1001 Albums Summary

Actually said “Hell yeah” when this one popped up for my first draw. What a way to start. I absolutely adore his 1985 Rain Dogs and have loved every random song I’ve heard but have somehow, as far as I can recall, never made any effort to listen to other albums. Which is the kinda thing this project should be great for! Fabulous “apocalypse gospel” feel to this. Stripped down percussive instrumentation for a slinky spooky sound. He uses 2 very different voices on The Earth Died Screaming to cool effect. Such a Scream is weirdly danceable. Whistling Down the Wind is just gorgeous. And the lyrics! Dirt in the Ground has “We’re chained to the world and we all gotta pull.” And Murder in the Red Barn has the deadpan “There’s always some killin’/You got to do around the farm.” The only one I’d ever heard before was “I Don’t Wanna Grow Up.” 5/5! Fantastic! Watch me draw some fuckin’ operatic soprano tomorrow!

Eh just not my thing. Not enough energy. Kept wanting it to turn into Blue Monday. Really liked the neat instrumental Pimpf tho, gonna add it to Halloween mix. Would give 3.5 if I could.

Well geez what is there to say about this masterpiece. Great voice, great songs. I had heard almost all of the songs but maybe mostly studio versions because I didn’t remember any of the stage patter except his intro before Folsom Prison Blues. His easy camaraderie with the prison audience was impressive. I loved when he cracked up when somebody applauded “I’d been in the arms of my best friend’s wife” in Long Black Veil. Some of the stuff I was wondering how he got AWAY with playing/saying at a prison. Like The Wall, which is a prison escape song(!) I mean, unsuccessful, but still. And at one point he was singing about the guards and laughs and says, “Them mean bastards, ain’t they?” I salute you, sir.

I only knew the title song so this was much ODDER than I was expecting, but cool! I especially liked "Beauty and the Beast" and "Blackout." Probably would have been a 4.5 if not for the streak of spacy noodly instrumentals. Even those I liked better than *most* spacy noodly instrumentals, but lord they did go ON.

I loved this! (I'm not sure about this cover. I hope intent is "way to be, awesome fat kid" but I have doubts.) Anyway just a groovalicious dance romp. Listened while lifting and that was perfect. Had only heard Right Here, Right Now (put to perfect ominous use in Veronica Mars) Rockefeller Skank, and of course Praise You. But dug all of them and didn't even mind that most of them were 6 minutes long. Also wiki'ed him and Fatboy Slim was in the HOUSEMARTINS?!? 5/5

Wow, I'm so used to thinking of Queen mostly in terms of the sublime weirdness of Bohemian Rhapsody that I kind of forget they can just straight rock out And, er, pop out, if that's a thing. I only remembered hearing Killer Queen off this record, and of course that was great, but so was the whole rest of the first part that sounded kinda like Lynyrd Skynrd, and the second part that sounded kinda like the sweet pop facet of the Beatles. Faves: Tenement Funster, Flick of the Wrist, Now I'm Here, Misfire, She Makes Me.

I was NOT expecting to dig this one because I am so lyrics-focused and so tragically monolingual that it's rare for me to get really into tunes that aren't in English. But this was fun! Jaunty and peppy, with some entertainingly odd sounds in the mix (No idea if the LYRICS are jaunty and peppy. Could be about tubercular cannibals for all I know.)

Largely just not my thing. Too smooth-jazzy. Her voice is quite pleasant though so I was only bored, not irritated. Would have been a straight 2 but the very last song, Aprendendo A Jogar, was much more peppy and it's going on the project playlist, so I'd give it a 2.5 if I could.

This derailed my progress this week bc it was my first double album. Y'all, a double album is a LOT. But I largely enjoyed it! Lots of very pretty songs (Isn't It a Pity, If Not For You, and All Things Must Pass for example) and some fun goofy ones, which I wasn't expecting (I Dig Love with its playful odd keyboards, and Apple Scruffs. What ARE Apple Scruffs, I ask you.) I even enjoyed most of the instrumentals at the end--lots of guitar but not too screechy. Downsides: It is not George's fault that My Sweet Lord has been played to DEATH but it IS his fault that the part where people are chanting to various gods/religious leaders, which I'm sure is meant to promote religious tolerance, is so fucking boring and repetitive and LONG that I always end up mentally shrieking PICK A DEITY AND SHUT UPPPP!!! It is also George's fault that the last instrumental on the album is ELEVEN MINUTES LONG. GEORGE NO. But way more good than bad. 4/5

If only the title had been accurate.

I know this was HUGE so I really thought I would have heard at least one track before--but no! And I LOVED it. Some rock-ish tunes, Ready to Start and Month of May among them. (And Ready to Start opens with "Businessmen drink my blood." METAL.) Rococo is delightfully staccato and weird sounding. Mostly it's a dreamy lush feel, kind of a cousin of The National but more jangly. I wanna listen to it again lying on the couch with my eyes closed. Maybe a little stoned.

Largely not my thing--way too many long, long solos. And the lyrics were on occasion hilariously over the top--I think, unfortunately, unintentionally. "I'm alone here/with emptiness, eagles and snow." I...what...eagles?!? BUT Space Truckin' is lively and fun and exactly as goofy as you would expect a song called Space Truckin'"to be. And Smoke on the Water just inarguably SLAPS still. (Part of this is probably nostalgia because my high school marching band did a kickass Smoke on the Water. But they're my ratings, I'm allowed nostalgia bias. And it really does slap.)

I enjoyed the rapping, but the background music being smooth-jazz-ish mostly ruined it for me.

This slapped! Excellent beats. I was NOT expecting a passionate anti-alcohol song. Would have been a 4 1/2 if not for a lil' misogyny and homophobia

My reaction to this one was weird and frustrating! I really liked all the components--the growly bluesy vocals, the buzzy fuzzy instruments. Even the lyrics seemed pretty decent. But it was just all so SAMEY? Howling for You, and Ten Cent Pistol, and especially Sinister Kid kinda stood out, but even those I would have liked more if I'd come across them individually in the wild rather than them being surrounded by So Much More of Nearly the Same? I feel like I need to revisit the whole album one song at a time, weeks apart. Weird! And frustrating!

Bought this when it came out and my god does it hold up. Her incredible voice and her aching earnestness writing about love and politics and how they mix. Sniffled during Fast Car, actually got goosebumps during Talkin' Bout a Revolution. For My Lover also a fave, but really everything is terrific.

I don't think I'd ever heard of this band and it was a fun surprise! Some poppy bits, some punky bits, some rock bits, and some that felt like pop/punk before pop/punk was a thing. Especially liked Something 4 the Weekend, Frisbee, and Hometown Unicorn.

This was pleasant enough while listening but nothing jumped out at me as something I need to hear again. I'll call that a 3.

Sigh, I really wanted to like this because her voice is so AMAZING--nice and low with a big chunky vibrato. But the tunes were mostly so dull. Lots of those piano parts that sound like they were written by harpists, and lots of those percussion parts where they just go WISKY WISKY WISKY with the brushes the whole time. SNOOZE.

What utter dipshits do you have to be to have GRACE SLICK in your band and not give her ALL THE LEAD PARTS? Especially when your production sounds kinda sludgy and her voice cuts through that like a buzzsaw and Marty Whatsisface's does NOT. UTTER. DIPSHITS. A couple of the ones she didn't sing lead on were fine, but mostly they were completely mediocre hippie shit. It's still a 3 because of White Rabbit and Somebody to Love, which are magnificent, set-your-hair-on-fire rock songs. A 45 with just those two songs would rate 10 out of five.

Eh.

Fun! Fave is Hotel Yorba.

3.5 really