My 1001 Albums Journey

124

Albums Rated

3.06

Average Rating

11%

Complete

965 albums remaining

Rating Distribution

Rating Timeline

Taste Profile

1960s

Favorite Decade

Soul

Favorite Genre

other

Top Origin

Wordsmith

Rater Style ?

5-Star Albums

1-Star Albums

Breakdown

By Genre

By Decade

By Origin

Albums

You Love More Than Most

Album	You	Global	Diff
The La's The La's	5	3.15	+1.85
Since I Left You The Avalanches	5	3.28	+1.72
A Girl Called Dusty Dusty Springfield	5	3.33	+1.67
I Should Coco Supergrass	5	3.34	+1.66
Green Onions Booker T. & The MG's	5	3.4	+1.6
Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots The Flaming Lips	5	3.57	+1.43
Ramones Ramones	5	3.58	+1.42
In Utero Nirvana	5	3.83	+1.17
Arular M.I.A.	4	2.83	+1.17
Disintegration The Cure	5	3.85	+1.15

You Love Less Than Most

Album	You	Global	Diff
Can't Buy A Thrill Steely Dan	1	3.72	-2.72
At Fillmore East The Allman Brothers Band	1	3.38	-2.38
The College Dropout Kanye West	1	3.31	-2.31
Emergency On Planet Earth Jamiroquai	1	3.27	-2.27
Dig Your Own Hole The Chemical Brothers	1	3.11	-2.11
Tom Tom Club Tom Tom Club	1	3.03	-2.03
Ghosteen Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds	1	2.97	-1.97
Joan Baez Joan Baez	1	2.96	-1.96
Dummy Portishead	2	3.71	-1.71
Music Madonna	1	2.68	-1.68

5-Star Albums (15)

View Album Wall

Popular Reviews

Emergency On Planet Earth

Jamiroquai

1/5

I do try to seperate the artist - so I won't deduct points for him being a physically violent cocaine addict - but its impossible to disregard that the art in question is itself two hours of rich white London kid, doing a poor Stevie wonder impersonation, singing about a climate crisis while collecting hundreds of exotic cars, wearing sacred headdresses from the other side of the world, and backed by yidaki.

1 likes

Frampton Comes Alive

Peter Frampton

4/5

Aggressively normal rock, but you can hear the smiles.

1 likes

4-Star Albums (29)

It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back

1-Star Albums (13)

All Ratings

The Age Of The Understatement

The Last Shadow Puppets

4/5

At Fillmore East

The Allman Brothers Band

1/5

How do you turn a 3 minute song into a 21 minute song? Pad it out with 85% self indulgent drivel. I thought the album would never end and was so exhausted by the end of it I stopped listening to music altogether.

1984

Van Halen

3/5

Amazing talent but pure junk food, cheese pizza with extra cheese.

Led Zeppelin III

Led Zeppelin

3/5

Immigrant Song is a strong opener from which it fizzles out and never recovers. If I wanted twangy mandolins and folksy ballads I wouldn't be listening to Led Zeppelin.

Axis: Bold As Love

Jimi Hendrix

4/5

Such an upbeat mellow mood

Duck Stab/Buster & Glen

The Residents

1/5

If I had to name 1001 albums I'd probably be clutching at straws, too. But not this straw; never this straw. Is doing the opposite of making enjoyable music creative genius? Or is it just choosing to make mistakes everyone else is aware of and avoided?

Astral Weeks

Van Morrison

2/5

Even if I was listening full blast with headphones and my eyes shut this would still be background music. It's fine just not something I'd listen to again

The La's

5/5

An imperfect album only because one song is more perfect than the others, but if this doesn't get a 5 I'm not sure anything will! Love how you can hear their influences and who they influenced, despite having a clear and recognisable sound, even with so much variety on the album.

I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You

Aretha Franklin

4/5

It's Aretha. It feels like someone took half of a best-of and added some filler but let's face it, it wasn't written as an album, it's just recording a bunch of songs. But who else could record a disparate collection of covers and make it sound like a best-of?

Let England Shake

PJ Harvey

3/5

Amazing but not something I'd listen to again.

The Holy Bible

Manic Street Preachers

3/5

Thought it was alright at the time but 10 minutes later I certainly couldn't humm a single track. Generally forgettable angst-rock

The Suburbs

Arcade Fire

3/5

Grew on me the more I played it, but its way too long. The middle segment turns into one long drone before Régine takes over the vocals and saves us with the most energetic, dynamic and unique track on the album. After a couple of listens I put on arcade fire radio and loved everything I heard, so their influence is obvious, perhaps I just don't like Win's nasal whine.

Natty Dread

Bob Marley & The Wailers

4/5

I don't always listen to reggae, but when I do I'll probably start with this again

Chirping Crickets

Buddy Holly & The Crickets

3/5

I enjoy Buddy Holly but the more you listen the more it sounds the same.

Emergency On Planet Earth

Jamiroquai

1/5

Maggot Brain

Funkadelic

4/5

George puts the p in funk

Felt Mountain

Goldfrapp

4/5

James Bond in space

Frampton Comes Alive

Peter Frampton

4/5

Aggressively normal rock, but you can hear the smiles.

Murmur

R.E.M.

2/5

Mediocre monotone mumbling. 28 songs and can't remember any of them.

Connected

Stereo MC's

2/5

Can't say I've ever felt the need to be transported to Clapham in 1992, but I imagine there's no better album to take you there!

Can't Buy A Thrill

Steely Dan

1/5

They describe their sound as "adjusted and refined to take into account the new musical environment in which we found ourselves operating, and also to reflect our belated understanding of the aesthetic shortcomings of some of our less-than-accessible, more doggedly surrealist effort." I'll settle for "boring and pretentious."

Music

Madonna

1/5

Yes, this was Music by Madonna. Though if you asked someone to sing a song by her I can't imagine any of these would be among them.

Green Onions

Booker T. & The MG's

5/5

Yes, it's too much Hammond. But it's still a solid 5

Vanishing Point

Primal Scream

2/5

The Indy rock bits are good, but then it goes straight back to weird electro

Who's Next

The Who

5/5

Bookended by masterpieces, but after a couple of re-listens even the ones in the middle were really enjoyable

In Utero

Nirvana

5/5

Love the pared-back production, headphones on and it feels like they're playing in front of you.

The College Dropout

Kanye West

1/5

Some of its ok but you can't escape the sheer insanity of the "artist"

Heartbreaker

Ryan Adams

2/5

Pretty boring - Dylan with a banjo

Wild Is The Wind

Nina Simone

4/5

A reluctant 4 only because it's not something I'd have to be in the mood to put on. But if you are in the mood, boy is it a rewarding listen, and the more attention you give it the more impressive it gets.

Disintegration

The Cure

5/5

Aka that time Robert Smith felt emo about his commercial success so recorded his most commercially successful record. Word is he's still emo to this day...

Tom Tom Club

1/5

Sounds like someone brought some coke and a casio and started trying to sell raps to sesame street. There may be a reason I'd never heard of them.

Off The Wall

Michael Jackson

3/5

This Quincy Jones guy is pretty good, hey?

With The Beatles

Beatles

3/5

I will never understand why there were so big. The first half of the record with their songs are bright and spangly and fun, but not unlike what you'd expect from any 60's pop record. The second half with the covers is extremely underwhelming and lacking in the soul and intensity of the originals. At least they had Ringo to stop it being boring!

Bad Company

3/5

Bland company more like

Logical Progression

LTJ Bukem

1/5

Gave up after 10 mins. Then checked reviews, found out I'd been listening to the wrong thing, found a playlist of the right album, gave up after 10 (slightly better?) mins. But given the entire genre seems to be defined by the one bar of drums being on repeat, 20 mins was a lot.

Live At Leeds

The Who

3/5

It's The Who, but it ain't Who's Next. Also could only find Deluxe version which was a bit long and had some chaff

Abbey Road

Beatles

3/5

Definitely starts strong, but very quickly starts to drag

Oar

Alexander 'Skip' Spence

2/5

Sounds like someone put someone in a studio for a week with no supervision, recorded everything and have no notes

Figure 8

Elliott Smith

3/5

Less poppy Ben Folds. I don't dislike it but I wouldn't necessarily put it on or remember the name

I Should Coco

Supergrass

5/5

Britpop's weird cousin - frantic, slightly confused, and charmingly chaotic.

Me Against The World

2Pac

3/5

Yeah its alright

Welcome to the Afterfuture

Mike Ladd

2/5

Why does every hiphop album need to be an hour long? Is it just too easy to produce compared to other styles, so you may as well add more songs while you're in the studio? Is it too many bedroom producers not getting notes? Because the result is albums like this, and its ok, but I feel like if it was half as long, it would be twice as interesting and its commentary would hit twice as hard.

Quiet Life

Japan

3/5

Duran Duran, Roxy, Depeche... They all wish they had a bassist like Mick Karn!

She's So Unusual

Cyndi Lauper

3/5

As sparkley 80's pop as it gets. If you can name a single Cyndi Lauper song you've heard this album.

Youth And Young Manhood

Kings of Leon

3/5

The voice grates but the bop is boppin'

Yankee Hotel Foxtrot

Wilco

2/5

I wanted to like it, I tried to like it, but the ambivalence is overwhelming. In parts you know it might be really good, but the singer just sounds bored, the sound effects are irritating, and its all sort of dull

A Girl Called Dusty

Dusty Springfield

5/5

I know it's an assortment of covers, but every song is a banger and she owned each one, and that's kinda more fun to listen to than a mixed bag of originals with a few standouts like a couple of the other 5-stars I've handed out...

Pornography

The Cure

3/5

A powerful, bleak wall of sound, but very droning and repetitive

Sincere

Mj Cole

1/5

No.

Underwater Moonlight

The Soft Boys

4/5

Exactly the sort of thing I was hoping to discover! Jangly psyc pop from the guy who wrote "Walking on Sunshine" mixed with surrealist poet and Dylan aficionado who wrote the folk music for a film I saw a couple of weeks ago. Annoying that streaming always seems to only offer the longest possible versions of albums packed with bonuses; but the structure, variety, and pacing of the original 10 tracks is great, and the extra tracks are still a vibe

Kind Of Blue

Miles Davis

5/5

💙💙💙💙💙

Architecture And Morality

Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark

3/5

All OMD sounds about the same, really. As someone who is used to The OMD Singles, this is a big more bland than the best-of

Rumours

Fleetwood Mac

5/5

Zombie

Fela Kuti

4/5

Gotta get me some African drums...

Bryter Layter

Nick Drake

2/5

Sad boy with an acoustic sings background music.

Street Life

The Crusaders

2/5

On hold music. I actually forgot it was playing at one point.

Ghosteen

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds

1/5

Nick Cave is just private school Kanye

Live And Dangerous

Thin Lizzy

2/5

Surprisingly little umph, might just be hope clean the mix is but thought they'd hit harder

Ocean Rain

Echo And The Bunnymen

3/5

One of these lines was made up by AI, but you'll need to listen carefully to work out which! "Swung from a chandelier, my planet sweet on a silver salver" "You think you're a vegetable, never come out of the fridge." "A clockwork swan on a silver tray, its feathers cast in concrete blue" "C-c-c-cucumber. C-c-c-cabbage. C-c-c-cauliflower. Men on Mars. April showers." ...but I think the albums more enjoyable if you try not to hear the words

At Mister Kelly's

Sarah Vaughan

3/5

There's a lot of live albums on this list aren't there? You can close your eyes and put yourself in the room, but that doesn't mean its particularly memorable.

Hybrid Theory

Linkin Park

3/5

Truth

Jeff Beck

4/5

Good fun blues rock, amazing cast of backing band

Double Nickels On The Dime

Minutemen

4/5

Solid fast fun punk. Lot of variety but no cohesion, just a mish-mash of songs. Apparently they had an album then threw together some more just to beat Husker on play length, then ordered them by band member, and 'chaff,' neither of which helped. But that bass is amazing, you can hear why Flea loved them

Trafalgar

Bee Gees

1/5

I'm clearly missing something but this feels very self-important and melodramatic. Like the very concept of basing an album on the battle of trafalgar, with ye olde time lettering, then singing about having a broken heart? What am I missing? And how is this their 9th album? Who was buying this? Naval aficionados? It's like yacht rock without the rock. Why did everyone try to sound like the Beatles most boring stuff? Was honestly surprised to discover it was nearly half the length of yesterdays, felt like forever.

Led Zeppelin II

Led Zeppelin

5/5

Peak Zeppelin, back when they were a rock band, before Plant's weird folk nonsense. At no point could anyone else listen to this and think "hmm, now maybe slow it down and add some mandolin."

m b v

My Bloody Valentine

2/5

Took me a couple of listens but as into it but I still don't enjoy shoegaze

Golden Hour

Kacey Musgraves

3/5

Nothing to write home about, its a pleasant enough listen but not quite getting what the significance behind it might be

Live At The Harlem Square Club

Sam Cooke

4/5

I gotta go, but you keep on having a party. When you go home, keep on having that party. No matter where you're at, remember I told you; keep on having that party.

Dusty In Memphis

Dusty Springfield

4/5

The title kinda gives it away; it's Dusty, in Memphis.

If I Should Fall From Grace With God

The Pogues

2/5

The lyrics change every few minutes but its still the same song. Except when it isn't, and then it's worse.

Goodbye Yellow Brick Road

Elton John

3/5

It's Elton at his best

Raw Power

The Stooges

3/5

Raw Power, and a bunch of songs that sound like Raw Power.

Penthouse And Pavement

Heaven 17

2/5

I don't hate it, I just wouldn't listen to it. Best electric / dance pop type record thus far, just not my music

Aqualung

Jethro Tull

4/5

I didn't know I liked Prog-folk-blues-rock either

Blood Sugar Sex Magik

Red Hot Chili Peppers

4/5

Dig Your Own Hole

The Chemical Brothers

1/5

Maybe I'm just old, but maybe I just never got into the club scene because there's music you don't need to take pills to enjoy?

Pills 'n' Thrills And Bellyaches

Happy Mondays

4/5

It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back

Public Enemy

4/5

I'm surprised I'm rating a Hip Hop album so highly too, maybe I'm just in a good mood today. But I can't fault it.

Blood On The Tracks

Bob Dylan

3/5

The poetry, the imagery, the storytelling, but then the grating voice, and the harmonica...

Five Leaves Left

Nick Drake

2/5

So background you'd forget you were listening to it

O.G. Original Gangster

Ice T

2/5

Starting to think I need an acronym for "yeah its ok, but I wouldn't listen to it/not my genre." Perhaps "glad to have heard it once, but ready for the next"

James Brown Live At The Apollo

James Brown

3/5

Funky! Lost points for being a bit short and very "live," but can appreciate why, being self-funded and capturing the raw energy of the godfather of funk, this was an important album.

Street Signs

Ozomatli

2/5

Destroyer

KISS

2/5

Excellent production but KISS are just pretty bland. They're significant for putting commerciality above creativity and marketing above music, but that doesn't make it an amazing listen, they just sound like watered down versions of other bands.

Queen Of Denmark

John Grant

2/5

I'm clearly missing something that makes it special. Not offensively bad, just offensively bland if you interpret the lyrics as "drugs" rather than "deep?"

The Wall

Pink Floyd

4/5

A big theatrical rock opera. Long, but glorious. Pretentious, but you know about it beforehand. If I was going in blind I imagine I'd have had a very different score

Ladies And Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space

Spiritualized

3/5

It's alright, like shoegaze but with a bit more going on. Just not enough to be memorable.

The Gershwin Songbook

Ella Fitzgerald

3/5

It's Ella. It's Gershwin. It's great. It's also really long. If you want to put on background music, or dip and out of, amazing. But waaay too much to just actively listen to in a sitting.

Violator

Depeche Mode

3/5

Nice to sit down and listen to an album you only know the hits from. But the rest of it does sound the same, and synth pop becomes background drone very fast

Konnichiwa

Skepta

3/5

Kinda funny how much the American reviewers complain that its not hard enough, given how much its poking fun at their poser culture, but ultimately while I enjoyed it I dunno if I'd listen again

Pet Sounds

The Beach Boys

5/5

Darkdancer

Les Rythmes Digitales

2/5

Not the worst electropop or whatever, but thats not a high bar for me.

Pink Moon

Nick Drake

3/5

Haven't I heard this one before? Pretty sure this is my third Nick Drake and the repetition is probably hurting how much I enjoyed it.

Get Behind Me Satan

The White Stripes

4/5

Meg is such a vibe. Opens strong, ebs and flows, solid album

Smokers Delight

Nightmares On Wax

2/5

Pretty good ambient, sets a mood, but is it an album?

Live At The Regal

B.B. King

4/5

A solid reminder how blues is the basis of all rock music.

The Sounds Of India

Ravi Shankar

3/5

Excellent crash course. I should get some tabla.

Billion Dollar Babies

Alice Cooper

4/5

More fun than I was expecting. Its theatric but musically sound and great drum and bass riffs.

Safe As Milk

Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band

3/5

Rage Against The Machine

5/5

The Soft Bulletin

The Flaming Lips

4/5

Madman Across The Water

Elton John

3/5

Enjoyed much more than I thought I would

Dummy

Portishead

2/5

Maybe you have to be in the mood for it, but I found it very draining and very repetitive

Loveless

My Bloody Valentine

3/5

Sounded a lot like the other one

Joan Baez

1/5

Why do Americans love vibrato so much? Just sounds like the poor girl is trying to sing with a massage gun to her throat

Since I Left You

The Avalanches

5/5

Hot Buttered Soul

Isaac Hayes

4/5

Thought I must've clicked the wrong thing when I only saw 4 songs, but this is a solid album. Slow burn, mellow grooves. Title is perfect.

Follow The Leader

Korn

2/5

Nü Metal? What's wrong with Öld Metal? Another one of those "someone did something bad so that someone later could expand on it more tastefully" entries.

When I Was Born For The 7th Time

Cornershop

3/5

Slow groove, should look up their other stuff. A couple of BPM from being a 4

Adele

2/5

Nice voice but the whole thing just feels like a checklist of "add drama" production cliches. And girl does not need more drama; this is her celebrating her 25th birthday by whining for an hour about "how mad I am at getting old" and her high school crushes not working out. Gotta wonder how she feels listening back ten years on, for an album about being old she's probably the thing thats aged the best.

Born To Run

Bruce Springsteen

3/5

Loses points for sax

Kenza

Khaled

3/5

Given how much variety there is and how fresh it feels at the start, its amazing how fatigued I feel by the end. Could've been a banging 40 mins, especially if they cut Imagine.

Come Away With Me

Norah Jones

3/5

Aggressively normal vocal jazz

Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots

The Flaming Lips

5/5

Might be unfairly upvoting as a familiar fave, but name a better synth rock album about pink robots and the meaning of life, love and caring the weight of the world

The Last Of The True Believers

Nanci Griffith

3/5

It sure is pretty country but I don't know enough about to genre to see what makes its a standout or what influence it had

Throwing Muses

4/5

Can see how neatly this fits between Souxie and The Pixies. Loved it

The Doors

4/5

Bad poetry, excellent drums and organ

Talk Talk Talk

The Psychedelic Furs

3/5

Lost a point for having saxaphone, but despite falling into that generic 80's new wave sound it evokes sticky bandroom floors and dark laneways more than bright neon.

Bizarre Ride II The Pharcyde

The Pharcyde

2/5

I can appreciate how they were doing something different, countering the typical machismo and violence of rap lyrics with yo mamma jokes, but still not something I'd come back to

Ramones

5/5

Hot Rats

Frank Zappa

2/5

"Omg look at me, I'm like soo random!"

Arular

M.I.A.

4/5

Because I guess why does politically charged music have to be punk rock? What if its dance fusion?

Bug

Dinosaur Jr.

4/5

Jagged Little Pill

Alanis Morissette

4/5