My 1001 Albums Journey

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Albums Rated

3.7

Average Rating

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1042 albums remaining

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1990s

Favorite Decade

Indie

Favorite Genre

Top Origin

Wordsmith

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5-Star Albums

1-Star Albums

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Albums

You Love More Than Most

Album	You	Global	Diff
Alien Lanes Guided By Voices	5	2.75	+2.25
Halcyon Digest Deerhunter	5	3.05	+1.95
Lost In The Dream The War On Drugs	5	3.39	+1.61
Low David Bowie	5	3.55	+1.45
Chelsea Girl Nico	4	2.63	+1.37
Pink Moon Nick Drake	5	3.65	+1.35
Live At The Harlem Square Club Sam Cooke	5	3.77	+1.23
Disintegration The Cure	5	3.85	+1.15
Pet Sounds The Beach Boys	5	3.93	+1.07
I See A Darkness Bonnie "Prince" Billy	4	2.97	+1.03

You Love Less Than Most

Album	You	Global	Diff
The Doors The Doors	2	3.95	-1.95
With The Beatles Beatles	2	3.66	-1.66
Crime Of The Century Supertramp	2	3.41	-1.41
A Nod Is As Good As A Wink To A Blind Horse Faces	2	3.23	-1.23

5-Star Albums (9)

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Popular Reviews

The Holy Bible

Manic Street Preachers

4/5

Heavy lyrics, big melodies and memorable hooks. Under serious suspicion of being my jam. Listened twice and loved it.

1 likes

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Emperor Tomato Ketchup

Stereolab

4/5

Pink Moon

Nick Drake

5/5

Boston

4/5

Murmur

R.E.M.

4/5

Halcyon Digest

Deerhunter

5/5

Live At The Harlem Square Club

Sam Cooke

5/5

Chelsea Girl

Nico

4/5

MTV Unplugged In New York

Nirvana

4/5

Like an all-time rock band playing their own funeral. Some of these are definitive versions of the songs for me. You're not crazy if this is your favorite Nirvana album.

The Doors

2/5

Great for montages of young people in the 60s doing drugs and fornicating.

Tapestry

Carole King

4/5

Germs

3/5

Skate punk in the 70s, produced by Joan Jett! Super rad. Not what I’d reach for if I’m jonesin’ for some hardcore though.

Crime Of The Century

Supertramp

2/5

This might be more impressive, but Breakfast in America has all the bops. I should get into prog maybe.

The Marshall Mathers LP

Eminem

4/5

Pretenders

3/5

First female-delivered “Fuck off!” in popular music history? Chrissie Hynde, absolute hardass. You can hear the influence on 90s alternative and modern indie rock, super solid.

The Cars

4/5

Tight tight TIGHT. This absolutely rules. Talk about a record you could put on anytime.

The Holy Bible

Manic Street Preachers

4/5

Heavy lyrics, big melodies and memorable hooks. Under serious suspicion of being my jam. Listened twice and loved it.

Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea

PJ Harvey

3/5

Big fan of her first two records and their raw sound (Steve Albini did one). I think her voice and songwriting translates well with this slicker production, but I prefer the older stuff. An artist I could see doing a deep dive on at some point.

...Baby One More Time

Britney Spears

2/5

Emily Thompson, hope you’re well 🫡 Could have been any Max Martin album of the era, but this one has Baby One More Time.

Endtroducing.....

DJ Shadow

4/5

Endtrancing.

Inspiration Information

Shuggie Otis

3/5

Suprising release year with those crisp drum samples! Probably my favorite element. Seems like solid soft rock/funk but not the kinda thing that sticks for me.

John Prine

4/5

Your flag decal won't get you into heaven no more.

Lust For Life

Iggy Pop

3/5

My first foray with Iggy! Turn Blue is a great track. Thought the rest was solid, less punk than I expected.

I Should Coco

Supergrass

4/5

“Alright” is pure 2010s music supervisor-core. A great tune, but it’s hard not to think of a Kia commercial when I hear it.

Crosby, Stills & Nash

3/5

Bad

Michael Jackson

4/5

Good Hot take but MJ's talent is otherworldly and insane.

The Velvet Underground

4/5

Gentle songs brought on by hard drugs. TVU&N might have launched a thousand bands, but decades later, more bands sound like this record. I could see this growing into a five-star. For now, I just feel a gap between my preference for this and their first two albums (especially White Light/White Heat).

Teenage Head

Flamin' Groovies

3/5

Low

David Bowie

5/5

Bowie and Eno. Say it back. Low is like a perfect encapsulation of what both artists can do at the peak of their powers. Eno's production is so inventive, and Bowie has the gravitas to not get lost in it. The result isn't just mind-bending, it's genuinely fun. And unlike your average Animal Collective album (which owes a lot to this one), each ambient space-out on the back end is a no-skip.

Harvest

Neil Young

4/5

Alien Lanes

Guided By Voices

5/5

It's like novocaine. Just give it time, always works. This record embodies the 90s too-cool-to-try ethos as well as any. But for my money, this school teacher pounding out half-baked ideas in his garage, stumbling into the odd power pop masterpiece like “Game of Pricks,” is way more rock 'n' roll than anything that came out of the sunset strip in the 80s. Call it hipster propaganda but I really believe it. It's British Invasion, pop and punk—a mixed but joyous grab-bag of great hooks, tape hiss, and nonsense. Took me a few listens but I adore it. Cover sure captures the music.

The White Album

Beatles

5/5

My favorite one.

With The Beatles

Beatles

2/5

I’m sure this is above average for what it is, I just have no interest in hearing it again. The covers are probably the best songs.

The ArchAndroid

Janelle Monáe

4/5

High-concept and dynamic, but it boogies so hard. It would make sense to pattern a race of androids after Janelle Monáe. I have a hard time giving something a 5 on first listen but I thought about it; definitely coming back to this one.

Time Out

The Dave Brubeck Quartet

3/5

Recognized "Take Five" right away, jazz standard and I can totally see why.

Pet Sounds

The Beach Boys

5/5

I mean yeah. Divine.

Pieces Of The Sky

Emmylou Harris

3/5

Great folk ages like fine wine (Bluebird Wine?), maybe more so than any other genre. Not the most immediate as a full-listen, but Harris's voice is amazing—not just conventionally beautiful, but deeply expressive. "Boulder to Birmingham" is a heartbreaker.

Never Mind The Bollocks, Here’s The Sex Pistols

Sex Pistols

4/5

Anarrr-CHYSTUH!! Johnny Rotten’s swagger is crazy. Not bad for a future right-wing idiot. The guitars sound huge even now—it’s searing rock ‘n’ roll with punk aesthetics. There are some skips but I can tell why these guys helped launch a bajillion (often better) bands.

A Nod Is As Good As A Wink To A Blind Horse

Faces

2/5

Kinda a less memorable Doors for me—the band has chops, some of the songs really move, but it doesn't light my fire, as it were. Miss Judy's Farm and Stay With Me actually go a place.

I See A Darkness

Bonnie "Prince" Billy

4/5

I knew this album by reputation. I've been really into music that's adjacent to or influenced by it, that type of literary americana like Ryan Davis and David Berman. (And Waxahatchee, if that counts.) So the gravity I felt for it, not surprising. I love the subtle instrumentation. I love the quiver in his voice and how well it pairs with the lyrical themes about mortality and internalized lack. Like Emmylou Harris a few days ago, and maybe all the best folk, it's both intellectually and emotionally convincing. I know it'll require more focused listening to really appreciate, and I'm looking forward to it.

Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere

Neil Young & Crazy Horse

3/5

Lost In The Dream

The War On Drugs

5/5

Captures the bad at their transitional moment between the Dylan-informed krautrock of their early work and the arena-sized Springsteen worship they leaned into later. The result: Lost in the Fucking Dream, an ambient rock masterpiece. Sonically tender, emotionally massive. It has the intimacy of bedroom pop, but it's big enough to fit the lowest moments of your life inside. I'll never forget when I saw them play "Under the Pressure," and a generally docile crowd came alive during the bridge. If "Burning" ever doesn't make me feel like I can be a hero, just for one day, where am I and how did I get there? The cresting of a wandering guitar line, the tidal shift of a single chord change. An ocean between the waves indeed.

Live Through This

Hole

4/5

I can’t get behind the emerging hot take that this is better than Nevermind. I listened to both with an open mind. I tried. But it’s a fantastic rock record and Courtney Love is a force of nature.

A Christmas Gift For You From Phil Spector

Various Artists

4/5

Hybrid Theory

Linkin Park

3/5

Disintegration

The Cure

5/5

Disintegration is a cavernous soundscape of gothic grandeur yet, in some ways, disarmingly simple. It's The Cure stretching their indelible sound skyward. Probably a touch too long but I don't care—it’s one of the greatest alternative records of all time.

Suicide

3/5

There's A Riot Goin' On

Sly & The Family Stone

3/5

I know from rock docs that Sly was an incredible musician and performer. These recordings didn’t do a ton for me.