1001 Albums Summary

The final two songs are fantastic. The rest suffers from a decided lack of Brian Wilson's influence.

One-sided triangle.

First two songs are great. Then it's a slow, long decline into too many notes filling up every bar of music.

Boring and basic.

I wanted to enjoy this so much more than I actually did! I owned this double CD as a teenager, and was hoping it was stand the test of time...but nope. Truly a bloated, 'we-need-an-editor' album. Just look at the listens for each track on streaming platforms. The singles on this one have over 25, 50, and 70 (!) times as many listens as the most of the deep cuts. Yikes. Long live Siamese Dream...

'Band on the Run' would be a great song if you only had to hear it once, instead of 6,347 times.

Funky, baby.

Thought this would be more fun. I get including London Calling, obviously, but the debut instead of Combat Rock or Sandanista seems like a mistake. Oh well...

Let's yawn together.

Sure, it's great, but they still hadn't reached their peak yet. They were knocking on the door of true genius, but Taxman, Good Day Sunshine, Doctor Robert, etc. are still stuck in their early mode of songwriting. For me it's Sgt. Pepper's when the five-star albums begin.

Perfect Day is a perfect song. The rest is just fine. Seems like a 'time and a place' record.

Absolute masterpiece.

This 5 comes with an asterisk. Yes, it's a little bloated, yes, the skits are lame, yes, we don't need Puffy as a hype-man... But Biggie's lyrical gift and his flow are just unreal. Absolute classic of an album.

I love rap, but I've just never enjoyed Chuck D. Sorry!

About as exciting as a bowl of cereal.

I would rather hit myself in the thumb with a hammer a couple hundred times than listen to this album.

Not a band I love, but they sure were a lot more fun & creative later in their career. Once again I'm surprised by the need to include an early, formative (but not actually very good...) album from a band on the 1,001 list.

Total surprise. Don't like the vocals at all, but the guitar riffs and the drums are great, and the sound production is perfect for what they're going for. Happy to give this a 3.

Excellent, creative, weird little slice of indie music. It's a shame he didn't do anything even remotely as interesting after this.

Watered down music for people who like going to church.

One of the greatest tragedies in recent music history is that the dude capable of making this record turned into such a broken, confused, hateful person. Sucks. Anyway, this album is a monumental piece of art. Absolute game changer in hip-hop. Easy 5.

Plenty of 'necessary' Bowie records. This isn't one of them, and the fact that he's already in here like eight other times makes the inclusion of Young Americans even more egregious.

I don't usually love this genre, but this album was pretty damn good. City, Country, City especially. Strong 3.

Putting the 'ack' in Womack since 1944.

Wow. This is why I was so excited for this 1,001 project. 70+ albums in, this is the first one that has truly been a pleasant surprise. I've got a pretty wide and eclectic listening background, and have obviously heard Moby Grape, but never knew the story of this record. Fascinating and sad, and some really cool musical moments, many of which feel far ahead of their time. Glad this was included in the list!

Loved the first song. The emotion and style of unguarded singing...very cool. Unfortunately, after that it pretty quickly lost its novelty for me. Glad it's on here, though. Refreshing to get something so different.

I think when I was younger I would have automatically given this a knee-jerk rating of 5. I mean, it's Rubber Soul, right? By the Beatles!?! But honestly, it's not that good. They just weren't there yet. Revolver was a big step forward, and by Sgt. Peppers they had finally truly broken free. Rubber Soul, to me, still has too many trappings of the early Beatles, and some of them sure haven't aged well. So (shrug) a 3 it is.

If this were really traffic, it would be the kind at 5:00 in the afternoon, when all you want to do is get home, but cars are backed up on the freeway, and everyone's angry, and someone keeps honking their horn, and it's too hot, and you're hungry, and there's nothing good on the radio, and a mosquito is buzzing around in your car, and you're almost out of gas, but you also have gas yourself...in other words, Traffic sucks.

Surprisingly not bad, especially the second half, where they put some of their more adventurous songs. Some cool Beach Boys style vocal harmonies. I expected to hate this, but I'll give it a generous 3 stars.

One more hater here, for the five-star system. Because this record is better than a 3, but it sure isn't a 4. Wish I could throw it that 7 out of 10. Or better yet, the 7.1 / 10 it deserves.

Title track is solid gold. The rest of it is pretty lackluster for me. I bet at the time it was pretty special, but I think it suffers, now, from 35 years of artists doing this type of music bigger and better.

Bad cheese doesn't age well.

Porridge is too hot, porridge is too cold.

Very much a hotel. From the carpets to the bedding to the little bars of soap...

Wet, microwaved, cardboard crust. Way too much red sauce. Chunky, high-moisture mozzarella. They might say, "Hey, at least it's still pizza." But is it? The culinary abomination you're putting in your mouth, because you have to eat something, right? Is it? Is it even pizza...?

Have you ever spent 39 minutes examining a carpet?

Interesting backstory doesn't make a boring album more listenable.

Another head-scratcher. OK Computer and Kid A are absolutely necessary in this collection. I get including Amnesiac (which is actually my personal favorite) and I even understand The Bends...I guess. But Hail to the Thief? Is it good? Yeah, even great at times. But it's not Radiohead at their best, and by this point in their career they already have four albums listed! Seems like a no-brainer for the editors to dump this one and In Rainbows, and include a couple records from under-represented genres, or just from a couple artists who didn't make it in. It's my same beef with Bowie, Morrissey, Dylan, Elvis Costello, The Byrds, etc... Anyway, HTTT is a fine album. Strong 4 from me.

Immigrant Song! Plus a bunch of other songs...

Awesome. I like to picture the guy spending years creating this, poring over every transition, every sample, every beat... Some very cool moments. Solid 4. Wish I could give it an 8.7 out of 10.

Yikes.

Thys rycord ys boryng.

Looooved this album when I was 11 years old. In 1992. Needless to say, it hasn't aged well. The funniest thing about listening to it now is how out of place most of Hammett's solos sound. It's like they decided to go for the less thrashy, more math-and-groove rock (which they would get right three years later on the black album), but he hadn't yet figured out how to tame the wild, noodly arpeggios to fit the new mood. The other unexpected aspect I found bothersome was Lars' drumming. I learned to play drums while listening to Metallica in the early 90s, and I always loved his metronomic work with hi-hat, kick and snare. So it was surprising just how masturbatory it all sounds now. Like, he just had to turn every...single...beat into a clinical exercise. Again, by the black album, he'd figured this out, and the economical but pounding (and masterfully recorded, as opposed to this hot auditory garbage) drums of that album make this style seem like a kid showing off. Which Lars always was, I guess. Anyway, I'll give it a strong 3 for nostalgia, and for Blackened, One, and To Live is To Die.

Yes!!!!!!! I'm 112 albums into this experience, and for the first time I'm listening to a truly great record that I've never heard before! I had a friend try to turn me on to Zappa years ago, but I must not have been ready for it. So glad I got this one yesterday. The mix of competent musicianship (ignore the bad reviews on this score; they don't have a clue) and broad, eclectic humor reminds me of Ween and NoFX. The sound collage stuff reminds me of Olivia Tremor Control and the Microphones. The scattershot, mini-movie feel to the sequencing feels like a precursor to the best moments in experimental rock to come, from Tom Waits to Radiohead to Black Midi. Happily giving this 5 stars, and looking forward to listening to it again and again!

Imagine if they made a new Star Wars movie, but instead of weird-looking aliens, exciting space battles and well-choreographed lightsaber fights, the whole thing was just a bunch of scenes filled with rebel commanders and empire politicians filling out reports and doing daily chores. That's this album. It's like Dylan took the earlier version of himself as a songwriter and musician, fed that version a steady diet of porridge and prune juice, made him read nothing but Reader's Digests and watch Friends reruns, and then set him loose in a Men's Wearhouse to find inspiration for some new songs. If this album were anyone but Dylan it wouldn't have made more than a ripple in the musical and cultural world of 1997, and we certainly wouldn't be writing about it today. 2 stars, I guess. I save my single star ratings for albums I don't like. It's not even that I don't like this. It was boring in '97, and it's still boring almost three decades later.

I'd rather eat styrofoam peanuts than listen to this. There should be a zero star option.

Huh.

Listening to this album in full reinforces what I'd always felt about CCR. They're a singles band. The rest of the album serves as filler for the two or three great cuts. Shrug...

Yikes. So many good albums that could have been on the list. So many good genres that are underrepresented. Don McLean...? Really...?

Dank piñata.

Maybe the greatest argument yet for a better ratings system. This is better than a 3, but I just can't in good conscience give it a 4. Which is weird, because if it was a 0-10 point scale I'd probably give it a 7. With decimals it would be a 7.2. And I know that rounds up to 4 out of 5. But I just can't do it! Aaaarrrggghh!!!!!!!

Oh great, generic Britpop! Just what this list needed! On another note, take a look at the overall rating of this album. If you saw an average of 2.5, you would consider it firmly in the middle of the road, right? Wrong. Because of the absence of the zero-star option, ratings get inflated. Look at the bar graphs, and you'll see that this record has more ratings on the left than the right. It's a sub-mediocre album, and yet its average hovers around 2.95. With a 1-5 system, the total is 15 and the average is 3. It's like saying the lowest grade you could give a student is 20%, even if they had done zero work, or skipped the course entirely. We need a zero-star option!!!

I really liked this album when it came out. It felt very much of the time. Sadly, it hasn't aged particularly well, with Wayne Coyne's vocals being the worst part. I like my share of 'weird' singers, but his nasally twang just doesn't help, especially over the course of a full record. I'll happily give it a 3 for the title track, In the Morning of the Magicians, and Do You Realize??

Swap this one for Chaos A.D. and it's a win!

Iggy Pop was the badass that Jim Morrison wished he was.

What a goblin.

Long live the weirdos!

Haven't listened to this in its entirety for maybe 25 years. I was surprised at how well it held up. Yeah, it's bloated, but it didn't feel overwhelming. I mean, the structure is the point! Happy to give this a 4.

Jane Weaver must be one of the editor's cousins, or girlfriends, or something like that. It's the only way to explain the inclusion of this album. It's not even that bad; it just has no place on a 'must-hear' list. It's like the editors wrote down every album from 2017 on the wall, and then threw a dart. Baffling.

Wow.

Without Nico, this album would be so much better...

Formative record for so many people. Loaded with absolute bangers. Surfer Rosa and this one are the Pixies at their best. So good!!!

Skip forward to the one-minute mark and watch the drummer. That's all there is to say about ZZ Top. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6DVbt5W-DNc

I appreciate the inclusion, but I sure don't like the music...

Huh. I was surprised to enjoy this as much as I did.

Wow, this was some hot garbage. There are two more records from him on this list? Yikes...

Another mind-boggling inclusion. No idea why this is on here. Village Green for sure, but Something Else...?

Fucking christmas music...

Truly awful lyrics.

God isn't real. Gods aren't real. None of it is. The Torah and the Bible are just collections of poorly written myths and legends from thousands of years ago. I wish Leonard Cohen's final album dealt less with God and more with modern culture, sex, violence, betrayal, and all the other topics he addressed so masterfully over the years. Ugh.

Hi dad!

Like a Tupperware drawer that's been slowly filling and filling for years.

Huh...

Unnecessary.

The disparity between Springsteen's superstardom and the quality of his music is wild. Sure, he's got some classic songs, but taken as a whole, this album is just not that good. Production value, lyrics, song structure...sheesh.

Interesting stuff. Never heard this one!

Apt title.

Wow, didn't expect to see Bill Callahan on here! His output was never as good after A River Ain't Much To Love, but holy smokes did he have some gems on those Smog records. I'll be generous and give this a 4, even though I wish it were one of his earlier records.

Man oh man...the 'next' Nirvana. But why do we need a next Nirvana? We had the real Nirvana! We don't need a 'next' Andy Warhol, or a 'next' Tarantino, or a 'next' Margaret Atwood. Why do music critics insist on doing this to bands? Rant aside, The Vines were basically just a pastiche of like seven great bands. Not a lot of originality here. Sigh...

Boston Cream Pie.

Super cringy, even at the time.

https://www.reddit.com/r/gameofthrones/comments/1itjl3h/fuck_the_king/

There was a lot of great music being made in 2010. No idea why this pablum is on the list.

When I started this project I figured there would be way more stuff like this: world music, obscure but influential western music, cult classics, etc. Instead it feels like endless Eagles, Bowie, Beatles, top 40 stuff, with rare surprises sprinkled in every 30 records or so. Sigh...oh well. This was a cool breath of fresh air! Not something I need to hear again, but it beats the hell out of Boston or The Smiths.

This was a life-changing album for me. I listened to it blindly, the week it came out, at a local store that let you hear new CDs before purchasing. It's hard, now, to reflect back on how revolutionary this sound was at the time. I remember being blown away and buying it that same day, then racing home to listen to it in full. It not only changed the way I approached listening to music, but the way I made music. Unfortunately, it now sounds a bit dated, and they found a way to improve on their own sound, especially on The Suburbs and Reflektor. So, while I fully expected to give this a 5, after re-listening to it in its entirety for the first time in years, I'll stick with a 4. Huge album for me, though.

It's 1992, and 11-year-old me wants his money back. This tape sucks.

Never understood the love for the Hurt cover. The original works so well because of several things, not least of which is its placement in The Downward Spiral. It's part of a much larger piece and its power is magnified by all that has come before. Also, the alteration of 'crown of shit' to 'crown of thorns' has always bothered me. There's a strange tendency to lionize these 'profound statement' albums from artists late in their career. Leonard Cohen's 'You Want It Darker,' Dylan's 'Time Out Of Mind,' and of course 'American IV.' Give me their early, passionate, vibrant work any day over these tomes of boredom.

Hell yeah. This is why I'm here! Never heard this one. Ripping solos and great composition throughout. Very cool.

200+ albums in and I've had maybe 5 rap albums. THIS shit is included? So much good hip-hop from the 90s...why is this garbage in here???

Love the drums. Albini crushed it as usual. Never been a big fans of PJ Harvey, though. Shrug?

In the far back seat of a 1993 Dodddddddge Caravaaaaaaan!!!!!!

About as exciting as sticking your thumb in a vacuum nozzle.

Love that they helped push against the norms regarding ethnicity and genre, what type of music people 'should' play, etc. But holy cow, the music is...not good.

Wildfires is a great song. Not much from the rest of the album really hit me. Kind of a surprising choice from the 2020s.

Total classic. Their best work, in my opinion. Obviously some of the singles from Rumours and the self-titled are amazing, but I find this record to be more rewarding for repeated listens. Sisters of the Moon is the only skip for me, which is unreal for a 20-song double album.

Two great songs and a bunch of swingin' paps.

20 years later and nobody listens to this shit. It was weak at the time, and it certainly hasn't aged well. I wonder, were ANY of the curators of this list hip-hop fans??!?!?

I like Tortoise a lot, but seems like TNT would be the pick to go on this list. Huh... Still, maybe this one will get some fresh listeners.

Yet another example of the terrible choices these critics made regarding rap and hip-hop in this list. Holy hot garbage... A poor man's Public Enemy that deserves to be forgotten, not enshrined as a 'must listen' album.

Check out my sex organ!

I've always known that based on my taste in music, I should love this album, but...I just don't. It's the singing. Feels like there's a lack of anything to hold on to.

Wow!

Funny, I've known about this album all my life, but never listened to it, besides the obvious singles. I always figured it would be much like The Wall: bloated and masturbatory, sure, but also packed with weird little nuggets of creativity, some interesting deep cuts, lots of tonal changes, perspective shifts, etc. But...nope. It's not. The musical palette doesn't change much, the lyrics are bland and cringy, there were no surprisingly engaging moments...it's just watery, pompous rock from The Who. Bummer.

Yikes. Super cringey.

The only good Mariah Carey album is her collection of Guided By Voices covers. That shit rocks.

"Hey guys!" "Oh, hey Mark. What's up?" "Well, I've got a great idea for the new album." "Oh cool, what is it?" "You know those three great songs that we have? The ones that will be radio hits for the next 40 years?" "Yeah...?" "I was thinking. What if we front load them on the album? First three tracks. Bam, bam, bam." "I mean, that's cool, Mark, but then what do we follow them with?" "Oh, that's easy. We follow them with a bunch of boring, noodly songs with whiny lyrics and no catchy riffs!" "Oh, wow. Yeah, Mark, that is a great idea! Can we throw some awful saxophone into those next six songs?" "Sure, boys, make them as bad as you want. Nobody will care because of those first three bangers!"

A cold pancake on a Tuesday morning.

An old head of cabbage.

Surprised they picked this one rather than Tings Fall Apart. That feels like the best entry point into The Roots' discography, especially if it's the one album of theirs you 'have to hear before you die.' But Phrenology is good, too.

One of the most amazing albums ever created. The musicianship, the lyricism, the recording, the packaging...just a monumental piece of art. Ignore the knee-jerk hatred in many of these reviews of her singing style, and when you get this record, give it a real listen with an open mind. Some people don't find Dylan's singing easy. Or Tom Waits. Or Nina Simone. Others won't give rap a chance, or metal, or jazz. But if you're doing the 1,001 album thing, you should be here for a reason. So give Joanna Newsom an honest try, and even if you're initially put off by her voice, you might just find yourself embracing what this record is. My only gripe is I wish Have One On Me and Divers were included here, too. Ys is her early masterpiece, but she just gets better and better as her career progresses. A thousand stars to this album, and I'll happily give it 5 here.

Holy shit, this is awful...

Hot fuckin' garbage

The corporate machine at its finest, ladies and gentlemen. It's like they took the worst parts of everything - rap, rock, lyrics, production, artwork, music videos, etc. - and mashed them together in an attempt to cash in on the void that angsty teens were feeling in the aftermath of grunge and and gangsta rap. The musical world of pop radio, Billboard and MTV was all in a lurch...it was a new millenium, and where were the voices of this new generation? Where was the Nirvana, the N.W.A., the Rage Against the Machine??? Enter...Linkin Park. We hope you have a good tolerance for pain, because this crap is going to dominate the airwaves for the next couple of years.

Why listen to the mope and whine of Hallelujah when you can get your face melted by the far superior Halleluwah?!?!? https://youtu.be/2dZbAFmnRVA?si=Ekkg7sC0bELt8dZY

Why listen to the warbly vocal stylings of Van Morrison's Astral Weeks when you can listen to the vocal gymnastics of Grizzly Bear's Two Weeks? Or, for that matter, FKA Twigs' Two Weeks? https://youtu.be/tjecYugTbIQ?si=h0cpeVV9oKKE5Lag https://youtu.be/3yDP9MKVhZc?si=ASHNdESVTEzPFdm5

Hot fuckin' garbage

Things that shouldn't go together: Orange juice and toothpaste Water and a grease fire Dress and sneakers Toaster and the bathtub Sleeping and driving Ice cream and ketchup Bleach and ammonia Cell phones and water Metallica and the San Francisco Symphony

Cool. Just what this list needs.

I've been busy the last few days and away from easy computer access. But I've known the albums I was getting and listened to them all. So I'm rating four albums today (Pretenders s/t, Heaven or Las Vegas by Cocteau Twins, Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables by Dead Kennedys, and Bjork's Debut.). I'm giving them all 3s. And that's what pisses me off. There's not enough nuance in this rating system!!! Only five options is stupid. It means a 5 is reserved for albums I consider truly great, and a 1 is for garbage I don't think even belongs on this list. Then I'm left with three options for everything else. 2 seems to be, 'I get why it's here, but I don't like it.' 4 is either 'this is absolutely a classic, monumental album, but it's not really my thing' or 'I liked this a lot, but it's not perfect.' Which leaves the 3. I'm slapping it on four records today and I have wildly different feelings about all of them. Cocteau Twins I'd give maybe a 7.4 out of 10 (note that's not an 8, which translates to a 4-star, right?) while Dead Kennedys and Pretenders would both be somewhere in the 6.5 out of 10 range. Bjork would earn a 5.2 out of 10 (right in the middle, which sure doesn't seem like a 2 star rating, does it?) Frustrating. Wish it was different to allow for more distinction in rating.

Couple classic songs, but as a whole, it's not that great of a record. Not sure why it's on the list. The addition of Neil after this album made this 'supergroup' into an actual supergroup.

So many good indie pop records out there. No idea why this mediocre, insignificant album is on the list.

Oh wow, a Queen album!

Even people who like this type of music don't like this shit.

Yeesh...

Imagine Nick Cave at a party, just standing in a corner glowering and mumbling bible quotes and coining new sexual metaphors.

So many amazing bands and artists omitted on this list (Tool, Modest Mouse, Run The Jewels, Ween, MF Doom, Neutral Milk Hotel, Bone Thugs, Sublime, Blink 182, Godspeed, Cranberries, Mobb Deep, Stone Temple Pilots, The Breeders...) and yet we have three Kings of Leon albums? THREE???!?!?!!? Hard to believe with a different hundred contributors nobody argued for more inclusion and less stacking with some of these sub-par artists. I mean, I like a good Kings of Leon song now and again (ironically, Because Of The Times, their best record, isn't on this list) but there's no need for three albums before you die. And sorry, but this one, their debut, is by far their worst. Just look at the synopsis at the top of the reviews. All it can do to hype the album is list the songs that have been used in commercials and video games. Cool.

Wonder Bread.

This is the kind of music I ignore when I hear it on the radio while walking through the hardware store. Upon listening more closely, both Highway Star and Smoke on the Water are pretty alright.

Tough listen, but so good. Spinning Song and Waiting For You are incredible pieces of music.

Oh cool, more Morrissey! Glad he's represented on this list! I hope there's a Smiths record, too!

Oh, wow, an English synth-rock band! Cool! Thanks, 1001 Albums!!!

Like regular Christina Aguilera wasn't bad enough, we get...an affected, persona-driven, 'throwback' version? Cool.

Groundbreaking? Maybe. Formative? I guess. Historically important? Um, sure...? But good? No. Not in any sense of the word. This is the definition of aging poorly.

Another victim of the five-point rating scale. This is better than a three, but a four seems like too much. Hmmm... Loved it when I was 12. It just feels so bloated and overwritten listening to it 30+ years later. I'll save the 4 for Ride The Lightning. Oh wait, that's not on the list??? Shameful.

Strongest three I can give. I prefer 'Flying the Flannel' to this record, but oh well...

Ummm...ok.

Oasis' music being considered good is the biggest example of collective delusion I've ever known. There's nothing here. The only song even remotely worth listening to on this record (Live Forever) repeats the same verse not once, but twice! Three times we have to hear the same inane, meaningless lyrics: Maybe I don't really wanna know How your garden grows 'Cause I just wanna fly Lately, did you ever feel the pain In the morning rain As it soaks you to the bone? Whoa... That's great, pal. Let's make sure it's in there three times, just so the audience can really absorb it.

Love Neil, but this one's not his easiest to listen to.

This has got to be a joke, right?

Saltine crackers and Heinz yellow mustard.

Oh, for fuck's sake. Really?

Lambchop bore the hell out of me. Always have. But their cover of Prince's 'When You Were Mine' is awesome: https://youtu.be/CxGmyLCL7so?si=P3FVUv4mdoC0YJUe

Enough with the Costello! We get it!!!

You could take the two zeros out of this book/website's title and To Pimp A Butterfly would still be on the list. 11 Albums to listen to before you die? Absolutely. It's right up there with Sgt. Peppers, Nevermind, Thriller and Rumours when it comes to artistic vision, musical and lyrical breadth, recording and packaging, historical magnitude, and social significance. My only wish is that it had the same impact on its peers as those records all did. Rap has largely stagnated in the past decade, while only Kendrick and a few others continue to push themselves and the boundaries of their craft.

Such a big record when it came out. Rich, Pin, Maps, Y Control...all amazing songs. They would never again reach these heights, which is too bad.

My favorite Beatles record, hands down. Such a wild collection of music and ideas featuring some of their best collective and individual songwriting.

Is there a White Stripes record I need to listen to before I die? Sure, probably. Maybe even more than one. But three? No way. And Jack White's solo material? C'mon now. Nobody needs this shit.