1001 Albums Summary

Pleasant enough. Close to you is a lovely song that was played at my Auntie's funeral. Interesting cover of Help! The album is beautifully arranged and she's got a lovely, calming voice. Very easy listening. Won't be top of my playlists, but I might pop it on when my mum and dad next come over for a meal.

1000 albums to listen to before you die they said. That doesn't necessarily mean they're good! A car crash is unpleasant, but you feel compelled to look at it! There are some really good songs on this album - Long Promised Road, Feel Flows, 'Til I Die are really diverting and demand repeated listening. Surf's Up is bonkers, but intriguing. Songs about dirty water and student demonstrations are well meaning but the songs are difficult to listen to, and I lost interest on songs about feet and trees! Not a complete waste of time, and I'm glad I listened to it, if only to realise how beautiful and how bad the Beach Boys can be on the same album.

Marvin Gaye, the original Chef from South Park, wants to give his woman good lovin', probably a few times. A soul classic, but at my age, if I started listening to this too much, I'm just going to worry my wife! I preferred What's Going On.

Think of Deep Purple, you think of Smoke on the Water, and that mighty guitar riff is right in the middle of this album. Never Before and When A Blind Man Cries might be even better songs. Beyond these songs, Space Truckin' is a bit Spinal Tappish and the other tracks rely to much on guitar solos and they don't really float my boat.

A 5 star album that became a big part of my life and helped me get through my mid twenties. There are so many happy memories associated with some of these songs, from listening to a group of primary school leavers rewriting one of the songs to sing how they had got through school with the help of a "Mitreball" to the songs blaring out through coach speakers on a football road trip through Germany. For album highlights, close your eyes and stick a pin in the track listing's.

A great album and an enjoyable listen. Our Lips Are Sealed is the standout track for me, but Tonite and We Got The Beat are full of confidence and attitude. Belinda Carlisle's voice suits this music better than the middle of the road pop she was singing a few years later and the whole thing sounds like they were having a lot of fun. A few filler tracks towards the end, but altogether an above average album.

A pleasant enough listen. It makes me think of my father in law, who liked his jazz and big bands. It's not my go to type of music, but you have to appreciate the drama and musicality of it all. Let The Good Times Roll had me tapping my feet and Don't Let The Sun Catch You Crying was another great production. I doubt I'll listen to the album again though.

The kindest way to describe 1984 is a bit of a shit sandwich. Jump is excellent, Panama follows it well, but then we get an assortment of strange and sleazy songs in the middle that give me the cringe. I'll Wait is a similar but poorer version of Jump, and the 2 songs at the end are passable. After the opening tunes. I expected better.

Sure, this type of modern folk music isn't my go-to genre, but this is perfectly listenable. I enjoyed its peace and complexities and had the album on repeat during the day. There were no real highlights - Quiet Houses and Blue Ridge Mountains maybe being the most prominent in my mind - but the songs were consistent and I never felt a need to skip any. I will check out more Fleet Foxes material when in need of a calm day.

A bit of Latin joy here, and great to listen to while you're pottering around doing the housework or preparing your evening meal, as it's impossible to listen to without swinging your hips and imagining that you're out there on the Strictly dance floor. If your only exposure to mambo, salsa and cha cha cha was stuff like Lou Bega's Mambo Number 5, this album shows you how it was done properly. A solid 3 stars.

I knew almost half of the songs on Rubber Soul pretty well before I listened to this today, I was looking forward to listening to the entire album and fully expected to give it a 5 star review. However, maybe because The Beatles have set such a high bar, it didn't quite meet my expectations. Sure, songs like Norwegian Wood and In My Life are beautifully crafted and were a different style to previous Beatles songs. They showed their willingness to use a growing range of instruments to develop a more expensive sound, and some of the songs that were new to me, especially You Won't See Me and If I Needed Someone, are really good songs that I'm surprised I haven't heard before. However, the country style Ringo Starr fronted What Goes On falls flat for me, and the lyrics of Run For Your Life are unnecessarily dark and end the album on a sour note. Still, 4 stars is good. The fact I was expecting better shows how brilliant The Beatles were.

Where to begin? Firstly, Hard Rock? Really? Seems far too Middle of the Road for that. Next, lyrics: Now you fly, through the sky, never asking why. And you fly all around, 'til someone shoots you down. (This is from a song about a seagull that knows about the end of the world). It's hardly profound). The most well known track, Can't Get Enough of Your Love, would be better off a couple of minutes shorter, and while I found the whole album pleasant on the first listen, I found myself getting bored when playing it through again. It's not all bad - Bad Company and Movin' On maintained my interest for a few more listens, but in the main this is just pretty soulless 'dad rock'

R&B, hip hop and soul. Not normally my thing. But this album transcends it's genres and sends out important messages that were ahead of their time. Personal highlights include Ex-Factor, Forgive Them Father and Everything Is Everything, but there are many more. I can hear Stevie Wonder influences in some of the songs, and you can see how this album has gone on to influence more recent artists, male and female, from a range of genres. It's a shame that her solo output was limited to pretty much this album. She had important things to say.

Before today, my only experience of Isaac Hayes was from Shaft, and his soulful, and hilariously inappropriate advice to the children of South Park, and this was a nice, relaxing listen today. A bit surprising that there were only 4 songs on the album, but the songs rarely got tedious, even when pushing quarter of an hour long. That said, my favourite song was the shortest, One Woman. It's a solid 3 stars from me, but the highlight was when Spotify churned out Theme from Shaft after the album had finished. Absolute tune.

At last! After a few weeks of soul, folk and rock, an album that makes me truly FEEL something! Settle down people with smutty minds - you know what I mean! It's loud and intimidating but you want it louder. You want to be immersed in the aggression and strange, unsettling sounds and sequences and it reminds you of all the things that piss you off and how fucked up everything is at the moment. And you just bounce all over the place before emerging at the end, completely regulated. It's just genius! Apart from the three singles, Narayan and Climbatize are brilliant and bookend Firestarter brilliantly. There's no real filler to be honest. A consistent stomper! Thank you.

Very much a curate's egg of an album here. Some strange production choices ensure that my friends and I sang a more joyous version of He's Got The Whole World In His Hands during our primary school assemblies and some of the other songs sound like they were recorded in a swimming pool! However, there are saving graces in the New York City Song, and the incredible Your Own Back Yard which has a beauty and an honesty that brings shivers to the spine and tears to the eyes.

This transported me off to the US Deep South, swamp blues and spiritual voodoo magic, and you get a feeling of cultural significance. This is my introduction to Dr John and favourite songs are Jump Sturdy, and the incredibly strange Croker Courtbouillon, which appears to be about fish soup and for some reason stirred up memories ranging from The Addams Family to Scooby Do. Not entirely my thing, but altogether an intriguing listen.

This was an album that I was aware of, had read articles about and noted, but never got round to listening to, so thanks for throwing this out. It's an enjoyable listen, but a bit of a surprise to be on this list. Girls Just Want To Have Fun and Time After Time are the stand out tracks as you'd expect, but Money Changes Everything and All Through The Night (with a chorus that sounds copied by German band Freiheit on their hit Keeping The Dream Alive) are also high standard. A whole range of genres with nods to 60s American Rock and Roll, it's pretty consistent throughout, but I'm not too fussed about I'll Kiss You or Yeah Yeah. Still, it's a high 3 or a low 4, and today I'm feeling generous.

It's been a while since I had listened to this album. I had forgotten how good it was, from the emotional depth of Nightswimming and Everybody Hurts, to the lesser known tracks, especially Sweetness Follows and Ignoreland. Nightswimming is one of those rare songs that I can remember where I was and what i was doing the first time I heard it. Consistently good, timeless and deserving of 5 stars.

I really dont think my life has been enhanced by listening to this, and bearing in mind that I have been awarding 2 stars to albums that have at least held my interest for at least a few songs, this album gets the award for the first one to get a single star. I liked Gimme All Your Lovin', it reminded me of parties in my teens. But the rest of the songs were either uninteresting or just poor, the guitar playing was bland and the lyrics were laughable (apparently, she has legs right down to her fanny!!) A waste of my time.

Sometimes, less is a bit more, and you have to take 6 perfectly formed tracks over a mixture of decency and filler. There's so much to enjoy here, from the bonkers experimentation of TVC15 to the funk and pumping bass of Stay, from the opening 10 minute epic of Station to Station to the beauty of Wild Is the Wind. And then there's Golden Years. Ive complained about bands that overplay on guitar solos before. Theres a subtle difference between self aggrandisement and just making a song that sounds better because of what the musician is adding to it. It makes the song, or the album, greater than the sum of it's parts. Excellent.

There's rock music, and then there's rock music! Having recently been underwhelmed by ZZ Top and The Black Notes, having another rock band on the 1001 was beginning to irritate me. But this album's brilliant! From the thrilling opening of Cecilia Ann, through the rawness of Rock Music and the sheer 'weirdness' of Is She Weird, this album feels different and has a freshness that defies its 35 years. I have no idea what makes Stormy Weather so great, but I'm not going to overthink it, I'll just go with it. Awesome.

It took a while to get in to this album, and even after a few listens I can't get beyond describing it more than 'just alright'. Around this time I listened to comparable bands like The Strokes and The White Stripes, both of which did better albums than this. The songs don't change much throughout, although there were a few standout tracks in Next Girl, Howlin for You and I'm Not The One. The Black Keys were new to me. They were OK but I'm not overly fussed about finding out more about them.

Dont mind this bit of spaced out soul-funk at all! Maggot Brain, the title track, is pure 70s chillout, and the fact that it's 10 minutes plus long doesn't bother me at all - i could listen to this all day. Also loved Hit It And Quit It and the sound effects thrown in to Wars Of Armageddon. It's a total stoner album, and if i was listening to this with a big fat bifter it would be 5 stars all the way. But I wasn't, so it'll have to settle for 3.

Full disclosure at the outset - i can't stand Mick Hucknall! However, he is one fantastic singer, and this album covers bases of jazz, blues, soul and pop, all of which he sings brilliantly. Strongest tracks on the album are Holding Back The Years and Money's Too Tight To Mention, and song that is so hugely apt now - we're talking 'bout Donny, Donny! - and there's no let down on the unreleased tracks either, with Heaven being a standout. I can't hear Red Box without thinking of the 80s kids programme 'Don't You Open That Trap Door though. No 5 stars due to Mick, but a solid 4.

So, where do you go after the RocknRoll of Faith, seductive pop of Father Figure, disco funk of I Want Your Sex and blues of One More Try? Well, it looks like mediocrity! The opening 4 tracks are really good, if you pop off for a quick loo break during I Want Your Sex part 2, but there isn't too much that stands out beyond that. Releasing Monkey and Kissing a Fool scraped the barrel that was the George Michael cash cow at the time and the rest of the songs are just filler. A middling 3 stars because of the opening songs.

I'm not a fan of gothic rock, but I had gothy mates in the 80s and went to party's where there music boomed out (I was the one in the Erasure, or Pet Shop Boys t-shirt looking a bit out of place) so listening to songs like This Corrosion, and the stonking bass of Lucretia My Reflection bring back happy memories and are decent tunes. The rest of the album doesn't really hold much for me. I'm not really sure what it all means. I recognise that it's an important album in the goth genre, but it doesn't make me want to listen to much more.

I like a lot of The Cure's songs, and spent a lot of time last year listening to Songs Of A Lost World. This early album had a far sparser feel to it. The instrumentals A Reflection and The Final Sound set an unsettling tone that carries on in songs like Secrets and At Night. Stand out track is A Forest. The Cure went on to bigger things and I prefer that more expansive sound, but this was decent work.

It took a long time to get through all 28 songs on this double album, but it was worth it and it was to the bands credit that there were shifts in genre throughout. So some of the rockier, grungier songs didn't float my boat, but there was plenty for me to enjoy in the quieter moments of Galapogos, By Starlight and Farewell and Goodnight. And it's a pretty impressive feat to put together so many different tracks, and be consistently good. A first listen to the Smashing Pumpkins for me, and I doubt it will be the last.

A quality album from a quality band. There are so many nods to influences such as The Beatles, The Rolling Stones and The Who, yet The Jam forged their own path and became massive influences to bands that followed, such as The Stone Roses and Arctic Monkeys. English Rose, 'A' Bomb in Wardour Street and Down At The Tube Station At Midnight are favourites here, and album that I'm embarrassed to not have heard before. I'm looking forward to more Jam albums in the 1001.

I've grown up listening to Simon and Garfunkel. My parents loved them, my wife loves them and I was lucky enough to see Art Garfunkel live a few years ago. Bookends contains a few of the classics, in Mrs Robinson, America and Hazy Shade of Winter. Old Friends and Punky's Dilemma are also warm, comfortable songs. Save the Life of my Child doesn't really fit with the rest of the album, and feels a bit jarring, while Overs and Fakin' It, while not unpleasant, just seem to be going through the motions. A low 4 stars.

Yesterday morning, I was all "Keith who?" and wondering whether I was going to stay awake during piano compositions of 25 plus minutes. But then you listen to the music. You marvel at the improvisation, the handspeed, the endless jaw-dropping connotations around a simple theme or motif and the thrilling segues between the sections. And then you find out about the story, the late night concert and the 'broken' piano and you realise the genius of the musician you are listening to. Of the albums I have listened to so far, this is the most mindful and moving. It is real time emotion, where one subtle key change can instantly elevate or totally devastate you. It is a beautifully crafted musical collection, and the easiest five stars that I'll ever give.

I first listened to this album a few months ago, just before Glastonbury 25, and it made so little an impression that the only songs I remembered when listening again this time was Maggie May, which I'd already heard to death! Mandolin Wind is a decent song, the opening title track doesn't let the album down and (I Know) I'm Losing You rocks out nicely, but it's just too unmemorable and in a few months I'll have forgotten that I listened to it again. 3 stars - average score for an average album.

Oh, this takes me back! It was 2004, my first born son was one year old, and this album and Hot Fuss by The Killers were on repeat play in our house, and over 20 years later it still sounds fantastic. Loads of fun songs here, from the stomping Laura through to the downright Filthy / Gorgeous, plus an art of taking complete ownership of a cover version by making it completely different from the original Comfortably Numb! But highlights keep coming, from the poignant It Can't Come Quickly Enough to the brilliant The Skins, so good it only scraped on as a bonus track! An essential pop album from the noughties. 5☆

At first listen, wasn't a big fan of all the emotional self loathing and drug promotion, but after coming back to it a couple of times I had to admire the albums raw openness. It compares well to other albums of a similar genre, like Nevermind or something by Pearl Jam, and this was probably first out of the stable. Tracks that stand out for me include Rooster and Them Bones. A low 4.

Points of interest to me here. I loved the cover of Just A Gigolo that David Lee Roth did in the middle 80s. It was one of our party standards at the time and it was good to hear the original. 1 star earned. A second star is earned by learning that this is actually King Louis, the King of the Swingers, and due to my dad's love of The Jungle Book, it was a film that I was brought up on. If I Want To Be Like You was on here, I'd have pushed up to a low 3 stars, but a high 2 will do. It's fun and happy enough, but I lost interest after a couple of plays. Glad I listened. Next!

There's some really good songs on this album. Under The Bridge is a brilliant, desolate song and Give It Away contains endless fabulous riffs. But 17 tracks is a lot to maintain consistency, and although there are other notable high points (Breaking the Girl, Suck My Kiss) there's too much bland in there. If songs like Apache Rose Peacock and Sir Psycho Sexy weren't on it, it might have pushed up towards 4 stars, but it'll have to settle for a middling 3.

Steven Morrissey is rightly, and predictably, indignant about a lot of things here, and he communicates this beautifully in some of these songs. It's very difficult to disagree with anything that he says as well, and after listening to albums full of artists struggles against drugs and personal demons, it's not a bad thing to hear someone railing against the intolerance and the lack of action of others. In an album highlight, I'm glad that he has forgiven Jesus's. I can imagine that a lot of gay people haven't. And there's a beautiful simplicity to I'm Not Sorry that makes it instantly memorable. A highly listenable 4 star album.

First heard this during the first COVID lockdown, and for a debut album, it's brilliant. To produce radio friendly tracks such as the brilliant Electric Feel, stylophone-esque Kids and stonking opener Time To Pretend, and then throw in complexity and intrigue on tracks like Weekend Wars and The Youth (with it's totally unexpected key change!), this is a record that gives on many levels. It drops off a little towards the end, but definitely deserves a high 4 stars. Not sure what happened to MGMT after this, but I doubt they hit this high watermark again.

This album takes emotive topics such as police racism and the Monsters 'among us', allied to the pride and beauty of being black, and mixes it all with hints of contemporary R&B, gospel and downtempo trip-hop. It's a bit Nightmare on Wax-ish and not bad at all. And telling people to put their guns down in such a calm, matter-of-fact way gives it more impact. High points for me were found in Hard Life, Eternal Life and Monsters. The music's not all to my taste, but the fact that we need songs like this is a poor reflection on society as a whole. I'd not heard of SAULT yesterday, but now I'm interested in checking out their back catalogue. Thank you 1001. A high 3☆.

There was a bit of nostalgia here listening to Fight For Your Right and No Sleep 'Til Brooklyn, and Slow And Low was OK, but beyond that I struggled to get anything from this. Taken at face value, it's shouty, tedious frat-boy hip-hop. If you take it as a satire, it remains shouty, tedious, frat-boy hip-hop but you don't have to take it so seriously. However, back in the day, I don't remember it being labelled as satirical (a group of English comedians released a song called No Sleep 'Til Bedtime to cash in a bit), and it seemed to be championed by the people that maybe it was poking fun at! Either way, apart from a few songs, not for me. A low 2.

This was a nice present of a Christmas Eve recommendation. I love this album, and can still remember seeing Tracy Chapman performing at Wembley on Nelson Mandela's 70th birthday concert. After that, she was the name on a lot of people's lips and I, like thousands of others, bought the album on the strength of what we'd seen. It wasn't disappointing then, and its aged really well. A lot of issues from then; apathy, racism and domestic abuse, are still massively relevant. Behind the Wall is such a chilling brilliant song, but then, the whole album is consistently excellent. I remember playing the cassette for the first time, getting to the end of Side 1, rewinding the tape and listening to it again. I did that for a week, worried that Side 2 couldn't possibly be as good. Listening again now, I do think the standard drops after Baby Can I Hold You, but only slightly. A high 5.

Many thanks to who or whatever decided that this would be an ideal pre-Christmas drop for the inbox. I held it back until Boxing Day, and now I feel that my presents were a little bit more shit than I remembered yesterday. So it's not a good time to review such a highly regarded album. How do you want your music? Songs like Day Of The Lords and New Dawn Fades are towering, emotional pieces of work and is a massive outpouring that ultimately didn't help Ian Curtis for much longer. You want your music to make you feel something, and this so does, but I'm reaching for a feel good album to listen to now. Happy Christmas readers. A low 4 for Joy Division.

After a few listens, I'm still not quite sure what this is. Is it a concept album? Is it a soundtrack to a film or play? Is it an educational experience? Is it a bit of self indulgence on the part of the Drive-By Truckers? I haven't a problem that they were moved to write an album about Lynyrd Skynyrd, George Wallace and the duality of the Southern US states. Ronnie and Neil kicks the album off well, with a properly beefed up guitar riff, but I lost interest pretty quickly after that. I'm just not sure why I needed to know about this. I'm glad you're not all racist, but I sort of guessed that anyway, just like I don't think you all sit on your porch and play Duelling Banjos. Not bad, but I won't be listening to it again. A low 2

Thank you Darlene Love, The Crystals, The Ronettes and Bob B Soxx & the Blue Jeans for putting me in a right Christmassy mood. It's great that these versions of the songs are standards in themselves over 60 years after release. Would, and maybe should have been 5 stars, but it has to lose one for the Elephant in the Room, sitting in the corner with a gun in his hand, controlling the knobs and levers.

This was decent enough and got my feet tapping and hips swinging a bit, but I found it a bit repetitive in terms of the music and the lyrics, and I didn't get the same amount of interest with this that I had with the Funkadelic album, Maggot Brain, so this mark is relative to that. I wasn't surprised to hear hints of Kool and the Gang - this album clearly influenced some of their work - but Give Up The Funk sounds so similar to Fame by David Bowie. I wonder which came first. A high two for me. It was alright, but I'm not a huge fan.

When this came up, my first impulse was 'another American rock band? This list is beginning to get predictable!' However, this album is nothing like predictable, and although it's guitar heavy, it's too simplistic to call it rock. Lots of elements are crammed in to make a distracting piece of work. The New Pollution reminded me of Tomorrow Never Knows by The Beatles, and Where It's At was packed with fun and cheekiness. It's just different! I'd only heard Loser by Beck before today. This has made me want to explore their other work. A solid 4☆.

Was expecting African beats, but got so much more on top. While the lyrics make him sound justifiably irritated with things going on in his world, he still comes across as a joyous, fun and optimistic singer and song writer and this album has had me swinging my hips for a few days - it's very catchy. And even though the songs are long, they dont outstay their welcome. Another reminder of why I wanted to check out the albums on this list. Solid 4☆

This album starts pretty well. I was familiar with Connection, Line Up's a good opener, Annie reminded me of Blondie and Car Song has a cheeky little riff. However, as much as I've complained in the past about over-long songs, here the opposite is true. More than half of the songs are under 3 minutes, a lot of them are under 2. Just when you start getting into a song it ends, and it's frustrating. I'd have liked to hear a bit more of Indian Song and 2:1, and I'd have preferred a minute and a half less of Vaseline. Of The later songs, Waking Up stuck on my mind for it's similar riff to No More Heroes and Never Here, which has time to breathe, is suitably angry. It's all very Punk, but as I drifted towards the end, I could only question why I really needed to listen to this, and I couldn't come up with an answer. A low 3.

This is a decent live album by a reasonable rock band, but i truly fail to believe that there aren't well over 1000 albums more worthy of my attention than this. It's not poor - Come On, Come On is a strong opening and Surrender builds up to an anthemic crescendo, but too much of this is just... ordinary. There's a karaoke version of Ain't That A Shame, and Need Your Love starts well before descending into mediocrity when you're expecting a big finish. And letting the crowd know when to rock out and then to go home is just so Spinal Tap! A low 2 for being bang average.

Smashing Pumpkins make their second entry into my 1001 albums list, and I'm not liking this one as much as I enjoyed Mellon Collie... It's not bad, there's just very little that grabs my attention or interest beyond Disarm, Soma and Silverfuck. It's well produced and put together and some of the out-tros are diverting to the point of being over the top and more in keeping with a live performance. Just over 50 albums in - maybe I'm getting rock fatigue - this gets a low 3 stars.

This is pleasant enough without being spectacular. I was a fan of Elephant, but this was 10 years later and it sounds like Jack had mellowed out a bit and matured his musical style. My personal faves included Sixreen Saltines and Freedom at 21, which reminds me of 7 Nation Army, although anything off the first half of the album is worthy of a listen. The second half dlips a bit, but there's nothing bad on it. It's consistently slightly above average so gets a high 3 stars.

This turned out to be a genuine surprise. After the first song and the beginning of the second, I was ready to hit 1 star and blame it on metal fatigue. Thrash has never been my thing and the only song from the genre that sticks in my mind is Enter Sandman! However, I stuck with it and it paid off. Sanitarium is such a great, melodic song and I've never heard a military rhythm played on a guitar like it is in Disposable Heroes. Plus, playing the title track earns me street cred with my sons through it being played on Stranger Things. Granted, Battery and Leper Messiah are too metal for me, and The Thing That Should Not Be is just too 'chuggy', but this album has been played, loud, multiple times over the weekend and I've felt better for it. A solid 4☆.

After listening to this 3 or 4 times, its rarely got above background noise, never mind essential listening. The real issue that I have with it is the segues off from a reasonable tune into forgettable bits of drivel before returning to a point where you can't understand why you're still listening to the same song, with Track 1 and 6 being cases in point. Track 3 is a bit better, and probably my favourite, but it still sometimes occasionally meanders into blandness. Track 2 is a live instrumental track, I think. Track 4 is shit. I've listened to Track 5 four times and can't remember anything about it! I like Owner Of A Lonely Heart, so I might give 90125 a listen. This unessential album avoids the ignominy of 1 star through a few decent moments but I won't listen to it again, but I do wonder if Rick Wakeman added a bit more oomph to the keyboard solos on later albums. A low 2☆.

Wow! Here's an album that raised lots of questions in my mind, not least What cheese did I eat last night? After the first two songs, I was hoping that it was going to be a covers album with apocalyptic introductions before Death Troll came out and sang Like A Virgin or Careless Whisper, but alas, it wasn't to be. However, there's a lot to enjoy about it still. There's an 80s Terminatoresque soundtrack quality up to a point, probably up until the last 2 or 3 songs where it gets a bit too repetitive. Highlights are Trans National and The Great Seal, as well as the 2 covers which had a high entertainment value - I'll feel a bit let down if they were taking themselves really seriously when they recorded them. My first exposure to industrial music was enjoyable - it's a high 4☆ from me.

Delightfully bonkers, and so much easier to listen to than a lot of other albums on the list. Deserving of its place through a total lack of pretention and it's kitsch punk attitude. Rock Lobster, Planet Clare and There's A Moon In The Sky are catchy, fun tunes that make me smile, so, notwithstanding the lack of emotional depth, I'll give this 'throwaway' album a low 4 stars.

Hooray! 57 albums in, and this is only the 2nd one that really falls into the electronic pop category. Truly my genre. Of course I've heard this album already. Of course it gets 5 stars! A slight change in sound for the Mode and we get an album full of killer tracks. Personal Jesus is the lead single, but from a pure pop point of view, Enjoy The Silence is the standout track. Outside of the 4 released singles, Halo and Sweetest Perfection stand out and even the slightly unsettling Blue Dress doesn't allow the standards to drop. I loved it back in 1990, it's aged well and it was great to be reacquainted.

I feel like I turned up at this event at least 35 years too late! I was in university then, Val Kilmer was playing Jim Morrison in The Doors movie and Morrison himself was probably as popular on students walls as Che Guavara. Back then, I couldn't really see the attraction. Even now, the bluesier elements of the album don't interest me too much, but there's a versatility to the bands, and indeed Morrison's voice, that suits the blues but then changes to suit songs like Love Her Madly, LA Woman and Hyacinth House. And the classic Riders On The Storm rounds off the album, unlike anything that has come before it. A really interesting album, floating from genre to genre, with more hits than misses. 4 stars earned - I'm sure I'll come across them again later.

Pretty much everything about this album screams of 70s cool. The cover. The Bowie / Ronson production. The Walk on the Wild Side. There are timeless songs on this album - Perfect Day might well be one of my all time favourite songs, and Satellite of Love was a song that is hadn't heard before but instantly caught me with it's gorgeous melody and cracking outro. Elsewhere, there's lots of fun in songs like Andy's Chest, Hangin' Round and the jazzy Goodnight Ladies. It's just a joyous listen. I've never considered myself a fan of glam rock, and I don't consider this album an example of that standard. This is just a meeting of mavericks working together to create a 5 star album.

There might be a day when I listen to this album and I get that light bulb moment of why it is so highly regarded, but I doubt it. There's a bit of charm I suppose, but so much of this is so awkward. I liked the opening song, but I quickly tired of the soundtrack style. Songs like Simon Smith... and Old Man just abruptly stop, while Memo To My Son and Let It Shine seem to fade out half way through. You Can Leave Your Hat on is a great song, but not with Randy's nasal style - he sounds bored! It's just so massively unsatisfying and a trawl to get through, even though it's barely 3 quarters of an hour long. 1 star. Next.

I'll admit that this became an unexpectedly pleasant experience, listening to the tales of outlaws, unrequited love and buffalo stampede among other things. This is so engaging and such easy listening. Robbins has a voice like velvet, the harmonies are gorgeous and after a few listens you could understand why he was revered by the likes of Elvis Presley and Johnny Cash. It's not my go to genre, or era, but there are far worse albums on the list and I'm glad ive been introduced to this artist. Favourite songs are Big Iron and El Paso, and it's a solid 3*.

Learnt something this weekend. Listening to Drum and Bass while you're making the evening meal doesn't necessarily enhance your appreciation of the genre (I'll be honest, I had no idea what I was going to be listening to when I put it on!). However, I put it on when I went for a run next morning and got a new PB for the 10K, so thanks Brown Paper Bag with all of your Ross-On-Synths twiddly bits, and thanks Heroes with your soulful thumping beat. Sure, it's repetitive and pretty superficial, but I now know what the Amen Break is, I can run (and chop carrots) faster and my life has got a little bit better. A low 4 stars for Roni Size, and a place on my workout playlist.

So here we have the original Proud Mary before Tina Turner reinvented it as a showtune and karaoke standard. And it sits nicely on a more mainstream blues album than has been churned out of the 1001 randomiser before now. It's all a pretty chilled, gentle push back against 'the man' with a few songs that will go onto the liked list, such as Born On The Bayou and Bootleg. Some of the tracks are a bit more forgettable and I'm not a fan of the Good Golly Miss Molly cover, but there's enough here for a solid 3 stars.

This falls right in the middle for me. Wild Is The Wind is gorgeous, I Love Your Lovin' Ways and Break Down... are strong songs, but it's all quite downbeat and didn't affect me the way that it's clearly inspired other people. And that has made it maybe the most difficult album I've had to review so far - i just feel I should be getting more from this than I have done, so I can't give it more than a 3.

The second 5 star David Bowie album on my 1001 journey, and this one is better than Station to Station. A great little narrative and an album full of timeless, melodic songs. I'd listened to it before and loved listening to it again. Apart from well known songs like Starman, Ziggy Stardust and Suffragette City, personal highlights include Five Years, Moonage Daydream and Lady Stardust. The weakest track maybe Hang On To Yourself, but it's relative and would probably stand out in a collection of other songs. Some people have just got 'it'. Bowie had it in spades and proved it on multiple occasions.

This was an education for me. I knew nothing about Television before this, but guessed I'd be listening to a punk album. It turned out so much more technical than that, and although i was still dubious after the first listen, after a second play I got a sense of how ahead of their time Television were and how their melodic style would influence bands such as The Pixies, indeed Venus sounds like a Stone Roses song. Friction and Guiding Light are other songs that demand attention. I'm not so keen on the opening and closing tracks, and Marquee Moon itself is overlong, but this would have been ground-breaking in the mid 70s and is deserving of the 4 stars I'll give it.

Sorry, but no. Just no. I suppose it's a cult hit and it'll have a band of devoted followers and fair enough, each to their own. If I was in my teens and at a party, I'd probably have a bit of fun with it, but I'm not and it's just tedious! After each song, I got to wondering if there'd just be one song that could say was alright, but no. There are special places in hell's jukebox for I'm Cramped and Tear It Up. No redeeming features. A low 1 star.

Although i listened to this album for the first time today, I had listened to and really liked the follow-up, Room On Fire. In my opinion, Room On Fire is a better album, but that may just be because I heard it first and it became my version of the definitive Strokes album. They are very similar, but they're both good and aside from the tracks that got radio play, Alone Together is a great song with the rest of the album being pretty consistent. It's a high 3 stars - the follow up would have been a 4.

I sometimes wonder if some of these albums catch me on bad days! The problem I have here is that electronic pop and rock is my genre. It's what I like and I've not seen enough of it in the 1001. I was surprised when this popped up as my next listen - I remembered Stupid Girl and Happy When It Rains. They were OK singles. There are a few more reasonable songs such as Supervixen and A Stroke of Luck, but I'm just listening to the definition of unremarkable here. Depeche Mode, Gary Numan, New Order, they all released better albums that won't make this list, so why am I listening to this? A low 2.

It's amazing to think that this fantastic debut was largely ignored by the public when released in 1983. It's as if the world wasn't ready. But it's the second R.E.M. album I've reviewed on the list, and the second to get 5 stars. There are many highlights, from the understated Laughing to the beauty of Perfect Circle, from the guitar driven Sitting Still to the piano driven Shaking Through. We Walk comes across as a bit of a novelty track and is probably the only slight misstep, but the rest is pretty faultless. They would go on to sell millions, but they would find it hard to better this.

My only real exposure to The Undertones had been Teenage Kicks up until now, so it's been an enjoyable few days listening to this punk-lite album and finding out how much fun they were. I had a vague recollection of My Perfect Cousin - I love those 70s 80s cultural references to bionics and Subbuteo. It's an album about growing up in a particular time and I wish I'd listened to it 45 years ago. Glad I listened to it today. Favourite other tracks included See That Girl and Hard Luck, with a word about the brilliant Under The Boardwalk cover - totally owned it! Feargal Sharkey's voice was far more suited to this rather than the mediocre pop he churned out in the mid 80s. A high 4 stars for putting a big smile on my face.

So then, this gets labelled as alternative country! It's far removed from Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings and quite unlike anything I've heard for a long, long time. I'm not a fan of the falsetto (What Else Could It Be sounds like a scene from The Muppet Show!) and it's a bit beige around the middle, but The Old Gold Shoe is a beautiful opener and Up With People has the most upbeat way of telling us that we're 'screwing our lives up.' The complex nature of Petrified Florist calls for repeated listening and a demand to know the possibly heartbreaking story behind it. Just about more hits than misses - an interesting introduction for me to Lambchop. 3 intrigued stars.

Having listened to Maggot Brain a few months ago, I was quite looking forward to this. However, I quickly started to lose interest, and I remembered what it was about Maggot Brain that became tedious. Overlong songs with repetitive grooves. The album is saved by the song that elevated the previously mentioned album - the live version of Maggot Brain absolutely nails an extra star on for this reviewer. Honestly could listen to that track all day. Not so for Groovalliegance or Promentalwhatever. A low 3 stars, but if I get stoned again, I'll relisten.

You can understand why Jimi Hendrix was held in such high regard and considered such a visionary. There are so many styles of music here, from short, experimental guitar instrumentals, jazz, blues, psychedelic rock. Not all of it's to my taste, but the guitar playing and overall craftsmanship of the album stands out. You can hear methods used in the production of the album that would have groundbreaking at the time, and it takes some cojones to lead one of your tracks with a kazoo, and then release the track as a single. From the lesser known tracks, I enjoyed Burning of the Midnight Lamp and the trip down the rabbit hole of 1983. There were a few less memorable songs, Little Miss Strange and House Burning Down among the weaker tracks, but I expected this album to show up on this list and it fully deserves it's place. 4 stars.

The first album I bought, containing the first single I bought (Antmusic). I didn't realise it's cultural significance when I was 11, I just loved the songs, especially Ants Invasion, and the rumours that went around that the effect at the end of that song came from sticking a microphone down an ants nest! Other unreleased highlights include Feeding Me To The Lions and Don't Be Square (Be There). As a youngster, sheltered from the more aggressive nature of the punk revolution, Adam And The Ants were the perfect post punk - new wave bridge that started me on my own musical journey, independent of what my parents listened to. Relistening now, over 40 years later, I still remember the lyrics and my own sense of rebellion. An absolute moment in time for a 5 star album.

"Fuck's sake" said my brain at the beginning of every song after the first couple of tracks. There is actually no need! I'm sure there are songs about the Holocaust, and Satan, and dismemberment, and your insides rotting that are sensitive and tuneful, but not here. 1001 has served me up with a portion of shit with a side order of shit and shitty sprinkles on the top. And no fucking gravy. You can have PostMortem for pudding. It's the only thing resembling a track. The bad thing about this app is the inability to give no stars. Posting the review is the only reason this gets a star. Fucking awful.

A nice mix of folk rock, blues and country and bit of easy listening that would be reasonable background music for a Sunday afternoon potter around the house while youre doing your chores. I doubt that makes it an album that I had to listen to before I died - I'll have mostly forgotten about it by this time next week - but it was nice enough. Particular favourites were So Begins The Task and Don't Look At My Shadow, and it's a low 3 stars.

A couple of years into the new millennium, I was working in a school in East London where the big name in hip-hop were So Solid Crew. I wish I'd heard of Jurassic 5 because, to my untrained hip-hop ear, this flows so much better and just feels cooler. A lot of the backing tracks are hypnotic and edgy and the work of the DJs gives the album an unexpected cohesion. Highlights include A Day At The Races, Sum Of Us and the brilliant I Am Somebody and there are other songs deserving to be added to my Liked Tracks. I feel my street cred would have gone up if I'd diverted my class onto Jurassic 5 and this gets a low 4☆ from me. Doubt you'll find So Solid on the 1001!

There are some beautifully arranged backing tracks on this 'Magnum Opus' of a Kanye West album, especially on tracks like Power, All Of The Lights, and particularly The Blame Game. But at some point in the song you just know that the droning prick will start his noise! It's just depressing! West clearly has issues - he even sings about being a Monster - but dressing his narcissism and misogyny up and parading it through his album, exposing his flaws, doesn't make him a genius! Foolish critics, going down on your emperor, taking it all in and swallowing every last drop. This shit is fucking ridiculous! By his rules, it's the fault of other women if he can't keep his dick in his pants, and it's the fault of his woman if she goes off with another man. Grow the fuck up and take responsibility you prick. Which leads me to the next rule. You might be considered less of a prick if you didn't refer to women as pussy. But that's how you are - the phone call at the end of The Blame Game, the woman you 'love', who's only appreciated for one thing, and 'Yeezy taught me' even that. Degrading and depressing - 'I never met a bitch that didn't need a little guidance'. What the actual fuck! And the fact that the music's quite good, and that he hides his issues in plain sight shouldn't be ignored. Jimmy Saville raised millions for charity, people turned their back on his issues. Jeffrey Epstein - great financier - massive issues. It's not rocket science!! A begrudging 1 star. There We Are Then, Kanye. C U Next Tuesday.

While I've always viewed Elvis Costello as a skilled and intelligent song writer, I've never been a particular fan of his work, and that remains the same after listening to this. There's nothing bad about it - Pump It Up is a solid pop rock track as is the Blondie-esque Radio Radio. The majority of the rest of the tracks just sort of passed me by, leaving me asking myself why he wanted to sing in an American accent when I knew he was from Liverpool! I think i was expecting it to be a little bit angrier, but found it a little underwhelming. A middling 3 stars.

I'm a Kid A veteran, and I'm still not getting it. I played it on release, returned to it a few years later to see if I'd missed anything and here we are again. Like any album viewed as experimental, there are hits and misses. Motion Picture Soundtrack has a sad beauty and Optimistic harks back to the earlier, rockier Radiohead albums. The rest of it is pretty quiet, a bit repetitive in places, and doesn't have the impact of the 2 albums that preceded it. I might listen again in a few years time and see if something clicks, but I doubt it. It's OK, a high 2 stars, but some of it remains mundane.

There is just a beautiful simplicity and purity to Joni Mitchell's music that i so enjoy, and there are plenty of examples of it here. River will be my favourite Christmas track this year, while Little Green and Blue will be my favourite tracks with colours in the title. It's all very calm, quiet and easy to listen to, with a lovely musicality whether built through the piano or acoustic guitar. It's nice to have these tranquil moments - a worthy 4 stars.

This is the first Pink Floyd album that I have ever completely listened to and it comes with a weight of expectation. How does one of the most iconic albums from one rock's biggest bands compare to some of the other fodder on the list? Pretty favourably really. It's a lot more electronic than I expected, making it sound a lot more current than it's 50 years. Favourite tracks were the title track and the sprawling Shine On You Crazy Diamond. Sure, it's indulgent and not all of it works - not sure about the squealing guitars - but this isn't ever just going to be background music and every element of each part has been carefully constructed. Not quite as keen on the record company put downs in the musical sense although lyrically they are spot on. An interesting first exposure, and i look forward to hearing more. 4 stars.

Here are Run DMC, helping to bring hip-hop to the mainstream. Walk This Way was a huge track in the 80s and is the standout out track on the album. It's about the beat and the synergy of the rappers throughout. The album has a sense of humour and doesn't seem the need to marginalise or offended. It's not sending shivers down my spine - it sounds a bit thin and there's never going to much in the way of musicality, but it was a fun listen. Outside of the nostalgia of Walk This Way, the Peter Piper was clever and You Be Illin' made me smile. A low 3 stars.

Looking for an upbeat start to your day? Look somewhere else! Here's, we range from the sad, haunting stories, such as the Kylie infused Where The Wild Roses Go, through the Tarentino-esque gun splattered fun of Stagger Lee and The Curse of Milhaven right up to the psychotic violence of O'Malley's Bar. And as i write this review in an Irish bar, it's raised the awareness levels! So, notwithstanding for everyone then, but if you like a narrative with your songs, and a decent melody, it's not all bad. Doubt it'll get you into a party mood though. A high 3☆ for a handful of decent stories.

What a blast from the past this is! We've got a whole range of styles here, from the rap rock of Epic to the more thrashy Surprise! You're Dead! while From Out Of Nowhere and Falling To Pieces are virtually pop! Throw in the sonic fest that is Woodpecker From Mars and the creepy lounge jazz of Edge Of The World and this ticks a whole load of boxes. Some songs outstay their welcome a bit, but this has been a really enjoyable weekend listen. A solid 4 stars.

I lived in London for almost 10 years and it was never this tedious and dull. The capital I lived in was a vibrant and multi cultural city that doesn't seem represented by the music I've listened to here. The first couple of songs raised very little interest, but I did, however, enjoy Northern Whale and the chilled Herculean. After that though, there was very little that I could consider memorable or worthy of much attention - it just seemed to be background music. It's a shame, because a few years ago I heard a decent concept album about London - The Liberty of Norton Folgate by Madness - and I'd have that on the 1001 way before this! Herculean just about earns this a low 2 stars.

Having reviewed and dismissed Van Halen's 1984 album, I wasn't looking forward to listening to this. However, 4 songs in and I was moshing all around the living room as well as a bloke in his mid-50s with a bad knee can! Runnin' With The Devil kicks us off with a killer riff before the shredding Eruption shows us why the band is named after the lead guitarist! There's a slight drop in the middle of the album, but there's still intrigue with songs like swing-rock I'm The One, before the cheekiness of Ice Cream Man and the anthemic chorus of On Fire closes us out. It's all a really rather good debut, gets better the more you listen to it, and it's put me in a far better mood than 1984 did, so it's 5 stars from me.

The journey of musical discovery continues with the 70s funk of War, which has been a good, chilled out Saturday morning listen. High points for me were Four Cornered Room and The World Is A Ghetto, with it's epic sax solo. I'm not so keen on the meandering City, Country, City but overall I spent an enjoyable couple of hours finding out about War. A high 3 stars.

Mixed feelings about this album. It starts well enough. Another Girl, Another Planet is a strong, greatest-hits-of-punk standard and Breaking Down meddles around with lounge jazz and prog-rock. Standards remain high through the whole of vinyl Side 1 before an alarming slip from tracks 6 to 10. It's The Truth seems like a meandering stream of consciousness while No Peace For The Wicked is just neither here nor there, and bit throwaway. The Immortal Story is saved by the classic album outro - if you listen on Spotify the last 3 bonus tracks come across as a bit of a pest so I won't include them in the review. 3 stars for a good first half, mediocre second.

I didn't particularly like or positively review Licence To Ill, so here's Beastie Boys second album for me to worry over. It's an improvement. Theres a higher production value, it's cleverly packed with a range of interesting and wide ranging samples, from The Beatles to Johnny Cash. Due to this, Shake Your Rump and Egg Man are favourites of mine - I'm loving the Jaws section at the end. However, while I appreciate the album's sense of humour, there's not too much development from the frat boy rapping of Licence to Ill. As good as Egg Man sounds, it's still just a track about throwing eggs at people. There is more meaningful work at other points, like The Sounds Of Science and parts of the Bouillabaise are interesting, but I'm still not seeing what the fuss was all about with the Beastie Boys. A middling 3 stars.

Enjoyed listening to this today. Summer Breeze and That Lady are timeless, well known tracks for a reason and it was nice to hear the original version of If You Were There as I'd only ever heard George Michael singing it until now. Not so keen on their cover of The Doobie Brothers song Listen To The Music though and although the rest of the songs are perfectly nice, there's nothing else that's really standing out and making me want to save this album for repeated future listening. Still, it's a solid 3 stars.

The first time I listened to Rumours many years ago, by the time I got 3 songs in I was wondering what all the fuss was all about. 2 decent album tracks and Dreams, which I think is over-rated and only propelled to it's megatrack status through Stevie Nicks' voice. But that's part of the appeal of Rumours for me, because just as your drifting into the middle of the road... Don't Stop... track! Go Your Own Way... absolute track! Songbird... beautiful track, and the one that suits Christine McVie's voice best. And then you've got the harmonies of The Chain, and That outro, and you're just totally absorbed. I can pass over the opinion that I don't think McVie's voice is suited to songs like You Make Lovin' Fun and Oh Daddy, because I know we'll be ending up with Stevie Nicks, the Gold Dust Woman, and everything is brilliant again. Half the album are absolute bangers. The rest are just good! And to think that The Chain and Gold Dust Woman were released as B sides!!! 5 stars.

I viewed PJ Harvey the same way that I viewed the Faroe Islands, as in I knew she/they existed, but I didn't feel a need to know anymore. And that is a positive thing about this 1001 experience, because this is a good album that I'd never have otherwise heard. There are so many elements within this album, from the folksy A Place Called Home to the raw This Is Love. Good Fortune sounds Pretenders-esque, everyone has a good thrash around on Kamikaze and it gets pretty much wrapped up nicely with the beautiful We Float. It's all very serious and impressive, and probably more exciting than the Faroe Islands. I'll return to PJ Harvey in the future. A high 4 stars.

What a fantastic album to listen to on 5th April! You've got the Talk Talk classics of Life's What You Make It and Living In Another World, the understated anger of I Don't Believe In You (Are you paying attention Donald? No? I thought not.) and the Omen-esque herald of Time It's Time to cover just half of this wonderful, complex album. The only song I remained unsure about was the coincidental April 5th, and today, April 5th 2026, a beautiful Spring day after Storm Dave, I evoked my inner hippy and finally got it! I love the colour of Spring, and I love The Colour Of Spring. 5 stars for my favourite Talk Talk album.

Fatboy Slim was a big name at the turn of the millennium and this album is his opening salvo before he went on to become commercially huge. The only real complaint from me comes from the headache-inducing Santa Cruz, but the calming Weekend Starts Here regulates my triggers before the ecstatic Getting Out Of My Head kicks in. The rest of the album is pretty standard Fatboy fare with other highpoints including the jazzy First Down and Punk To Funk (which samples 70's football show The Big Match, sports fans). Great if you're tanked up on vodka and Red Bull and you can visualise Norman orchestrating the rave pit as the big beats land. A low 4-stars, as better was to come from the EDM master.

I'd not heard of Lucinda Williams before, but I could tell this was going to be a country music album from the song titles. Shania Twain and LeAnn Rimes were both breaking through in the UK around this time by giving their music a more 'poppy' feel, but Lucinda has stayed true to her country blues roots and I'd rather listen to this than anything by the previously mentioned people to be honest. The album starts well with Right In Time, my favourite ttrack is Can't Let Go and, although a number of the tracks don't hold my attention, the only song that irritates me is Joy. Her voice is another slight bone of contention. It's like, you know she can sing, but sometimes she tries not too and I'm not even sure if that's off-putting or intriguing! A low 3 stars.

Why weren't you paying attention? Yes, I'm talking to you fuckwits that saw Donald Trump as a better option because he 'gets things done'. Green Day, not part of your MAGA agenda, turn up on my 1001 at just the right time and earn themselves 5 stars. This album is a bit of a blast, notwithstanding the current bout of lunacy we are witnessing. Why, just yesterday Donald Trump posted a picture of himself as Jesus (not of Suburbia) bringing someone back from the dead!! The album, a story of disillusionment from the Bush Jr presidency, has a narrative of someone wanting to go off and 'find themself' but all they do is become a bit of a caricature before they eventually realise they could be true to themself at home! Or something like that. And the songs are great. Outside of the 4 singles that were huge and received lots of airplay and chart action, Are We The Waiting, Extraordinary Girl and Whatshername also stand out, while Jesus of Suburbia hops from act to act, unsettled and constantly shifting focus like our main protagonist. It's a fascinating, entertaining album, doesnt feature in the Epstein Files and hasn't bombed Iran! 5 stars.

Nas paints a pretty gritty picture of what life was like growing up in the New York suburbs with your guns, drugs and hustles to earn your next buck. That's the way it was and he doesn't sound too pissed with it - it made him who he is. We get chilled, hypnotic backing tracks and minimal production. Some of the rapping is improvised, which is clever and also shows how he had honed his skills before he got into the studio. I liked Life's A Bitch and The World Is Yours but, let's be honest, I'm a middle class teacher from suburban UK. I'm not his target market and undoubtedly not the best qualified to give a serious review to urban hip-hop. So 3 stars for documenting the struggle and the attitude without resorting to aggression.

Me: So then, random album generator. What special album have you got for me having reached landmark album #100? 1001: Well done! Time to get your ears around Connected by Stereo MCs! Me: Interesting! I loved Step It Up at the time, and Connected has a great 90s groove. However, now I'm listening to it, I'm concerned! After the opening Connected, there are a lot of beige tracks such as Ground Level and Everything. The highlight of All Night Long is the long period of silence in the middle, with the low point coming when you realise the song hasn't finished! The second half of the album is better than the first half, but that's not a huge achievement. Pressure and Creation are both solid foot tappers, but I expect more than this from a list of albums that I Must listen to. 2 stars, and try harder next time! 1001: Sorry. 😢. I'll try harder for album 200.

I had to put a bit more effort into this one. There are no catchy songs or hooks, a falsetto that sometimes puts my skin on edge and accapella sections that sometimes bring The Muppets to mind. It's unlike anything I've ever heard before and after one listen I was prepared to pass it off as a bad experience and move onto the next one. But there is something rather beautiful and thrilling about some of the songs. Dreams was the first one to get under my skin, building up it's tension in such an unassuming way. Don't Love You delivers it's honesty in a straightforward, yet heart breaking way and there is a beauty to the bonus track, You Could Be Love. I'm glad i put the effort in, but I can't go the full 5 stars for something that I had to work so hard to firstly tolerate, and finally enjoy. 4☆ for my first exposure to TV On The Radio.

I found this very much to be an album of contrasting halves. The first half of the album was quite standard reggae, and while I didnt feel a petulant need to skip through any of the tracks, none of them were found particularly memorable. However, from the title track onwards, it just becomes a fabulous, happy collection of tunes with songs like Jammin' and Three Little Birds just brightening the day. And we even get Bob doing soul with the excellent Turn Your Lights Down Low. It makes for a slightly inconsistent album, but they can't all be classics. 4 stars.

The 1001 pushes me into 50s big band jazz, a genre my Spotify account rarely ventures into. It reminds me of my late father-in-law, who no doubt would have enjoyed numbers such as Midnite Blue. If pushed for a favourite track, I'd probably go eith Double O, although Flight Of The Foo Birds brings to my mind Carry On theme tunes and Splanky reminds me of Police Squad and Naked Gun. The Count's influence lasted far beyond the 50s, but while I appreciate the musicality, it's not to my taste. 2 stars, thank you and what's next?

I haven't listened to solo Brian Eno before. I expected something arty and experimental and I wasn't disappointed on that score. Eno cleverly manages to cram enough catchy hooks, electronic bings and bongs, off-kilter guitar 'noises' and bizarre lyrics to create a lot of interest without becoming overwhelming. There's a fascinating use of percussion on the album as well, where some of the songs seem to have the drums faded right down, almost as if they were being played in the next room. This makes this album come across more as a project rather than a body of songs. Favourite moments include the duet with R2 D2 that is The Paw Paw Negro Blowtorch and the intriguing trifle of Dead Finks Don't Talk, with it's beautiful piano loops, messy guitar, bonkers lyrics and hideous backing vocals. I'm sure more Brian Eno will pop up on the 1001 - I'm interested in his ambient work - and this debut was definitely engaging. A solid 4 stars.

Not much to say about this really. I'm neither a fan nor a follower of jazz and was unaware of Sarah Vaughan, but she has a gorgeous voice and she sings the songs beautifully, although not so much that it's obvious why this live album should be included in a list of albums I Need to listen to. Still, I'm a completions, so it's played through a few times this afternoon and, as chilled as this is, I'll have probably forgotten about it in a few days. Favourite tracks are Willow Weep For Me (even though it appears she messes it up!) and Just A Gigolo. 2 stars - nice but unremarkable.

Having only ever heard the singles School's Out and Poison by Alice Cooper, this was album was a genuine and enjoyable surprise for me. It plays very much like a concept album to growing up and leaving high school, and after the rocking title track opener, we get intriguing numbers such as Gutter Cat vs The Jets with it's jazz nod towards Bernstein, the complexities and key changes of My Stars and the emotional ending of Alma Mater, before the closing credits of your youth roll in the Grande Finale. It's all an unexpected, theatrical romp and fully deserves 4 stars.

The issues that I have with Bob Dylan are basically that i don't like his voice and I dont like the way he plays harmonica. I can handle the narrative, poetic style of his songs, going from verse to verse without a chorus, although it makes for songs that sound repetitive - Lily, Rosemary And The Jack of Hearts seems to go on forever - and some of the stories are pretty engaging, but this just isn't for me, to the point where I'm listening to the album a few times and getting increasingly irritated, mainly by his voice. So I'll quit while there are still stars on offer because, lyrically, the man weaves a great yarn. 3 stars and a question mark as to what the fuss is all about.

Sad, that the more things have changed, the more they have stayed the same. Marvin Gaye's finest moment, in my opinion, is a protest album full of so much love, compassion and respect for the common man that if it was released today he'd either get shot by ICE agents or thrown in prison for inciting common decency! I heard this album for the first time a few years ago but loved revisiting it again today. The songs segue into each other beautifully giving the album a wonderful flow. The title track, the prescient Mercy Mercy Me and Inner City Blues are classic soul singles but the album could still be said to be greater than the sum of its parts. Outside of Stevie Wonder's Songs In The Key Of Life, this is a 5☆ contender for the greatest ever soul album, and is still hugely relevant today.

Not for me this one. I just guess that 1 man's classic indie folk music is another man's depressing dirge. If I was to pick a favourite track, i suppose I'd go with Nomadic Revery for it's interesting chord developments, but that eventually descends into something that makes my ears want to cry! I just wasn't in the mood for this today and I'm not hearing anything in ot that might make me feel differently tomorrow. Straight into the bargain bucket.

Ray Price spins out his yarns in honky-tonk country style. His voice is gorgeous and I love the idea of having an introduction at the beginning of the album, connecting with his audience and thanking them for supporting his music. It's not my style and I doubt I'll listen to the album again, but the tales were engaging and it was an interesting album from an artist I was unaware of. A low 3 stars.

Despite the fact that it's have very little idea what this lady is singing about, listening to this album has been such a pleasurable experience, from the bewitching, mysterious opener, through the fun musical arrangements of tracks like Sai Dessa and Aprendendo A Jogar, energetically hectic numbers such as Saudade Eterna and the gorgeous but woefully short Outro Cais, 1001 throws out another hidden gem for us. Will definitely check out the Elis Regina back catalogue. A high 4 stars.

There's a saying, I love children, but I couldn't eat a whole one. That's how I feel about Bob Dylan. I'm happy listening to Blowin' In The Wind, Masters Of War and Don't Think Twice, It's All Right once in a while, as with a number of the other songs, and his voice sounds better on this album than on other ones I've heard. But, songs with their short stanzas get repetitive with lyrics not always holding my attention, and he's still got the ability to make the harmonica sound like it's been swallowed by a donkey, so the whole album then becomes a bit of a chore. Still, this sounds better than Blood On The Tracks - there are more songs that I like and I agree with the protest. He's clearly a great poet. A high 3 stars.

A decent debut from Axl, Slash and co. Sweet Child O' Mine contains one of those iconic guitar riff, pretty much to the point where I can remember where I was the first time that I heard it. It introduced a band that was rawer and harder than the hair rock of Bon Jovi and Whitesnake, but still accessible enough to the mainstream that they were going to get the airplay to make them massive. The four singles on here have been listened to many times, but the standard remains high on the tracks not trusted with chart airplay. Out Ta Get Me and Think About You are high quality tracks, and I love how Rocket Queen changes half way through to bring the album to a fitting end. There are a few tracks I'm not too fussed about - You're Crazy doesn't do anything for me and It's So Easy is so different from it's original that it doesn't sound like a Guns n Roses song either! But there's enough meaty tracks here to post 4 solid stars on this album.

Here we have an album of very decent peaks but startlingly low troughs from a rock band that I've never heard before. I love the opening track. The guitar is fantastic and I love that it's just about their favourite pizza place - even the tale that the song generated so much publicity for it that it became overwhelmed and had to close down! Prince of the Rodeo is another fabulous track, and there are enough power chords and interesting riffs dotted around the album to satisfy. But there are bands that have written better albums than this that will wonder what Rendez-vous With Anus did to push this album onto the 1001! It was funny when I was 14. It's just eye-rolling now. Apparently, the band considered calling themselves Nazipenis when they were formed, but we're advised they wouldn't sell any records. It shows they may have the tendency to try and shock, or just be immature! So, some great tunes, but crappy lyrics, so 2 rusty sheriffs badges from me.

Here's the latest album that has left me scratching my head, wondering what it did to deserve a spot on the 1001. It's grown on me more over 3 listens, and it does get better as you go through the songs - Time With You and Understanding are good songs that seem out of place with some of the inconsequential noise at the beginning of the album on tracks such as Mas Cojones and Riddle Of The Eighties. There are decent riffs in What Gets Heard and it closes nicely with The Softest Hammer, but there is nothing jumping out and grabbing my attention or moving me to feel something. I played it enough for it to grow to a low 3 stars.

The utilisation of electronic keyboards and guitars on this album make it a ground-breaking piece of work, and would have been a risky move forward from the more traditional jazz that Miles Davis was associated with at the time. My intrigue comes from how you can get a group of musicians to improvise their music around themes and phrases and for them not to then go off and play completely disparate passages. The album showcases a range of hugely talented musicians combining to make a wonderfully calming piece of music. 4 stars

By the mid 80s, U2 were treading an interesting line with War between post-punk rock, new wave and pop. New Year's Day, with a bass line inspired by Visage's Fade To Grey, became their biggest hit so far, creeping into the UK top ten, and they were becoming everyone's favourite up-and-coming band. It was nice to look back on this as I listened to this album for the first time in 30 or so years. It's amazing consistently strong album, with high points being the aforementioned New Year's Day and Two Hearts Beat As One. Like A Song and Surrender are strong album tracks and I also have a soft spot for Drowning Man. Sunday Bloody Sunday starts well but meanders around too much in the middle of the song and 40 is an odd choice for a closing track. Lyrically, the band don't pin their colours to any particular mast too securely - people lose in war, no matter whose side they're on. They've pretty much followed this manta throughout, supporting the morally right ideal and speaking out against idiots. A fine example of some of their earlier work. 4 stars.

Listening to this was a lovely way to chill out on a glorious, warm, sunny day. A mix of classy guitar with some Latin American style and rhythm and a bit of Acid Jazz sneaking in with tunes like Incident At Neshabur. Despite the morally dubious lyrics of Mother's Daughter, it rocks out very nicely and my standout track is the Hendrix-esque Hope You're Feeling Better. A classy 4 stars for Santana.

A 90s classic from Madonna, and maybe her most important album, if not her best (Like A Prayer maybe shades that one). The few years before Ray Of Light saw Madonna falling out of the limelight a bit. The queen of pop needed reinventing, so with the help of William Orbit and Craig Armstrong she made her most British album and took on the 90s club scene with a mighty slice of electronica and trance with Eastern philosophy thrown in for good measure. Substitute for Love is a gorgeous opener, Skin combines a hypnotic vocal with a hectic beat and the cinematic Frozen took her back to the top of the singles charts. This album is so far removed from anything she had done and put her back on top of the tree. A brilliant album. 5☆

This is a bit of a cheat from Nick Cave. A double album, with each part having it's own name and both albums sounding different? Isn't that just 2 separate albums? Abattoir Blues is the best of the 2, and on it's own is a 4 star album. It opens strongly with Get Ready For Love and tracks such as There She Goes... and Nature Boy are enjoyable and uptempo. The Lyre Of Orpheus seems to piggy-back on this, and apart from the title track, which reimagines the story of Orpheus and his wife in an amusing fashion, there isn't really too much holding the attention. So, we average out at a 3, but wonder why the double album. The gospel choir is a good touch throughout though. Cave's voice is naturally melodramatic and it provides a lift.

The issue I have with art pop / rock, and I assume that this is what we have here, is it don't know what a bad example of the genre is. I like the songs in the middle of this album, but Stillness Is The Move and Two Doves seem to be collaborations. Remade Horizon is my favourite out of the songs with the man singing, as it appears to be the only song where he's sticking close to the tune being played by the musicians and the rhythm being knocked out by percussion. For most of the rest, everyone seems to be going completely rogue, with backing vocals bearing no relation to lead vocals in some of the songs. My favourite part of the entire thing is the last 30 seconds of the last song and it shouldn't be like that. Is this the best that art pop has to offer? I really hope not. A low 2 stars.

Brimful Of Asha was a huge hit for Cornershop around the turn of the millennium, but the Fatboy Slim remix that got to the top of the charts isn't on this album and I would imagine that anyone who bought this on the strength of that song had a bit of a shock! There are a range of genres covered here - there's quite a lot of Eastern trip-hop and chilled out beats, a bit of Britpop (Good Ships sounds a bit Stone Roses-esque), Good To Be On The Road Back Home Again has a bit of a country vibe going on. Hollywood was quite en vogue 25 or so years ago, but while I applaud the idea of incorporating an Eastern style into different Western genres, the actual execution doesn't always sound great. It's an interesting piece of work though, and I'm glad I've heard the original Brimful... I just think I prefer the other version. A low 3 stars, with Butter The Soul and Good Ships being the favourite tracks.

I was so hoping that I'd be able to post a 5☆ review for this album. A lot of my old school friends were big Echo and the Bunnymen fans back in the day, and I just sort of tolerated them and liked the odd song. 40 years later however, I haven't changed that much. Killing Moon and Seven Seas are both good songs, Silver and Crystal Days are pretty decent, as are My Kingdom and Angels and Devils, but there's nothing that I can pin a gold star on and say "That's the reason why this album is in this list!" It turned out a bit disappointing. A low 3 stars.

Ahh, the 70s, when a middle 8 became a middle 50 or so. On this Supertramp album, it's not always a bad thing. The middle section of School is brilliant, and the outro of the title track sweeps beautifully around a simple piano phrase. Dreamer is such a brilliantly simple song, with the Hammond organ blending in with the electric piano to great effect. However, it doesn't always work. Asylum and Rudy don't hold the attention as well as Hide In Your Shell does. If Everyone Was Listening is a really nice penultimate track though, and I guess there are slightly more pros than cons. So a low 4☆ and I may have been more generous if a couple of minutes had been knocked off a couple of the tracks.

I like a bit of Billy Joel, but before today I had only listened to Greatest Hits compilations, so this was a bit of a deeper dive and it was enjoyable. I had heard quite a few of these - Just The Way You Are and Movin' Out are standard Joel tracks and She's Always A Woman might well be my favourite Joel song. There's not much in the way of filler on the rest of the album as Joel weaves his New York stories beautifully. At 7 and a half minutes Scenes from an Italian Restaurant ran the danger of being overlong, but it's crafted so well it's more like 2 songs blended together. Only The Good Die Young is another high point, and slightly Paul Simon-esque. Everybody Has a Dream overdoes it on the cheesiness scale for me - sounds like peak Gary Barlow! - but this is a perfectly enjoyable, easy as hell to listen to album and gets a high 4 stars from me.

This is a decent acid funk / jazz album with a whole load of catchy tracks outside of the songs that were released. If I Like It, I Do It 'funks out' nicely, if that's even a phrase, and it's always nice to have a bit of didgeri-doo on any album, unless it's Rolf Harris. Blow Your Mind repeats a little too much for my taste, but it's stil pretty cool. So I'll go with a low 4 stars. I can't go higher due to my unreasonable and inexplainable dislike of Jay Kay. I don't know if it's the hats, or the singing in an American accent despite the fact that he's from Lancashire, or singing about an Emergency on Planet Earth when you've got 3 or 4 dozen cars parked in you garage / warehouse, he just irritates me a tad! Beyond all this, my wife's a fan of Jamiroquai as well, and it's concerning me that more of her CD collection is turning up on the 1001 than mine!

This is an interesting discovery! Before today, my knowledge of French electronic music stalled after Air and Daft Punk, Justice have added a new, harder edge to the group. Although the opening 4 tracks aren't particularly memorable, Phantom grabs your attention and then there are multiple highlights, such as DVNO, Waters Of Nazareth and the stand-out Stress that is a full on sensory experience, thrilling and unsettling at each beat. A slow start that became a satisfying find. A solid 4 stars.

Suede were one of the big 4 Britpop groups of the 90s, and the one I listened to least. I only knew Animal Nitrate on here, and that's quite criminal from my aspect, because while Oasis gave us two fingered Northern attitude, Pulp gave us songs about sex and Blur gave us depression, it turns out that Suede gave us an absolute gem of a mature debut. This album scores highly on musicality, with songs can rock out (like Moving), and be movingly beautiful (Sleeping Pills and The Next Life) with lyrics that seem to come from a far greater experience of life than any of these artists could have had. There is a singer in Bret Anderson that can deliver both types of song, and the album just flows beautifully. So glad I was directed towards this. Absolutely 5 stars.

There is a lot to like on this album. Under The Pressure is a fine opening track, Suffering is heartfelt and beautiful and An Ocean In Between The Waves picks up the tempo again after it. However, a lot of the songs, including some of those mentioned above, just don't know how to finish! Under The Pressure may be my favourite track, but I don't need the last 3 minutes. Too many times I asked myself, "Is this song still going on?" and it takes away more than it adds. Be considerate - I have another 1000 albums to get through!! Disappearing begins well but quickly becomes tedious, and that almost sadly becomes a metaphor for the album as a whole. Could have been a high 4, turns out to be a middling 3 stars.

With all due respect, this type of free form piano jazz isn't for me, especially when in most cases, the next track is just a slightly different version of the track before. There's no doubting the quality of the pianist. The double bass player might have been ground breaking at the time, but it's not anything I enjoyed listening to and it all sounds really similar. It's not that it's bad, it just rarely becomes more than background noise. Sorry, but it's a low 2 stars from me.

This quirky Cars debut is a really enjoyable listen. There's a healthy mix of punk and new wave with nods to the past influences but also an eye and ear to creating something new. There are Queen-esque choral elements, unpredictable key changes and experimental percussion to always keep the album interesting, and at just over half an hour you're actually left wanting more, not praying for the end. Best Friends Girl was the only previously heard song, but there are better songs. Good Times Roll is a great opener, Just What I Needed and You're All I've Got Tonight are probably my favourites today, but tomorrow it might be Moving In Stereo and I'm In Touch With Your World. I can't spot a weak track, and while it's difficult to point to a truly standout, great song like they had years later with Drive, this is a consistently good album creeping into the 5 star group, maybe because of the sheer unexpectedness of it.

Third Beastie Boys album on the list that I've listened to and a more mature offering than License To Ill and Paul's Boutique. I'm never going to be a fan, but I can appreciate the development of the musicianship and the blending of genres. Sabrosa is funky as hell and Ricky's Theme is pure chillout watching the sunrise in Ibiza. On a hip hop level, I enjoyed Root Down and any song that samples a sheep is going to make me smile, so B Boys Makin With The Freak Freak made me smile but it's not a genre, band or an album that I would return to by choice, so it's another 3 stars. I imagine there will be other Beastie Boy albums on the list - I guess the review will be similar.

The unique voice of Gary Numan is and was perfect for electronic music. The whole Numanoid thing used to freak me out a bit when I was 10 years old, but it seemed to be a bit of a synth persona thing - the odd guys on the keyboards, Ron Mael, Chris Lowe, the cast of Kraftwerk - and Numan fits the bill. The album pleasantly surprised me with the lushness of its sound. The piano and violin help, but Numan balances the hard and soft effects from the moog keyboards, giving some of the music an unexpected beauty. Highlights, outside of Cars, were Metal, Complex and M.E., used later by Basement Jaxx. I saw Gary Numan at Glastonbury a few years back, he was impressive and I listened to some of his more recent albums. I can recommend Intruders. He is a true electronic music pioneer and this was a great debut. 4 stars.

Bit of an odd one this. For the first hour or so, you get a decent rock concert. Songs like Baby I Love Your Way and Something's Happening, bit bluesy, bit funky, bit rocky, talented guitarist. But nothing to really stick the album's place in the 1001. So, is it reasonable that the last song on the album, Do You Feel Like I Do - which is itself pretty unremarkable for the first 3 and a half minutes - earns it a place? I'd certainly never heard anything like the use of a talk box played through a guitar, especially in the mid 70s, so this is an intriguing listen. However, for my taste, this is the only real stand out. Nothing bad about the rest (although Jumpin Jack Flash isn't the most flattering cover) but nothing particularly memorable. The talk box pushes a middling 2 star album into the 3 star heights!

I'm not a fan of 80s soul. How it increased the pop vibe, threw in a tad of funk and diluted the identity it had in the 60s and 70s. This album sounds like a pre-cursor to artists such as Alexander O'Neil and Luther Vandross and it does very little for me. So Many Sides Of You is OK and If You Think You're Lonely Now is the most soulful, and also strangely upbeat for a song that's about someone being dumped! Not bad enough for the lone star, but definitely not more than 2.

This is such an enjoyable listen and brings back a whole load of memories. California Dreamin' became a go to pub singalong while in university in the early 90s and became a bit of an anthem with some of my closest friends. There are so many rich layers in this album. The harmonies are gorgeous, the musical arrangements are varied and interesting and, although the songs are based around the pop-side of electric folk, they all sound different. Straight Shooter is quite a rocky little number, before we move into the dreamy Got A Feelin' and then we get the wonderful music hall number I Call Your Name. Despite experimenting with different styles, the whole thing flows beautifully and remains consistent throughout. It's just a feelgood album and definitely one that will be saved on a playlist to return to on a chilled Sunday afternoon on the future. A high 4 stars.

There is no doubt that Dusty Springfield has a fantastic voice. She can sing gorgeous ballads, great pop, she's soulful and she'll belt out band numbers like Dont You Know (even if that song does make me cringe!) So this album showcases her talents, but it's not helped by some dodgy arrangements - Mama Said with it's screechy backing vocals, the attempt at jazz with Do Re Mi - and as those songs are close to the beginning I found it difficult to get into. There are high points though. I love how Dusty juxtaposes her voice when singing both the main and backing vocals of Mockingbird, and she does a good job of 24 Hours From Tulsa, mainly because it's so similar to the original. I've got an issue with her not writing her own songs, so she loses a star there, but I feel 3 stars is pretty respectable.

The debut album from the artist formerly known as Terence Trent D'Arcy. He now produces work under the name Sananda Meitreya, but I don't think he ever bettered this enjoyable blend of funk, soul and pop. Four of the singles charted highly in the UK - songs like Wishing Well and Sign Your Name have a similar funk riff and sexual energy to Prince, and for a short time D'Arby burned brightly under a pretty intense spotlight. There are strong vocal performances throughout, notably in the brave As Yet Untitled, and the songs remain pretty consistent. Highlights of the unreleased tracks include I'll Never Turn My Back On You and Seven More Days. Rain is probably the weakest track, but it's still catchy. It was good to remind myself of this album and it's a well deserved 4 stars.

Pure rock theatre from Meatloaf and Jim Steinman here in an album full of memorable songs. There's an enjoyable narrative to the longer songs, Bat Out Of Hell and Paradise By The Dashboard Light, but the real best tracks for me are the ballads - the Motownesque Wall of sound on You Took The Words Right Out Of My Mouth and the Heart-breaking Two Out Of Three Ain't Bad. Listening now, it seems more like a rite of passage album, of youngsters falling in and out of love, unrequited feelings and the responsibility that comes with getting older. Some of the songs (All Revved Up..., For Crying Out Loud) dont make too much of an impact with me, and it's as cheesy as, but it reminds me of university friends at karaoke parties, and my late cousin who was a big fan. 4 stars.

I like Take Me Out, but the problem I find with this album is there are so many songs that are similar to it, as if they had a formula for writing a song that suited them - repetitive lyrics, quiet part towards the beginning to build tension, loud bit where we can all jump around. That's most of the songs, and it was OK for Take Me Out, but becomes tedious. The Dark Of The Matinee and Come On Home are better for being a bit different and it sounds like they're having fun, but this is a bit of a let down to be honest. Two stars.

My 3 play rule really helped this album. I wasn't in the mood for it yesterday evening and I wasn't getting anything from it at all. However, returning to it this morning you could hear the cheekiness and the humour ("I forget what 8 is for", "Third verse, same as the first), the anger and general disillusionment. For some reason, today I needed xylophone in my life, so thanks you Gone Daddy Gone and the stand out track is Good Feeling, and pretty much perfect way to end the album. 4 stars, because I had to be in the mood for it to appreciate it - a 5 star album would have put me in the mood.

It's because I'd not heard of bands like Gang Of Four that I began this 1001 journey. This is a.musical education - a British band that influenced bands and musicians of different genres all over the world. At the outset, it sounds like a punk album, but you've got funk baselines on some of the songs and drumming patterns that were ahead of their time. Not all the songs are to my taste, but they're interesting, and the standout tracks of Damaged Goods and I Found That Essence Rare are excellent. 4 stars, and makes me want to check out other albums in their catalogue.

There is a lot of charm to be found in this album. The harpsichord is a great instrument to use in story telling songs as it raises intrigue and mystery, and it is used well here. There are Eastern influences, but I mostly love how some of the instrumentation in the songs reminds me of children's TV shows from back in the day - Legend of a Girl Child Linda took me back to The Clangers of all things! The most well known track to me was the title track. Other favourites included Season of the Witch and the beguiling Guinevere - sometimes repetition isn't such a bad thing. It's all hippy-ish and nice and full of drugs and, er, seagulls, apparently. And sure, the songs are a bit repetitive and similar sounding, but I felt chilled and happy at the end of this and that's worth a lot. A high and worthy 3 stars.

Not wanting to be pigeon holed, Fleetwood Mac move on from the uber-success of Rumours and go for a more experimental and raw sound. However, it's difficult not to make comparisons between the two albums, and wonder what might have been if songs like Think About Me and Sisters Of The Moon had been given a slightly more polished production. The album highlight is the ethereal Sara, but beyond these songs we're getting into a bit of a curate's egg. A number of the Lindsay Buckingham songs are so similar, snared and stompy, with guitar tracks distorted to the point that we lose some of the rawness that Buckingham wanted. Some of the later ballads, such as Never Make Me Cry and Never Forget, just seem to be going through the motions - Stevie Nicks sings about always being a storm, which is undoubtedly true, but Storm may as well be called Drizzle for the power it packs! Come down song That's All For Everyone is an example of how intriguing the songs can be, in a more melodic way than title track Tusk, which seems to build a tribal song around 4 notes! It's experimental, hit and miss but listenable and a discussion piece. But it's not as good as Rumours. 3 stars.

Turns out the anger Kurt Cobain poured into Nevermind was the radio-friendly toned down version, and so for this album he's gone even more raw and we're all going on a trip to the darker recess of his mind, notably in tracks like Scentless Apprentice and Milk It. Theres a moment of tenderness in Dumb, and Heart-Shaped Box is a beautiful song with a dark subject matter. We're listening to a man on the edge, questioning life, relationships, how he feels, how it all seems so shit. With events a few months later, this could be an uncomfortable listen. However, we need to appreciate Cobain's ability and genius in expressing his emotion through his songwriting and every aspect of the bands music. 4 stars of pain

Having worked as a teacher in East London, and lived in North London (a couple of miles away from where Skepta went to school) for 10 years as a young, white adult, this brings back memories of children that I used to teach - the struggles that they had with themselves and other people, the way they spoke to each other and their constantly evolving language, the importance of 'fam'. So, even though Grime isn't my go to, and before yesterday I hadn't listened to anything by Skepta, I enjoyed this. I can recognise the narratives through others. Favourite tracks are Crime Riddim and Text Me Back, the backing tracks are quietly haunting and effective but not distracting from the lyrics and the album remains pretty consistent throughout. I may get around to checking out some of his earlier work. A low 4 stars.

What the actual fuck!! He's not even trying to shout in tune, nevermind singing. It's not even in time! And it's just exhausting!! At first, I wasn't totally sure whether to be concerned or amused, but when I found out that this was their second album, marked a development in their musical style and growing maturity in their songwriting, I had to check out their earlier work - even more hardcore punk, songs about a minute long, absolute yelling. But then, when you come back to Out Of Step, you can hear the development. How they've worked to make songs like Betray and Cashing In longer - sounds like they've cleverly crafted 2 songs into 1 in some cases. And although they sound pissed off about things, it does sound like they're having fun and it's a tad tongue in cheek. Other highpoint include Look Back and Laugh, and Little Friend. And so, what's ended up happening is, over the last couple of days, I've become a bit of a fan of hardcore punk. A hugely enjoyable listen and 4 well deserved stars.

Apart from the first tune, the instrumentals title track, this album seems to wind me up more than anything else. The exaggerated Cockney accent of the most well known Lazy Sunday makes it sound like Norman Wisdom's singing it, there's nothing resembling a decent tune on the B-side and the narration by Stanley Unwin is, to use his language, fucking-a-diddly teedioseeus, or something like that. There's a song about a prostitute that's pretty similar to Lazy Sunday and I suppose the Song Of A Baker is about drugs. Afterglow's not bad, but this is just a bit of nonsense really. A low 2 stars.

It's Leonard Cohen, and even though I have very limited knowledge of his music I wasn't expecting upbeat, but given the circumstances that's understandable. However, despite the plaintive delivery and subject matter of the lyrics, there is a lot of beauty to this album. This is a man who's coming to terms with his fate - he's moving on, leaving the table, getting ready to face God, he was sad about some things but he's satisfied that he's let them go. There's no point being angry. The penultimate track, Steer Your Way, even has a bit of jaunty feel with it's violin dancing around the wisdom of his words, and that leaves the orchestral reprise of Treaty to send our songwriter away. A fitting Finale. 4 stars.

Music wise, I've got no problems with this really. There's a pretty neat blend of country, funk and rock on the backing tracks, a good use of samples and Kid Rock is a decent rapper. Despite this, too many of the songs are too aggressive, too misogynistic, too 'I've fucked so many women from so many cities, with bitches and 'ho's and pussies and titties'. You can see why Donald Trump's a fan. And if you throw in the talk about high school girls as well, you're getting into the nonce-like territory that has followed Kid Rock round a little bit. Again, you can see why Donald Trump's a fan. On the opening track, I wanted to start singing 'Who put the bob in the bob-showod-showod...' I suppose that would have made it more entertaining for me than what followed. And the calls of 'You don't know me...' and 'You dont understand...' are a bit pathetic when you're so open at rapping about the seedier parts of your life. Too much of the wrong type of 'Alpha' maleness for me. 1 star.

I had no idea who John Prine was before today, but I've enjoyed finding out about him today. Sounds like a more countrified Bob Dylan, but I actually prefer this to the Dylan albums I've listened to. Hello In There is a beautiful tune, with such heartfelt lyrics. And there are angrier moments as well. Sam Stone tells the story about the American Dream slipping through peoples' fingers, while Your Flag Decal... questions the emptiness of loyalty to a plastic flag. It's thoroughly engaging all the way through, from the fascinating opening Illegal Smile to the heartbreaking Six O'clock News. The music is well produced, neither sparse nor over the top and each track is different, yet they fit together perfectly. Thank you, John Prine. Today has been an enjoyable day. 4 stars.