1001 Albums Summary

What a perfect album to start with. One I know but haven't listened to in a long time. It is very much The Jam. Energy, harmonies, urgent melodies. Not as non-stop frenetic as In The City or This is The Modern World. Does have "3rd album" vibes, in that the song palette is expanding...varied tempos. But still shows evidence of influences, like the Who-like flourishes on "In the Crowd". Overall a solid 4/5

A classic for sure...we've all heard so many of the songs on the radio. Listening with fresh ears you wonder if this wouldn't have been stronger as a single album. There's some fluff (Jamaica Jerk Off, e.g.) and you have to wonder how much drugs affected decision making. 3 (would have been 4 but too long)

A beautiful voice, making a record unlike a lot of the grunge and other sounds of the early/mid 1990s. What's funny is, I don't know that I've ever listened to it all the way through. For sure I heard Last Goodbye on the radio all the time when the record was fresh. And Hallelujah, especially after it featured in The West Wing. You have to wonder what would have come had he not drowned.

A great voice, memorable songs. You know every one of them even if you aren't a huge music fan.

What is there to say about a record that, if you grew up at a certain time, you heard every song on the radio for many months. A classic album, a breakup album, a heartbreak album

An all-time great "white boy soul" voice, who at his height was an electric performer. He may have turned into an irascible crank in old age, but back at the time of this record he was an irascible genius performer. A crack band behind him that can handle soul, blues, jazz, funk. These must have been amazing shows to have been at.

Oooh, something I've not only not heard, but haven't heard of. First impressions...70s soul vibes, 70s atmospheric, experimental, moody vibes, but modern touches...melodic, funky, fun. Sometimes sounds like the score to a film, which...

What could have been. An amazing voice, beautiful songs, riding the crest of a sound that he was born to be part of.

A band I knew of but didn't listen to much, as they din't grab me right away. Listening to this I'm reminded of the early aughts. It's fine, nothing stands out for me. I don't fully get the hype but I can see why people like them.

How do you follow up one of the biggest selling albums of all time? With a sprawling double album that takes forever to make and costs more than $1 million, of course. Add in dysfunctional band dynamics, the creative stress of trying not to repeat the formula for success...you get Tusk. It's still the Mac of the Rumors era (Over and Over, Sara), or even pre-Rumors (Think About Me) but it's also Buckingham wanting to try new things (The Ledge...different). And it's Buckingham's megalomania. It both works as an interesting creative endeavour and a monument to self-indulgent 1970s excess. Listening with fresh ears it's...not bad. Maybe would have been better as a single album, but the double album serves as an insightful document as to the band's mindset of the time.

Not the easiest of listens....full-on late 70s art punk. David Thomas had one of music's most distinctive and unique voices and presences. Like Ohio contemporaries Devo, a band whose music was completely suffused with art and experimentation. Though I know a handful of Pere Ubu songs, I haven't listened to a full album of theirs in years, and never this one. The album starts off with the great 1-2 punch of Non-Alignment Pact and Modern Dance. The first all aggro and in-your-face, the 2nd no less aggro but mixed with arts interstitials and tempo changes. A more conventional band would have made Modern Dance a standard new wave pop hit. Then Laughing comes in and we are in full on art-band territory...noises and squawks. The album continues apace...conventional song parts wrapped in noise and mayhem. The sound of a band following its own muse, playing its own unique sound.

How many times have I heard so many of these songs on the radio. Very many...

Big time late 90s indie folk vibes. Not horrible, not great. But very much of its time.

A classic. Defined a sound, launched a thousand grunge bands.

A seminal record for me. Not a bad song on it. Not every song a 10, but collectively an amazing record. With the added trivia bit that Huey Lewis' band at the time Clover were the backing band, though he didn't play on it.

An absolute classic, bringing shades of Beefheart & Syd Barrett to new wave kids and forever warpring (in a good way) their outlooks on music. Announced Robyn Hitchcock as a talent of note, and Kimberley Rew as an understated guitar hero.

Unique for its time, an angular almost prog-rock take on the punk/post-punk New York scene. Led by two of the finest guitarists for come out of that scene.

Is that Nico on lead vocals? (I know it's not, but the resemblance is uncanny)

Their debut, from 1992. Electronic pop of the time that channels British electro-pop sounds of Pet Shop Boys, Bronski Beat, New Order and others, with rave vibes, house vibes and other dance music shades. Girl VII especially has melodic shades of the Pet Shop Boys song “West End Girls”. “People Get Real” has dreamy pop over electronica drums and grooving bass line At 15 songs, 58 minutes a prime example of the CD bloat endemic to the 1990s. This could have been a super tight single album of about 45 minutes. Some songs could have been fun b-sides, like “Stoned to Say The Least” or “Like the Swallow”. Overall a fun listen from a band I’ve known of but never spent much time with.