1001 Albums Summary

First listen. Strong first half, but the second leg was kind of whatever. The last song in particular was a bit grating, though the opening three track run makes up for it. Pretty enjoyable overall, but nothing mind-blowing. Fav. Track: I Had Too Much to Dream (Last Night) Reaction: 🙂

Second listen. Although the stripped back nature of the album sometimes leads parts of it to blend together a bit, it also allows for the excellent songwriting to really shine through, and to great effect. Not a bad track on here, and plenty of great ones. Between The Bars in particular is probably one of my favorite songs, period, and the relatively cheerful tone of Say Yes makes it an impactful closer despite how understated it is. Fav. Track: Between The Bars Reaction: 🥰

First listen. I did listen to Doolittle a couple of times before this one, and Surfer Rosa definitely sounds a bit rougher and less fleshed out. It's still good, though. I'm now also realizing, only three albums in, that my rating scale is a bit messed up, because I definitely enjoyed this one more than the Electric Prunes record, and I do like Either/Or a bit better than Surfer Rosa, at least on a first listen. I'm gonna set it up like this for now, just so I have some general guidelines for myself: 5: Outstanding, about as close to as good as it gets 4: Really enjoyed it, excited to revisit it 3: I liked it, but I'm not in a rush to replay it; might need more listens, or might just not be my thing 2: A bit underwhelming 1: Just bad In retrospect, that might lead me to want to change the first record to a 2, but there's gonna be a bit of range with a 5-star system, so I'll just say it's like a low 3 or something. Surfer Rosa would be a high 3. I enjoyed it overall, but with a couple more listens, it could turn into a 4. Who knows. Fav. Track: Where Is My Mind? (duh) Reaction: 🙂

First listen. - title track is great ofc, heard it many times - really good 3 track opener - good sense of melody, catchy riffs etc. - I must have a thing for interludes; I actually liked the reprise a lot more than the song preceding it lol - I like that the album varies slower tracks with more uptempo ones, although it does become a bit formulaic after a while - sonic variety isn't a problem, but I do feel that the overall sound is just a bit too basic, and while the songwriting is solid, it's not quite good enough to fully overcome this imo - oh yeah, I've actually heard The Last Resort before, too. I think my dad played it on vinyl a bunch when I was growing up. it's great! almost as good as the opener, tbh. I went more with off-the-cuff observations that actually resemble... notes, this time. I don't know. Overall, Hotel California was quite enjoyable. It's great for what it is, but I'm not sure that I'm super into this kind of 70s soft-rock. Outside of the title track, that sweet little reprise in the middle, and the closer, it was just fine. Might be a grower, I don't know. I hope I don't end up giving every album under the sun a 3, though. Give me a real dud tomorrow! Fav. Track: Hotel California (duh) Reaction: 🙂

First listen. Alright, so I have listened to The Queen Is Dead before, and I did really like that one. Similar to Surfer Rosa, I feel like this is a bit less fully developed than the album that would succeed it. It's still perfectly good; I very much enjoy the Smiths as a band overall, at least from what I've heard of them so far. Meat Is Murder opens really strong and ends really strong, as seems to be the case with a lot of albums, but the middle section is just fine, as far as I'm concerned. High 3, but not quite a 4, I guess. Fav. Track: Barbarism Begins at Home Reaction: 🙂

First listen, but I re-listened to it later in the day. I've never actually sat down and listened to a pure funk album before. The closest I've gotten are the smatterings of funk on TPAB (as well as a host of other albums, I'm sure), on which George Clinton fittingly enough features. Mothership Connection sounds really good; good enough that I was willing to give it a second listen, even. It has a ton of personality; I love the spoken word opening section, and the repeated 'ga-ga-goo-gah's on the closer, for instance. Still, maybe it's just because I lack the exposure to the genre necessary to really appreciate it, but it didn't really excite me enough to give it a 4. It got pretty repetitive in certain sections; particularly on the penultimate track. Still, I liked it. It was fun. Fav. Track: Unfunky UFO Reaction: 🙂

First listen. It seems like this fellow is in love with someone. I don't know, it's hard to tell. There's a fine line between sweet and saccharine, and this album crosses that line with such gusto that the taste of it turns to pure bitterness in my mouth. The lyrics here are, uh... bad. Really bad. They're an uncomfortable mix of sappy, trite, meandering, and, at times, far too insistent. The text is replete with endless rephrasings of 'I love you,' each as banal as the last, and metaphors that are either so thin that they end up saying nothing at all, or so contrived that they turn into pure nonsense instead. I strongly suspect that a lot of this is meant to be silly on purpose, of course, and very tongue-in-cheek, but alas, the 'humor' doesn't quite land with me. Musically, it's competent enough, but lacks a strong identity. Most of it sounds rather derivative and bland, and though it has its compositional bright spots, they are sadly far too scarce to raise the thing out of mediocrity. The opening track is perhaps the sole exception; it has a decent melody, a punchy enough chorus, and perhaps most importantly, it's bombastic enough to distract the listener from how vacuous the text is. To give this record one more compliment, I do like the arrangements quite a bit, and the album does sound good as far as the instrumentals and the overall production is concerned. That might very well be a case of damning with faint praise, however, as it's still not nearly good enough to salvage songwriting (and singing) of this quality. A Short Album About Love is easily the worst album I've heard on here so far, and the only one that I can confidently say that I outright dislike. Still, I HAVE heard music that is quite a bit worse, so I suppose I should exercise some caution and leave a bit of room at the bottom until I've figured this whole thing out. Fav. Track: In Pursuit of Happiness Reaction: 😕

First listen, but listened to it again later in the day. I think I'm a lot worse at describing what I do like about an album than what I do like about it. What's Going On has been on my list for a while, and I'm glad it was recommended; it's a stunning record! Gaye's voice, and the harmonies on the strings are absolutely beautiful. The sound overall is measured, and tasteful, but not to the extent that it becomes dull in the slightest. I also love the contrast between the haunting, angelic sonic palate, and the often plaintive lyrics. There's an intensely bittersweet yearning to the whole thing, and although it overflows just as readily with faith, and hope for a better future, it never comes across as naive about the sorry state of the world it is criticizing. What's Going On is also superbly paced. The first six tracks flow into each other nicely (I love it when an album does that, it's so exciting!), and Right On being a groovier, more rhythmic track than the ones that precede it saves the whole thing from becoming perhaps a little bit too languorous. Overall, the last three songs are certainly more understated than the rest, I feel, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, though I do like the first six a smidge more. I actually enjoyed my first listen better than the second, which is kind of rare for me. For that reason, I'm not sure if it'll grow on me over time to the extent that most albums do; but thankfully, I already like it a lot. Fav. Track: What's Going On

First listen. I think Like a Prayer is... fine. It opens with a very strong run, and then kind of progressively tapers off from there. Initially, I found the slower, more ballad-y tracks to be good for the album's pacing - even though they were individually on the weaker side - but eventually, they started to take up a bit too much of the runtime. The album is at its best when it fully leans into unabashed, glittery dance-pop; and it really does shine in those moments, but sadly, they're a bit too scarce as far as I'm concerned. Perfectly cromulent, but nothing extraordinary. Fav. Track: Like a Prayer

First listen. Man, I don't know. I wanted to like this, but it just kind of bored me. There doesn't seem to be a lot going on here; or maybe I'm just not hearing it. It sounds far too basic, and far too repetitive to keep my interest, and while neither of those things are bad on their own, it's difficult to pull them both off at the same time. The last track in particular was extremely tedious; I don't know if sixteen minutes of straight percussion is quite my thing. It certainly has its moments, though. The end of Egbe Mi O in particular was fantastic; partly because I tend to gravitate towards more melodic passages, but also because the crowd joining in felt quite magical. It's hardly a bad album, but not quite my thing, I guess. Fav. Track: Egbe Mi O (Carry Me)

First listen. I don't have a ton to say about this one. It's just good. Great songwriting, although the instrumentals are maybe a bit too of their time for my taste. I just don't connect with it too much at the moment, which I do find a bit surprising since I love (what I've heard of) Neil Young's solo work. In fact, I found the tracks where he sang to be the most captivating, perhaps only due to some sense of familiarity. Country Girl in particular was excellent; I found its instrumentation, vocals, and especially harmony to be a bit more interesting than the rest of the record. I think this one might grow on me over time. It doesn't feel very immediate. But, it was still a very enjoyable listen! Fav. Track: Country Girl

First listen. This is a pretty fun, groovy album. It sounds more vintage than outdated, which is nice; it evokes a sort of warm nostalgia. That being said, it's nothing spectacular to me. Just decent. Fav. Track: Green Onions

First listen. I found this album pretty boring. It just sounds very generic and same-y, and the songwriting really isn't strong enough to carry it. The tension-release cycle here is completely anemic and beyond predictable. Not the worst thing I've heard, but I don't really want to listen to it again. Favorite Track: N/A