t expect to like this as much as I did. Perhaps it’s convenient timing, but this was a perfect Sunday morning vibe.

Falling in that strange spot where I can appreciate and totally understand why they’ve been included in this list, yet still not being an album or artist that I can definitely say I like. They seem to hold themselves deliberately short of huge success, probably just because it wouldn’t be cool.

A band that I have just never got the love for, and who I have never found an entire album I like. Each album has at least a couple of really standout moments, meaning their Best Of collections are often amazing, but the albums themselves often just seem average. This particular one is no different for me - a few amazing tracks dotted among a fairly average collection.

A bit rockier than I would have expected from REM, although it’s still jangly indie essentially. I knew a couple of the tracks already, but even those I didn’t know held up well alongside them. Surprisingly good overall

Another easily listenable album with a very pretty sound, but with nothing really exceptional to recommend it. Certainly not bad, but it highlights how having a list with 1001 entries is probably too big.

Solid 70s sleazy blues rock. What’s not to love…?

This was like a full-on assault on the senses, with every element taking turns in competing to overpower the whole thing. This could have really irritated me but I was evidently in just the right frame of mind for this.

My opinions on this haven’t really changed despite several efforts to listen beyond the shock tactics. Eminem still seems like the poster-boy for the manosphere culture, employing the “hey, I might say these things, but that doesn’t mean I actually mean them, I am just playing - it’s all about the clicks and likes, and if you guys believe in my words, that’s your problem”. The tunes are catchy, his delivery is good, but ultimately this is still just a skinny white boy’s wet dream.

I assume that the chemical enhancements of ecstasy made this much better, but as a teenage drinker making the most of student night at Utopia (£1 entry, £1 a pint all night) this sort of stuff was just interminable to me in the late 80s / early 90s. Listening now, I can at least acknowledge that there was some craft in its creation, but it’s never going to be music of choice for me.

I have limited knowledge of Bowie, perhaps just four albums I know well, and about the same again for others I have listened to at least once, but this has become my favourite in the last couple of years. Perhaps not quite perfect, but so close I am definitely rounding up.

There’s at least a sense of fun to this and it perhaps paves a way for people like The Divine Comedy, but it failed to really grab me.

Short, sharp, spiky and doesn’t outstay its welcome. The album, not this review. But that works too!

One of those albums that sounds like it could have been released anytime since the 70s. Really comfortable vocals and melodies which I was struggling to place who it reminded me of. Turns out it was Midlake who were instrumental in getting John Grant back in the studio.

This falls in the impossible position of being simultaneously a perfect example of Irish music and yet just so perfectly Irish that it feels like a parody. In the right mood, especially live, this would be peerless and perfect, but as an album, it’s not something I would reach for often.

Aside from the inescapable Odelay, I have never really explored much Beck. This was better than expected and well worth a proper listen. Still not sure it’s one I would return to, but time will tell…

A band that never quite gelled for me. All the requisite elements are there, some instant classic songs, some swirling sprawl, great guitar and vocals, and yet… It ends up being an album that I admire far more than lose myself in. Still damn good though

Absolute classic. Not much more I can say

Total unknown to me but really felt like a band I should have known about. I can hear echoes of them in so many bands.

This never really landed with me when it first came out although listening to it now, I am surprised because it essentially set the same template that they seem to have repeated ever since. Much like AC/DC, they’re the best at being them and doing what they do and if you like one of their albums, you can probably find something to like on all of them.

Second day in a row for bands and albums I don’t seem to rate as highly as many people do, and that I want to like more than I actually do. This was the first Metallica album that I actually liked - up until this point, I appreciated a few of their songs but they just never clicked for me. This one unlocked them for me and made me go back and appreciate their earlier albums more, but as I gave this a full listen yesterday, I genuinely cannot think of the last time I actively chose this to listen to. The songs themselves are great but they’re still a band that I just don’t tend to reach for.

Usually just a Best Of band for me - but what a Best Of!!! Really pleased to discover that the album tracks I didn’t know were just as good as the classics I did know.

Great blues sound, Rod Stewart has an iconic voice, and Stay With Me is an all-timer, but ultimately I am not sure whether this is really an essential album for the 1001.

Time hasn’t been kind to this one for me. For a couple of years, I loved this album with its big dumb fun sound. I have returned to it less and less over the years, largely because it feels so overproduced. It gets an extra point for being fun nostalgia for me.

Pretty much what I expected from a Bob Dylan album. Never really keen on his vocals, but young Bob is better than older Bob. The songwriting is great, and the way his playing drops in and out between vocals sometimes makes it feel like a vocal in its own right.

Another album that sounds like it could have dropped in from any decade in the last sixty years, and generally in a good way. The tracks are fairly short, so there’s a lot there, but it begins to feel like some of them are experiments that were discarded when they couldn’t grow into normal songs.

Exactly what you’d expect from a Simon & Garfunkel album - beautifully harmonious vocals, some nifty guitar work and a load of catchy melodies. My difficulty as always is that I can’t imagine a time when I would reach for this. Definitely good, but just an album to appreciate rather than love.

I found his voice a bit wearing by the end, but I actually really enjoyed this. There’s something overly theatrical about his whole delivery but it’s the sort of thing that can work brilliantly when I am in the right mood for it, similar to the mood for The Divine Comedy

A name I know by almost reverential reputation and little more than a scant few details. I didn’t listen to the lyrics too deeply on this at this stage, but there’s more than enough musically to draw me back. A worthwhile discovery.

This drifts a bit near the end of the album for me, but this is still a peerless classic.

Pretty certain I haven’t listened to this album before, but at the same time, I feel like I have heard it or something a lot like it previously. Strident brass and a great bounce in the rhythm made this an easy and enjoyable listen

Here he is. Thank goodness they found him. He’s only little after all. He could have slipped down the back of the sofa and been wandering around for days. Joking aside, this is pretty classic formative stuff, especially impressive when you consider that this is nearly 70 years old

I liked the last album I got served by The Jam from this list, and generally I quite like Paul Weller, but beyond the hits on this one I was a bit disappointed by it really. Down In The Tube Station At Midnight is still an amazing track though - “…smell like pubs, and Wormwood Scrubs, and too many right-wing meetings“

Nothing wrong with this album, but unsurprisingly it just feels like a soundtrack to a 90s montage.

I’ll be honest, Buck, that tiger tail in your hands is probably the least of your problems. Neither whining country & western, nor that hideous suit are going to make you popular with current audiences.

Apparently their first album containing tracks they wrote themselves, it’s pretty much the blueprint for their sound. Paint It Black does a lot of heavy lifting for this album and it’s a shame that it’s the opener as it’s a hard act to follow.

Really enjoyed this one. Unsurprisingly strong voice, but some great tracks showcasing it too.

I was probably a little predisposed towards this as I have loved Party Fears Two since I discovered The Divine Comedy’s cover of it many years ago, but this whole album didn’t disappoint. It strikes a balance between its arch, overblown delivery and catchy 80s pop, striking a point somewhere weirdly between The Cure and ABC. Interested to see how much this divides opinion among the 1001 rankers. Personally I loved this.

Great songwriting, superb distinctive voice, feels like an album that could be perfect when I am in the right mood for it. Unfortunately, I am not sure how often that mood would be.

The auditory equivalent of wandering a modern art gallery. I have no doubt that some people might rave about each song, letting me know all the detail I have missed or that I am insufficiently cultured to appreciate, but this just felt like a bad night listening to John Peel on Radio 1.

Still unlikely to ever be a fan of his voice, but I enjoyed the more bluesy swing to a lot of this.

Really glad I put this on as an earphones-listen as I think this would have passed me by if it was just on while doing other stuff. Hard to say whether I will come back to this one, but as an instrumental atmospheric album I found this quite impressive.

One of those albums I dismissed when it was released, mainly because my parents liked it, but listening to it now I actually quite enjoyed this. Perhaps a little bit too much like polite middle-class dinner party music, but that has its place.

CCR continue their run of great albums and make me feel their Best Of is just too short. The only downside I’ll throw at this is that for such a relatively short album, final track Keep On Chooglin’ outstays it’s welcome a bit.

There’s a certain irony in both the band name and the album title. Both pretty much imply things that are pushing the envelope and being produced by people delivering a distinctive vision - for me, this was pretty much just an early 90s indie rock sound and not particularly groundbreaking. Certainly not bad, it’s an easy listen and it could perhaps grow on me but there just wasn’t enough that grabbed me enough to make me want to go back and give it time to do so.

Genuinely thought I’d have heard this before but aside from the hits, I didn’t actually know a lot of this album. It’s good and easy to see why he became the superstar he did, but ultimately just not my thing.

Reading the notes behind this album, it seems this was critically mauled on its release and seen as an expensive failure, which seems unfair as this is not a million miles away from a lot of mid-70s sounds. Listening to it now though, its similarity to a lot of other 70s albums ironically means that for me it doesn’t really stand out from a lot of those artists.

Surprised I’d never heard this before. Vocally distinctive and committed to their sound, for once I am agreeing that this is an album that deserves to be on this list.

Always had a bit of a soft spot for this album as I heard it a lot in my teens (despite being a teen in the 80s and 90s)

Is it self-indulgently overlong? Yep. Does it suffer the usual curse of double-albums of hiding a better single album somewhere in there? Yep. But do I forgive a lot of the bloat for that title track…? Absolutely, yep.

This was a real discovery for me. A bit of a punk edge, but turned to more of a pop sound. Definitely one I will come back to.

Yet another Wow! album. Two in a row! I think I only know three XTC songs, early 80s angular pop, enjoyable enough but not at all a clue towards what this was going to be. Although the first track gave me a slight Police feel, it quickly gave way to more of a McCartney sound especially with all the orchestration and quirky lyrical fun. The only other touch points for me were a similarity to The Alan Parsons Project and Mansun. I have to admit that I assumed XTC were just an 80s band, so discovering this was a turn-of-the-millennium album was yet another surprise.

Probably the Blur album I like the most, perhaps because it moved away from the cheeky chappie sound of their earlier stuff, burying some of the vocals under layers of distortion. The fuzzy guitar work on this really made me pay more attention to Graham Coxon (although sadly Song 2 has become far too overplayed)

Not as familiar with Sonic Youth as I probably should be, but this seemed a very satisfactory entry point album. Noisy, buzzy and alive.

I own just two albums by QOTSA and this is not one of them. Seeing as this feels almost as strong as those I own, I feel like I should probably invest more time in them.

I’ve had a copy of this for 20 years and very rarely listened to it. Any time I do, I am reminded that the playing is superb, Sandy Denny’s vocals remind me of Christine McVie, and that Fleetwood Mac took this template and did this better. As such, it suffers by my comparison, so I put it away and forget it again for another few years

Definitely more towards The Rolling Stones sound than The Beatles, this feels perhaps a little out of step, perhaps even a little ahead of its time, mainly because Keith Moon doesn’t want to leave any space unfilled. The album tracks struggle against the big singles, but compared to a lot of the pop in 1965, this was different enough to be welcome.

While I quite enjoyed Ritual de lo Habitual, this was way better. Definitely one to revisit and maybe even buy…

A hard one to decide upon. A band I have never heard of, yet who appear to have a prolific output, who sound similar to a range of artists I know and largely like (a little bit Eels, a little bit Lou Reed, even a little bit Del Amitri), who fuse atmospheric and mostly mid-tempo rock in 3-5 minute tracks, yet still feel a little incomplete. Definitely didn’t hate it, just not sure if I would revisit it.

Ultimately this is just easy listening live lounge jazz, but it’s getting an extra point partly for the gorgeous voice but largely for the sense of joy and fun you can hear. From the laugh you can hear from Vaughan and the audience early on as something falls over on stage, through to her singing about not knowing the words on the final track and just freestyling her way through, this sounds wonderfully alive.

Serviceable pop. Why is this on the list though?

Bluesy rock from some of the absolute masters of their style. Easy to forget how easy they made this seem.

There is some great stuff on here, not least the title track, but it’s so self-indulgently looooooongggg!!!! He was truly a creator of the blues. Definitely brought my mood down listening through the entirety of this. The bloated length brings it down a star.

Shockingly, I think this is the first time I’ve ever listened to this, but it obviously comes freighted with expectation and reputation. Unsurprisingly, it turns out that the millions of people who have sung its praises previously have got it right.

Another prime candidate for a list of 1001 Albums I Just Don’t Understand The Love For. She’s got a great voice, she seems like a nice enough person, but this just feels unexceptional. I think she deserves to be on a list of 1001 great singers, but this wouldn’t even be the album of hers that I would choose.

Really surprised to discover that this was as late as 1991 as it feels firmly rooted in an 80s sound, particularly the drum machines. Interesting enough overall to have made it a worthwhile listen, probably not enough to make me come back to it though.

While I think Off The Wall still holds up pretty well, and Thriller is worth the price of admission for its title track, this turned out to be a hilariously aptly-named album. I knew loads of people who seemed to worship this album when it came out, but when it came down to it, what they actually seemed to love was his videos and the spectacle of him. Personally, I always found this album weird, from the imagery and outfits meant to imply that he was some badass (the lyrics “I’m creepy…” wouldn’t have scanned well, but “I’m weird, I’m weird, I’m really, really weird” could have worked) through to the strange vocal tics - not just the shamones, eee-hees, wooohs, but also the weird pronunciations (“…another *pwart* of me…”). The saving graces for me are Dirty Diana and Smooth Criminal, but the river of dross you have to cross to get there is generally not worth it.

It’s a real shame that the album opens with Cult Of Personality as it’s such a banger of a track that the rest of the album struggles to live up to. What follows is pretty good overall, some stronger moments sounding a little like contemporaries such as Steve Vai and Faith No More, but falling short by comparison. While the rest of the album is probably nearing 3.5 stars, I am rounding it up for Cult Of Personality just being there.

This is a seminal album. It absolutely deserves to be on this list. Yet it is not an album I can score particularly high because it just isn’t one I reach for with any regularity. It’s so tempting to award it an extra point purely because it’s the gateway to all that came next.

Back when I first heard this, it always felt a bit too lo-fi and fuzzy for me, but listening to this fairly soon after Daydream Nation, this actually sounds quite polished by comparison. Maybe because I am older, maybe because I stopped being sniffy about what genres were cool, I enjoyed this a lot more than I let myself 30+ years ago.

Iconic voice, enjoyable songs, impressive enough in its own way, but not an earth-shattering essential.

I really wanted to like this but I found it a bit of a slog to be honest. Ba-Lue Bolivar Ba-Lues Are seemed to be in danger of turning into Cruella DeVille’s theme, and the whole album ended up making me feel like John Thompson was going to pop up and do his Jazz Club catchphrase.

Yet another iconic voice, but also yet another live best of selection. Ultimately, I think that for his voice alone, he deserves to be on the list but are there no albums of his that made the grade…?

Pretty cool throughout, perhaps a bit too laidback in parts, so it didn’t massively grab me, but it was a good listen.

Really surprised by how much of this album I recognised. I genuinely didn’t think I had heard this before, but even allowing for its obvious influence on later tracks (or outright sampling by some), I felt like I knew this far more than I expected. It also surprised me quite how much I enjoyed this as the cold, detached style usually leaves me a bit cold (mission accomplished, evidently).

It’s not terrible, it’s quite pleasant, but that’s about the best I can do for it as it was just a little bland, like Everything But The Girl reinvented for the next generation. Ironic band name really as they are getting The ⭐️⭐️

Not quite their best, but still a hell of a debut. An absolute blast of fresh air after the bland dross that I got previously from the 1001 list.

I don’t think I am ever going to feel the love for Neil Young that others seem to have, but he’s definitely one that the 1001 list has really opened up for me. There’s definitely some ironies in this for me in that a track titled Round & Round (It Won’t Be Long) was the one that really outstayed its welcome, yet the two longest tracks at the end of sides 1 and 2 were the ones I appreciated most. In both of those, I would have happily taken more of the winding solos and loose jamming feel. It’s always going to be the vocals that drag these down for me. I have definitely mellowed to them a bit, and I can’t imagine any other vocalist or style that could fit this better, but it’s telling that it’s the meandering soloing stretches that I like most on here.

First up, I doubt his medical or PhD credentials but he has a way with beats and backing. I was quite happy to lose myself in the groove of a lot of this but some of the lyrical content and interludes got boring very quickly. Hip-hop’s never really going to be my sort of thing, but despite being too long to hold my interest all the way through, this had some good moments.

Not as familiar with this album as I thought I was, but I had a great time with it. Pretty amazing for a debut.

Tough one to really score. I don’t want to be harsh given the skill of the players, but this type of easy listening jazz workout is pretty much the template for on-hold music when “our helplines are experiencing an unusually high volume of calls”.

One of those albums which I played a lot when it first came out but which I don’t think I have listened to as a whole for over 20 years. It’s a bit dominated by its hits (especially *that* one) but overall it’s held up pretty well.

I try and give country a fair go now and then, and I don’t seem to be as down on it as many around here, but even I struggled with this one. The first track wasn’t too bad but then every track after that followed the same template, without ever really going anywhere.

This always felt like a strange direction for him to take, considering what had come previously but he was never straightforward obviously. Although there are some classics here that join his diverse greatest hits, this isn’t one of his that I would reach for as often.

Always good to come to an artist and album that I have no knowledge of at all, particularly if it turns out to be good. I really quite liked this. It’s not going to rock my world and become an immediate favourite, I drifted a bit on some tracks, but this was pleasantly interesting enough for me to come back to it.

I keep trying with Radiohead, but they largely remain a band that I respect and appreciate more than actively enjoy. I get that this was mould-breaking and unique, and while I can salute that, this still remains an album that I struggle to like and choose to engage with.

I had forgotten how ambitious this album sounded and also forgotten that Richard Ashcroft was a pretty good vocalist. Unfortunately, I hadn’t forgotten how long and indulgent this album felt, far outstaying its welcome in my view.

Yet another album that felt just a bit overstuffed. The songs themselves aren’t that long, and with their slacker stylings, they also not that complex or dense, but 17 tracks on an album still felt too long. Felt somewhat like how The Monkees might have sounded if they’d grown up a bit and been transplanted into the 90s weed scene.

Enjoyed this far more than I expected. I was never that keen on them back when they were having hits, but I don’t think I had really paid attention to how good his voice was. The album tracks on here struggle against the big hits on here, and again with those hits, which were so ubiquitous in the 80s, I don’t think I stopped to properly listen to them until now.

I didn’t really discover Offspring until my younger brother got into them, so I mainly know Americana and Conspiracy Of One, both of which seemed to lean heavily on “comedy” tracks (Pretty Fly For A White Guy; Original Prankster etc.) As such, I have never really taken them that seriously, pretty much seeing them as a novelty act. They’re a fun listen but they’ve never really compelled me to listen to much of the rest of their stuff. While I have listened to this one before, I was left thinking that if you’ve heard one Offspring album, you’ve heard them all, and there wasn’t enough outstandingly different on this to make it an essential over the two I’ve already got. No doubt for those who knew this first, this might be their best (and they are superb at what they do) but there’s nothing that grabbed me extra hard on here.

Perfectly serviceable fun rock / proto-punk record. Juvenile, derivative, easy to listen, but just as easy to forget really.

Another really surprising, enjoyable discovery. This sort of early 70s sound is always a fairly easy sell for me anyway. I was surprised that I had never really heard of them, especially as one of the founding members (who formed the band with his step-father!) was Randy California, former playing partner of Jimi Hendrix.

Along with Adele and perhaps to a lesser degree, U2, Coldplay are one of those acts whose levels of adulation and megastardom perplex me. They’ve got some good songs, perhaps a handful of great ones, but for me at least, an almost total lack of dynamism. Songs like In My Place are nice enough, yet just seem a bit simple, dull and whiny to me. Despite all my negativity, I don’t hate them, I just don’t get them and this album is probably the one whose apparent popularity perplexes me most.

Even before the disclosures that he was an abusive dick, I already just thought he was a bit of a dick, leaning so heavily on image that there wasn’t really enough substance behind it to stand on its own. This was actually slightly better musically than I remembered, more effective in the style-over-substance bracket than KISS, but it still strikes me as the sort of music made by people who felt ignored and ridiculed when they were kids.

One of those albums that is in my collection somewhere but is perennially overlooked. I am really pleased with the 1001 list bringing it back to my attention as it really deserves it. So many debts of inspiration owed back here from a host of artists I have listened to in the years since.

Like most gentlemen of my vintage and location, Walk This Way was my first real exposure to hip-hop and a track that never gets old for me. I definitely knew of other tracks prior to this, but Run DMC became the first hip-hop act I could name and recognise. Aside from that track, there’s plenty of other good stuff, albeit a bit samey in the choice of beats, but the snap and tightness of their rhymes as they bounce off of each other is pretty iconic.

Are Yes the litmus test for finding out if someone can handle prog? Probably, and this is probably the album to conduct that test with. It’s got the noodling instrumentation, the swooping stylised vocals, it even has an album cover by Roger Dean. It also manages a strange trick where some of it sounds dated, yet some sounds timeless enough that it could be new now. Forward-thinking, or just still influential enough now to still be shaping artists now?

This was really quite something. Whether that’s a good something or not, I am not entirely sure, but it feels like it absolutely deserves to be on this list. I got suckered in by the first half, a bit funky, a bit bluesy, definitely a great listen, and gently getting weirder but lulling me along. By the time I got halfway through Aumgn, I was wondering what I was listening to and how I had got here? I was maybe even starting to wonder where “here” was any more. Overall, this was a genuinely fascinating and brilliant album but I will stop short of a full score as I don’t think it would be an album I would race to listen to again, but I reckon I definitely will return some day.

This didn’t do much for me at all. It reminded me of a lot of game and movie soundtracks from the early 90s but without any real recurring motifs to tie it together. Maybe they were some but the whole album just kind of passed me by without grabbing me.

Given that my main exposure to James Brown has been his late 80s novelty act appearance in the shambles of Rocky IV, it’s hard to quite get the level of adulation and female screaming that occur throughout this live album. Was he once a sex symbol? Were his dance moves so overpoweringly awesome that the women in the audience could not control themselves? From my perspective, it doesn’t seem to be the songs that make this happen. They’re solid, tightly delivered and they rattle along nicely, but there’s not much sense of the audience engaging with the music rather than the man. Nothing wrong with this as an album overall, but it’s hard to tell why it is presented as an essential listen.

I’m actually pretty impressed with this one. There were a couple of tracks which seemed to drop into “classic 60s vocal harmony” territory but maybe they were the leaders in creating what I take to be a classic sound. Somebody To Love and White Rabbit are right up there in the all-timer category but I am left scratching my head trying to work out where I know Embryonic Journey from…?

Just not my thing. It sounds like every 1950s pastiche I’ve ever seen. You can’t fault the playing and the arrangements, but it’s ultimately a very dated style.

Second album in a row where I can respect the craft without really enjoying the product. Reggae is another style that just doesn’t do much for me, but the hits on here are classics and even the album tracks are still familiar from hearing them when I was a kid.

Metallica at their most Metallica…? If you’re a fan of their stuff, this probably ranks highly, if you’re not a fan, this probably won’t win you over. Personally, I have always been a bit indifferent to them, not keen on Hetfield’s growl, sometimes finding their riffing repetitive and overlong, but at the same time, I can respect them as masters of what they do and inspiration for others that came later. Not sure I had listened to this as a whole previously, but I think I had heard all the tracks at various points.

I have quite a bit of time for Lenny Kravitz, but I think it’s more for the niche of swaggering cool he’s created than much of his musical output. I found a charity shop copy of his greatest hits a few years ago and that’s pretty much enough for me. Nothing wrong with this album particularly, but it’s a tricky one to justify for this list. It’s a late 80s album that harks back to early 70s funk and late 60s psychedelia, but if I didn’t already know it was late 80s, would it stand up as well against those eras?

Surprised myself by enjoying this one far more than I expected. Still never going to be a fan of Morrissey’s voice, let alone some of his provocative pronouncements in recent years, but this was probably the one I’ve enjoyed the most so far. It felt more sparky and musically interesting than others of theirs that I have listened to, and lyrically, it did actually raise a couple of smiles.

Yet another that has really surprised me. Rarely a genre I favour, and although I am unlikely to revisit, I could understand why this is on the list. The number of different voices on this weaving in and out of each other’s rhymes, slightly murky and scratchy beats, and a welcome absence of too many skits, gave this a definite edge over a lot of hip-hop I’ve had so far.

Never been keen on Marc Bolan’s weird almost talking / singing style, which seems like he’s just filling the space without actually trying to sing or stretch himself vocally. Aside from that, the funky bluesy playing is the real star and I like the production which seems to give each element room to breathe. Overall, I liked this more than I expected.

As a fan of Pixies, unsurprisingly, I thought this was largely great, hooky, catchy, and slightly off-kilter. The problem though is the length of the album and quantity of tracks - this could easily have been two superb shorter albums but in one sitting, it just feels too much and outstays its welcome. Probably could have been two 9/10 albums, but by cramming all in one, it feels like an overall 8/10.

If I am charitable and assume that Kanye chooses all the samples that he uses, maybe I can give him a credit for having good taste in music. My problem with him as usual is his belief that he is the most interesting part of that set-up. I always feel that if he applied the same approach to visual media, he’d select a load of cool scenes and then end up covering as much of the screen as possible telling us about how great he is. Actually, some of the most interesting stuff on this album seems to come from the guests.

Considering how tricky I found some NC&TBS albums previously, this was surprisingly accessible, even catchy. Ironically, that almost counts against it, but I still enjoyed listening to this.

Leaving aside the lyrical content, which feels so generic that I almost wonder if someone had an AI bot back in 2003 and typed in “standard gangsta rap lyrics”, the main thing that struck me with this was how boring and plodding it was with its rhythms. Aside from In Da Club, it’s all essentially the same sort of mid-paced plod from track to track. Not terrible but it really doesn’t stand out or do much to move out of its lane.

This immediately felt my sort of thing and I was surprised I’d never heard it before. I had heard of them, but looking at the year of release, it looks like they were just a bit too early for me. Definitely one I will be revisiting and exploring their back-catalogue.

I was expecting a psychedelic wig-out but all I got was a pleasant but unexceptional country rock album. Reminded me of a lot of Neil Young’s output, another artist who I can kind of appreciate but not really get the adulation for. Certainly nothing terrible about this, but would it have sounded better if I was dosing and nodding in a darkened room with a lava lamp…?

Was he The Wildest? Perhaps by 1950s standards, he might indeed have been off the chain, batshit crazy, but 70 years on, I think he’d need to up his game. This was another pleasant listen, even if nearly every track made me think that it was Pennies From Heaven.

An album that seemed inescapable when it was released, with relentless airplay plus appearances across adverts and as background music to endless TV montages. It feels weird how much of this I remembered considering I haven’t listened to it for decades. Also weird how, despite the familiarity, it provoked almost no strong feelings or responses. For me, just a straight-down-the-middle okay album.

I have liked all the Sonic Youth I’ve had so far from the 1001 list, but for some reason this one didn’t quite land as well for me. Possibly I just wasn’t in the mood to appreciate it as much. I can recognise the influence this has had but I think I needed something a little less atonal and abrasive today.

Is there ever a double album that actually justifies its existence? My feeling is that there’s usually a decent single album that sits somewhere within the bloated confines of a double album release, and this album isn’t challenging my view on that. In fairness though, I at least found this one unusual in its layout. Apparently it was deliberately set out to be thematically different on each side and, for me at least, it really felt it - side 1 was a really strong funky collection of country-rock and blues and side 4 somewhat picked up that same vein, but in between, it dives deep into bluegrass country and struggles to climb back out. Nonetheless, there were a few tracks on side 3 (Move Around, The Love Gangster) that I reckon could have sat well on a less self-indulgent single album. Overall, a bit frustrating as I liked parts of it a lot, but it feels like it would take commitment to revisit the whole thing.

More Than A Feeling is such a Dad-rock classic that it verges on cheesy, but it’s still a brilliantly put together track. I didn’t know the rest of the album but it had that same level of well-crafted borderline-teetering classic rock. I definitely teetered on the favourable side.

This probably deserves to be here for being a fairly unique, first of its kind rock opera, but being first doesn’t always mean being the best. There are a lot of good parts, some absolute classic songs, and a lot of ideas, but without some cheat-notes to accompany the story, I don’t feel like the mood music and interludes actually carry enough of the weight of the narrative. It’s overblown (which, in fairness operas should be) but ultimately a bit too self-indulgent and probably made absolute sense in Pete Townshend’s mind at the time.

Never really been a fan of Neil Tennant’s voice, but they had some hits that I quite liked (What Have I Done To Deserve This? and It’s A Sin are pretty good on here) but I doubt I’d ever really indulge in a Best Of collection of theirs. I can admire them as distinctive but I would struggle to justify them as iconic enough to be on the 1001 list.

After being surprisingly and inexplicably taken with his Music For Airports, this one was a little tougher. There’s more actual songs but I definitely prefer him when he’s sitting quietly noodling in the corner. And without the freaky pictures.