1001 Albums Summary

Eugh Genesis. Peter Gabriel's voice isn't my favorite, and Genesis has this habit of gluing completely unrelated musical snippets together and calling it a song. But there's some impeccable musicianship displayed here, and I like More Fool Me, so a 3.

I love me some prog, and this is one of those early examples that would end up defining the genre. But I'm glad it didn't stop here: too much "experimental" in Moonchild, too much repetition in The Court of the Crimson King.

This album has some hits I recognize, but the album is all over the place. The short songs and varied styles demanded constant attention in a way that seemed to fight with the individual songs. Better than the other albums I've given a 3 so far. Maybe this is the bottom of 4.

Now that I've heard this album, I can die in peace. First half of the album was the most generic music I could imagine. Worth a 2, I guess. The second half is rough. What's with this list and too-long albums? Definitely some mistaking of quantity for quality. Since I wanted this to be over 45 minutes ago, it gets a 1.

First song reminds me of Django Django but... created by aliens that haven't quite learned what music is. This album is so strange. It's like the singer, instrumentalists, and producer are all making different songs. Song structures are weird, the instrumentation gets verses and choruses and bridges mixed up, chord progressions are completely random, the lyrics don't match the rhythm, and the lead vocalist gives an oddly subdued performance. It's a collage of unrelated songs put together to make a new song if you squint, but the details are all wrong. Making something that's so perfectly the uncanny valley of music might deserve an award, but as an album, this is a 1.

I feel bad for the audio engineer. His poor mics never stood a chance. Particularly the front end of the album is unpleasantly shouty. Aretha Franklin obviously has a great voice, but it's the only thing going on here. Everything else is as placid as could be. None of the instrumentation or melodies or lyrics impress except in Respect. One hit song, bad engineering but probably the best they could do at the time, and the album doesn't overstay its welcome. That's a high 2, low 3.

Both the songs and the album are only bearable because of their short runtime. Nothing stands out in a good way. Every song is the same. You could listen to 30 seconds of the album and know the whole thing. Oh, the mix on and after Let's Dance is way better than the earlier portion of the album. I Don't Wanna Walk Around with You has Cut Copy in the background? xD Okay, the last three songs convince me this might actually be a pleasant enough listen if the mix for the whole album were better. Alas, we have what we have (and this is a 2017 remaster, I guess it was even worse before that), and what we have gets a... 1.5*.

Not sure how objective I can be about an album I already love. Quintessential synth pop. If I have to pick things to nitpick, they would be the overreliance on fade outs and the album's short runtime. It's not the most cohesive album out there. And You Tell Me is the weakest link on the album. Still, an album I'm happy to listen to all the way through. 5*

This album suffers from being live. Crowd noise, self indulgent "thank yous", generally not great mixing, unintelligible lyrics. Really hard to pull anything symphonic out of the mix other than the violins and a few horn blats. Probably a lot more interesting for someone who already knows the music in its original context. Is Metallica always this cringe? 30 minutes in and already fatigued. This is just relentlessly unpleasant on the ears. Gets more listenable starting at Hero Of The Day. Okay, yeah, that was painful. I'm sure there will be worse stuff to come, but this gets a 1 just for putting me through 133 minutes of that.

Interesting how long it takes this album to get going. Contusion is where it really starts going. Wonder if the gospel start was a strategic choice. Most of the songs here would benefit from radio edits. I appreciate the funky jams, but they get a lot of airtime. Ordinary Pain and on definitely started to feel repetitive within the songs and as a whole. Good music, might add a few songs to my playlist to listen to on shuffle, but not an album I'll listen through again. 4*

Halfway through, and my man hasn't bested 90 bpm. What a slow album. Surprised to hear Blue Skies. Didn't realize that it's a standard. Oh gosh, September Song. Nelson obviously considers himself a crooner, but this album belongs 30 years in the past. Released in 78, it feels self indulgent. Oh, it's an album entirely of standards. I guess that's why it feels so idiosyncratic and slow. Hey, On the Sunny Side of the Street is 120 bpm. We did it. In summary, an inoffensive background album. No fun to actively listen to, though. A 2. Not terrible, but forgettable and not something I'd seek out.

Had to go into my EQ and make sure I hadn't accidentally shelved everything off at 5khz. There's a weird master choice for the the first four songs of the album. I can hear this band's influence in other stuff from the next decade. The guitar stuff going on is fine. Vocals aren't my jam. At least they made sure it's not as annoying as it could be by sitting it so far back in the mix and rolling off everything that's not 1-3khz. Can't decide if this is a 2 or a 3. Everything but the vocals and mix is fine, probably 4 quality. The master gets better partway through the album. The vocals stay awful the whole time. No song sticks out as the hit here, my chosen marker for a 3, but there's enough consistent good across the album, if you ignore the vocals, that I guess it combines to a good song. A 3.

That 60s fascination with stereo separation. Album suffers from the recording capabilities of the time. Shouty vocals, bad reverbs that lead to unpleasant buildup on certain vocal parts, excessive stereo separation, a master entirely devoid of low end. Not going to listen to this in mono, but I bet that stereo field is covering for an otherwise completely undecipherable mid range. Engineering issues aside, a good album musically. Great harmonies, good musicians, varied musical structures, some obvious hits. 4*.

Not my type of music, but surprisingly pleasantly mixed. Normally bounce off of heavy metal because it's harsh, but this is fine. Has an almost live feel, which would normally be a bad thing, but I think helps in this genre so it's not just a wall of sound. Lyrics are just plain silly. Nothing awesome here, but it's not the worst. 2.

Thank you for not overpowering your mic, Miss Holiday! A hard feat for this age, but the success really sets this album a bar above. This album is engineered so well for the time. Those trumpet solos! Songs are too slow and I'm not a fan of her vibrato, which sounds a bit too much like choking to me xD I keep expecting Chestnuts Roasting On An Open Fire after each string intro. The ending of But Beautiful is great. Liked this a lot more by the end than I expected. 4*.

Oh hey, I listened to this yesterday. Can say from the experience of trying to replicate it that the synthesizer and effects work here is great, or at least hard to recreate. Trying to listen objectively, the songs are obviously repetitive. There are some places that are recorded poorly (Spacelab is kind of all lowpassed, the big sweeps of Metropolis clip a lot, some of Neon Lights should have been transposed an octave down). But this is a 5, 5 being "I'd listen to this album all the way through of my own volition." I did that just yesterday.

Rock'n'Roll Star is making me wonder how this album has such high accolades. Yeah, not sure what people see in this. Nostalgia, perhaps? Wow, the mix is so much better on Supersonic. Still not a fan, especially of the dude's voice, but that's one less thing to hate. And we're back to the muffled mix. That's a low 2.

A good album. And this was 1970! Only mixing complaint I have is that vocals are back and not very intelligible. What is that last song? Album definitely has some hits, and it's a pleasant listen except for that. 4.

Oh hey, that sample used by Enigma! Music is quite simple. A lot of unison play in here where the vocal/guitar/bass are all doing the same thing. Decent mix. Good guitar solos. Nothing really going on in the last 15 minutes of the album. A 4 before that, a 3 including it.

Haha, listening to the clean version of this album is hilarious from the very start. She sure does mention Timbaland a lot. Lyrics are straight up goofy. Hip hop isn't really my jam. Interesting beats texturally, but nothing else going on musically. A 2.

If it weren't for this guy's voice, I'd really like this album. Nice prog with whiny vocals. Boo. A 3.

Oh no, I'm a fan of disco. This album's pretty generic as disco goes, but nothing really turned me off, so a 4.

They cover a lot of styles here. Punk, rock, blues, reggae! And the instrumentalists are doing a good job. Has enough sonic variance for a double album. But that voice! I couldn't handle that for a normal album, much less a double! That's a 2.

Leading with Second Hand News is certainly a choice. An album of hits with a couple head scratchers that bring it down. Without those, it would be 5*, but as is, 4.

This was an interesting one. Never heard Wilco before. Was put off by the first song of the album, but the rest is full of moments of brilliance that make me really want to come back and listen to this a second time. No big hits jumped out at me, but this is the first double album from the list that hasn't made me wish it were at least 20 minutes shorter. So it gets a 4.

Bowie isn't my style. This album is very Bowie. Rock and roll with eccentricism thrown on top. In this case, Bowie's divergence from the rock-and-roll formula isn't making things any better. Worth a 3.

Wow, this first song is... the worst. 2006 musta been a dry year for the alternative category if this garbage won a Grammy. I feel like this is a joke that I'm not in on. It's just terrible. A 1, for sure.

These guys sound like they're having fun. Not much else going on, though. This would be a 1 if it were released today, but gotta have some respect for when it was released. A 2.

This wouldn't feel out of place releasing in 2010. The album peaks at Expectations and then kinda coasts. A worthwhile listen, a 3.

Recognize some hits from here, but I feel just as "eh" about this Black Sabbath album as the last one. A 3.

I can hear how this was the inspiration for much of the 00s British rock. But this is definitely a case where the derivatives are better than the original. It's a listenable album, but doesn't have anything I want to listen to again. That makes it a 3.

Just didn't enjoy this at all.

This is a nice listen. Smooth and easy to listen to. Given how obnoxious the picks on this list can be, surprised to find this here. Not really feeling like it does things that a dozen other albums in the past 20 years have done, though. Makes me wonder why this particular album is the one you have to listen to before kicking the bucket. Gives me Kraftwerk vibes in multiple places. I'm not big on the vocals, alas; they're better than a lot of what we've heard so far, but the airy style isn't sitting well with me today. It works in some of the songs: Did You See Butterflies? is pretty great, it reminds me of C Duncan. I'll listen to some of this again, so a 4.

Weird mix. Can't hear the lyrics. The "Love" suite is not very interesting prog for how much of it there is. The whole album is meandering and boring. Okay as background music, but I'm not going to come back to any of this to listen to again. At multiple points I was thinking "isn't this over already?" so that's a 2.

This one reminds me of the Ramones, but with more breadth in a few of the songs. There are a few moments in here where I was thinking "oh, that right there's good", and then they don't integrate or run with the idea. How disappointing. The stretch from I Just Can't Be Happy Today to Plan 9 Channel 7 would go on my playlist if the good ideas of the songs had been compressed into 2 songs. Alas, the album gets a 3.

Oh dear, what a Duran Duran album. Suffers from Duran Duranness: just too fatiguing and whiney to listen to straight through. Okay singles, not something I'd listen to as an album. I'm tired of it by the third song. Normally the hits would make this a 4, but I'm so very not feeling the rest of the album that this is a 3.

Ech, 60s rock. This has aged really poorly. Actually, I'm so not enjoying it, it gets a 1.

Wow "After the Gold Rush" sure is whiney. This just makes me want to listen to America. It was listenable, but I didn't enjoy any of it. A 2.

Surprise! You're Dead! Well this is fun. A nice album, but not something I'll come back to, so a 3.

Unfinished Sympathy has such Moby and Pet Shop Boy vibes. That one goes on my playlist. Otherwise, the album is fine. Each song could be a minute shorter and the album would be better, but it's not to the extent that I had to skip anything. Album gets a 4 for Unfinished Sympathy.

Immediately not enjoying this mix. That snare drum bribed the engineer to put it center stage. Sting is way back in the mix, and they use a lot of indistinct pads that make a few elements (snare, bass guitar sometimes) stick out. Not enjoying Sting here, either. His voice sounds really thin, and he's way back in the mix, making him sound even more strained than normal. This one is saved by the singles, but it's not an album I enjoyed otherwise. So a 3.

This is slower than I'd like. Reminds me of pre-disco Bee Gees minus all the nice harmonies. By (He's Got) The Whole World in His Hands, I'm ready for this to be over. Since it's not The Worst, it gets a 2.

What an incredibly whiney album. I quit halfway through, so a 1.

Oh no, it's live. And it was going fine until You Don't Love Me. The sparse faffing about on guitar doesn't appeal. Jams are fine, but 75% of this album is jam. That's like, 30 minutes too much jamming. This gets a 1.

This feels like it's way longer than 1.25 hours. I want to move onto something else. This would be fine background music (if we eliminated the Disney chorus) for a restaurant, maybe, but it's no fun for active listening. A 2.

What an unremarkable album. Another one of those "why is this here?" moments. There was nothing special here. A 2.

Why is this album so quiet? Ah, there it is. What awful mixing for actual listening. Who uses dynamic range like that? Also the song is awful. How is this the 153rd best album Rolling Stone's heard? That list must be as bad as this one. Maybe they rated this album when they were feeling particularly emo. Have these guys heard of music? Pretty sure it's not whatever this is. This is a 1.

This is a fun album. Nothing really jumped out at me as something I'd throw on my playlist, so it's a 3.

With a different vocal style, I'd really enjoy this. A lot of the musical structure and chord selection is my style. Mixing is a bit harsh, but not to the extent that I don't enjoy the instrumentation. I prefer the derivatives of this album. It gets a 3 since there's nothing here to go on my playlist.

Very 60s sound. Nothing special, but a pleasant enough listen. A 3.

A weird album to pick for 84. Nothing here is making me go "yeah this needs to be on this list!" Feels like a random album somebody found at a yardsale, not something that is 1 of 1001 albums to listen to in your life or else. And then the second half of the album sounds like a completely different band. One that's worse than the jazz of the first half. "A Gospel" and "Strength of Your Nature" are awful. A 2.

Hey, an actually good album, though the back half is slow and low energy. Still a 4 for the singles that have stuck around.

This gets a 4 for the single, but the album doesn't really do anything for me. Many of the songs feel long and repetitive.

I recognize some of this, but not a fan of this sort of whiney rock. Really wish it were shorter, so a 2.

HEY! That's a 5. Wow, a good modern album on the list! One I go to consistently! With my bias acknowledged... I do enjoy this album. The vocals seem low energy across the whole album, but there's little else to complain about. It's still a 5.

This album is like Life in Prison. If I could die, my pain might go away.

Two strikes against this album: the songs could each be 2-3 minutes shorter, and Curtis insists on using a whiney, annoying singing voice. The album's a 2.

This album teleports you 20 years into the past. Very of the time. Last few songs are very skippable, but a fun listen because of nostalgia.

What a relentlessly repetitive album. And it just keeps going. And going. And going. A 1.

A Beatles album with some hits, but... it's a Beatles album with Beatles hits. I can stand a little bit of it every so often, but this was too much early McCartney for my ears. A 3.

An inoffensive late 60s album. I'm a fan of more of this than I expected. More variety than I expected. A 3, though maybe a 4 if All of Your Toys ends up on my playlist.