My 1001 Albums Journey

111

Albums Rated

3.68

Average Rating

10%

Complete

978 albums remaining

Rating Distribution

Rating Timeline

Taste Profile

1960

Favorite Decade

Folk

Favorite Genre

other

Top Origin

Cheerleader

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5-Star Albums

1-Star Albums

Breakdown

By Genre

By Decade

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Albums

You Love More Than Most

Album	You	Global	Diff
I See A Darkness Bonnie "Prince" Billy	5	2.97	+2.03
Maxinquaye Tricky	5	3.04	+1.96
Heartattack And Vine Tom Waits	5	3.07	+1.93
The Lexicon Of Love ABC	5	3.08	+1.92
Tubular Bells Mike Oldfield	5	3.1	+1.9
Double Nickels On The Dime Minutemen	5	3.12	+1.88
Another Green World Brian Eno	5	3.12	+1.88
Clube Da Esquina Milton Nascimento	5	3.13	+1.87
Junkyard The Birthday Party	4	2.16	+1.84
Pink Flag Wire	5	3.21	+1.79

You Love Less Than Most

Album	You	Global	Diff
Brothers The Black Keys	1	3.57	-2.57
Is This It The Strokes	2	3.81	-1.81
Come Away With Me Norah Jones	2	3.38	-1.38
25 Adele	2	3.37	-1.37
Rock 'N Soul Solomon Burke	2	3.36	-1.36
Gunfighter Ballads And Trail Songs Marty Robbins	2	3.33	-1.33
Meat Is Murder The Smiths	2	3.32	-1.32
The Undertones The Undertones	2	3.26	-1.26
The Predator Ice Cube	2	3.26	-1.26
The Rolling Stones The Rolling Stones	2	3.25	-1.25

Artists

Favorites

Artist	Albums	Average
The Velvet Underground	2	5

5-Star Albums (32)

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Popular Reviews

Double Nickels On The Dime

Minutemen · 3 likes

5/5

Wow, this is absolutely stunning! I never really paid much attention to the Minutemen - a huge mistake, as it turns out. This double album is filled with uncompromising snapshots of punk, post-punk, funk, art-rock and even musique concrete. Never for one second I got bored, even though the 40+ songs are a lot to take in. A genius record that is my first *real* surprise in this challenge.

Brothers

The Black Keys · 1 likes

1/5

Boring, forgettable blues rock, played by white men who think they can sound like their heroes. This is an album I wouldn't recommend anyone listening to at all.

4-Star Albums (29)

Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not

Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea

1-Star Albums (1)

All Ratings

Manassas

Stephen Stills

4/5

It‘s an album that's close to my heart. Side 3 is stunning.

Meat Is Murder

The Smiths

2/5

Bringing It All Back Home

Bob Dylan

4/5

I never was a big Dylan fan, but as I get older, I can appreciate his songs, his craftsmanship and his huge influence on the pop culture more. I'm more familiar with his later albums, but this one is awesome, especially the rockier first half. "Maggie's Farm", "Outlaw Blues", and "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue" are all huge favorites. Great album! ("Tambourine Man" is overrated though …)

After The Gold Rush

Neil Young

5/5

This is one of Neil Young's best work. I love the sparseness of the title track, the heartfelt apocalypse painted in "Don't Let It Bring You Down", and the folky "Only Love Can Break Your Heart". Amazing album!

Songs From The Big Chair

Tears For Fears

5/5

This is one of the best albums of the 80s, full of genius melodies and masterful arrangements. "Head Over Heels" is a song that transcends time and emotions, such as grand song. "Shout" and "Everybody Wants To Rule The World" are genius singles. But also the deep cuts are fascinating, like the Robert Wyatt pastiche "I Believe" or the powerful rage of "Broken". This is one of my all-time favorite records, and nothing less than a masterpiece.

Channel Orange

Frank Ocean

4/5

I had heard the album once or twice before, but never paid much attention to it. Now, having played it again, I think it's rightly regarded as a groundbreaking album of the neo-RnB movement. Especially the multi-layered "Pyramid" and the irresistible "Lost" are amazingly produced, very special soul pop songs by an amazing songwriter and singer. Right now, I'm rating it four stars, but this has the potential to become even better for me.

The Undertones

2/5

Not a big fan of the pop punk songs which all sound kind of samey. They certainly knew how to fuse Ramones-like angriness with a touch of early Beatles melodies, but nothing much stood out for me in terms of composition or sound. "Teenage Kicks" is a genius song, though.

L.A. Woman

The Doors

3/5

It‘s hard to argue against the big hits of the album. "Riders On The Storm" is a soothing, hypnotic song, the title track is wonderfully ecstatic, and "The Changeling" is a personal favourite. But overall, the blues nature of the deep cuts fade into the realms of forgetfulness pretty fast. You can hear Jim Morrison drifting off into madness, which is fascinating, but not an overall pleasant listen.

The Sun Rises In The East

Jeru The Damaja

2/5

While hip hop is not my favorite genre, I can appreciate its high points - the goofiness of De La Soul, the emotional depth of Kendrick Llamar, the soul-shattering lyricism of Public Enemy, heck, I even like Outkast. Jeru was someone I was not familiar with, and I was a bit puzzled as to why this album is regarded as one of the best of the genre. Maybe it's because of the production, because DJ Premier is on fire here. The dissonant blocks of piano in "D. Original" are as experimental as something by Dälek, the beat in "My Mind Spray" is amazing. But I was not too keen on Jeru's verses, especially in "Da Bichez", which has not aged well. So, this is a mixed bag for me, but ultimately, I didn't find it too interesting or engaging. Just a typical 90s hip hop record, apart from said highlights when it got a little more experimental.

Station To Station

David Bowie

5/5

This is certainly a great album, marking Bowie's transition from glam superstar into a pop enigma. The slick arrangements radiate with a glacier-like quality, with Bowie crooning over it like a romanticized version of Scott Walker. "TVC-15" and especially "Stay" are highlights on the album, rhythm-driven alien pop funk. The multi-sectioned title track is one of Bowie's most interesting experiments, though I feel overall, the album suffers from its singles, the doo-wop of "Golden Years" does not live up to the rest of the material, in my opinion. But it's definitely in my top 5 of Bowie albums (with other favorites being "Blackstar", "Outside" and "Lodger").

The Number Of The Beast

Iron Maiden

4/5

Gosh, even now, almost 45 years later, this album sounds like pure freedom. It's in the tapping, wildly over-the-top guitar solos of "The Prisoner", in the the shifting rhythms of "22 Acacia Avenue" (a Black Sabbath homage if I ever heard one), it's in the genius heavy cinematic grandiosity of "Hallowed Be The Name". With the title track, you're transported into a different realm - Steve Harris' genius bass catapulting you down into hell. It's fun there - warm, sweaty, and you can head bang all day long. I'm all for it.

Electric Ladyland

Jimi Hendrix

4/5

I get the love and fascination for this album, I really do. Given the space of a double album, Hendrix explores the psychedelic sixties in all its glory. First and foremost, there's his version of "All Along The Watchtower", probably the definitive interpretation of a song that's always been an enigma to me. I can't relate to the lyrics or see the genius behind it. To me, it's just okay at best. But the album is much better than its biggest and most famous song. Take the light-hearted sweetness of "Little Miss Strange" and "Burning of the Midnight Lamp", the hard-hitting blues of "Crosstown Traffic", and "Voodoo Chile", probably the most accurate sonic depiction of a night club in the sixties. Would this album be better if it was a single album? Probably. Would it still be this fascinating and consuming if it wasn't for the lengthy explorations? Probably not.

Casanova

The Divine Comedy

4/5

I once had a friend who dragged me along to a show by The Divine Comedy, at Gloria, one of the most beautiful venues in Cologne. I hadn't heard anything by them, but was enthralled. Especially the song "Lady Of A Certain Age" is so vividly in my mind, how Neil Hannon sighed '... no, you couldn't be', brushing off a lady's answer to how old she actually is. I got the album with said track ("Victory for the Comic Muse"), and years later, someone recommended "Regeneration", which I played a lot during the pandemic, a Radiohead-ish fever dream of an album, that feels torn between two worlds of indie stardom and Hannon's kitsch-heavy pop of his usual songwriting. That said, I'd never heard "Casanova", and while I could see how this album got The Divine Comedy through the roof, as it certainly was quite unique for the time, I didn't really enjoy it as the other two records I know of them. While I loved the weird, timeless aura around it - it's a record that could've only been made during the height of Britpop, yet it breathes the lushness of a sixties Scott Walker solo record - and love songs like "Something For The Weekend" and the hilarious, yet heartbreakingly sad "Frog Princess", I found a few things that I usually cannot stand in other types of music. There's the greasy spoken word in "Middle Class Heroes" and the self-referential "Theme from Casanova". So, I guess, this won't ever become my favorite Divine Comedy record. But one I still really enjoy.

Adele

2/5

Incredible voice, incredibly underused.

Garbage

3/5

A quirky, yet abrasive and dark slice of manufactured mid-90s grunge. Whatever Butch Vig might have had in mind when founding the band, Shirley Manson certainly threw everything overboard, with her rage and at times brilliant lyrics dealing with mental health and equality shining through all of the songs. "Stupid Girl" is a stand-out for me, a song which was very present during my teenage years of watching MTV. But there are some deep cuts here that I really enjoyed as well - "My Lover's Box" for instance, a shockingly open song about desire. But ultimately, I think it didn't really grab my attention for more than several songs. Despite the great musicianship, most of the material sounds quite similar - usually a problem for me with grunge per se. So, it's a mixed bag, but one I might return to in the future.

Is This It

The Strokes

2/5

To be honest, I never truly understood the appeal of early Strokes. Everything sounds the same to me, and this to me is one of the overhyped, overrated albums of all time. I'd rather be listening to the Arctic Monkeys.

Double Nickels On The Dime

Minutemen

5/5

I Should Coco

Supergrass

3/5

Haunted Dancehall

The Sabres Of Paradise

3/5

I've never heard of Sabres Of Paradise before, even though they're right up my alley: dark, hypnotic electronica that's heavily infused with the Warp Records vocabulary. Although "Haunted Dancehall" definitely *was* a hypnotic listen, I wasn't too keen on the dub influences on here. Some sounds sound indeed a bit dated, unlike other contemporary artists (Aphex Twin's early work, for example ...) It's certainly not a pleasant listen, especially not during broad daylight, as I listened to it in the morning, but I can feel myself vibing to it more with the lights dimmed down.

What's That Noise?

Coldcut

3/5

The Bones Of What You Believe

CHVRCHES

3/5

Superunknown

Soundgarden

5/5

I Am a Bird Now

Antony and the Johnsons

4/5

Even though this is not their best work - this would be the incredible gut punch of 2023's "My Back Was A Bridge For You To Cross" - this is still music that radiates with beauty. Anohni's voice is not too far from Klaus Nomi's unique high-pitched vibrato, though it does have a more mellow quality, almost like David Sylvian. I'm quite fond of this, musically, and have a huge respect for Anohni, both musically and as a human.

American Pie

Don McLean

3/5

Brothers

The Black Keys

1/5

Boring, forgettable blues rock, played by white men who think they can sound like their heroes. This is an album I wouldn't recommend anyone listening to at all.

Pink Flag

Wire

5/5

Groundbreaking album - love the artsy, punky angst that's radiating from the compositions. "Strange" for example is incredible, and so ahead of its time, like the rest of the album.

World Clique

Deee-Lite

3/5

Miiid-Lite ... No, honestly, I didn't mind it, and even liked some of the more quirky production styles throughout. The samples in "E.S.P." are hilarious. But overall, this is too much of a superficial sound to fully catch my interest.

The Wall

Pink Floyd

3/5

This is not my favorite Floyd album by any means. I much more prefer "Animals", which I think is their best, "WYWH" and "Meddle". Though I can certainly see the appeal of this overblown, yet franticly cold concept album. Waters is slowly and quite literally drifting off into a fascist mindset, as is evident in "In The Flesh", "Run Like Hell", and "Waiting For The Worms" - something he's certainly showing even more nowadays. I don't particularly care for all his interludes and Ezrin's cold production style (looking at you, "Vera", "Bring The Boys ..." and "Stop"), and "The Trial" is just utter nonsense ... But when the album hits, it hits. I had forgotten how strong side 2 is, with "One Of My Turns" almost becoming a highlight for me. "Comfortably Numb" is an all-time classic, as is "Another Brick In The Wall", and I love the more mellow pieces like "Goodbye Blue Sky" and "Nobody Home" (the latter probably being one of Waters' last really exceptionally great songs). But yeah, I'd much rather listen to a different Floyd album than this one.

Dire Straits

4/5

The Rolling Stones

2/5

Another Green World

Brian Eno

5/5

Even fifty years later, this sounds like alien pop music, with its wobbling synths, surreal lyrics and futuristic sounds. Amazing album!

Natty Dread

Bob Marley & The Wailers

4/5

I never really appreciated reggae fully in my life and I doubt I'll ever will, but it's hard to deny that "Natty Dread" is a great album. The horn section on the irresistible opener "Lively Up Yourself" is unbelievably tight, "Them Belly Full (But We Hungry)" reeks with dread and despair, and "Talkin' Blues" masterfully fuses blues with the syncopated Jamaican rhythms. The repetitive nature of the music and its vibe that's just so associated with joints and drug culture makes it hard for me to fully connect with it emotionally, but still, "Natty Dread" is a huge achievement, especially when you think of where Bob Marley was in his career at the time, just having cut all strings from two of his closest collaborators. ("No Woman No Cry" is infinitely better in the live version though, the studio version lacks its power, though it's a lovely, soft arrangement.)

Heartattack And Vine

Tom Waits

5/5

I See A Darkness

Bonnie "Prince" Billy

5/5

One of the bleakest, darkest and yet comforting indie albums of all time. Genius record!

The Man Machine

Kraftwerk

5/5

We're all just living in Kraftwerk's future. Groundbreaking album!

Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not

Arctic Monkeys

4/5

Live At The Witch Trials

The Fall

3/5

Gris Gris

Dr. John

4/5

Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea

PJ Harvey

4/5

Heavy Weather

Weather Report

4/5

Rock 'N Soul

Solomon Burke

2/5

Ctrl

SZA

3/5

1999

Prince

5/5

Hysteria

Def Leppard

2/5

The Village Green Preservation Society

The Kinks

5/5

Kid A

Radiohead

5/5

461 Ocean Boulevard

Eric Clapton

3/5

Back to Basics

Christina Aguilera

3/5

Blood And Chocolate

Elvis Costello & The Attractions

3/5

Illmatic

Nas

4/5

Stephen Stills

3/5

Let's Stay Together

Al Green

3/5

Music From Big Pink

The Band

5/5

Tubular Bells

Mike Oldfield

5/5

Highly Evolved

The Vines

2/5

Billion Dollar Babies

Alice Cooper

4/5

This Year's Model

Elvis Costello & The Attractions

3/5

Innervisions

Stevie Wonder

5/5

The World is a Ghetto

War

4/5

The Velvet Underground

5/5

Rings Around The World

Super Furry Animals

4/5

The Lexicon Of Love

ABC

5/5

Come Away With Me

Norah Jones

2/5

Bridge Over Troubled Water

Simon & Garfunkel

5/5

The Doors

4/5

Paranoid

Black Sabbath

5/5

Either Or

Elliott Smith

4/5

The Renaissance

Q-Tip

3/5

Pornography

The Cure

5/5

My Aim Is True

Elvis Costello

3/5

One Nation Under A Groove

Funkadelic

4/5

Shalimar

Rahul Dev Burman

3/5

Permission to Land

The Darkness

2/5

Brilliant Corners

Thelonious Monk

4/5

Life's Too Good

The Sugarcubes

3/5

Viva Hate

Morrissey

2/5

Clube Da Esquina

Milton Nascimento

5/5

Gunfighter Ballads And Trail Songs

Marty Robbins

2/5

Among The Living

Anthrax

2/5

At Budokan

Cheap Trick

3/5

Adele

3/5

Junkyard

The Birthday Party

4/5

Abrasive, noisy, beautiful - I love it!

Rust Never Sleeps

Neil Young & Crazy Horse

5/5

The Black Saint And The Sinner Lady

Charles Mingus

5/5

Rumours

Fleetwood Mac

5/5

Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge

Mudhoney

4/5

The Predator

Ice Cube

2/5

Common

3/5

Melodically rich, great production - so far, this is the most enjoyable hip hop album on this list.

Woodface

Crowded House

3/5

Remain In Light

Talking Heads

5/5

A Christmas Gift For You From Phil Spector

Various Artists

3/5

The Marshall Mathers LP

Eminem

3/5

Maxinquaye

Tricky

5/5

Dark and brooding, amazing album!

Too Rye Ay

Dexys Midnight Runners

3/5

This one is a tough one to review. There have been moments where "Come On Eileen" moved me to tears. I still think it's a brilliant song, just as "Jackie Wilson Said" - two gloriously uplifting, yet deeply melancholic songs that are very dear to me. Then, a couple of years back, I got to interview Kevin Rowland for "The Feminine Divine" (make of that record what you will), and he was just an angry old man, constantly questioning my way of how I phrased my questions, asking me if I had even heard the music, etc. I had the pleasure of talking to a lot of great musicians - Graham Nash, Tears for Fears, Mike Rutherford of Genesis, Nick Mason of Pink Floyd, Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin, Mike Patton, just to name a few. And *none* of them were so full of themselves as Rowland. I can't listen to "Too-Ray-Ay" without thinking of this talk. That being said, this is not a bad album. What it lacks in variety, it makes up with high quality, quirky production (especially on the re-jiggered version from 2022, or so), and a stunning vocal performance. But yeah, overall this is not a lot more than just "good". Art that's exploiting a sense of nostalgia. Meh ...

It's Blitz!

Yeah Yeah Yeahs

4/5

I didn't expect to like this one, as I was only familiar with the singles from this album - the aggressively happy and dancy electropop of "Heads Will Roll" first and foremost. But side two, especially the drenched out, almost shoegazy "Little Shadow" and the hymnal "Hysteric", caught me by surprise. I really loved the mellower moments here - and that it culminated in the unashamedly upbeat "Faces". 3.5-4 stars.

Hot Rats

Frank Zappa

5/5

Automatic For The People

R.E.M.

5/5

Cupid & Psyche 85

Scritti Politti

4/5

Imagine

John Lennon

3/5

Makes me want to listen to 'Silly Love Songs' immediately ...

The Velvet Underground & Nico

The Velvet Underground

5/5

The Infotainment Scan

The Fall

3/5

Licensed To Ill

Beastie Boys

3/5

Group Sex

Circle Jerks

3/5

This is absolutely not my kind of music, yet it's pleasant enough that it doesn't outstay its welcome. "Red Tape" has amazing drumming though ...

Straight Outta Compton

N.W.A.

4/5

I'm by no means an expert on hip hop / rap music. I enjoy my occasional Dälek, I've known Eminem and loved the Beastie Boys music videos on MTV when I grew up. As a rock kid, most rap was too bland for me - too much talking, too much rhythm, not enough tunes. Now I know how wrong I was. The Gorillaz helped my introduce me to De La Soul, who I love. DJ Shadow, Nas and the likes I just re-discovered, as I did Mac Miller, Lil Yachty and many more over the years. That being said, hip hop will never become my favorite genre. Here's the big BUT: I may not actively *like* the kind of music, but I can recognize a classic album when I hear one. "Straight Outta Compton" definitely *is* a classic album, with lots of bangers. I was blown away by Ice Cube's verses on the title track, and I really appreciated Dre's production, as in "Something 2 Dance 2", for example. This is not something I'll revisit a whole lot. But when I do, I know I'll enjoy it for what it is. One of the best albums of its genre.

The Nightfly

Donald Fagen

4/5

Goodbye Yellow Brick Road

Elton John

5/5

The Poet

Bobby Womack

2/5

Let's Get It On

Marvin Gaye

4/5

Music for the Masses

Depeche Mode

5/5

When I was a teenager, this was the first album by DM that I *really* got into, thanks to a friend of mine who was a massive fan of theirs. He used to push me to check them out, and having mainly known the radio singles, I was intrigued by this record which I had never heard one song from. To this day, it's still close to my heart and probably in my top 3 DM releases (with "Ultra" and "Violator"). "Never Let Me Down Again" is a fantastic song -- I'm sure there'll be theories written about it still in fifty years. "The Things You Said" is wonderfully Kraftwerk, "I Want You Now" still sounds like nothing else almost forty years later. "Strangelove" and "Behind The Wheel" are brilliant dance pop songs, and the twisted "Pimpf" was a huge inspiration for my first band -- we were trying to merge these apocalyptic soundscapes with prog and post-rock influences. Great times ...

Fever Ray

4/5

"Keep The Streets Empty For Me" is gorgeous!

Melody A.M.

Röyksopp

3/5