1001 Albums Summary

Great album. Forgotten how good they were. Middle of side 2 is a bit weak otherwise would be 5 stars.

It’s massively self indulgent hair metal. The type that birthed a million shitty spandex clad 80s American rockers. It’s probably quite impressive guitar playing but they’re like an author who needs a good editor. It’s telling that the best song on there is a kinks cover.

Really good. Not my usual thing at all. Great beats and musically very different to what I think of as rap. Bit repetitive maybe which is why I didnt give it 4 stars.

Obviously some legendary songs on this, but I was surprised by the amount of filler

Too long- lessens the impact

Good album- made me revisit Bridge over troubled water too as I think I was too harsh on it. Need a 3.5 star rating really

Really pleasant surprise. Had. Ever heard of the band or album before. Chilled.

Surprisingly dull

A stunning, brutal album that leaves you feeling battered by the sheer ferocity of it. A criticism; endless nameless was so bad it almost dropped the whole thing to a 4 but given that it’s a hidden track I’m just going to ignore it.

It’s alright. Decent rock but a bit bland really. The lyrics and stories aren’t as clever as they think they are.

Loved the pounding, urgent beats and the musical complexity. Enjoyed it far more than I thought I would.

Great album

Passed me by at the time; I was Oasis over blur in 1994. Blue got better, oasis got worse. This has some great tracks on it but overall is too art-rock for me and most of it is a bit bland or isn’t very memorable.

WHAT A VOICE!

Absolute banger.

What a surprise. Great album

Liked the music, didn’t like the singer- like axl rose doing a Bruce Springsteen impression. Catchy but ultimately meaningless anthems.

I’d give it 5 stars for eclipse alone. The whole thing is just incredibly immersive. It’s 50 years old but still sounds amazing. I can’t imagine what it would have been like to listen when it first came out.

What a surprisingly great album. I’d only ever heard come on Eileen before but I really enjoyed this.

Bland, earnest music for church or a coffee shop. How could anyone love this?

5* Album. Despite not previously being a Beatles or McCartney fan this record brings me great joy every time I listen to it. Aside from the obvious tracks I love Mrs Vanderbilt and Let Me Roll It.

Meh. Middle of the road 90’s rock. Nothing wrong with it, nothing great about it.

Particularly enjoyed planet caravan and a couple of the others I’d never heard before. On some songs you can really hear the Led Zeppelin influence.

Disappointing. The music is good but repetitive and becomes dull. The lyrics and the singing are poor. I struggled to see what the point of it was.

Metal

Just a phenomenal album. Early REM were fantastic. What I like about it is that it hits a sweet spot where it mixes both their country and their rock influences perfectly. I love automatic for the people and I love new adventures and monster but this is like having the best of all of them.

I thought this was gimmicky and lightweight. I can see for miles was standout but the rest was forgettable and I hated the “adverts”

I liked it

Classic

A lovely surprise. No standout track but a chilled and laid back folksy album that I will listen to again.

The greatest punk band. Not yet what they would become but the seeds are definitely there.

Listening to this album is an act of self harm. It doesn’t work on any level and has nothing whatsoever to recommend it.

Good music. I can see how if you were 15 and in Manchester in 1990 this would become your entire personality.

Really enjoyed this.

Perfectly fine folksy girl singing. Good background music but not much more than that.

It’s not for me, this.

The skits are dreadful. The first couple of tracks are garbage but it picked up after that and overall was a decent listen. The drug and guns schtick is dull now (wasn’t it always?)

Loved this. Never heard of him before but really enjoyed the upbeat funkiness.

Surprisingly good.

Best hip hop album so far. Musically complex and clever lyrics.

Just great

Insanely catchy

Musically nice but weak lyrics and singing make this a forgettable album overall

Good album - you can hear it as the bridge between the early pop and the later psychedelia…

Surprised how much I liked this. Upbeat, funky and insanely catchy dance tunes. Insubstantial maybe but great in the moment.

Classic. Full of great songs.

Perfectly acceptable prog rock noodling.

Pretty good. It’s a sin is the standout.

Very samey and dayed

Great album. Heavy, bluesy. Sounds a couple of years later than 1969. Would have been 5 stars but some of the songs are overlong.

I like this. It’s good.

It is a dead eyed, soulless album. She cannot sing. There is a thread of dreadful, sanctimonious “earth song” lyrics running through it and it is overproduced and polished to death. An empty product.

This album feels like reward for all the shit you have to wade through on this epic thousand record journey. I’d never heard of them before and wasn’t expecting much but this is pure ground-zero straight from the source gold. I’ve seen it described as Proto-everything and that’s a great description but when I listened to it it felt like I was getting a Syd Barrett style insight of what it’s like to live in the mind of a disturbed genius.

I quite liked the laid back “funkiness” of most of it but at times the verbal ‘hook’ was repetitive and overall it was a touch overlong and samey. I can never really follow the lyrics to hip hop on a first listen but most of them didn’t seem particularly dexterous to me although there were good moments. My overall gripe with guys like BIG and Tupac remains valid- rapping about gangs and guns loses its lustre after that life has killed you dead- and for nothing. Rather lifts the veil on the tawdriness of it all. I did enjoy it more than Ilmatic or notorious BIG but not as much as Be by Common.

Nice but bland country music

Hated this on the first listen. Liked it on the second. Not sure what I expected from ELP but this reminded me more of King Crimson than anything else.

Just a 4 by the skin of its teeth as a result of the strength of the obvious songs. There’s a lot of gimmicky shite on here though

Love the guitar tone, great record. Maybe gets a bit samey.

I enjoyed this. Never heard Bragg before but these songs were jaunty.

Funky. Great upbeat songs and immaculate production.

Unmemorable. No skits though so that was good.

I can see why people like it but it’s not for Me. Repetitive.

I’ve seen other reviews along the lines of “I want to love this but it just doesn’t quite land with me” I agree with them.

Enjoyed this very much. Old fashioned rock n roll and blues

I was just the wrong age for Prince. My formative years were when he was doing his “artist formerly known as” oddness. We all just thought he was a weirdo. How wrong we were. That pint sized purple pervert was a bloody genius.

Couple of decent tracks but overall very dull with little to recommend it.

Bit disappointed with this- it just sounds like elevator music to me.

Perfectly fine middle of the road modern rock.

It’s alright, some good moments, nothing more.

The is a really good album. Great songs carried by a phenomenal voice.

Just brilliant

Unique, funky sound

Enjoyed this. Not what I was expecting. Ambient and immersive.

Jaunty but deeply repetitive. I’ve heard magowan described as a poet but I can’t tell what he’s saying so I don’t know.

Nice harmonies but overall a dull novelty album.

Loved this.

Turns out I really like reggae!

I liked this chilled out ambient vibe.

Unique

Didn’t like. Dissonant and empty.

Jazz noodlings. Pleasant but no force.

Too long

There’s something there but it is crushed by being over long and massively repetitive.

I felt nothing

A legendary album. But you can’t make me cringe as hard as I did during the McCartney/Jackson banter and get five stars.

Not as bad as I feared. It was surprisingly ok. As yet untitled was nauseatingly pretentious but other than that it was a reasonably easy if unmemorable listen with a couple of really good tracks. He’s basically Prince but without he sex and humour.

I loved these songs as a teenager and still it’s John Lennon and everything but as an adult I had surprisingly little sympathy for his relentless self pity and the navel gazing at his trauma. I know he was damaged goods and his childhood was fucked up, but Christ you were a beatle for ten years John, how bad can it fucking BE?

Fun album. Enjoyed it a lot. Never heard any of their stuff before.

Whiny shouty screamy American nu metal. Not for me.

Jazz!

Really enjoyed this. Had never heard of him before.

A perfect album.

It’s nice but it’s coffee shop music.

I loved these songs as a teenager and still it’s John Lennon and everything but as an adult I had surprisingly little sympathy for his relentless self pity and the navel gazing at his trauma. I know he was damaged goods and his childhood was fucked up, but Christ you were a beatle for ten years John, how bad can it fucking BE?

I liked it and can appreciate the skill displayed here, but I didn’t love it. I think perhaps Cohen isn’t suited to the quick fire listen-once-and-make-a-snap-judgement nature of this 1001 album journey. It’s probably a slow burn that needs multiple listens to unwrap fully.

On the dull side of ambient.

I liked it but it didn’t grab me.

Boff! How sophisticated am i, i thought as i drew upon my gauloises and sipped my Pernod. Merci jacques et merci 1001 albums generator for that feeling…

Funky but not great

Joyous. Unexpected. A pleasure.

It’s good but it lacks the shit kicking raucous intensity of Nevermind. It’s also not fully acoustic…

Plinky plainly outdated country shite.

This is one of the worst things I have ever listened to. She can’t sing; the lyrics are facile and vapid. Shit in a silk stocking, the manifest inadequacies of the material are to be buried under expensive production but end result sounds little better than europop.

High voltage rock ‘n’ roll.

Decent but too long

Louche: smooth but a bit sordid. I enjoyed it.

Didn’t like this at first but grew into it. Sounds surprisingly modern. One criticism is that this album feels like lots of ideas each of which had potential to be developed further but aren’t. St Elmo’s fire is the standout.

The deluxe version of this is over two hours long and I did not mind one bit.

Timeless high quality country. You can hear why she’s lasted so long. She’s a cut above.

Glorious album.

Liked it but nothing grabbed me like other the cure albums ive had.

Interesting cultural impact of this. I hadn’t heard of the xx or this album. Yet I knew many of the songs. It’s very good.

Others will say that it’s soulful, deep and dark. I just thought it was shit. At times I felt like I was listening to a parody.

This is a cut above every other hip hop album I’ve had

Really enjoyed this as a curiosity. Swinging!

Despite the juvenalia that is integral to this album and which really put me off, it was more interesting musically than I thought it would be.

Not my thing

Lovely album

4* but only just. I found the acoustic side weak (with the exception of hey hey my my) and it was rescued by Powderfinger et al.

They were as good as the Beatles until the Beatles took music to new places.

Not for me, this one

Not for me.

Just lovely music.

Incredible energy. My ears are bleeding. Just as Lemmy intended.

I don’t like waits much. This is mostly crap, but there are moments of real beauty too, so 3

Enjoyed this.

I can see how some people would love this but I found it a bit too ambitious for their talent. It never really settles into a style which I thought problematic rather than transcendental. It just didn’t land with me.

But lightweight in places and overlong/samey but I did enjoy it. Electro prog pop

Really enjoyed this jazz

Good energy. Not much more though.

Decent ambient stuff but writing this the day after I can’t remember any of it.

Ploddingly mediocre.

I had forgotten that once, before they became too preachy, too samey, too bloated, too old, they were very very good.

Good energy and a historical curiosity but the songs are a bit weak.

Mostly forgettable but I did like the cover of my back pages

I found this enigmatic and frustrating; the music is engaging and interesting and he clearly has a poetic eye for a lyric. However the narrative and theme of the album and songs was weak and a bit juvenile. You can be too enamoured of your own wit. It’s also overlong. I was left feeling like this guy had betrayed his talent by creating a novelty piece when he’d actually be capable of something quite profound.

I didn’t like it. Too much dissonance and too long.

Lovely album- really enjoyable listen

Raised to 4* by one song and despite the other!

Some legendary tracks on this and the rest aren’t bad either.

It isn’t knowing, daring, funny or ironic. It’s just shit.

Some beautiful moments but overall not enough here to really grab me.

Some absolutely brilliant tracks but quite a lot of aged filler. Fantastic voice though.

This was a good surprise - very different to what I expected from a guy i associates with punk savagery.

Meh.

Not for me

It’s not bad- still a bit lightweight for me.

Some great tracks on this

I had a hard time deciding whether this was shit or not bad actually. I came down in favour of it and the idiosyncratic charm of its weirdness but you couldn’t get away with making this today, it’s far too lightweight.

I don’t like the genre but this is at the top end of it

I enjoyed this more than I thought I would. It’s pretty good. All the political stuff was lost on me though.

Just what you’d want and expect from Jack White

This is just unmemorable crap. There’s nothing in this album at all. I cheered when it ended. ITS SO BLOODY LONG and you feel every fucking second of it.

Really grew on me.

Really enjoyed this. A surprise.

Bit noodley and aimless but not bad

It’s very skillfully put together but Jesus is it overlong.

Perhaps the greatest rock album ever made. It’s just fantastic from start to finish.

Never heard of this guy but this album was really quite beautiful. I enjoyed it immensely and have been enriched by it.

Good energy and humour but a little one note and repetitive.

A magnificent album from objectively the least likeable beatle. Beautiful.

Just a bit bland and dull really.

At first I thought this was decent though very middle of the road and “safe” but it’s actually pretty joyous.

Better than their first- a great step on the road from bluesmen to rock deities.

Great pop rock

Ok- the political stuff was lost on me though.

Lets face it, although they’ve become their generation’s U2- it’s cool to dismiss them as MOR pretentious dullards- if you just listen to this on it’s merits it is pretty good.

It’s alright but a bit samey and very maudlin. Cheer up Frank!

This was a fun surprise and I enjoyed the energy and crass humour immensely.

I loved this- a pleasant surprise

A favourite from my youth- I’m biased. JDB’s voice is great on this.

It’s very good but I didn’t *love* it

An interesting diversion for a single listen but ultimately forgettable.

This album is not just high quality heavy metal- it has surprising range and some songs are quite beautiful.

Easily the best hip hop artist I’ve had in this list. Another great album.

Funky upbeat pure 80’s synth pop gold.

A great album from a band I really like. Happy to have discovered them through this list.

Alright

Shite. What on earth is it doing in this list? Beatles-ish psychedelia 25 years late. And so fucking self indulgently over long.

I really liked the second side in particular.

Nice, perhaps too nice. But California Dreamin gets it a 4

Not a bad album at all; it just invites comparison to Nirvana and it isn’t in the same league.

This is background music. I’m not going to give it more stars just because she swears.

I like the white stripes but this is the weakest album of theirs i have had. It feels under done and half complete.

There are some classics on this - but overall it is pretty dated and forgetable. The American version with paint it black is clearly superior to the Uk version.

I was never a fan of Green Day and I don’t like American Nu-metal or shite college boy punk. But I really enjoyed this- there are some great songs and enough variation to lift the whole. Good surprise.

Really enjoyed this. A classic.

Perfectly pleasant but not standout.

I liked the music but I don’t like morrissey or his self indulgent and pompous lyrics.

This is a brilliant album that I hated when it came out. I wanted more karma police. I was wrong. They were right. Seeing it live made it make sense.

Good, chilled out vibe.

Prettt good but self indulgently over-long

Meh. I was just left with the feeling from the concert excerpts that I would have preferred to hear a full live album. As it is, it’s ok.

A good album. Overlong and the high quality of the best songs is not matched throughout.

Great album - lovely acoustic ballads.

This is brilliant.

Decent metal- but not great.

It’s about the attitude.

Some decent moments but overall pretty crap.

I don’t care if its legendary, I just didn’t enjoy listening to it very much.

I usually love live albums but wasn’t feeling this one. It isn’t a patch on “live and dangerous.” Turns out I’m not a massive fan of the who. Much of it hasn’t aged well either.

I just don’t know what to make of this. Good voice though, so maybe I liked it.

Nothing we haven’t all heard a thousand times before, and better done.

Nice, but ultimately dull.

Music was pretty good, lyrics and themes less so.

I liked the music very much, some songs overlong. Would have needed lyrics for a 5!

An unexpected delight. Great hooks.

I came to this thinking that I’d heard the song so many times that I would give this a grudging 4 and then move swiftly on. But the rest of the album was great so it gets 5

Decent but CD bloat takes it away from being a 4

I had no enthusiasm for this when it came up and whilst the music is an interesting diversion I doubt I would ever choose to listen to it again under normal circumstances. However, as a soundtrack to run to, it worked really well- so 3 stars and I might even put it on again.

Meh. This type of early 90s American rock does nothing for me. It just has no depth to the sound or the message. It feels flat and mediocre. The great exception is of course Nirvana whose albums batter you with their intensity and furious genius.. but once you’ve heard that, how could you love this?

Not for me, this. The music and beats are good but the lyrics are weakly, fluffily preachy and sanctimonious. A shame because they clearly have talent and theres a great album in there somewhere.

Difficult to categorise- the sound is pretty unique which is good, but for a Queen album i was surprised how unmemorable this was. Seven Seas of Rye is the only classic.

I really enjoyed this- particularly the baselines.

Radiohead: 5 stars.

It was pretty decent but not mix here to draw you back again

Laid back and chilled

5 but a more begrudging 5 than I thought. Real CD bloat and self indulgence in the third quarter of this one which almost brought down the whole thing.

Some good tracks but overall bit bland

I really liked this. Catchy.

It’s just perfect, isn’t it?

A classic. I gave it 4 because I thought it fades a bit in the second half. I’ll listen again and perhaps that will grow on me.

I liked the urgency and the music but his voice grade on me be side I think his “working man” accent is put on (or at least exaggerated beyond my tolerance) and his politics are puerile.

An ordeal. Why on earth is it in this list?

I wanted to love this but most of the songs just didn’t *quite* hit for me.

This grew on me.

It’s alright- chilled and smooth but a bit samey

I don’t care what you think, I liked it.

Good old MOR rock, with the obvious standout

Perfect Pop

So morrissey was a genius once. I came prepared to hate this but I loved it.

Legend. And rightly so.

It’s good but this is really a demo tape. Lose half the songs and develop the others.

A glorious, bombastic and fun listen. Queen meets OK Computer.

This has nothing to recommend it. A failed attempt at refined punk)

What to make of this? Fair to say I came to it prepared to hate. I don’t like this genre of grungy whining 90s American alt rock at all. And when I found it on iTunes my first reaction to a 2:02 album was that I had to find the original rather than the bloated “anniversary deluxe” expanded edition released for super fans. But no. This was, in fact the original. I confess I wasn’t happy. What did Corgan need 2 hours to say when Lennon/McCartney/Harrison and Starr had had to contend with a 40 minute limit? But…. It’s good. It’s not all for me but overall it’s good. I don’t like corgan’s voice much but it works for these songs and he knows how to use it. Even the length- the quality doesn’t really drop for all of the two hours and you have to respect that. I also respect the vision even if I’m not totally on board with it. He’s taken a mighty swing at something special and even if he doesn’t quite nail it, there is honour in the attempt. It’s certainly true that he could have made an all time great album if he’d edited it down to 50 minutes and been more conventional but that feels like nitpicking; he was after something more than conventional brilliance. 4*

Middling post Beatles scouse psychedelia with a hit attached.

Magnificent voice. One all time great track. Puerile politics and most of the lyrics are self pitying cringe.

Pretty good but not amazing

I am enfunked.

Meh. Average 90s grunge

Nice enough at first listen, but ultimately meaningless and empty.

Beautiful from Sigur Ros

3 on first listen, 4 on second. Overall it’s pretty good

Hated it at first. Softened on a second listen.

Good; pleasant listen but maybe a bit dull

Bog standard maudlin ballads

Didn’t land with me at all.

The apogee of rock and roll. Pulling this out of the bag after Bon Scott died was a real achievement.

I enjoyed this

Decent disco

Dull

It’s obviously very good but after a while it just gets dull.

Meh

A step towards greatness

Smooth Jazzzzzzzz

I just don’t like this guy. It feels like he’s having a joke I don’t get but suspect is at my expense.

I like prog but this is bad prog. Self indulgent, tedious and pretentious.

Meh

Beautiful but perhaps a bit samey

Meh. Nothing to see here

Boring

Weakens a bit in the second half but the first few tracks are as strong as anything laid down by anyone.

Just about a three.

Great album for running

Country isn’t my thing but Cash, and this album, are both great.

I hated this but then I gave it 4. Weird.

It’s alright to run to but unmemorable overall. Upbeat, synth-y and new to me. But overlong and I’ve no urge to listen again.

Some fantastic songs but also a fair bit of filler on what is quite a short album

Another strong 4 for Elvis. Before this project I had never listened to his work but he’s pretty good and consistently so.

Surprised to agree with my teenage self; I didn’t really think much of it overall despite some great tracks.

Love this!

I gave it 5 for the music even if the lyrics were a bit twee

Alright

Big standard girly pop.

Wonderful.

A hip hop album I really enjoyed.

Disappointing. Fleetwood Mac-lite. The massive production costs are a sure sign of an artist looking to cover up a void at the heart of the work.

Music is nice enough but the repetitive nature of each song becomes tedious. I see no genius here.

Perfect, brilliant, magnificent rock.

Forgettable

Disappointing MOR 90s rock from the manics.

I enjoyed it.

Two legendary tracks bookending mediocre blues mush

Meh, just about a 3 as I couldn’t care enough to hate it.

Great voice, but very, very dated.

Decent but only flashes of the magic of Nevermind.

A bloody ordeal.

Crap country

Pretty good. Not what I expected

Well the best that can be said for this is that it was a passive background to my long run. There’s nothing great here. After five minutes you’ve heard everything it has, but on and on and it goes.

Bowie is a bit hit and miss in my view, but this is fantastic!

Alright- decent punk energy but I can’t tell what the singer is saying

Not half bad this. Apparently the hill I am willing to die on is that Randy Scouse Git is as psychedelic and brilliant as anything Syd Barrett ever wrote.

Self indulgent but I liked it

Really good hip hop

Nice enough but not really my thing.

Rubbish. Frankie Teardrop may be the worst collection of sounds ever recorded

Surprisingly chill but maybe a bit dull

Diverting sitar noodling to listen to passively during a run. Don’t regret it but probably won’t listen again

Smooth

Really good upbeat and fun

A nice surprise in the hot weather

Beautiful

Turning the volume up REALLY HIGH changes this from a 2 to a 4

Good punk

Might be cheesy but it’s Brie-lliant!

Surprisingly fun listen

Fantastic album. Had never appreciated how good it Is before!

It’s just noise really

Another great album from Costello. I’d never heard any of his stuff before this but every single one of his albums on this list is great! Best Elvis.

Strong 4.5

Top 80s!

I just don’t like the who. This is like the Wall but shit. A couple of good songs wrapped in massive self-indulgence with a sinister dollop of paedophilia on top.

Great

Alright. A bit rock by numbers

Smoooooooooooooth

I just didn’t like this as much as I thought I would.

Enjoyed the intro and outro voiceover but the music is forgettable.

Nice enough but a bit empty

Never been a fan of Dylan but I thought this was great!

It’s good, and I wanted to like it. I just didn’t like it that much.

Pretty good 70s rock

I enjoyed superfuzz bigmuff but thought this was a bit crap. Maybe I just wasn’t in the mood

I hate these guys but this album was great. I begrudge this score.

Highly enjoyed this.

More of a historical curiosity than anything else. The Beatles influence is clear, as is the fact that they could imitate but not rival that sound. So they tried something else, and it all worked out very nicely for them.