1001 Albums Summary

Fine, but I probably won’t return to it.

What a mess.

One of the best examples of its era’s sounds.

Funnier than I remembered!

Completely unlistenable

Wow, so much better than any debut by their peers.

It’s rock, it’s rap, it’s funky, it’s fun.

A bunch of the dumbest music ever, then Jeff Beck plays something cool, then more dumb music. Glad Jeff went solo.

This record is so good.

It’s dark and brooding, classic nick cave.

I don’t know a ton about whether this is good or not by the standards of the genre,but I liked it.

Competent vocals, more than competent orchestration.

I do not like this band.

The finger style guitar is great on this!

Such an important musical document of so many legendary players. Shame there isn’t more country music on this list.

There’s so much of this stuff on here. I guess it’s pretty good, but I’m really fatigued by 70s punk-adjacent music at this point.

It’s good, but there’s too much of it.

This is like a 90s sitcom clip show. A bunch of undeveloped ideas that could have been cool in other contexts. The one difference: clip shows are much shorter.

These guys are such incredible musicians.

Blonde rules.

It holds up as a decent example or rockabilly. +1 for Scotty Moore

Yeah, this is pretty good. Maybe not a touchstone of the genre, but certainly a worthy listen.

My wife says this album sounds like someone practicing guitar. (She would know what that sounds like.) There are a couple cool moments. A couple.

I dunno man, seems like way too much of this.

Prince at his deepest and funkiest. Great record.

There’s a lot of reheated Smiths on here. This among it.

Weird, dark, and very very cool. So, it’s Tom Waits.

This is a weird one. Music for when you’re at the bar tooooo late.

This one is proof that listening environment really matters. I listen to a lot of these in the car on road trips, banking up for a couple of weeks and then binging them. Was not impressed in that environment. Alone at 6am with everyone else in the house sleeping, through a good pair of headphones: that’s how to appreciate the delicate minimalism of this album.

REM rules

Lot of reviewers here don’t like the polished performances by world class musicians. I do.

There’s some brilliant music here, but a lot of filler and attempts at things that others did better.

The more I listen to The Who, the more I realize how bad they are.

I mean, cool I guess but nothing I’d want to come back to really.

Some prog rock bands lean into rock and some lean into prog. These guys definitely leaned into the prog, and have the chops to back it up.

At first blush, don’t love it. My theory is that there’s more than meets the eye. Probably need to come back later.

Absolutely phenomenal, composition playing, the worlds. Zappa’s use of timbre and texture is really striking on this one.

One of my favorite albums by one of my favorite artists!

I guess I just don’t get this dude or this band.

Awesome riffs, lyrics, eh not so much.

Not life changing, but definitely some nice moments.

This band is incredible. 4 stars only because some of this too-long record could have been left on the cutting room floor without any negative consequences.

I thought that an older, wiser version of me would have gotten over this. No way - so good!

Classic top to bottom.

Every young guitar player needs to study all of Jimi’s work, but especially this album. Not only is there enough vocabulary here to make a career of, but the experimentation and soundscapes are supplemented by some really good writing. Incredible rhythm section work too. An absolute classic.

Absolute masterpiece.

Absolutely incredible record by an absolutely incredible band.

I really don’t know what to do with this one. Normally I try to rate these by some kind of criterion. By the criterion of psychedelic rock, I guess this is fine. I don’t know enough about Sitar traditions to rate it base on that. I guess I’ll do this one by whether or not I liked it alone…

It’s wild to me that so many of the reviews on this site use the words “smooth” or “polished” as a pejorative. I would posit that good music can sound like it’s made by well-trained and competent musicians sometimes. This is grown folk music, and very good at that.

Classic wu tang

Not sure what to do with this one. We’ll say a neutral 3.

Cool, but ultimately forgettable.

In addition to being a sea change for rock music, the writing on here is also impeccable.

Some interesting moments, but not enough to warrant this many tracks.

It’s hard to figure out what to do with this one. The production is great, the political commentary and storytelling too. But the misogyny, yikes.

Man, this is good. Also this band came out swinging fully formed.

Some really cool sounds here.

My theory always was that Winwood is what made Blind Faith cooler than Clapton’s other bands. My theory was correct.

Man, this is great. Good writing, production, the whole 9.

By far the best thing ever influenced by Ayn Rand. Mostly cause these dudes can shred.

Nothing too special here.

Better than I thought, but not the best work of anyone involved.

I mean, of course it’s good.

I’ve noticed reading other reviews that two types of listeners seem to be drawn to this list: those listening for vibes and those actually interested in music (melody, harmony, timbre, texture.) All the bad reviews of this are clearly written by the former. Anyone who’s ever touched an instrument understands why this is 5 stars.

I’m sure it was influential or important in some way, but I don’t get it.

Man, the best of the Byrds and a country rock classic.

Folsom Prison is better, but the band is on fire here.

Honestly, better than I expected.

There are a lot of great Dylan albums, but this may be the best.

Thieves, yes, but it sure is fun to hear them steal.

Man, pop music used to be different. Like it’s very cool that Shankar explained to Western listeners what to listen for, and this way before the Beatles started using sitars.

As a child of the 2000s, all of my favorite music was clearly influenced heavily by this band. This album definitely holds up.

What a huge sound, what in your face lyrics. The epitome of Public Enemy.

While some of the trappings of a live recording get in the way, it’s still Duke.

This kind of thing makes it, but there’s no George Jones or Chick Corea on this list.

I tend to rate R&B higher than most other things on here, just because these albums usually feel like a breath of fresh air. This one’s really good though.

There’s a lot of lousy early punk on this list. This one rips.

Pretty cool, albeit not earth-shattering.

Deeply personal, heartfelt, and so damn much fun. Proof that Missy is one of the greatest ever, period.

Sure it’s long, but damn it’s good!

As good as, if not better than, anything Nirvana did.

This is really long but really really good.

Loading screen music.

It’s pretty rock and roll. Honestly, 3.5.

Not bad, not great.

So many of these “really influential” albums are unlistenable dull. This one’s pretty cool.

Of course it’s great.

Pretty good music.

The thing about this band is that their sounds are cool and interesting, but none of their records are mixed like it.

It’s pretty good. If it were released in 62, it would be keeping up with Herbie Hancock and Freddie Hubbard, albeit with consistently less beautiful lines. But it’s a little too little, a little too late.

Surprisingly good for its age and genre. Some interesting choices, but likely not something I’ll return to.

The greatest musicians ever at their best.

I really wanted to like this, but I didn’t.

Pop songwriting chops with big slow groves. What’s not to like?

This thing is absolutely stacked with the best songs ever written.

Honestly, a good deal better than I expected. Slick pop production built around star power. A landmark of music? No, but decent for what it is. -.5 for being waaaaay too long.

First half a 3, second half a 4. It’s okay, until it rips.

This music is very silly and very fun. 3.5 rounded to 4.

I mean, really it doesn’t get much better than this. This band should have been as big as the Beatles.

Maybe not my go to for casual listening, but these musicians are masters of their craft.

This is the most RHCP that RHCP has been. If you like them, this is 5 stars. If you don’t, it’s 0. I like them.

Unbelievably good songwriting.

Uncontroversial: foo fighters are better than Nirvana. This albums alright, but not their best.

As of now this album has an average rating of 3. Seems right to me.

There’s some great stuff on here (hurt, own personal Jesus), and then some that’s not so great. This album is definitely responsible for some of the bad cover choices I’ve made over the years at gigs.

I loved this album when I was a kid. I’m an adult now.

Absolute classic sound track.

Not bad, but not memorable.

This one is pretty good. Surprisingly so.

As usual, bunch of people on here review timbre instead of music. These songs are well-crafted, even if the production sounds a bit dated

Songs are good, orchestrations great, album too long.

Other than over singing a jazz standard, it’s pretty good.

A pleasant surprise. Some really cool music on here. 3.5, rounded up.

Sounds like what it is. A producer screwing around.

I love this band.

Thoroughly professional, well-put together.

They heard Zappa, and were like “sure, but what if it was all easy to play?” Some interesting stuff, some not. 2.5 rounded up.

Good document of its era. Some cool jams, some forgettable.

Super good grooves and musicianship throughout. 3.5, rounded to 4.

A definitive bossa nova document.

This some boomer bullshit.

Dude it’s so good.

Not my favorite Springsteen, but it’s good!

One of Dylan’s B+ efforts. A couple of great songs and some filler.