1001 Albums Summary

Great background music. Soothing. Great chill vibe.

Good, soothing voice, he's just speaking in a low mutter. The music all blends together and is not very interesting. Feels like the same song 9 times in a row. I know it's a significant album, but I'd never give it another listen.

This rocked. Flight of the Rat is quintessential rock, and the entire album was deeply enjoyable. Absolutely will listen again, probably soon.

Astounding. The bass is groovy and the entire album just transports me to a calm, ethereal place. This is becoming core study music for me.

I like Anything Goes for nostalgia reasons, so it gets 3 stars instead of 2, because the rest of this is patently uninteresting to me. I like Sinatra's voice, but it feels like background music exclusively.

This just isn't my genre. The album is well-produced, and some of the beats make for pleasant listening, but I have difficulty understanding lyrics. When the only appeal of a song is the lyrical content, it just won't work for me. Additionally, the majority of the songs are so miserable even when I factor in my dislike of the genre. I had to force myself to finish listening to it—it's also so long and really drags.

Ella Fitzgerald has a truly phenomenal voice, and the Gershwins' work is fantastic. The album is disturbingly long, to be sure, and there aren't many standouts, but as a whole it was enjoyable to use as background music.

A great time. Succinct and enjoyable, great guitars, great lyrics, great rhythms.

This was good fun! A strong voice and great rhythms and instrumentation.

Obviously did not understand a word. The energy was upbeat and his voice is great, but it's a little too soft for my tastes.

The lyrics on this album are an absolute riot. The music isn't that interesting, but the voice is great and the lyrics sell it for me.

The lyrics on these songs are simply not good. At all. The instrumentation is fun, though.

This album was a whole bunch of nothing for me. I'm writing this mere minutes after finishing it and don't remember a single song.

Decent background metal. Like the genre, don't much remember the songs.

A surprisingly enjoyable listen—I haven't listened to much electronic music, but I tend to enjoy the genre, and this is a fantastic example of it. It does drag a little long, though; a few of the longer songs could stand to be shorter.

Nice of MJ Cole to name "Rough Out Here" after the experience of trying to listen to this album in one sitting.

Quite enjoyable blues rock.

Solid, enjoyable, great guitar.

Astounding, enthralling, and foundational for modern jazz. An absolute pleasure.

I'm very ambivalent on this one. It has very high highs but a lot of it feels otherwise unnotable. I think I overall enjoyed it more than not, though, and these guys were definitely ahead of their time.

I'd heard about this album for almost my entire life and I'm very glad to have listened to it now. Utterly fantastic alt-rock.

The guitars are great, but I don't find myself drawn to the rest of the music (lyrics, beats, etc).

The slight jazz influence is nice, and many of the beats and samplings are excellent, but I'm not at all a fan of most of the lyrical content.

Insane, cacophanous, and ahead of its time. I loved this album; though the lows are low, the highs are in the clouds. The screaming guitars, experimental instrumentation, unique vocal sound, and constant delivery of unexpected twists made this an instant relisten, and saying I'll come back to it is the highest praise I can give.

Very enjoyable and the right amount of eccentric. You can tell they were truly enjoying what they were doing.

I really liked the flow, and the way this album is more reminiscent of older hip-hop/rap. Most songs are uplifting and empowering. Would have been a 4/5 if not for "One of Them," which is just several minutes of blatant homophobia for no reason.

A fantastic listen, and I will be returning to it. Great guitar work, great drumming.

It's a fine listen, but nothing stood out to me, really.

Fun and engaging! Nothing life-changing but all around a good listen.

Downright surreal. I was wowed by every song.

Phenomenal listen, with the right amount of edge and energy accompanied by fantastic vocals and better instrumentation.

De la Orgee singlehandedly drags the otherwise enjoyable and fun and goofy album down to mediocrity

It felt so close to being good, but ultimately I was effectively just sitting inside of a washing machine for most of the album.

Very groovy, but nothing groundbreaking, in my opinion. Some of these will get listened to again in the future, but not the full album.

Nothing stand-out, but alright enough for background listening.

An absolute fantastic experience. Bob Dylan knows how to write lyrics better than nearly any other artist to whom I have ever listened.

Rather enjoyable for a country album, despite this not being my typical genre of choice. A little generic feeling at times, but I think that's because this album is the foundation for a lot of these musical tropes for singer-songwriter country.

It all blended together to me, though it was nice to listen to.

I found this rather enjoyable. The vocals weren't anything special, but I loved the instrumentation. Definitely drags, though. Also, I'm 99% sure that was just Werewolves of London in there.

This was an absolute blast from the get-go. Nothing drags, it has constant momentum, and the instrumentation is astounding. A few songs in the middle aren't particularly memorable, but all around it was a very strong album.

Decently fun, but never really got into it.

A great listen overall.

An edgier than expected but nonetheless very enjoyable time.

She has an enthralling voice, and this album is a much more reasonable length than Ella Fitzgerald's Gershwin songbook. The instrumentation feels simple, though.

I love the energy of it, though the genre isn't quite my favorite.

Stunning.

Mostly unmemorable and definitely not my genre, though the female singer has a great voice.

Fine, but not as enjoyable as the other Dexys I've listened to from this list. I do quite like the brass, though.

Absolutely incredible experience and I have saved several of these songs.

Solid soul music with a good vocalist.

Very interesting. It felt indie, and I mean that in a good way.

Fantastic bass work and a truly gritty sound. Made great music to be up all night studying to, but I don't think it would be as good if I wasn't listening to it in a 4:00 AM stupor.

Really like the use of strings in this. It adds a lot of depth.

Basically a compliation of some of ABBA's best.

Very enjoyable blues right off the bat. These guys can groove.

Enjoyable modern indie rock.

David Bowie. That's it. That's the review.

Really grooving rock.

Fine enough, but nothing memorable.

I listened to it a few days ago and can't remember any of it besides a generally positive impression.

Funny to know the titular track has a sequel, but all in all it's background music to me and nothing more.

Quite fun, but nothing particularly standout.

Not as much fun as Fear of a Black Planet.

Oh yeah. This is my edgy childhood album for sure.

Foudational metal album, and it's as good as its reputation.

I typically dislike live albums in comparison to cleaner (and audience-free) studio albums, but Vaughan has so much character in this, and her obvious errors add to the experience. My favorite track is How High The Moon, of which she doesn't remember a single word, but her scat and riffing has so much life to it. Plus, at only 9 songs of reasonable length, this album is tight in a way that many other similar ones (looking at you, Ella "3.25 Hours" Fitzgerald) are not.

Wow. Just wow. I was not expecting to find this so enthralling. It so vividly evokes the simple shepherd's story in an ethereal, haunting manner. I was getting ready to use this as simple background music but it has turned out to be more of a journey. This is getting put on some playlist of mine for sure, and I now look excitedly forward to the other Hindustan classical on this list.

Good background music, but background music.

Just a really good time. Every song felt unique but had a strong connecting thread to the others. The percussion in particular is phenomenal.

Very raw and emotional.

Ding, dong!

Soulful, relaxing, groovy, and an ideal length.

Foundational rock, and Living on a Prayer was my favorite song as a child. Amazing, intense instrumentation with such classic vocals.

I mean, this sure is a Christmas album.

Beautiful and masterful jazz.

A very strong start but they don't quite stick the landing.

That certainly was an experience. I truly didn't hate it: it had a lot of solid rhythms and beats, and the (excessively) experimental instrumentation made this worthwhile, though I wouldn't place it among the clouds. It deserves better than to be below Kid Rock, for sure.

Good, solid British metal. I should listen to more from JP.

Very upbeat and cheery, but nothing particularly standout to me. It has JUST enough weird factor in its early synth feelings (I mean this positively) to get it up to a 4 for me, though.

The band's name is accurate. This was indeed quite funky, and I do love some funk.

So apparently Biggie wasn't doing a skit and actually sexually assaulted a woman on tape and then put it in his album. That's neat. Overall, more listenable than Cee-lo in terms of pure musicality, but, like, ugh.

A beautiful palate cleanser and a welcome, celebratory, uplifting listen. It's sadly not my genre but still merits a 4.

Absolutely groovy and a fun time. Sultans of Swing is such a classic.

Not as transcendent as I'd hoped it would be. I love weird music, but this fell short of my standards for both traditional and wildly off-kilter music. Wasn't bad, and was very enjoyable to listen to, though.

Maybe I'm stupid, but I don't get the hype. It was good rock with a solid blues influence, but nothing here screams "big hit" to me.

Powerful, aggressive, and unafraid. Beautifully unbeautiful. Landlords deserve worse <3.

It literally put me to sleep, but not necessarily in a bad way. Chill and good, but not memorable.

Truly, all I can conjure is "eh."

Yep. Oh yeah. This does it. Mhm. Godless Communist here to say: yup.

I literally could not hear a single vocal line. Either intentionally obscure or terrible mixing. The sound is edgy and gritty and dissonant and beautiful, though, which I like, and this early math rock weirdness speaks to me. I listened to it the first time and didn't quite like it, but listened to it again and found it growing on me quite a bit. 2 for the lyrical side of things, but 5 for the music, so 4 overall.

This smells like incel. It's not, and some of the music and vocals are quite nice, but it doesn't feel great to listen to.

Any album that opens with Tiny Dancer has to be a 5. Such an incredible listen.

This album is like a "V" in that the beginning and end are incredible but the middle is lackluster. Still, the piano work is brilliant, and several of these songs are legendary classics for a reason.

This album is so flavorless I can't even tell what genre it's supposed to be.

Beautiful guitar work and a soothing voice. Not my favorite ever, but definitely merits a place on this list.

As someone who isn't a huge fan of hip-hop, this album is incredible. It's a real shame where Kanye's gone, as I feel guilty sending someone who is now a literal Neo-Nazi any positive sentiment, but I'm reviewing the album on its own merits separate from the artist.

This album is unique and beautiful. I also don't think I'll ever listen to it again. However, I'm glad I did this one time.

Good vibes. Nothing standout.

The exact sort of prog weirdness I love. Innovative rhythmically and musically, especially with Bruford on percussion (especially considering that Bruford eventually ends up with King Crimson for a spell, lending his talents to even better prog weirdness).

Decent enough hip hop but nothing I'll remember in a week or two.

Her voice is pretty impressive, and I quite liked the calm, simple nature of the album. It felt a little long, however.

Unexpected 5 from me for sure. So much momentum, passion, aggression behind it all, and the album is incredibly reasonable in length.

A bit too monotonous, but that's a common problem with a lot of these earlier albums. Burke's voice is incredible, and the album helped found the beautiful genre of soul, so I can't justify less than a 3.

Absolutely wacky vocals most of the time, but I enjoy the fusion of all these genres.

A delightful, psychadelic rock opera.

This album is filled with vocal power and feeling. Very, very enjoyable.

I agree with other reviews that this album feels like if David Bowie was half as talented and then split into two people. However, someone with half of Bowie's talent is still decently talented, and this isn't like being dragged facedown on concrete, unlike some of the other bottom-twenty ranking albums on the list. I don't think I'd ever revisit it, but Sulk didn't actively offend or insult me.

Wonderfully aggressive and gritty.

This felt generic by my modern standards. Maybe it was more important when it was first released; I do like some of the messaging, too. But I disliked more than I liked.

This feels VERY produced for jazz, but it's enjoyable.

An enjoyable listen, but nothing super special.

A solid foundation in the beats made this a surprisingly enjoyable listen (as this is definitely outside my genres of choice). I found Missy's direct address at the end very endearing and human as well.

A pleasant listen with some solid groove.

I mean, I don't like the guy, but I'm trying hard not to let my opinions on people (re: Kanye) affect my opinion on the art they create. That being said, this is the most vapid and hollow album I've heard in a long while. It's entirely meaningless and fully generic. Decent guitar work, though; it almost makes up for the literal actual racial slurs!

Decently enjoyable, but I feel like it's lacking some oomph. Not particularly memorable.

A nice pop listen. Not usually a fan of the genre, but this felt more musically interesting than vapid modern US pop. Also, it's gay as hell, which rules. Listened in French because I figured I'd be more likely to enjoy it if I don't really understand the lyrics and just get the vocals.

Absolutely loving the vocals in this, and the instrumentation is very groovy. I'll probably return to a fair number of these.

Incredible. Just incredible.

This deserves its reputation. It was one of my hardest choices for favorite song thus far.

It was good, and it was foundational for sure, but it's undesirably long, lacks some larger cohesion, and by my modern standards and tastes doesn't feel like it deserves its title as one of the best albums ever made.

Very edgy noir. I like the vibe, but even as a lover of soundtracks as a genre this fails to keep my attention.

Really fun early punk.

As a lover of long songs, "Autobahn" surprisingly didn't do it for me (at all—I struggled to finish that one), but there's a lot of beauty hidden in this otherwise bite-size album that still compels me to give it a 3.

Not as good as Born to Run, but still has that classic Springsteen power and depth behind it.

An entirely unexpected yet thrilling and impactful early punk album. The implementation of the sax is astounding and the energy is electric.

I can't really put into words how I felt about this, but it was rather ambivalent. Decently high highs, moderately low lows, but nothing exceptional.

Great instrumentation (particularly piano work), and I love Willie's voice, but the genre just isn't really within my tastes.

Solidly enjoyable grunge-adjacent rock with some blues influence.

Unmemorable but pleasant enough at times to avoid a 1.

Wow, what a voice. It's pop adjacent but something entirely more, which is good, because I tend not to enjoy pop. There's so much power and emotion in these songs.

I had such a tough time picking a favorite song from this album. It helped define the 00's, and it was everywhere then for a reason: every song here is still incredible now.

Less than 24 hours after listening, I can't really remember any of it besides a general ethereal vibe. Would never relisten, so...

Very chill and enjoyable melodies. There's nothing complicated here, just a nice voice with light instrumentation and good melody. Nothing groundbreaking, but nothing bad, either.

Elvis's voice doesn't disappoint, but it's a little too simple for my prog-preferring taste.

It's so beautifully gritty and aggressive that I find it hard to dislike despite often feeling like barely more than a wall of noise. The lyrics are quite strong (when I could make them out).

Solidly smooth at its highs (often weird, which I enjoy), but its lows are forgettable.

I quite liked the calming vocals and soothing guitar work. Probably won't return to this, but I'm glad that it's here on this project, as it's slightly expanded my horizons with music of which I never would have otherwise heard.

There's some pretty stellar music here at times, but it as a whole lacks some impact that I would have expected from a band I've heard so much about, and I'm not a fan of the vocals.

Some fantastically haunting vocals in an otherwise unmemorable album.

A fascinating farewell with a quite welcome jazz influence from an iconic, era-defining artist. Unfortunately, not entirely my speed, but I did enjoy it.

A weirder and wilder experience than the other Bowie albums I've hit thus far.

Solid but and soulful, but not something I'd seek out.

Quite weird and wacky, and quite fun.

Unremarkable country.

A lot of fun with Joplin's iconic voice.

Very groovy and fun.

Overdramatic in a good way, but the songs really could have used some trimming down at times. I love long songs, but these don't feel like they really offer much new after the first few minutes. I love Meat Loaf's voice, though; it's powerful and sonerous.

A lot of fun! Some real good blues/swing with a semi-manic energy.

Unmemorable but groovy.

Very medium music, to me. A step above muzak, and it has some soul, but not exactly screaming innovative and landmark to me.

This wowed me in a way I wasn't remotely expecting. Fantastic energy and amazing melodies.

I'm just not a Marley guy. The vibe is good, but reggae isn't for me.

Mediocre country is a staple of this list, it seems.

Pirate Rock is great 5:35 AM study music, it turns out. A ton of fun!

This is some groovy Bowie.

Very ethereal. I will not be returning here, however.

Somewhat manic. I think in a good way?

Listenable but not standout.

Solid funk with a good message.

This sure is Rio by Duran Duran.

I wasn't expecting this to hit me so hard, but it did. Thoroughly enjoyable. Maybe it hits the exact sadboy energy I was feeling as I listened.

What a powerful album. Grohl rules.

Sinatra.

A total cacophany in the best of ways.

Incredibly powerful and very conscious hip-hop. This deserves its reputation.

Imagine a world where this album was as good as its reputation.

A rather uninteresting pop rock album that doesn't do anything special, in my opinion.

A good album remembering a good man, but reggae is outside of my preferences.

Absolutely a classic. I hadn't visited the rest of this album before (obviously I knew Ring a Gong before listening), and it was well worth it.

This is borderline classical at times, and I love it. So much more haunting and powerful than the typical ABBA big hits (which I also enjoy).

That baby's penis was on my screen for 13 songs and I enjoyed every second of it. The songs, that is. The album cover is a classic, but I could perhaps do without it.

Largely unimpresive britpop with a few standouts.

Well, that went hard.

Highs and lows combine with a runtime that drags to make an album with a few really good songs that I'll never revisit.