1001 Albums Summary

Mid 1 tuneless vocals, undanceable groves. doesnt even appeal in a retro synth way

Low 4 Best song: strange brew Hated this album at first but I kept coming back. Production is so good, guitar sounds especially. Vocals too grew on me

High 5 Best song: up on cripple creep the best

High 2 best song: highway patrolman Would probs be great if I listened to the lyrics more

High 4 best song: Islands Great songs, unique sound, close to a 5

Low 4 Best song: Jackie Scott 3 would of been a 5. Songs are much worse here but still great scott sound

Mid 4 Perfect for working as a software dev

Mid 3 Beautiful sound, it started a 5, but not quite enough idea establishment and development for me. It demands your attention but I can't remember how most of it goes. I need a bit more cohesion in the chaos.

Mid 3 Best song: beetlebum Damen and the boys show here why they're a quintessential "best of" band. Bold choice putting the 2 bangers right at the front. Rest of the album has far less effort in production but is p good, but it gets worse in second half

Low high 4 Best song: cowgirl in the sand Great raw sound here, very few overdubs which is cool. Neil's songwriting isn't quite at its heights sadly. I dread to think how long the solos were when they played live.

Mid 2 best song: sunken treasure Default post beatles music. Strum the chord pattern, plod the drums, why not a bit of piano, backing vocals etc

mid 3 nothing wrong with it, i quite like it too

High 2 thought id be all over this. i blame the vocalists for failing to win me over

Mid 5 best song: station to station ITS TOO LATE Title track is top draw as good as it gets. Stay is amazing too. Golden years and tvc15 both very good. Word on the wing drops it a bit. Wild is the wind cover is what it is

Low 4 Best song: girls just want to have fun Definition of a 4. Hard to love because the voice is a bit gimmicky, but a fun listen all the same

Low 5 Best song: zombie

Low 2 Best song: the ones from the first album Most of this is hard rock at its most generic im afraid. We dont need a drum fill every bar keith. Bonus points for how lovely and polite the boys seem in between songs

high 4 mis-shapes is a cringe educing. I hope its sarcastic otherwise all my respect for Jarvis is lost. "We won't use guns, we won't use bombs We'll use the one thing we've got more of That's our minds" yikes, surely sarcastic right? but maybe jarvis came from a time where you really could get punched in the face for wearing the wrong jacket. i suppose that changes things. i've always found "common people" a bit painful as well. The euphoria goes on for too long - it happens first exactly halfway through the run time. the superiority complex from being "really from the bottom" "real people" "down to earth" is embarrassing. my house was the grottiest! my town had the least to do! i have the fewest gcses! give over man... apart from that its classic pulp who can ask for more. disco 2000 is my fav.

Very high 3 Thought this would be a boring hard rock album, 80s synth stuff sounds a lot less synthetic now we live in the digital age. Shame there's only 2 synth tracks plus the intro The rock tracks arnt just repeated riffs with guitar solos. Complex and engaging. Not a fan of the singers voice tho

Mid 3 I found it a tad boring sorry amy

mid 4 im aint no punk, but when i am im germfree. unless fungus is a germ of course

mid 1 I enjoy dark humour, I'm happy to explore the plight of poverty stricken America. This fails to be either, it's just horrid

High 4 Really liked this one. Nice clean sound, melodic song writing.

Low 3 best song: youre my best friend feels surprisingly mid 60s this, with the mock musical hall numbers etc. its patchy. some unbelievable stuff with the famous songs, but then theres also "im in love with my car". not really for me

mid 2 This is what 2 star is all about

Mid 3

mid 2

mid 4 p sure the coffee machine at work gave me a caf double expresso in my orange juice when i asked for decaf. loving this album as i work today.

Low 3 nothing wrong with it

Low 5 Mr Cohen conjures his haunting world as well as ever. Production is really tastefully done and keeps the songs different despite Mr cohens limited vocal range. The whispered vocals and minimalist backing combine for a striking and completely unique sound. It warmed my heart to hear one of my favourite artists produce such a great album right at the end of his life. Best I've ever heard by an 80+ year old by a mile, and best from this challenge for some time.

Low 1 "Alexa, play chill music" Worst album yet. It feels incredibly empty, ai generated even. If I gave amy winehouse a 2 this has to be a low 1. Take away Amy's voice, her cutting lyrics, the modern twist on the instrumentals and what's left is this album. Ie absolutely nothing. The voice doesn't interest me, the backing and songs are utterly bland. Pure background cafe music

low 3 nothing wrong with this at all. i never know if im going to be into this kind of thing. why do i love the black parade but not this? i dont know. maybe its because ive been listening to leonard cohen exclusively for the last few days

mid 4 same issue as all sonic youth albums. way too long.

Mid 4 I should of got into this when I was teenager. I could see it being a 5 if I had. Very good instruments

High 2 I like this kind of sound but this got very boring. I blame the vocalist. Its not very melodic, he just sings. Fails to keep it interesting.

Low 4 Its good but too long, and drifts dangerously close.to hard rock

Mid 3

Mid 4

Low 3 This band have something special. They've worked out how to infinatly generate average songs that sound vaugly like REM

Mid 3

Low 1 Its exactly like spinal tap! Sadly the 2 hour run time is no joke. I couldnt face it. Something talentless about the songs I did listen to

high 3 some good punk here, not tooooo samey

mid 2 ive often wondered, whats the deal with U2? today i learned the deal. theyre eh

Low 4

Its hard to rate things like this

Mid 4 Feels a bit late to be so into the blues. Classic doors sound tho cant go wrong

Low 5

Mid 3 Im usually all over stuff like this. Im sorry to say ive never liked Ella's voice, I find it a bit characterless. I love the ambition of this project tho

high 4 This is so close to being amazing. An extremely entertaining listen. Really impressive stuff. But somehow, I dont find myself coming back to it often. Maybe she goes a touch too far?

Low 4 Great to have on and some classics here. Some of the album tracks didn't stand out.

Mid 4

Low 4

Low 2 Ive never liked eric clapton and i dont know why. Theres not even any interesting guitar work on this album. Tbf ive never heard a solo from him thats interested me in any way. Give me george harrison any day

High 3 I like bob and i like his sound, its just a bit samey

High 3 Listened this while half asleep on the plane and quite enjoyed it

High 3

Mid 4 Great sound and exciting tracks

High 2 Any song on here is great. As a collective theyre extremely samey

low 5 knew this album would slap and it does. hopefully i get really into it over the next few weeks and i increase the rating further.

High 4 Was tempted with a 5. Fun high energy tracks, good songs, good sound. Nice and short too!

mid 5

High 1 I wasn't in the mood

mid 4

Mid 4

Low 4 This is what the Stones are all about: some of the best singles you’ve ever heard + an album full of landfill blues. How can a band deliver so many bangers and zero good albums? ABBA, Blur, Queen, and the Stones should fight it out for the ultimate “best-of” band. Queen’s Best Of is not as good as the rest, although their albums are plenty awful. Blur’s albums are a bit too good. Stones vs. ABBA. I probably prefer ABBA Gold to the first disc of Forty Licks. We shall see whose albums are worse over this challenge. Edit: After listening more, I increased the rating from a mid 3 to a low 4. Some of the album tracks are pretty good, actually—namely “Live With Me” and “Let It Bleed.” “Country Honk” and “Monkey Man” are okay too.

Mid 2

mid 1 haah nah bro, it aint that rad. Not at all

Mid 3 Fun one this

Mid 4 I saw the yeah yeah yeahs at primavera and watched Mia d go absolutely crazy. Good times. This album is perfectly reasonable I enjoyed it

mid 3

high 5 Recently my favourites been Queen Jane Approximately. It sums up the album well, theres an endless euphoria about it.

high 3

high 3 another decent one, but the singer was a bit annoying

low 2 this album feels a bit pointless. its funny at first to hear a country singer doing standards, but his voice and the arrangements bring next to nothing they just plod through them.

High 3

low 4 its hard to judge the bands you like. i was a bit disappointed by this, but it being the talking heads it was still better then most.

high 3 to be fair to paul, his belief in these tracks is largely "look at what i can do all by myself in my bedroom at my leisure". this is a man who was made to record his first album in one day as to not take up too much precious expensive studio time. he was also kept downstairs while the lab coat wearing professionals worked with the priceless equipment in the control room. things changed fast in the 60s. this was genuinely the first pop album all recorded by one person as well which is undeniably cool. paul was so desperate to show this off he didnt have time to write some actual songs unfortunately. a lot of these tracks cant be called songs, but theres some great ones in here too. one year before his a johns scraps of unfinished songs had magically turned into the abbey road medley. no such magic struck here. but who am i kidding ill happily listen to paul scratching out tracks at home in 1970 any day.

low 5 is this a punk album? most punk is high energy but boring, repetitive, samey, unmelodic. this album is comprised of a huge variety of extremely singable pop songs. indie pop i say. i listen to it intertwined with the kinks "the village green..." and they could of been the same album. i couldnt believe it. the clash have a playful taste for pastiche starting right off the bat with bluesy "brand new cadilllac". i suppose punks are always a bit whimsical in way but they bring this into the music. compare it to "last of the steam-powered trains" from the kinks - such similar tracks with exactly the same spirit behind them. "london calling" is such a well produced track, every bit of the sound is perfect and timeless. the the main difference between this and the kinks is the superior production. the vocalist has a great voice. its a bit long tho

high 5 its funny how complex and sophisticated hunky dory is. tracks like "8 line poem", "life on mars", "the bewlay brothers" - really great, measured, artistic stuff. One album later Davey B throws it all away for pure pop fun, yet of course its just as good. I can't think of anyone else """going backwards""" more effectively. It really shows how "artistic sophistication" is just a matter of flavour. daves mastered all sides and can turn the dial at will, delivering high 5s at both ends. if i had the confidence my perfect karaoke songs are on this album. members of my household regularly enjoy performances of lady stardust, ziggy stardust, 5 years, moonage daydream and rock n roll suicide. theres a really nice ramen place that me and ruth visit regularly on the street where the cover was taken, id highly recommend it. its interesting to see the scourge of on street parking was already uglifying london in 1972. Legal litter i call it. Not davids fault of course, at least the cars were cooler.

high 5 this album has ruined my rating system. ziggy stardust is obviously a full marks album so deserves the highest rating. this album is beyond full marks. its like when hermione granger received a hundred and twelve per cent on her charms exam. some people ( including paul ) say george didnt get going as a songwriter until abbey road. this album ( and rubber soul ) reveal that as rubbish. its said he lost interest in the beatles around the time of sgt pepper, but here he delivers 2 all time bangers and "i want to tell" you as a little 9/10 bonus. this album has the best opening 5 tracks of any and two of them are from george. "love you to" is his best indian inspired track. it bangs. its the best beatles album and the best album of all time. its a true beatles album: "a hard days night" is johns album, "sgt pepper" is pauls album, "abbey road" has "maxwells silver hammer" on it. the 3 writers are equal on here ( george slightly less equal ), and the reason so many of the tracks bang so hard is ringos unreal performances with a great drum sound. its summed up by the cover ( the best album cover ) where all their faces are big and the same size. heres where they transformed from a band to a super group. like all beatles albums this one has its dud track, but in recent years ive learnt to love yellow submarine. ever since reading about the recording session where they invited all their friends round to do the sound effects, blowing bubbles in the bath etc, it always brings a smile to my face. its a joke song and a pretty funny one too. who doesnt like a bit of fun.

high 4

low 4

high 5 pink floyd are so good you forget how proggy they are. im not saying its bad to be proggy, but usually when you listen to something proggy you just think, "wow this is proggy", with this album you just think "damn this good". How many 10 minute guitar solos are there where your on the edge of your seat the whole time?

low 3 I've noticed 1997 as one of the best years for music. Not sure how this managed to win 3 grammys in the year OK computer, Homogenic and Either / Or and many others were released. I suppose we've all got a soft spot for bob.

mid 5 for a short period between late 1994 and early 1995 noel gallagher was blessed by the music gods. what he did to deserve this we can never know. their blessings lasted just long enough for him to write a single album with nothing but timeless pop bangers. then that was it. this album is the oasis best of. every track is a deserved classic. despite the amount of "wee in a plastic pint glass and throw it" that went on at oasis concerts, theres not a soggy moment on here. im marking it down to a mid 5 simply because it doesnt chime with me on that personal level, and i count that in these reviews. i cant bring myself to put it along side revolver, wish you were here and ziggy, but im astonished to say it probably deserves to be there, it is that good. theres a lad i play football with from stockport who skills me up each week over and over and over again. ive seen the pictures of him at oasis sobbing his eyes out, i couldnt help but be moved. you can only say fair play to both.

high 4 nice one harry

mid 3 nice one for giving it a go, its alright. but theres something forced about it

High 3 first minute of first track takes us in an exciting disco samba direction. sadly moved to straight samba for the rest. nothing wrong with that but disco samba would of been fun

mid 3 Sounds a bit like MJ

low 4

low 5 it is sik. i like the ones with the beatles samples

high 5

Low 3 Was enjoying the production and cool cover, but its too samey

mid 4 this is certainly good. they know how to make good music with a good sound. nothing feels that ground breaking or special, but at least its not that samey. im sure the lyrics would be good if i listened more closely

high 4 i was worried this would be a bit underdeveloped, under produced and lacking in seriously good songs. i was proven wrong a bit but not entirely. hopefully my rating only goes up

Mid 5 These guys are underrated these days. Personal favs, city with no children, suburban war, month of May, deep blue, sprawl 1, sprawl 2

Mid 5

High 3 Decent listen this

high 3 some good songs here but lacking fundamental appeal

Low 5 Cracker this. Never listened much before, defo second best talking heads album. Only issue is some of the songs feel pretty unfinished, electric guitar for example. It feels like it doesn't quite meet its own potential, see life during wartime - the stop making sense version is way better

low 4

Mid 1

Low 4 Enjoyed this a lot. Most "Woodstock core" albums tend to get very pointless and "jammy". This resists that for the most part. Sucums in the tracks "ball and chain" and "roadblock" in the second half But most of the songs sound different!

high 3 mixed listen. he doesnt pull of the songs about shooting people for me.

mid 3 kind of disappointed in this i thought id like it more

high 5 one of my all time all time favs. makes other albums look absolutely rubbish. in my top 10 i recon. up there for best album of the 60s ( even tho it came out in 70 ) and maybe of all time. its a simon garfunkel best of in many ways but some of the lesser known tracks are my favs. "keep the customer satisfied" has some of the most pure energy of any recording. its simply exhilarating. have trumpets every sounded better? it just pumps you full of life man can you dig it? many times have a listen over and over to this track.

Mid 4 I find van Halen weirdly irresistible

Mid 1 Minimalist production + boring songs + generic country voice = not a thing to recomend it. Upgraded from low 1 by the song "we had it all" which I quite enjoyed

high 2

low 5 "joe the lion" is my favourite. what a stomper

High 2

low 4 just my thing actually

high 5 its the lennon stomper era. beatlemania at its peak. is it the best beatles album? the slightly weaker tracks are mainly in the first 4. the title track has always been one of my least favourites although still a classic of course. i blame ringo for playing the same thing for the whole song, it leaves it slightly flat. aunt mimi said it was her favourite. nothing weak on "should of known better". its a great one for singing for your neighbours pleasure. is this the last hurrah for the harmonica which was such a key part of their early sound? fun as heck. "if i fell" is a bit of a plodder if we're honest although the harmonies are fun to sing. my favourite bit is when paul bottles the high note on the second B section and they leave it in ( around 1:43 ). a sentimental ballad lacking in real sentimentality. leave them to paul john! on "im happy just to dance with you" poor george has the role usually reserved for ringo - singing the track john and paul cant face singing themselves. this song is much better then "honey dont" tho so he cant complain. still, good for him for starting to write his own. if he hadn't he would of been fighting with ringo for the scraps for the rest of their career. from track 5 onwards this album is flawless. its back to back to back. "and i love her" is beautiful. great work on the bongos ringo! lovely touch with the wood block whoevers idea that was. the effect should be comical but instead its genuinely haunting and stark. is this the first timeless paul ballad? they nailed this one. "tell me why" is an all time favourite. its perhaps the least original musically but they bring insane energy to it. the harmonies sound unbelievable, such a fun track. just wants to be belted out like so many of these. the bridge is really great too "because i really cant stand it im soooo in love with YOU" ( drums )*babada babada babada babada* "cant buy me love" - who can say no. i remember paul coming out to this at glasto 2022... top george solo too. i like the choice to go with no backing vocals it makes it different. on an album of lennon stompers, paul walks away with the biggest rocknroll hit? whats he like. "anytime at all" weeew come on. that snare hit. i love to sing the "at a-a-al, all you gotta do is ca-a-all"s. its quite sentimental and he pulls it off here, touching really. "ill cry instead" always loved this quirky number. its great writing from john. in his second heyday between 1968 - 1972 john decided all art needs to be hyper personal. he shows on this album how wrong that is. its great fun pop lyrics while still being true to him. lovely bluesy accompaniment from george throughout. im not quite 100% on "things we said today". its a very slight dip, the least good paul effort here. still the contrasting sections are fun arnt they. good stuff. "when i get home" is another unforgiving lennon stomper. does george even play on this track? the whole backing seems to be john crunching out those filthy chords. maybe george is doubling. anyway it sounds great. what a banger. finishing up with the ultimate lennon stomper, "you cant do that" is john all over. a confrontational and abusive front utterly failing to cover the extremely vulnerable insides - sung over a straight rock backing, that john eh. always loved this one. think they released it as a single in america, good choice. fab solo from george too. him and paul sound beaut on the backing vocals. george says in "get back" that they should of spent more time on "ill be back". i like it how it is but i can see why he picked it out. its a stunning song and could of been done in many different ways. you could picture it as a full on big band ballad. its got a cool structure too ABACABA. great closer. really top song. ive often said its my favourite beatles album, but its hard to say its the best. some of the tracks clearly had very little time spent on them. you can tell when ringos playing the same thing for the whole song and theres next to nothing from george - theyve probably heard the song for the first time about 40mins ago. its obviously nowhere near their later albums production wise. its also so john heavy. paul does well on his tracks but its only 3 / 14 ( although he no doubt had a large hand it all of johns songs, they still collaborated at this point ). just one for george and no ringo song means it cant be the perfect beatles album. that being said there are no utter duds. its high quality all their way through. most of their early albums have a few completely forgettable numbers in the second half. the second half here is completely UNforgettable. they were an unbelievable rock and roll band and they just crack on with it. full of energy. a lot of it comes down to john lennons voice. musics all about the human voice really, and hes singing the perfect songs for him. crunchy blues chords and vocals, rock and roll with some more interesting chords. what else do you want from the beatles? people know john these days for his double denim round glasses era 1968 - 1972. he'd returned to rock n roll by then and had a very focused public persona and world view, but he always seems so brittle. for someone constantly banging on about peace hes always a second from lashing out or biting back. have you ever seen him smile in that period? the beatles still cracked jokes in 1964. this is johns real peak for me. beatlemania - just knocking out pop songs, full of confidence, the new elvis, "topper most of the popper most". he still gets to be a edgy in interviews but at least its in a funny way. and its before their beatle hair cuts get a bit stupidly long, before they get completely sick of the touring. you can sadly plot the beatles career through what substance they're abusing at the time and john was always the most susceptible. its no surprise that his real peak in creativity and energy is the "rum and coke" era. the harder stuff did him no favours at all. here despite the touring he write all these classics and still finds time for his books of nonsense poems. these books help complete his image as the intellectual beatle, a real writer and artist. sitting in his new mansion kenwood in front of the telly typing away on his type writer, king of the world....

High 2 Bit disappointed in this

mid 5 we all know elliott as the sad drugs guys, but he was much more then that. he shows it on his album. this is his straight pop rock album. he always wanted to make albums like this and here he gets the closest. great songs with great production. he didnt want to make lofi albums. its his most like big star. so many classics on here. my current highlight is the instrumental on "stupidity tries" moving in to the chorus. chord pattern is as insane as youd expect. guitarists worldwide play millions of hours a day in standard tuning. elliott is one of so few who managed to pull extremely original things out of it on a regular basis. the only issue is that its a few songs too long. elliott wanted a double album apparently but the label wouldnt let him. he should of just gone with a standard length album

low 4

low 2 insane commitment to writing the same song over and over. its paint by numbers. the singer especially is so generic and could be any one of a number of people. that being said the song they keep writing over and over is pretty fun.

Mid 1 Not sure how this snuck on here. Theres a few random 90s rock albums. Curator exposing himself!

Mid 3 It was fun but the fun wore thin

low 5

Mid 4 Great start on this. Solid opener, power pop anthem, classic single. Quality drops after that but theres some high points

Mid 1 I feel a violent lack of interest in this

High 3 Thought id like this more since its such an influence on so many favs. Its funny to sing in thirds literally all the time.

mid 4 good listen

Low 5 There's not a bad track is there

high 4 Its good but a bit samey. 2 cracking singles. the more i listen the more i like it

Mid 3 As a folky i wanted to like this more. Ive tried to get into it a few times. Its just a bit boring sorry joany.

high 5 i come back to the first half regularly for the "blonde on blonde" tracks. this is the definitive version of "fourth time around", one of my all time favs. the album versions production is very odd. same story with "visions of johanna" another one of his best. "just like a women" is genuinely stunning here, although the album version is good too. my other favourite thing about the first half how little effort he puts into the harmonica hes just blowing randomly on there why not. what can you say about the second half? knocks your socks of straight from the off then finishes with the greatest rock moment of all time. got to give a lot of credit to the drummer Mickey Jones who goes almost over the top, which is what these tracks deserve. it shows how good lofi can sound. robbies guitar, the bass, the drums and bobs voice are at the forefront and the piano, organ and bobs guitar fade into an incredible soup in the background, poking through now and then. its good thing robbies guitar is so prominent because the lads on fire. highlight - "am i still? driming? yeeeEEEEHH"

mid 2 when all inspiration has dried up, play the blues. im a massive fan of the doors first album. this challenge has shown me they really didnt live up to their potential on later albums its a shame

high 5

low 2 why does the mix sound so thin? all songs feel so long. keep looking back at the track list and finding im only 3 songs further down the list what seems like hours later. you could say its like rage against the machine but so much less exciting - its more make passive aggressive comments against the machine. something so unappealing about the chillis

mid 4 i go to a lot of gigs and i always lament the frigidness of crowds. whats the point of standing still at a gig? there was a time when people went out to dance every weekend. this albums captures when those same people go to see their favourite singer - the result is clearly a better night out then ive had at the last 100 gigs ive been to put together. once people did the twist. now most cant even muster a hand in the air or a sing along. imagine if every weekend i could boogie the night away with my sweet women to the soulful sounds of sam cooke. sadly my partner doesn't have the moves so its a lost cause... why havent i given this a 5? i dont think the songs are quite up to scratch. my all time fav otis redding has live albums that equal this in energy with much better songs. otis's live albums have been neglected from this list sadly. its cool to here sams band is the same as otiss, drums, bass, electric guitar and horns. its a great striped back sound and i love hearing the electric guitar like this. its a pain to tour with a piano or organ and the electric piano had only just been invented.

mid 4 i enjoyed this one. good to have on. always to get a good one youve never heard of

mid 4 love the live feel of these tracks, you really are just in the room. love the archivist sympathies of such a long project. naturally over 2 hours it gets old, but just dropping in its great. who says you need to listen all the way, that would be mental.

Mid 3

High 2 This sounds like not very gifted people trying to make a really good album. Its high stakes, low results. Sorry boys.

Low 2 Really tough this. Singer is just rubbish.

mid 3 Quite like having this on its pretty cool. Just feels like a band having a good time jamming in a practice room on a tuesday afternoon

mid 4

Low 4 Good this. Nice to hear someone like bob dylan as much as me.

mid 4 nice variety here, ossy is great, good listen

low 4 its a nice listen but i wont be coming back

Mid 4 After listening to this and the version with original recordings you get a good sense of what the album would of been. Thats what im going to judge here. The legend is "pet sounds but taking it even further". Pet sounds has incredible songs and probably the best production ever. Which of these are taken further here? There are nearly no songs and the production and arrangements are quite basic. The trouble is simply a lack of good musical material. Most of the songs are the barest scratch of an idea. "Heros and villans", "wonderful", "vege-tables" and even "wind chimes" have a great initial idea and are almost good songs. They fail to develop these near their potential. They all kind of putter out with later sections that dont add anything. "Surfs up" and "good vibrations" are both incredible. They show that if you have a songs worth of good ideas this "stick different bits together" method can really work. "Surfs up" has such an atmosphere, every section is haunting and beautiful i love it. Both these songs are waaaay better on the 60s version. The rest of the album is a kind of smiley soup with not much to write about. Judged against pet sounds this album is a complete and utter failure and it was a good choice not to release it in the 60s. HOWEVER im judging it against the other albums in this challenge. Id much rather listen to Brian's weird barnyard song then lots of other stuff. I like Brian. Also this has "good vibrations" and other highlights mentioned above. This gives it a mid 4. Pretty good.

mid 5 over the last few months i have rinsed this album. i cannot get enough ( although i do skip mr brightside - ive heard it before ygm ). ive never listened to it before because i saw the killers as lame. something about their sound seems made to turn off serious indie fans. theyre just not cool. the strokes they aint. maybe its the synths? the slight "epicness" of it all? the earnestness? the way mr flowers looks like hes running for office in kentucky? that lameness is certainly still here but now it just brings a smile to my face as i belt out the words to "believe me natalie". the credit all goes to mr brandon flowers. he has a knack for bringing catchy little hooks to the quite basic backing. his voice is great, so singalongable. no idea what the words mean but they bring a great rhythm "I need direction to perfection, no, no, no, no Help me ooout" my fellow music writer/critic robbie cottom said the second half is all duds. well off the mark robs, its all studs. i was going to list some favs but it was all of them. as good as the first half but less overplayed. 10/10, glamorous stadium rock n roll, it's time.

high 1 so many albums like this on the challenge. some somehow win me over, this is not one of them. boring, samey, formulaic, not even a good example of what it is i checked the track listing thinking it must be nearly over only to discover im on track 5/12

high 4 good this, great sound

mid 4 good this, slight vibe of a dad making music on garage band for fun

mid 4 cant say no to having this on good stuff

mid 5 we take morrissey for granted because we've grown up with him. i cant think of a more entertaining or funny lyricist. the smiths only issue is that lots of their songs are extremely flat. high energy but flat. but this is never an issue because having morrissey means it can never be boring. whenever things are dipping a little he delivers a cracker. so many classic lines on this album. "when you laugh about people who feel so very lonely their only desire is to die, well im afraid, it doesnt make me smile" i love this line. its not a funny one of course.

low 5 with this album mccartney reconquered the world... 3 all time classics on here plus the other bits of fun are great for the most part. only issue is weak production outside the singles. "no words" and "picassos last words" arnt quite it too. ram is better but lacking in pop singles. much better produced. if only paul had written a few good singles for ram people probs would of loved it at the time as much as they did this album. but he had to go 100% bits of fun, fair play we know he cant resist them.

high 4 absolute pleasure this

mid 4 why is this list entirely western popular music plus the occasional Indian classical album? All because of george harrison I suppose.

low 5 man its so sad but this album is just too long. ive been listening to it for years yet before yesterday id never fully taken in the tracks in the second half. the entire second half should of been cut besides candle. if it had this would be a high 5 album. the first half up to providence is unbelievable, especially the first 4 tracks. but they just insist on including all these incredibly similar tracks which really reveals the formula, takes away the magic and frankly makes it boring. rain king and the last 3 tracks definitely need to go!

mid 2

low 2 rubbish nirvana clone

low 4 always liked the method man

low 5 whens the next phyche golden age going to be. weve had 2, one in the 60s and one in the 2000s. 2040s? i cant wait. first half is gold top level stuff. the tracks on side b are weaker but it also has do you realise, a truely truely great song.

low 4

high 5 i love it more then words can say. very good songs for my voice too.

mid 3

high 5 good this