My 1001 Albums Journey

Album	You	Global	Diff
Olympia 64 Jacques Brel	5	2.78	+2.22
Goodbye And Hello Tim Buckley	5	2.83	+2.17
Black Monk Time The Monks	5	2.94	+2.06
No Sleep 'Til Hammersmith (Live) Motörhead	5	3.06	+1.94
Queen Of Denmark John Grant	5	3.13	+1.87
#1 Record Big Star	5	3.26	+1.74
A Christmas Gift For You From Phil Spector Various Artists	5	3.28	+1.72
At Fillmore East The Allman Brothers Band	5	3.38	+1.62
Coat Of Many Colors Dolly Parton	5	3.42	+1.58
Live! Fela Kuti	5	3.44	+1.56

Album	You	Global	Diff
System Of A Down System Of A Down	1	3.26	-2.26
Better Living Through Chemistry Fatboy Slim	1	2.99	-1.99
Rhythm Nation 1814 Janet Jackson	1	2.98	-1.98
Good Old Boys Randy Newman	1	2.86	-1.86
Music Madonna	1	2.68	-1.68
Superunknown Soundgarden	2	3.66	-1.66
Van Halen Van Halen	2	3.63	-1.63
Rio Duran Duran	2	3.49	-1.49
Five Leaves Left Nick Drake	2	3.47	-1.47
Odelay Beck	2	3.46	-1.46

Artist	Albums	Average
R.E.M.	2	5
Prince	2	5

Artist	Albums	Average
Madonna	2	1.5

Lynyrd Skynyrd

4/5

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

Van Halen

2/5

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.

Illmatic

Nas

3/5

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.

Bridge Over Troubled Water

Simon & Garfunkel

3/5

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

Ready To Die

The Notorious B.I.G.

2/5

Too long- lessens the impact

Parsley, Sage, Rosemary And Thyme

Simon & Garfunkel

4/5

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

Raising Hell

Run-D.M.C.

3/5

Virgin Suicides

Air

4/5

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

Five Leaves Left

Nick Drake

2/5

Abraxas

Santana

3/5

Surprisingly dull

Nevermind

Nirvana

5/5

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.

Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not

Arctic Monkeys

3/5

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

Pornography

The Cure

4/5

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

Buena Vista Social Club

4/5

L.A. Woman

The Doors

4/5

Great album

Parklife

Blur

3/5

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.

Lady Soul

Aretha Franklin

4/5

WHAT A VOICE!

(What's The Story) Morning Glory

Oasis

5/5

Absolute banger.

Trio

Dolly Parton

4/5

What a surprise. Great album

Only By The Night

Kings of Leon

3/5

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

The Dark Side Of The Moon

Pink Floyd

5/5

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.

Too Rye Ay

Dexys Midnight Runners

4/5

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

Red Dirt Girl

Emmylou Harris

2/5

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

Band On The Run

Paul McCartney and Wings

5/5

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.

Shake Your Money Maker

The Black Crowes

3/5

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

Paranoid

Black Sabbath

4/5

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.

Daydream Nation

Sonic Youth

2/5

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.

British Steel

Judas Priest

4/5

Metal

Document

R.E.M.

5/5

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.

The Who Sell Out

The Who

2/5

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

Bookends

Simon & Garfunkel

3/5

It's Blitz!

Yeah Yeah Yeahs

4/5

I liked it

Back To Black

Amy Winehouse

5/5

Classic

I Want To See The Bright Lights Tonight

Richard Thompson

4/5

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

The Clash

4/5

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

They Were Wrong, So We Drowned

Liars

1/5

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

Pills 'n' Thrills And Bellyaches

Happy Mondays

4/5

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

The Velvet Underground

5/5

All Directions

The Temptations

4/5

Really enjoyed this.

Eli And The Thirteenth Confession

Laura Nyro

3/5

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

The Sensual World

Kate Bush

2/5

It’s not for me, this.

The Chronic

Dr. Dre

3/5

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?)

The Poet

Bobby Womack

4/5

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

Bad Company

4/5

Surprisingly good.

Be

Common

4/5

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

Let's Get It On

Marvin Gaye

5/5

Just great

Violator

Depeche Mode

5/5

Insanely catchy

So Much For The City

The Thrills

2/5

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

Revolver

Beatles

4/5

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

Darkdancer

Les Rythmes Digitales

4/5

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

Rumours

Fleetwood Mac

4/5

Classic. Full of great songs.

The Yes Album

Yes

3/5

Perfectly acceptable prog rock noodling.

Actually

Pet Shop Boys

3/5

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

I’ve Got a Tiger By the Tail

Buck Owens

2/5

Very samey and dayed

Led Zeppelin

4/5

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

Fear Of A Black Planet

Public Enemy

4/5

I like this. It’s good.

Rhythm Nation 1814

Janet Jackson

1/5

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.

Black Monk Time

The Monks

5/5

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.

Rubber Soul

Beatles

3/5

Me Against The World

2Pac

3/5

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.

Grievous Angel

Gram Parsons

2/5

Nice but bland country music

Tarkus

Emerson, Lake & Palmer

3/5

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.

A Night At The Opera

Queen

4/5

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

White Blood Cells

The White Stripes

4/5

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

Mermaid Avenue

Billy Bragg

4/5

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

We Are Family

Sister Sledge

4/5

Funky. Great upbeat songs and immaculate production.

Tical

Method Man

2/5

Unmemorable. No skits though so that was good.

All Mod Cons

The Jam

2/5

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

Innervisions

Stevie Wonder

3/5

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.

Hard Again

Muddy Waters

5/5

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

Purple Rain

Prince

5/5

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.

Like A Prayer

Madonna

2/5

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

Birth Of The Cool

Miles Davis

3/5

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

1977

Ash

3/5

Perfectly fine middle of the road modern rock.

Beauty And The Beat

The Go-Go's

3/5

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

21

Adele

5/5

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

Automatic For The People

R.E.M.

5/5

Just brilliant

Sign 'O' The Times

Prince

5/5

Unique, funky sound

Lost Souls

Doves

4/5

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

If I Should Fall From Grace With God

The Pogues

3/5

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.

Shaka Zulu

Ladysmith Black Mambazo

2/5

Nice harmonies but overall a dull novelty album.

Fear Of Music

Talking Heads

5/5

Loved this.

Marcus Garvey

Burning Spear

4/5

Turns out I really like reggae!

Lost In The Dream

The War On Drugs

4/5

I liked this chilled out ambient vibe.

Heaven Or Las Vegas

Cocteau Twins

4/5

Unique

Now I Got Worry

The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion

2/5

Didn’t like. Dissonant and empty.

Getz/Gilberto

Stan Getz

3/5

Jazz noodlings. Pleasant but no force.

The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill

Lauryn Hill

3/5

Too long

Dig Your Own Hole

The Chemical Brothers

3/5

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

Truth And Soul

Fishbone

2/5

I felt nothing

Thriller

Michael Jackson

4/5

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

Introducing The Hardline According To Terence Trent D'Arby

Terence Trent D'Arby

3/5

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.

John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band

John Lennon

3/5

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?

Crime Of The Century

Supertramp

4/5

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

Hybrid Theory

Linkin Park

2/5

Whiny shouty screamy American nu metal. Not for me.

Ellington at Newport

Duke Ellington

4/5

Jazz!

Goodbye And Hello

Tim Buckley

5/5

Really enjoyed this. Had never heard of him before.

The Stone Roses

5/5

A perfect album.

Central Reservation

Beth Orton

3/5

It’s nice but it’s coffee shop music.

Imagine

John Lennon

3/5

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?

Songs Of Leonard Cohen

Leonard Cohen

3/5

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.

Nixon

Lambchop

2/5

On the dull side of ambient.

There's No Place Like America Today

Curtis Mayfield

3/5

I liked it but it didn’t grab me.

Olympia 64

Jacques Brel

5/5

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…

Stand!

Sly & The Family Stone

2/5

Funky but not great

Low

David Bowie

4/5

#1 Record

Big Star

5/5

Joyous. Unexpected. A pleasure.

MTV Unplugged In New York

Nirvana

4/5

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

Don't Come Home A Drinkin' (With Lovin' On Your Mind)

Loretta Lynn

2/5

Plinky plainly outdated country shite.

Music

Madonna

1/5

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.

Highway to Hell

AC/DC

5/5

High voltage rock ‘n’ roll.

Stankonia

OutKast

3/5

Decent but too long

Suede

4/5

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

Another Green World

Brian Eno

4/5

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.

At Fillmore East

The Allman Brothers Band

5/5

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

Coat Of Many Colors

Dolly Parton

5/5

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

KIWANUKA

Michael Kiwanuka

5/5

Glorious album.

Seventeen Seconds

The Cure

3/5

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

xx

The xx

4/5

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.

Heartattack And Vine

Tom Waits

2/5

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.

Enter The Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)

Wu-Tang Clan

4/5

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

The Wildest!

Louis Prima

4/5

Really enjoyed this as a curiosity. Swinging!

Locust Abortion Technician

Butthole Surfers

3/5

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.

I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You

Aretha Franklin

3/5

Not my thing

Dusty In Memphis

Dusty Springfield

4/5

Lovely album

Rust Never Sleeps

Neil Young & Crazy Horse

4/5

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.

Face to Face

The Kinks

4/5

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

Seventh Tree

Goldfrapp

2/5

Not for me, this one

Odelay

Beck

2/5

Not for me.

Deja Vu

Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young

5/5

Just lovely music.

No Sleep 'Til Hammersmith (Live)

Motörhead

5/5

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

Bone Machine

Tom Waits

3/5

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

Sunday At The Village Vanguard

Bill Evans Trio

4/5

Enjoyed this.

Rings Around The World

Super Furry Animals

3/5

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.

Out Of The Blue

Electric Light Orchestra

4/5

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

Live!

Fela Kuti

5/5

Really enjoyed this jazz

Superfuzz Bigmuff

Mudhoney

4/5

Good energy. Not much more though.

Treasure

Cocteau Twins

3/5

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

Superunknown

Soundgarden

2/5

Ploddingly mediocre.

The Joshua Tree

U2

5/5

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

Kick Out The Jams (Live)

MC5

3/5

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

Younger Than Yesterday

The Byrds

3/5

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

Illinois

Sufjan Stevens

3/5

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.

System Of A Down

1/5

The Downward Spiral

Nine Inch Nails

2/5

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

Tom Tom Club

4/5

Lovely album- really enjoyable listen

Nilsson Schmilsson

Harry Nilsson

4/5

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

War

U2

4/5

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

Good Old Boys

Randy Newman

1/5

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

Bryter Layter

Nick Drake

3/5

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

Private Dancer

Tina Turner

3/5

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

Duck Rock

Malcolm McLaren

4/5

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

Here Come The Warm Jets

Brian Eno

3/5

Meh.

Rio

Duran Duran

2/5

Not for me

Kind Of Blue

Miles Davis

4/5

1984

Van Halen

3/5

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

Music From Big Pink

The Band

4/5

Some great tracks on this

Caetano Veloso

3/5

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.

Rust In Peace

Megadeth

3/5

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

A Seat at the Table

Solange

3/5

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

Blunderbuss

Jack White

4/5

Just what you’d want and expect from Jack White