My 1001 Albums Journey

174

Albums Rated

3.16

Average Rating

16%

Complete

915 albums remaining

Rating Distribution

Rating Timeline

Taste Profile

2010

Favorite Decade

Punk

Favorite Genre

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Perfectionist

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5-Star Albums

1-Star Albums

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Albums

You Love More Than Most

Album	You	Global	Diff
Kollaps Einstürzende Neubauten	4	1.93	+2.07
Slanted And Enchanted Pavement	5	3.04	+1.96
Spy Vs. Spy: The Music Of Ornette Coleman John Zorn	4	2.24	+1.76
Entertainment Gang Of Four	5	3.26	+1.74
Daydream Nation Sonic Youth	5	3.29	+1.71
Rock Bottom Robert Wyatt	4	2.39	+1.61
Dr. Octagonecologyst Dr. Octagon	4	2.69	+1.31
Paris 1919 John Cale	4	2.96	+1.04
Throwing Muses Throwing Muses	4	3	+1

You Love Less Than Most

Album	You	Global	Diff
Moving Pictures Rush	1	3.56	-2.56
Frank Amy Winehouse	1	3.46	-2.46
Traffic Traffic	1	3.07	-2.07
Come Find Yourself Fun Lovin' Criminals	1	2.92	-1.92
Live / Dead Grateful Dead	1	2.81	-1.81
Jagged Little Pill Alanis Morissette	2	3.72	-1.72
Abraxas Santana	2	3.72	-1.72
Follow The Leader Korn	1	2.65	-1.65
Superunknown Soundgarden	2	3.65	-1.65
Highway to Hell AC/DC	2	3.64	-1.64

5-Star Albums (3)

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Popular Reviews

The College Dropout

Kanye West · 2 likes

3/5

Please god, show him the way, because the devil has broken him down.

Moving Pictures

Rush · 1 likes

1/5

Rush is Van Halen for losers.

4-Star Albums (50)

Spy Vs. Spy: The Music Of Ornette Coleman

It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back

The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars

1-Star Albums (7)

All Ratings

Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo

Devo

2/5

This is very self-aware new wave. Catchy, fun and at times a little too smart for its own good. Their cover of the Rolling Stones’ Satisfaction is clever but annoying on repeat listens. Devo tries to make being pretentious fun, and the idea of this record existing is better than actually listening to it.

The Genius Of Ray Charles

Ray Charles

3/5

It’s hard to find fault here. Classic R&B, soul, rock and roll with gospel vocals. I can’t say that this album has changed my view of anything or that it will be something that I return to often, but it is good stuff and I can see why many people could find a passion for this.

Aftermath

The Rolling Stones

4/5

Hunky Dory

David Bowie

4/5

The arrival of a genius. He leaves behind his folky earthy songs and looks towards the stars.

The Number Of The Beast

Iron Maiden

3/5

Early 70’s British metal at its finest. It’s hard to dislike Maiden.

The Atomic Mr Basie

Count Basie & His Orchestra

3/5

Sounds like old! I can appreciate this in spite of it being a soundtrack of a million movies I don’t remember. Oh my god, does this music cause dementia? Why does this record from the late 50’s sound like it came from the 30’s? All joking aside, this is good stuff. The greatness of a big jazz band sound has been lost over the decades. I doubt I will return to this album often, but it nice to hear the source material for The Caretaker’s albums.

Frank

Amy Winehouse

1/5

I don’t like this. I can’t say she is untalented, and I get that she is merging 90’s hip hop with 30’s jazz, but it feels very contrived. I know she has passed, and it is a shame. I don’t feel like this music is for me, but worse it feels like the people who it is for should go listen to Billie Holiday and Lauryn Hill.

KE*A*H** (Psalm 69)

Ministry

3/5

Wow, in the 90’s metal was bound to find drum machines. This is a foundational industrial album and a sound that may have been lost to history. They often rely upon the inherent musicality of a looped sample, which on tracks like NWO really makes the material feel dated. Elsewhere this record is scary, sometimes melodic, and often thrilling. “Jesus Built My Hotrod” is kind of like listening to every Kid Rock song playing on fast forward at the same time which is way better than Kid Rock’s actual music. It’s a stand out track and it has some humor which is lacking elsewhere on this album thanks to Gibby Haynes’ guest vocals. It’s not a great record, but it is very good and not lacking for significance.

Street Life

The Crusaders

3/5

It starts off with a disco classic, “Street Life” that would be completely fine as the 2-3 minute pop song it was born to be, but at 11 minutes it is exhausting. There are lots of songs that are way too long, but this is just the same melody over and over. The lyrical content feels like an after school special from that era, don’t use drugs, and don’t be a sex worker, while rhyming “old” and “cold”. Which is a shame, because the smooth jazz/ yacht rock that comes after it is quite nice.

Let It Be

The Replacements

4/5

The Replacements are one of the greatest bands of all time. Let it Be is the moment where they start to shed their party band reputation in favor of who they really are, the downtrodden band after the party. “Unsatisfied” is a gut punch to this day over 40 years later. “Seen Your Video” shows them aware of where the world is going and them holding on to a purist idea of what rock and roll is. Aside from a few leftover tracks from their party band days this is the beginning of the mature Replacements that would come to light on the next album, Tim. But many of the band’s best moments are right here. This is a big bang moment where a million indie rock bands that come in the next few decades would find so much inspiration. Paul Westerberg’s lyrics show a vulnerability in the mid 80’s, while metal guys dressed like women but wrote songs that were full of testosterone.

The College Dropout

Kanye West

3/5

Please god, show him the way, because the devil has broken him down.

Led Zeppelin II

Led Zeppelin

4/5

Loud, screeching rock and roll. One of the Zeppelin records, they really find their sound here. It’s before they get to into wizards and flutes, lots of “baby”, guitar swinging, and good stuff.

Adele

3/5

Very surprised how much I enjoyed this album.

Daydream Nation

Sonic Youth

5/5

Pornography

The Cure

4/5

Zombie

Fela Kuti

3/5

Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots

The Flaming Lips

3/5

When this album first came out, I remember it getting a pretty negative reception for its “cute” take on the orchestral pop the Lips introduced on the Soft Bulletin. I remember disregarding it after a single listen as a safe follow up to a break through album. It appears that after twenty-plus years the album has always had its fans and it has grown on me a bit. I still wouldn’t say it is the Flaming Lips’ best record but it is very good.

Peter Gabriel 3

Peter Gabriel

3/5

Axis: Bold As Love

Jimi Hendrix

4/5

Amazing pure rock in its most molten form.

The Rise & Fall

Madness

3/5

First off, don’t click the link to Spotify because whatever album they have on Spotify it is not this album. It’s some kind of collection of singles that isn’t anywhere near as good as this album. In general, not a huge fan of madness, but I really like this record. It’s a nice mix of ska, new wave and classic British pop. Enjoyed this record a lot once I found the right one.

Low

David Bowie

4/5

Bowie’s Berlin era is among the best work of his career

(Pronounced 'Leh-'Nérd 'Skin-'Nérd)

Lynyrd Skynyrd

3/5

Early Skynyrd, real classic rock and roll. Not really my taste but this is a good record. “Freebird” is a classic rock epic and the soundtrack of every biker’s funeral.

The Only Ones

2/5

The Only Ones are often mentioned alongside the Sex Pistols and the Clash, except, the Only Ones are feel mediocre by comparison.

Spy Vs. Spy: The Music Of Ornette Coleman

John Zorn

4/5

Brilliant! I lived in NYC in the late 90’s and early aughts and spent a lot of time at the Downtown Music Gallery, and John Zorn’s name was everywhere and it was exhausting. This dude literally puts out a dozen records a year and plays shows every night. I disregarded his music and after hearing this I want to kick myself. This album is wonderful. The interpretation of Ornette Coleman’s music into hardcore punk/thrash is like nothing I heard before and I love it. Note you may have to go to YouTube to hear this album and it is incomplete. On Spotify there’s a note from Zorn to buy his CD’s, except this album is long out of print and he has dozens of other records on Spotify, just not this one. It’s a shame, this album is fantastic.

Traffic

1/5

This is blandest distillation of late 60’s psych pop (low emphasis on the psych) imaginable. When I listen to this, I feel like I don’t know exactly who this is, but I know exactly when it was recorded. Any artistic endeavor that is more closely tied to the years it came from than the creators involved is pretty unremarkable. I read a bit about them and discovered Steve Winwood is the front man which makes a lot of sense. His work in the 80s sounds more like the 80s than a vision of an artist. I doubt I would ever listen to this again. I would rather listen to the better acts that they were copying.

Queen II

Queen

3/5

Funeral

Arcade Fire

4/5

From 2004-2014 the Arcade Fire had a pretty argument for being the best band in the world. Their passionate take on Orchestral Indie Pop was exhilarating. This is their best album. Clever, catchy and exciting, a great record that defined an era.

My Aim Is True

Elvis Costello

4/5

Excellent debut from Elvis Costello. What if Buddy Holly was a cool nerd (ok he was)? Who also listened to punk, and had an early new wave flair? That is this album.

Band On The Run

Paul McCartney and Wings

3/5

Paul is one of the great melodic songwriters of all time, and this album is very light, catchy fun.

Let England Shake

PJ Harvey

3/5

At Folsom Prison

Johnny Cash

4/5

This is such a fun record.

Vol. 4

Black Sabbath

3/5

First Band On The Moon

The Cardigans

2/5

Automatic For The People

R.E.M.

4/5

Live / Dead

Grateful Dead

1/5

Sometimes psychedelic rock means you’d have to be tripping to enjoy this. This album could be the epitome of that. I have wanted to like the Grateful Dead at various points in my life. However that has never occurred while I was listening to them. “Dark Star” is a 23 minutes slog that starts as a song until they change their minds. One of the biggest issues with this record is how the band never allows anything to rise to the surface, or sink to the bottom. Very little in the way of dynamics. “The Eleven” is famous for its 11/8 time signature which is the time signature that you arrive at when everyone solos at once. Easily, the best track in this is “Feedback” which like “The Eleven” is not a title so much as it is a description. The most remarkable thing about this band is how much mileage they got out of being awful.

Stardust

Willie Nelson

3/5

Otis Blue/Otis Redding Sings Soul

Otis Redding

3/5

GREY Area

Little Simz

3/5

American IV: The Man Comes Around

Johnny Cash

4/5

Heartattack And Vine

Tom Waits

3/5

Bringing It All Back Home

Bob Dylan

4/5

All Directions

The Temptations

3/5

Follow The Leader

Korn

1/5

This is just awful. Korn represents the mall rat douche bags who populated the suburbs at the end of the 20th century whose lives oozed with privilege but they were angry about something. The songs all slog along a mid tempo hip-hop beat while the guitarists dick around with harmonics and effects rigs. Listening to this is the aural equivalent of a of eating a Taco Bell Mexican pizza from a dumpster behind the mall with a very large Mountain Dew.

Bat Out Of Hell

Meat Loaf

3/5

The Velvet Underground

4/5

Disraeli Gears

Cream

4/5

Let's Stay Together

Al Green

3/5

When I Was Born For The 7th Time

Cornershop

2/5

Wild Is The Wind

Nina Simone

3/5

Meat Puppets II

Meat Puppets

4/5

The Bends

Radiohead

4/5

Live At The Harlem Square Club

Sam Cooke

4/5

Speakerboxxx/The Love Below

OutKast

4/5

Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret

Soft Cell

3/5

The Gershwin Songbook

Ella Fitzgerald

3/5

Off The Wall

Michael Jackson

3/5

Blue Lines

Massive Attack

3/5

Dance Mania

Tito Puente

3/5

Buenas Noches From A Lonely Room

Dwight Yoakam

3/5

Illinois

Sufjan Stevens

3/5

Ágætis Byrjun

Sigur Rós

4/5

Guero

Beck

3/5

Live!

Fela Kuti

3/5

Queens of the Stone Age

Queens Of The Stone Age

3/5

Who's Next

The Who

4/5

Ill Communication

Beastie Boys

3/5

Surfer Rosa

Pixies

4/5

Green Onions

Booker T. & The MG's

3/5

Slanted And Enchanted

Pavement

5/5

The greatest indie rock record of all time hands down full stop. Advertising good looks and who needs chops? With songs like these you don’t need a second drummer that can swim.

Master Of Puppets

Metallica

4/5

Catch A Fire

Bob Marley & The Wailers

3/5

That's The Way Of The World

Earth, Wind & Fire

3/5

Elephant

The White Stripes

4/5

The Band

3/5

The Seldom Seen Kid

Elbow

2/5

...And Justice For All

Metallica

3/5

Peter Gabriel

3/5

Goodbye Yellow Brick Road

Elton John

3/5

Timeless

Goldie

1/5

Layla And Other Assorted Love Songs

Derek & The Dominos

3/5

Cloud Nine

The Temptations

3/5

Home Is Where The Music Is

Hugh Masekela

3/5

Highway to Hell

AC/DC

2/5

All Mod Cons

The Jam

4/5

Behaviour

Pet Shop Boys

4/5

Strangeways, Here We Come

The Smiths

4/5

Moving Pictures

Rush

1/5

Rush is Van Halen for losers.

Tusk

Fleetwood Mac

2/5

Your Arsenal

Morrissey

3/5

The Black Saint And The Sinner Lady

Charles Mingus

4/5

Everything Must Go

Manic Street Preachers

3/5

The xx

3/5

Dirt

Alice In Chains

3/5

Has not aged well, repackaged hair metal for the grunge era.

It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back

Public Enemy

4/5

The Marshall Mathers LP

Eminem

2/5

1984

Van Halen

3/5

The Cars

4/5

Don't Stand Me Down

Dexys Midnight Runners

3/5

Francis Albert Sinatra & Antonio Carlos Jobim

Frank Sinatra

3/5

Music in Exile

Songhoy Blues

3/5

Hot Rats

Frank Zappa

3/5

Paul Simon

3/5

I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got

Sinead O'Connor

2/5

Throwing Muses

4/5

Cee-Lo Green... Is The Soul Machine

Cee Lo Green

3/5

Different Class

Pulp

3/5

Crosby, Stills & Nash

3/5

Songs From The Big Chair

Tears For Fears

3/5

Arrival

ABBA

3/5

Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness

The Smashing Pumpkins

3/5

Superunknown

Soundgarden

2/5

3 Feet High and Rising

De La Soul

3/5

Nothing's Shocking

Jane's Addiction

3/5

Get Rich Or Die Tryin'

50 Cent

3/5

american dream

LCD Soundsystem

4/5

Fleet Foxes

3/5

Station To Station

David Bowie

4/5

Stankonia

OutKast

4/5

Kollaps

Einstürzende Neubauten

4/5

John Prine

3/5

Jagged Little Pill

Alanis Morissette

2/5

Sheer Heart Attack

Queen

3/5

#1 Record

Big Star

4/5

Gunfighter Ballads And Trail Songs

Marty Robbins

3/5

Songs For Swingin' Lovers!

Frank Sinatra

3/5

Jazz Samba

Stan Getz

3/5

The Yes Album

Yes

3/5

The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars

David Bowie

4/5

Rock Bottom

Robert Wyatt

4/5

The Suburbs

Arcade Fire

4/5

Play

Moby

3/5

Dummy

Portishead

3/5

Idlewild

Everything But The Girl

3/5

Time Out Of Mind

Bob Dylan

3/5

Madman Across The Water

Elton John

3/5

Sign 'O' The Times

Prince

4/5

Tres Hombres

ZZ Top

3/5

Frampton Comes Alive

Peter Frampton

3/5

Duck Rock

Malcolm McLaren

2/5

It feels like a kind of cynical rich guy cashing in on music he heard at shows.

Triangle

The Beau Brummels

3/5

Lost In The Dream

The War On Drugs

4/5

Who Killed...... The Zutons?

The Zutons

3/5

Vanishing Point

Primal Scream

3/5

Music for the Masses

Depeche Mode

3/5

Bookends

Simon & Garfunkel

3/5

Live At The Regal

B.B. King

3/5

The Bones Of What You Believe

CHVRCHES

4/5

The Good, The Bad & The Queen

3/5

The ArchAndroid

Janelle Monáe

3/5

Deep Purple In Rock

Deep Purple

3/5

The Fat Of The Land

The Prodigy

3/5

This record brings me back to a record store trip I made in ‘97 where I bought this record and Radiohead’s Ok Computer. I thought this album had the potential to be the Never Mind the Bullocks… of electronic music. I also bought Ok Computer as my kind of safe bet figuring I liked Radiohead’s last album, so this should be pretty good. I liked the Prodigy album, it was cool but I loved the Radiohead album. Little did I know both albums would be industry changing for different reasons. This album didn’t hit with me right away, and while it grew on me over time, it hasn’t aged very well, in fact, listening to it now, it sounds extremely dated. There’s lots of good stuff here, but thinking back to that day in ‘97 reminds me of the joy of discovery record stores used to provide.

Machine Gun Etiquette

The Damned

3/5

It's Too Late to Stop Now

Van Morrison

3/5

LP1

FKA twigs

3/5

Gorillaz

3/5

White Blood Cells

The White Stripes

4/5

Paris 1919

John Cale

4/5

Maverick A Strike

Finley Quaye

3/5

I See You

The xx

3/5

Abraxas

Santana

2/5

Brothers

The Black Keys

4/5

Astral Weeks

Van Morrison

3/5

My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

Kanye West

4/5

The four stars are for the music not the man. This is one of the best hip hop records of all time, unfortunately, Ye is complicated. If I were reviewing him, it would be lower. Patrick Star has never betrayed anyone.

Electric

The Cult

3/5

Led Zeppelin IV

Led Zeppelin

4/5

Pretzel Logic

Steely Dan

3/5

New Forms

Roni Size

2/5