Medium-good Radiohead album. Very medium-good.
Didn’t spend too much time with this one at the time. I determined that the album is the perfect soundtrack for decorating the yard for Halloween. High praise indeed.
Sorry dh, are you kidding me? This album slaps. 3.5 stars, bumped up for the image of someone listening three full times to award it a 1-star review.
Rolling Stone Magazine watch: five mentions in album Wikipedia page.
Note: album Wikipedia page in unconscionable.
Aretha is so amazing and she elevates these tracks so high, it feels a bit cheap to dig on the band, who are only serviceable. So, because of that one thing, I won’t award this album six stars. Six is too generous.
Ponderous themes and ponderous production. But sometimes it kind of rocks.
Some albums just stand the test of time, exposing new layers and depths when you listen at different stages of your own life. Fine wine classics. This is not one of them.
Watching Iggy hobble around the stage at age 76 with no shirt, looking like a saddle bag full of live cats (see Wikipedia photo for reference), converting drunk fratboys song by vigorous song, is one of my fondest festival memories. The sleazy sack of wormmeat that is The Idiot only enhances the legend.
Listening to Rain Dogs makes me profoundly happy. The world would be such a better place if we’d all just take some time to love the wonderful carnival of Tom Waits’ mind for awhile.
Some good tracks on here, mixed with some mediocre ones. It all feels very dated, and a bit like experimental noodling. I know I know. Allmusic called it a “masterpiece”.
Ahh, well. You know, sometimes listening to one of the most famous hard rock albums of the 70s is just a plain old hoot.
I have a soft spot for soul sisters singing sweetly. This album has a ton of great tracks. It doesn’t hang together as a unified album necessarily, so runs way too long. But I like plucking tracks from this for other playlists. How to rate?
Never heard of this one before. After getting over my initial surprise that Devendra Barnhart is a man, I proceeded to first become hypnotized and then obsessed by this absolutely wonderful flurry of ideas. Listening to Rejoicing In The Hands has made me 10x more excited for what other hidden gems this 1001 Albums business may cough up.
Rolling Stone Magazine watch: One instance on the album Wikipedia page.
Receives my first 5-star review
I don’t know why I really was avoiding this album in the history. I’d just keep imagining Coldplay songs I know and it would make me feel tired and bored without even pressing PLAY. Honestly, though, it wasn’t so bad. Pleasant enough and all that.
I like everything about this.
Rolling Stone Magazine Watch: mentioned zero times on album Wikipedia page. Bonus point for including a song about the magazine.
Very of it's time. Wholly unoriginal but not wholly unfun. I feel this album falls into a magic perfectly-average place. It would have benefitted greatly from shaving 10-15 minutes off the runtime.
Rolling Stone Magazine watch: zero mentions in the album Wikipedia page. Well done Ash. Well done.
Ah, the original pop-princess-turns-twisted album. This stuff was so pervasive it’s hard to be objective. The relationship bitterness has gone a bit from “da-a-a-amn, girl” to “tee hee”, but I was bopping to the album quite a bit. Easy to forget how unapologetically odd and personal these tracks are, and Alanis Morrisette’s voice, much imitated since, is very unique and expressive. Liked it way more than I expected. Turn it up and singalong.
Rolling Stone Magazine watch: five instances in the album Wikipedia page. Ouch, Alanis.
I’ve loved this album for all my life. And I know it’s not even Yusuf’s best. My heart wants to give this five stars. My brain wants to give this four stars.
Rolling Stone Magazine watch: one instance on album Wikipedia page.
Come on, 1001. Just entering that Friday night vibe and you drop Phrenology on my lap to crank on my headphones, as if to challenge me: “rate this one two-stars…I dare you.” The game is rigged.
Listening to Phrenology is the best I’ve felt all week.
Rolling Stone Magazine watch: I’m tired of this joke.
An angry album with heavy things on its mind. Cube isn’t my favourite MC, but these beats are untouchable.
As the bad behaviour policy requires: cha-ch-ch-check yo’self before…
Garbage. How to review an album as omnipresent in commercials, television, movies and radio as Garbage? I don’t know.
Review: It was fine.
I will give it a big full bonus star for being one of my partner’s all-time favourite albums. She was vibing hard. Happy wife, happy life.
Yaaaah. Now we’re talking. If you spin this absolute gem and don’t have a great time….well, I don’t know what else to tell you.
First time I’ve ever listened to this album…and it is incredible! Also second time I listened to this album. Sounds SO GOOD! The third time I listened I locked in the rating.
New Order has a sound. Perfect in the background. Still fine for the foreground, but better in the background. Some legit bangers on this album. Reminded me of clubbing when I was 20.
Takes awhile to get going, but once it does… The Who have always been a band I respect more than I love, but are rock gods there to only be respected? And this album fits that mold exactly. I respect it I guess.
What an amazing Friday evening listen. Just right, baby.
Knowing Mike Oldfield played every instrument does increase the interest. I managed to stay pretty engaged, but wasn’t exactly amped. 2 1/2, nudged to a three due to a couple of sweet parts.
One of the most fascinating aspects of music is how it can completely hijack my physiology. The rhythms in which I move and the moods in which I’m thinking. My jazz education is weak, and it always takes me awhile to switch gears to the jazz mindset. But once I do, it’s good it’s good. This one took a couple tracks, so I had to listen through a couple times. Once I was vibing: it’s good it’s good.
Ministry did have a moment, and I thrashed this album when it came out many times. Today my world has turned, and while I remembered why it resonated for a teenage version, now it feels a bit simplistic. Still, very fun revisit.
I’ve given Def Leppard a lot of grief over the years. Much of it was deserved. But when you shut off the old brain and just listen, Pyromania ain’t half bad.
Thin Lizzy is a very fun band. I nudged the volume up once, twice, three times. Does TL have the most songs that have the same names as other famous songs but aren’t actually the same song? Sounds like a good Masters thesis.
I’ve heard of these guys. Will they stand the test of time?
This album is trash. Fills my heart with garbage.
I believe Rolling Stone magazine probably would have called this “an assured debut.” I call it fckn rad!
How can I express my thoughts about an album that is as intensely beloved as this one without sounding like a complete asshole? Those multitudes who connected REALLY connected.
I’ll go this way: I like the songwriting. The delivery and her voice are just so plain that it accomplishes whatever the opposite of “elevating” is.
I feel like maybe if I spent more time listening it could grow on me though. Bonus star for how when I was singing “You Make Me Feel Like a Natural Woman” at the top of my lungs the whole family laughed.
4-star first spin. Idiosyncratic and intriguing. Got lost in the 15-minute final track.
Then during the second spin I got very interested in shutting it off halfway. Ask me again in a month.
This shoegaze hypno-pop kinda music can hit real nice with the right mood-enhancing cocktail, but doesn’t work as well on a sober school night.
That said, I’ve heard way waaaay worse versions than this.
GK is a maniac, and those slinky soul samples are so smooth. The closer you listen to the lyrics the more insane it becomes. Full marks for this sweet baby!
PS: that this album is pushing 20 years old is ill.
After getting through the interminable Shout, a bunch of decent tracks on here, all culminating with a resounding thud of a closer. Still, a 3-star experience.
I wanted to really dig this one, but felt more neutral. I didn’t dislike it at all. I liked it not at all.
Neutral isn’t good.
Oh, Canada. I often find mid-aughts records don’t age that well. This one stills feels very good. The music on this album fills a room in a way that is cozy and epic at the same time.
My favourite 80’s pop album not made by Prince. I have listened to this thing seems like a hundred times. Still gets a spin a few times a year.
Knowing the two massive radio hits primed me with low expectations. But then, suddenly, I didn’t mind it much at all!
Yessss. When this album popped up a slow smile grew across my dumb kisser. A perfect excuse to blow the dust off my ragged old LP. Those dueling guitars. This album f’ck’n rules from the first second to the last.
Party album! The skits bugged me but the songs were a ton of fun.
The production and DJing on this album is still unparalleled, and the rapping is fun but definitely of it’s time.
I played this tape cassette a lot when I was in grade 12. I recalled it as long and meandering. Turns out it’s pretty tight and good.
2012? 2012???? Practically a new release! I’m not saying I disliked it. I didn’t. There were some cold tracks I think would sound great popping up on a road trip set list. I just don’t see how an album like this could ever be someone’s personal favourite. Didn’t have enough wow. Solid mid.
Sometimes simplicity is a good hang.
This is an album with some great songs. But way too long, and very inconsistent.
The legend exceeds the reality. But still a very off-kilter weirdo of an album, perfect for Halloween. It reminded me of Abbey Road: a bunch of great ideas poured into a blender and presented with some charm.
Yes, the rumours are true. 2 years before Nevermind dropped, alternative music poked its little head out of its dirt hole and gave mainstream listeners a little kiss on the cheek. And it sounds even better now. Breakfast at my house never sounded so good.
Red Headed Stranger is as cozy as they come. Bona fide campfire music. I still haven’t figured out the full story of what’s going on through it though.
Schmilsson makes me feel good. It is a super sweet and topical vibe for first thing in the morning. Singalong bliss.
It’s been a week for cozy mellow albums. This is one of those types that sounds good, and is always reminding me of other albums I want to listen to more. The Christian Life is absolutely bone-chilling.
I thought this was something else. Or else it was what I thought and I am dumb. All I know is I physically could not pay attention to this album.
I will perhaps revisit another time and revise this one.
How do I fully digest a 90-minute concept album I’ve never heard a single note of before that also happens to be Peter Gabriel’s Genesis’ magnum opus in one day? Answer: I don’t.
This is so far from what I would ever listen to on my own, which is something I like about this Project. It reminds me of something a schoolmate would play during a college study sesh. I don’t know how to handle it. C-grade.
Daddy like.
I do think it’s worth mentioning that producers of digital media who tag hip hop skits onto the beginning or end of the music tracks will all burn in hell.
Finally some concrete proof that Scientology works! Why he disavowed it I’ll never know.
Albums that amount to a glorified DJ set are tough to rank. It was a fine listen and a bit of fun, but hard to care about. If I only ever listen to 1001 albums my whole life, is this really one of them?
I was thinking 2 stars, but I don’t want to be ungenerous.
The Psychedelic Furs’ first three albums are top-to-bottom gold. While I slightly favour their debut album, Dumb Waiters is maybe my favourite track by them, so it all evens out in the end. This is a serious jam. Play loud.
Nestled comfortably between Hobbiton and a militant Covid response sits a third cultural juggernaut which shared with the other two an uncanny ability to hold a mirror up to the New Zealand character while simultaneously defining it. Never before has a nation’s reputation been so thoroughly captured and enshrined in the eyes of the world forever.
I fell to my knees and cried out “Oh, Sweet Mother! Please send me something that will wash my ears clean of the memory of Lorde and her ultra-bland toadie Jack Antonoff!”
The Sweet Mother replied, “hold my beer.”
I have never heard of this before and I have no idea what the legacy will be in my life. All I know is that for 40 beautiful minutes it ripped off my head this morning and howled.
One of those solid albums hipsters love to throw on to prove how cool they are. But still. Solid album.
This band manages something impressive: it takes a bunch of musical elements that I love, blends them, and creates something abominable. Good job.
What more is there to say about a 5-star classic as good as this one? Perhaps just this: I hope it gets auto-generated again right now.
I have a few tracks off this one on set lists, and while not really breaking new ground Little Simz has great flow and decent beats. Solid, quick little album I’m happy to see show up on this list.
I wasn’t a part of the Oasis hive, probably turned off by all the drama. I was a bit surprised this album is actually so straight-forward. Just a standard rocker that doesn’t really do anything new, but has a few great tracks I liked a lot? Maybe it was worth all that drama! (PS- no it wasn’t worth all that drama)
This was a fun spin. It was one I approached with some indifference, but once it started I tumbled all in.
JA was an arm of alt-music I’ve blamed in the past for paving the way for other, worse bands in the late 90’s that I really did not like. That said, this album remains pretty great, and in my opinion, hangs together as a full album a lot better than any of the individual tracks on their own score.
I sort of recognized the album cover from record shops and was astonished it wasn’t some classic rock routine! It was kind of a wonderful listen I was happy to pay attention to once.
Once.
I have a turbulent history with R.E.M. it’s undeniable their early albums inspired me and greatly opened my mind to new kinds of music. But I turned against them hard as they grew into superstars. Green hangs right in the nexus of those two feelings. Some parts turn me on, some parts turn me off. But it definitely transported me to a different phase of my life. I really really want to give it 3 1/2 stars. Both 3 and 4 seem too extreme to me in opposite directions..
Outdated soft rock for lame dads or sexy proto-yacht rock for sexy daddies? Well, I’m pretty hot, and I like it.
Bonus star for the Pointer Sisters’ cover of Dirty Work being a high point for all music. Guess what? It didn’t need the bonus star because I already love this record.
This one makes me very curious the criteria used to make the list. Here we have a band with a bunch of incredible albums, and today we are offered on of their very mediocre titles. Why? Maybe The Cure have several on the list, and it will all make sense in the end.
I admit, it sounded pretty good on headphones.
I kind of hoped I’d be more into this, but my listening experience went steadily downhill in a linear fashion between the first minute and the last. Luckily it started pretty good.
My Miles fandom is limited to a few very cherry-picked albums. This was not one I’d been introduced to before, but the musician lineup is incredible. And it really blew me away. It will be getting a lot more time in my earholes for sure.
First repeated band assignment. There was a time I’d point to In Rainbows as a personal favourite Radiohead album. I enjoyed the revisit, with some very high highs, but the lustre was a bit off the full package.
ThIs is the kind of weird little hidden gem that really makes me love this project. If the album had a smidge more variety I may have rated it even higher.
Prog rock can seem like a bit of a chore, but time and again I sort of like it when it’s happening. A bit weird the prevalence of the violin on this one, but endearing. Not sure this one will pop up much more in my life, but glad to give it a chance today.
No band has ever committed harder to the simple ethos of sex, booze and rock and roll. Partying.
An easy breezy low-stakes album stuffed with bangers, this one. It reminds me of eating cereal and reading comics for some reason.
This one caught my attention for several reasons, even though I’d never heard it before.
1) The album cover. A welcoming collage with lettering both quaint and unusual.
2) The release date. Spotify put it at Sept 1,1974. Whether that is accurate or not I do not know, but on Sept 1, 1974 I was only hours old.
3) The Byrdhouse. When we had the Byrds assigned a while back, it was Sweetheart at the Rodeo, an album that absolutely did not work for me. The Gram Parsons influence was too much, and it had no relevance to what I thought the Byrds were all about. Now, reading about Gene Clark, I’m starting to connect the dots around that whole Byrds thing, and No Other tells me all I need to know about why Sweetheart at the Rodeo was wholly unlike the earlier Byrds I am more familiar with.
4) The legacy. Any time an album faceplants miserably out of the gate and the artist “never recovers”, only for that album to reappraised a masterpiece years later, well, always worth giving that album a bit of time.
5) The songs. They seemed so familiar. I guarantee I’ve never heard any of them before, but they just were connecting with me hard. I founded I wanted to sing along real bad, but unfortunately didn’t know any of the words or any of the melodies. Like that nightmare about being in a play but different.
6) The production. Sounds like the team spent some dough to make this album, but I found the mix incredibly crisp and clear. Every instrument was transparent, and balanced in a way where nothing was overpowered. It enables the ear to really wander around the instrumentation.
So to cut to the chase, today was a wonderful 1001 listen.
Korn is bad for the digestion, both going in and coming out. It doesn’t help that it sounds like Jonathan Davis is singing while sitting on the can. If it was 60 minutes shorter I might give it a charity star because of this tidbit from the Wikipedia: “According to Wright, Robinson went to extreme lengths to agitate Davis in the vocal booth, including punching him in the back repeatedly.”
Call the mandatory minimum 1-star I’m required to select the charity star.
Did Elton John love country music? This album sort of reminds me of country music, if Meatloaf did country music. That there was a time and place where Indian Sunset seemed like an awesome idea is a testament to progress.
All that probably sounds like I didn’t like it.
Funny-looking band who put on a really great show. How to assess something that’s both dirty and harmless?
How to review and rate an album that was pretty good, I liked it fine, but it constantly reminded me of other earlier albums like Cheap Thrills and In-a-gadda-da-vida. It sounded ok, it just wasn’t anything special. It didn’t feel additive.
Sounds like a 3.
ABBA holds an intriguing space in my heart. My folks had ABBA’s Greatest Hits on vinyl when I was a child and I was obsessed with this thing. I must have spun it 100 times or more between the ages of 7 and 12. I ever after had a soft spot, but as greatest hit compilations grew in quality and scope, those remained the albums I would pick up on cassette, then CD. So I have curated a huge love for those songs.
But then comes their albums. The hits remain killer, but the rest remains filler. I want to love it all the same, but they are the definition of hit and miss.
I think this is a sweet album, and the hits are almost the best of the best. Still. Padded with filler. But I can’t go lower than 4.
Beatles albums are so f’ck’n awesome. They make it seem like anyone could do it.
One thing it’s nice to think is that an album’s biggest mass hit is kind of the worst song on the album.
When your album cover is this hilarious your star-rating can’t go below 3. Add a few groovy tunes, and you may be on to something.
Always interesting reviewing an album I know very well. I think I’ve owned it in every format since QT made Son of a Preacher Man super-famous in the ‘90s.
So imagine my utter bamboozlement to learn last night that Dusty Springfield is a Brit! A Brit? Anyways, now I need to recalibrate the last 30 years of my life.
Everyone I hung around with played this album a lot, and I did. It was on the juke box where I worked. Patrons liked to play it. I heard it again and again and again. And again. Metal grunge. Heroin withdrawal depression music. Great time!
A couple years back I swapped 10-track sets with Groupmate using a baffling guideline where we had to pick a single track from one album chosen from every 50 albums in a long bunch of albums. We had to pick songs from albums we’d never listened to and swap the sets unheard or something. I don’t know, and I forget the details, and it’s all too convoluted to even try to explain here, but the sets were both demented.
The song Rattlesnakes was on my set.
This album is a good fun listen. It felt a bit long, and both spins I found myself checking the progress when there were two-three songs left.
I note that on the album cover the words “Contains 4 extra tracks” is written.
All this to say: I was right. It IS too long.
I keep crossing paths with Antony and the Johnsons, a track here and a track there, and the hushed, tremulous style just captures my attention. But I’ve never really felt compelled to listen to an entire album. I just figured it’s a bit odd and maybe doesn’t weather an extended sit. Am I ever glad I listened to this one. A beautiful and intriguing spin, with some guest artists who I didn’t see coming, but who worked great.
I want to go listen to it again right now.
Sometimes these old timey rock albums by superstar personalities feel like greatest hits albums, even though they aren’t. All these tracks are ultra-familiar from countless sources over the years, never heard within the context of any kind of album. This is like a greatest hits album missing Lucille. Which is actually pretty impressive when you think about it. Except of course, Lucille is missing.
Still, pretty much a banger, performed to the max, even if the substance is on the shallow side.
What the devil?
Ok, I will accept the premise that instrumental soundtracks are a part of music culture. While I didn’t hate this listen, music made specifically for a movie come across as a bit unmoored without the actual movie. I suppose these kinds of albums would resonate much more strongly for massive fans of the movie. To me, it sounded alright. I really hope (and pray) that the Star Wars soundtrack is not a part of this journey.
Being a Sex Pistols agnostic, I never put any time or effort into PiL. Listened as I decorated for Christmas with my kids. A little evisceration of organized religion warmed my Christmas cockles, and the vague ska vibe on a couple later tracks got my head bobbin’.
Not 100%, but a decent first touch.
There was a time in my life when I loved this album. It is clear today that time is past. It’s Clapton. The guy is simply uncool to the max.
Still, some all-time riffs.
It was baffling when it came out. I bought the cd on day 1 and have a fond memory of diving into Speakerboxxx on my long bus ride home. I was smitten. These albums are so jam packed with creative musical ideas it still comes across as incredibly refreshing. With this revisit, I think I might love them more than ever. Speakerboxx is a stone cold masterpiece. One of the best hip hop albums ever. Then there’s the bizarre The Love Below… My one quibble is that Andre’s lyrics are about as subtle as a cock in a popcorn tub. But the music he makes is just SO DAMN FUNKY. Damn.
Third assigned Radiohead album is the best by a long shot. When they are at this best they sound like they are tirelessly searching…for something. And I get go with them. Oak Computer and Kid A were their zenith, and it still works damn well on me.
These songs made me think of all the elementary school teachers I had in the early 80’s who would fill our choir repertoires with the folk music they’d lived 10 years earlier. Every one of these songs could have fit easily into those duotangs. Even the ones about drugs.
I have a friend who absolutely eviscerated Jeff Buckley in an e-mail awhile back. It is likely fortunate this individual was not called upon to deliver a speech at Jeff’s funeral.
For my part I am quite taken with this album. There is a lot going on and some big swings. Some swings hit, some not so much, but taken as a package, the willingness to do something quite strange, I just have to appreciate.
I would hate to overstate this to one. MC Solaar’s French flow over funky jazz production is incredibly fun. I listened to it twice straight through back to back. I want to give it five stars very badly.
Not a favourite. If there were a perfectly middle-ground album, this is it.
When you take a bunch of wonderful things, put them together, don’t include anything not wonderful, and sprinkle it with wonder, you get something wonderful.
It takes some effort to make 80’s synth-pop sound boring. It wasn’t a hate-listen, like my 1-stars tend to be, but not for me, in a genre I typically find very much for me.
Still a melancholy listen after all this time. But to have a band like Nirvana largely avoid their own massive hits to expose their fans to some great music that influenced them, all delivered by one one of the most recognizable frontmen ever, this album hasn’t lost any of its power or awesomeness.
It makes me laugh that this came out in ‘87. It certainly makes me feel a certain age. But all that aside, this album is a real solid rocker. The production is so sparse it give that cozy homemade feeling.
One of my critiques of this project so far has been a few of the odd choices included. This seems like one to me. The Smiths have two pretty unimpeachable masterpieces. This just ain’t one of them. In fact this one is one of their most mediocre. I guess I’d need to actually read the book to figure out the rationale, but I know there are loads of unsung great albums that would never get exposure on a list like this.
And let’s face it, Meat Is Murder is kind of a turd.
I’ve known a couple true-blue Zepheads in my life. LZ is one of those bands with fans who are so sincere and worshipful, their advocacy can be contagious. I have a few fond memories of these passionate folks walking me through some very cool stuff late at night in some rustic living rooms, empties and roaches littered all around us, them handpicking tracks and loving them so much I started loving them. While I’m no Zeppelin super-fan like them, I did love those nights. I bought a pretty sweet little box set of all the Zep albums on CD back in 95 and got pretty familiar with all of them.
So Physical Graffiti. A pretty all-time-famous double album. Doubles tend to be describes as “sprawling”, and that certainly applies in this case. The key questions are: Are the songs good? And: Does the sprawl hang together as a unit? I will say there are some supreme favourite tracks on here, and a lot of music that tends to fade back to background. I think too inconsistent to hang together as a unit. But when the kick drum lands in Black Country Woman, it’s one of the best single moments the band ever had it the studio.
Cash’s Rick Rubin phase was incredible. I really loved them all. This one has tons of great tracks, and Cash’s delivery is so weighted with experience that it gets me thinking of my own life. I also love the spare simplicity of these albums.
I was wondering when I’d get hit with my first “art versus the artist” type conundrums in this project. My philosophy on the whole matter is that the art isn’t objectively changing. The only thing that changes is me, the listener. Every listen to an album may hit me in a different way from the other listens, but only because I am bringing something new to the equation. All the album can ever bring is itself, and al, the bleeps and bloops in the exact same order as ever. So, on any given listen, thoughts or feelings about the artist may or may not be a factor, and it’s totally valid either way.
So for this particular listen of The College Dropout, I would say the artist was a factor, but only a minor one. A lot of tracks slap pretty hard, and some not so much, but generally a decent album. A bit overrated imo, but I thought that long before ‘Ye’s entire existence went in the toilet.
This record covers a lot ground in 40 minutes. It’s got an easy simplicity that masks a complicated bunch of songs. It sounds like someone with a lot of experience made it.
Shit. Shitshitshitshitshitshitshit. Shit! But this is too good.
Randomly generated my ass.
