My 1001 Albums Journey

142

Albums Rated

3.75

Average Rating

13%

Complete

947 albums remaining

Rating Distribution

Rating Timeline

Taste Profile

1960

Favorite Decade

Funk

Favorite Genre

Top Origin

Enthusiast

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5-Star Albums

1-Star Albums

Breakdown

By Genre

Top Styles

By Decade

By Origin

Albums

You Love More Than Most

Album	You	Global	Diff
Dr. Octagonecologyst Dr. Octagon	5	2.7	+2.3
Eli And The Thirteenth Confession Laura Nyro	5	2.94	+2.06
Black Monk Time The Monks	5	2.94	+2.06
Connected Stereo MC's	5	2.95	+2.05
Ray Of Light Madonna	5	3.01	+1.99
Suzanne Vega Suzanne Vega	5	3.02	+1.98
Chemtrails Over The Country Club Lana Del Rey	5	3.05	+1.95
Central Reservation Beth Orton	5	3.06	+1.94
If I Could Only Remember My Name David Crosby	5	3.07	+1.93
Soul Mining The The	5	3.17	+1.83

You Love Less Than Most

Album	You	Global	Diff
Doggystyle Snoop Dogg	1	3.37	-2.37
Urban Hymns The Verve	1	3.36	-2.36
The Holy Bible Manic Street Preachers	1	3.15	-2.15
Make Yourself Incubus	1	3.08	-2.08
Post Orgasmic Chill Skunk Anansie	1	2.99	-1.99
Slayed? Slade	1	2.87	-1.87
m b v My Bloody Valentine	1	2.72	-1.72
All Hope Is Gone Slipknot	1	2.7	-1.7
Out Of The Blue Electric Light Orchestra	2	3.64	-1.64
Jazz Samba Stan Getz	2	3.56	-1.56

Artists

Favorites

Artist	Albums	Average
Beatles	4	5
The Who	3	5
Bob Dylan	2	5
Bruce Springsteen	2	5
Public Enemy	2	5

Controversial

Artist	Ratings
Steely Dan	2, 5

5-Star Albums (59)

View Album Wall

It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back

Popular Reviews

Achtung Baby

U2 · 2 likes

5/5

Achtung Baby was the turning point album where U2 avoided becoming an 80s nostalgia band to enter into the rock pantheon with immortal bands like the Stones and Beatles. "Mysterious Ways" was also a turning point in my music appreciation. I went from loving bands from the past (Beatles, Led Zeppelin) to witnessing great music appear in my own young life.

Doggystyle

Snoop Dogg · 1 likes

1/5

I didn't like the misogyny of gangster rap then and definitely not now.

Aja

Steely Dan · 1 likes

2/5

I'll say this, we had to drive home late after a long day. Aja by Steely Dan kept my thirteen year old happily asleep for most of the ride. This album is how I imagine much of the late 70s radio music scene must have felt.

Who's Next

The Who · 1 likes

5/5

Five stars. It just is. Even the filler songs on a Who album are joyous to listen to. "The Song is Over" and "Getting in Tune" were surprising rediscoveries.

1-Star Albums (10)

All Ratings

Logical Progression

LTJ Bukem

3/5

Interesting instrumentals.

Eliminator

ZZ Top

5/5

Frank

Amy Winehouse

4/5

Interesting view into early Winehouse before Back to Black album blew up.

The xx

5/5

English indie pop. Excellent post-house music electronic pop. Favorite Tracks: Intro VCR Islands Shelter

Nevermind

Nirvana

5/5

I listened to the Deluxe edition on Spotify with B sides and live tracks. The Polly Smart Studio session was a cool find. Memories of buying this album at the Buckingham Square mall in Denver. Musicland CD store. Probably the same place that I bought Guns n Roses Use Your Illusion. An era.

This Year's Model

Elvis Costello & The Attractions

4/5

Need to go back and relisten to this one!!

Appetite For Destruction

Guns N' Roses

5/5

GnR were such a part of my early teen years

Highway to Hell

AC/DC

3/5

Hmm.

The Specials

5/5

Fantastic. Enjoyed learning more about English ska history.

Hard Again

Muddy Waters

5/5

Great to drop some blues in the middle of Appetite for Destruction and Costello brit pop. I wanted to jump in the car and drive to Memphis.

Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

Beatles

5/5

A blast of guitar that's instantly recognizable. "With a little Help" morphs into "Lucy in the Sky.". The plane ride to post colonial India with the first biggest Rock band in the World that resulted in "Within You Without You." Sgt Peppers is more than an album. It's a postcard from The Beatles to give future generations an insight into what the end of the road felt like for George, Paul, John, and Ringo.

Risque

CHIC

5/5

Third

Soft Machine

1/5

This album broke my streak of knowing (and liking) the artists and the music selections. If I liked the music more I might spend time researching more of the "why?" Behind what is going here. But I gave it about half an hour of time and I was still more like "why the f--k??" Were they trying to be English cottage Frank Zappa?

Urban Hymns

The Verve

1/5

Verve has always felt like Third Eye Blind, Semisonic, Goo Goo Dolls, Friends theme song, yadda yadda. Pseudo alternative music that came after Nirvana, Pumpkins, Oasis. It's for people too chickenshit to listen to music that pisses off their parents. I'm listening to it now picturing Liam Gallagher beating the lead singer with an amp.

Beauty And The Beat

The Go-Go's

5/5

Enjoyed getting to hear this album as a whole for the first time. And then starting to unpeel the stories of each of the group members.

Life's Too Good

The Sugarcubes

2/5

McCartney

Paul McCartney

3/5

Interesting bridge between the Beatles and solo and Wings work. Love the album art.

Live At Leeds

The Who

5/5

An album overshadowed by Tommy. Thankful to listen to this rediscovery.

Doggystyle

Snoop Dogg

1/5

I didn't like the misogyny of gangster rap then and definitely not now.

Bat Out Of Hell

Meat Loaf

5/5

It turns out that 70s rock opera is way more my speed than I even expected.

Live At The Regal

B.B. King

5/5

Hot Rats

Frank Zappa

4/5

Gris Gris

Dr. John

3/5

Gave me a new appreciation for the music born out of New Orleans.

Aja

Steely Dan

2/5

Green River

Creedence Clearwater Revival

5/5

It was fun to learn about Fogerty and CCR. Crazy to think about the amount and quality of songs that he created in the 1975-1969 span.

Blue

Joni Mitchell

5/5

Great. This is what an album experience should be. Each song is unique, but adds together to build into a whole.

Buenas Noches From A Lonely Room

Dwight Yoakam

2/5

Meh.

(Pronounced 'Leh-'Nérd 'Skin-'Nérd)

Lynyrd Skynyrd

4/5

Original albums are such a better experience than Greatest Hits.

There's No Place Like America Today

Curtis Mayfield

5/5

Loved this first-time listen. Opening "Billy Jack" and the sincere "Jesus". Favorite was "Blue Monday People". The cover art is brilliant.

Ace of Spades

Motörhead

4/5

Great metal band!!

The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan

Bob Dylan

5/5

As classic album as classic albums get.

My Generation

The Who

5/5

Rock and roll

Brothers In Arms

Dire Straits

4/5

Another classic album in the timeline of guitar evolution.

Time (The Revelator)

Gillian Welch

3/5

Looking forward to this one! I know Welch's name, but not her music very well. Let's see where this goes...

Introducing The Hardline According To Terence Trent D'Arby

Terence Trent D'Arby

2/5

Paranoid

Black Sabbath

5/5

Brings back so many memories. I understand better now how Ozzy, Geezer, and Iommi would have grown up in the shadow of the Beatles, Stones, Who, and American rock. To feel so close in age, yet still an outsider. You hear both the severance for electric guitar, but also the anger of wanting to create a new type of music of their own.

All Directions

The Temptations

4/5

Steve McQueen

Prefab Sprout

3/5

Had some moments.

Boston

4/5

Yeah. Okay. This is a solid album full of hits. The story behind its recording also fits in the legends of rock and roll. As much as I believe the music of Boston is indistinguishable from REO Speedwagon, Chicago, Cheap Trick, and numerous other mid 70s bands, it is very true that this is an impressive debut album with zero filler.

Slayed?

Slade

1/5

Wow, I always thought Spinal Tap was making fun of American rock bands. But every song on this album was an unintended parody skit.

The Holy Bible

Manic Street Preachers

1/5

Just not a fan I guess

Music for the Masses

Depeche Mode

3/5

Not really my favorite music, but I remember how DM gave 80s music a dark edge that would influence the rise of grunge and then Nine inch Nails.

My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

Kanye West

4/5

This review was unearthed from 2010-11 when the album first came out. West had recently lost his mother in 2007. She died of complications after a series of cosmetic surgeries. That seems to be one of a series of traumatic events, many self-inflicted, that West experienced on his quixotic quest for fame and wealth. It's not a great album and he is definitely not a great person. His antihero journey is symbolic of the dark, twisted American Dream that has become all of our existence. So four stars for the failure we are all trying to live through at the moment. Kanye, you achieved your dream of creating your nightmare. What a blueprint.

All Hope Is Gone

Slipknot

1/5

Nope

Eternally Yours

The Saints

4/5

This was a first discovery of an Australian early punk pioneer that experimented with a horn section. I'm in.

Zombie

Fela Kuti

4/5

Great discovery

Something Else By The Kinks

The Kinks

4/5

Powerman by the Kinks is still my favorite album. But I always love a new Kinks discovery.

Larks' Tongues In Aspic

King Crimson

3/5

Another English version of American music who I never got into when I was younger.

Second Toughest In The Infants

Underworld

4/5

The dream of the 90s is still alive in the Underworld. Although many tracks captured the repeitition of electronic music of that era, others flashed the promise of a post-Trainspotting world of music.

You Want It Darker

Leonard Cohen

3/5

Kind of like listening to Dylan's most recent albums. You hear the whole career in each song. Not sure any of these rose to the classic status of earlier work. But I love to remember the moments I discovered Cohen along the way.

Nebraska

Bruce Springsteen

5/5

Had a feeling this one would make an appearance. I listened to Highway Patrolman again and again last night. It was probably on when I finally fell asleep. The legends around the recording of this album will probably go on to live next to the music itself. "Man turns his back on his family, well he just ain't no good." Springsteen became something else with this album. Before he was another rock singer trying to rise above a saturated east coast scene. Two years after Nebraska he would rise with Born in the USA. I wonder how much he listened to Nebraska during that time to keep himself grounded. I wish I would have had this album then, too.

Who's Next

The Who

5/5

Five stars. It just is. Even the filler songs on a Who album are joyous to listen to. "The Song is Over" and "Getting in Tune" were surprising rediscoveries.

Abbey Road

Beatles

5/5

It's Abbey Road. FFS.

The Low End Theory

A Tribe Called Quest

5/5

This is a great album full of all the beats that became classics. I wish I could go back and be more of A Tribe Called Quest fan when I was also at the height of being a Beastie Boys fan. Actually, I'd like to be in a room with both groups making music together.

Forever Changes

Love

4/5

This was another album where I've heard some of the songs before, but never knew who made them. Or why.

Honky Tonk Heroes

Waylon Jennings

3/5

Moving Pictures

Rush

5/5

Oh hell yeahs

Dr. Octagonecologyst

Dr. Octagon

5/5

Ambient 1/Music For Airports

Brian Eno

2/5

I can respect Les Paul's contribution to the history of music by innovating the electric guitar, but I don't really look forward to listening to Les Paul's music. I feel the same about Brian Eno and electronic music.

To Pimp A Butterfly

Kendrick Lamar

5/5

Okay, I see the appeal of Kendrick now.

Solid Air

John Martyn

2/5

Some songs reminded me of Michael Hedges exploring guitar combinations.

G. Love And Special Sauce

G. Love & Special Sauce

3/5

Probably an artist I would have liked more if I had listened to more albums beyond the singles that got radio.

Nick Of Time

Bonnie Raitt

3/5

Decent flashback to the late 80s.

Hunky Dory

David Bowie

5/5

Post Orgasmic Chill

Skunk Anansie

1/5

The Hissing Of Summer Lawns

Joni Mitchell

3/5

It's a Joni Mitchell album of 70s experimental synthesizers. I kept hearing the Tom Petty lyric, imagining the record company saying, "I don't hear a single." But you're Joni Mitchell -- she gets to make whatever she wants.

Franz Ferdinand

5/5

Still a great listen.

The Chronic

Dr. Dre

3/5

Can't Buy A Thrill

Steely Dan

5/5

I haven't heard this many hits on a 70s debut album since Boston! I hope that Steely Dan will continue to have evolving layers of relevance in our shared pop culture tissue.

Revolver

Beatles

5/5

Physical Graffiti

Led Zeppelin

5/5

Zeppelin is an instant 5.

Fear Of A Black Planet

Public Enemy

5/5

Ray Of Light

Madonna

5/5

This was one of the first albums that E and I agreed on for road trips.

Superunknown

Soundgarden

3/5

Soundgarden was never on the same level for me as Pearl Jam or Nirvana. Returning to this album thirty years later didn't changey mind

1984

Van Halen

5/5

Jazz Samba

Stan Getz

2/5

Dirty

Sonic Youth

3/5

Arrival

ABBA

3/5

Sign 'O' The Times

Prince

5/5

Sure, some parts are pure decadence. But isn't that what made Prince great?

Get Behind Me Satan

The White Stripes

5/5

Every White Tripes album was a moment of music history where was Rock was reclaimed and updated for the 21st century.

So Much For The City

The Thrills

2/5

Not as much fun as the other album on the list.

Now I Got Worry

The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion

3/5

A Christmas Gift For You From Phil Spector

Various Artists

4/5

"A Christmas Gift from Phil Spector" would be an awesome postmodern horror movie. Keep this album as the soundtrack. It would be bananas.

Hot Buttered Soul

Isaac Hayes

4/5

Damn. A 12 minute opening track. I was already showered and ready for a nap before track #2.

Olympia 64

Jacques Brel

3/5

A relaxing break today. I felt underdressed for listening to this music. I needed to be in a New York apartment in the early 60s.

Red Dirt Girl

Emmylou Harris

4/5

What's Going On

Marvin Gaye

5/5

Kenya

Machito

4/5

I’m a Lonesome Fugitive

Merle Haggard

2/5

Entertainment

Gang Of Four

4/5

Fun discovery. Easy to see how this influenced Red Hot Chili Peppers, REM, and U2.

Born To Run

Bruce Springsteen

5/5

It's Bruce. Classic, 1975 Bruce. Bruce and the E Street Shuffle making music together - with their backs against the wall trying to find the magic after their first two albums didn't quite reach the expected level of success. Musicians in the band were changed out. Struggles with the label. And then Born to Run is created and starts to take off.

Suzanne Vega

5/5

3 Feet High and Rising

De La Soul

4/5

Belongs on the list of great 80s early hip-hop albums.

Tusk

Fleetwood Mac

4/5

My first listen left me feeling like this must have been an overblown exercise in excess by Fleetwood Mac when they were at the height of their seventies popularity. All of the opening songs felt like over-the-top parodies of their hit songs. Then I read about the making of the album and realized that the excess was the message of this double album recorded after the success of Rumours. They were sending a message to their label and their fanbase -- and trying to keep in touch with what gave them their music in the first place. I read the fun article in The Independent: “Lindsey Buckingham on the wild story of Fleetwood Mac’s Tusk: ‘Everything got somewhat decadent’”. If you were wondering if they trucked in champagne and lobster to the studio while recording Tusk, then the answer is yes. My listening took a turn at the song “Sisters of the Moon.” This felt like an extension of Nicks’ and Buckingham’s earlier hits – but also different. Then I listened to “Too Funny” to see if there was really a White Stripes vibe and the college marching band-fueled title track. “Sometimes, the most beautiful things The most innocent things And many of those dreams, pass us by Keep passing me by.” – opening lyrics to “Angel” I’m grateful that I gave this album a second listen. I understand the timeline of Fleetwood Mac much more.

The Contino Sessions

Death In Vegas

3/5

Water From An Ancient Well

Abdullah Ibrahim

2/5

It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back

Public Enemy

5/5

When you listen to an album and wish you could go back to that time period and listen to the music the way it was meant to be heard and celebrated. Then that album is a 5.

Out Of The Blue

Electric Light Orchestra

2/5

Oh good, more 70's space rock

Superfuzz Bigmuff

Mudhoney

2/5

I wasn't a big Mudhoney fan. I skipped right to Pearl Jam and Nirvana. Mudhoney sounds like they were trying to make post-punk before they dove full into Grunge. But go listen to "Good Enough" on their Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge album. Do you hear echoes of the Kinks and Rolling Stones before the song makes a full dive into Seattle sound at 2:40?

Electric Music For The Mind And Body

Country Joe & The Fish

3/5

Cool to see the early days of psychedlic rock. I only knew their hit on classic rock radio in the 80s.

American Idiot

Green Day

4/5

An album that has aged surprisingly well. The title track's lyrics are even more appropriate today than in the Bush era. Definitely is channeling The Who's Tommy vibe into a modern punk rock opera. Could have used a solid LBJ shout-out, though.

School's Out

Alice Cooper

3/5

Favorite track: Grand Finale - A swooning, orchestral finish to an album filled with juvenile lyrics that will be forever immortalized by the giant middle finger of the title track. Imagine Alice Cooper conducting this beautiful song. His face must have been so happy to know he was capable of such beauty amidst the snakes and leather bravado of his stage persona.

Goo

Sonic Youth

3/5

I went down a rabbit hole to see how much Thurston Moore acknowledged the influence of Lou Reed and the Velvet Underground on his music. Spoiler alert: he whole-heartedly admits it.

Opus Dei

Laibach

2/5

When you need just the right cocktail music for your end-of-democracy themed 80s party.

Crime Of The Century

Supertramp

2/5

The Lexicon Of Love

ABC

2/5

Aftermath

The Rolling Stones

5/5

This one was like listening to the Stones inside a time machine. Could they see their future as they were cranking out the tracks? Did they believe in the ones that sounded straight out of a studio exec's wishlist? Were they bristling to writer more verses to Mother's Little Helper?

Achtung Baby

5/5

Central Reservation

Beth Orton

5/5

Enjoyed discovering all these songs. I recognized Stolen Car, but never connected it was Orton.

Lust For Life

Iggy Pop

5/5

Joyous.

Deserter's Songs

Mercury Rev

3/5

The Atomic Mr Basie

Count Basie & His Orchestra

4/5

Rust In Peace

Megadeth

3/5

Better than I expected.

If I Could Only Remember My Name

David Crosby

5/5

While Bowie was glamming it up and metal was kickstarting the engines, Crosby apparently locked himself with friends up in Laurel Canyon and practiced endearing, eternal harmonies. I thoroughly enjoyed listening to all of it 55 years later.

Metallica

5/5

Listening again reminded me how huge this album was when it was released. It's almost comical to imagine a metal album having the same cultural reach today.

Soul Mining

The The

5/5

This was a fun discovery. Enjoyed reading the Brooklyn Vegan interview with Matt Johnson. I'd love to find a conversation between Johnson and Robert Smith of The Cure. "Giant" is so far my favorite track. The drums at 5:00 mark are epic. The whole album feels like the music a venue plays before a concert to get the crowd pumped up.

Chemtrails Over The Country Club

Lana Del Rey

5/5

I wish Antonoff, Del Rey and Taylor Swift would collaborate on a whole album. Interviews with Del Rey are fascinating. Someone in complete control of themselves and their vision for the music. Very curious to see what she continues to make in the next decades.

Junkyard

The Birthday Party

1/5

The redeeming quality of this album was imagining how Nick Cave and future members of his backing bands were attempting to rebel against conventional musicality of the early 80s. Because all of these songs felt like sonic attacks on the listener. I struggled valiantly to get through each song, usually failing.

Pink Moon

Nick Drake

5/5

Melodrama

Lorde

5/5

I am so glad to live listening to this generation of pop superstars. Lorde continues to produce interesting music for a mass audience. Jack Antonoff's fingerprints are throughout the songs -- but the vocal choices are all Lorde's.

Talvin Singh

2/5

Meh. It was OK.

The White Album

Beatles

5/5

I'll be curious if music from the Beatles, Elvis, the Rolling Stones, etc. survives another generation. I'm sure we all thought the White Album would be an eternal staple of the music landscape. But already some of these songs felt more nostalgic than I expected they would. Could the Beatles become the equivalent to listening to Big Band/Moon River sentimental songs? We shall see.

Live Through This

Hole

5/5

Layers upon layers of 90s music history. Violet still hits instantly from the first note. Love doesn't care what I think and shouldn't. I love that.

Highway 61 Revisited

Bob Dylan

5/5

Bob. Dylan.

Pills 'n' Thrills And Bellyaches

Happy Mondays

3/5

Another English band who wasn't on the radar for 80s and 90s middle America.

The College Dropout

Kanye West

4/5

Do younger generations look at old Kanye records the way I look at Elvis?

From Elvis In Memphis

Elvis Presley

5/5

Surprise discovery. Reading the wikipedia on the history add a new layer to the Elvis mystique. "Long Black Limousine" is haunting. Would love to see footage of Elvis recording this album at the studio in Memphis.

São Paulo Confessions

Suba

3/5

Good for background music.

The Band

5/5

m b v

My Bloody Valentine

1/5

I get My Bloody Valentine and My Chemical Romance mixed up. I don't think either are my scene.

Grievous Angel

Gram Parsons

2/5

Thought I would get into this more. Sounded like a parody of 70s country and western albums.

Meat Puppets II

Meat Puppets

4/5

A sometimes forgotten side act of the Grunge era. Raises the "is it better to burn out to fade away" perpetual question of pop music. Probably more a consequence of naming yourselves "Meat Puppets." I usually put them in the same bin as "Butthole Surfers" -- serious musicians who made the mistake of taking the bait to name themselves as a novelty act. I had forgotten about "Lake of Fire" and "Plateau." These were staples of my teen radio years. Still surprisingly good. Makes me want to track down their more work since. Seems like they have gone the Flaming Lips route of continuing to produce and tour -- but maybe with replaced members of the lineup.

Brilliant Corners

Thelonious Monk

3/5

Not a big jazz fan. But always okay with putting Monk on.

Eli And The Thirteenth Confession

Laura Nyro

5/5

Connected

Stereo MC's

5/5

The title track instantly transports the listener back to the time it was released, and yet still feels so modern.

Hail To the Thief

Radiohead

5/5

Not even the legendary Kevin Shields could hold a candle to the cherubic fuzzscapes of a lush Radiohead album.

Black Monk Time

The Monks

5/5

The reason I am loving this album list is because of The Monks and particularly the few songs from this album available on Spotify. I doubt I would have hearf of this band otherwise.

Make Yourself

Incubus

1/5

Will The Circle Be Unbroken

Nitty Gritty Dirt Band

2/5

I'm sure this double album is pure gold for the true Nitty Gritty Dirt Band fans out there.

My Aim Is True

Elvis Costello

5/5

Every Costello album on this list makes me wonder "What point of my life did I become a Costello fan and never realized it?" I remember being turned off at some point in my teen grunge era, but now every song hits me. This must be like birdwatching and WWII history. Sneaks up on middle age guys.

3 + 3

The Isley Brothers

4/5

Cool music history gaps filled in.

The Bones Of What You Believe

CHVRCHES

3/5

An okay listen. Started to sound repetitive and too similar to other artists.