My 1001 Albums Journey

Albums Rated

3.44

Average Rating

Complete

1028 albums remaining

Rating Distribution

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Taste Profile

1970

Favorite Decade

Soul

Favorite Genre

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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
The World is a Ghetto War	5	3.35	+1.65
Talking Book Stevie Wonder	5	3.71	+1.29
Vol. 4 Black Sabbath	5	3.75	+1.25
My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts Brian Eno	4	2.79	+1.21
Tapestry Carole King	5	3.91	+1.09
Pet Sounds The Beach Boys	5	3.93	+1.07
Hunky Dory David Bowie	5	4	+1

You Love Less Than Most

Album	You	Global	Diff
My Aim Is True Elvis Costello	1	3.35	-2.35
Surfer Rosa Pixies	2	3.5	-1.5
Bat Out Of Hell Meat Loaf	2	3.43	-1.43
Cheap Thrills Big Brother & The Holding Company	2	3.42	-1.42
Beauty And The Beat The Go-Go's	2	3.39	-1.39
Eliminator ZZ Top	2	3.37	-1.37
The Chronic Dr. Dre	2	3.32	-1.32
Pornography The Cure	2	3.31	-1.31
If You're Feeling Sinister Belle & Sebastian	2	3.19	-1.19

Artists

Favorites

Artist	Albums	Average
Black Sabbath	2	5

5-Star Albums (9)

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Popular Reviews

Tapestry

Carole King · 1 likes

5/5

A songwriting masterclass. Real, honest, unfiltered. Understandably one of the top sellers of all time.

Elvis Is Back

Elvis Presley · 1 likes

3/5

This is enjoyable, but never really hits the heights of his legend. Maybe Elvis just ain't the same without seeing the movin' and shakin'?

1-Star Albums (1)

All Ratings

Songs From The Big Chair

Tears For Fears

4/5

Atmospheric 80s pop rock, that picked up where the progressive rock post-script left off. Very enjoyable.

Endtroducing.....

DJ Shadow

4/5

This was great.. covers a lot of ground, and is always interesting.

The World is a Ghetto

War

5/5

This was a pleasant surprise. Soulful, funky, psychedelic, jammy, jazzy, extended exploratory solos.. just hook it to my veins!

Lady Soul

Aretha Franklin

4/5

Does what it says on the tin, but still manages to outshine its expectations

Cheap Thrills

Big Brother & The Holding Company

2/5

Not the biggest Joplin fan, but can't deny her performance on this is the highlight. Otherwise, a pretty messily presented, middle of the road statement of what was happening with blues rock at the time.

Eliminator

ZZ Top

2/5

Not a whole lot of substance beyond the gimmick in this one. A few well known bangers that raise a smile, but the joy kinda ends there. 7 out of 11 songs having a fade out probably tells us how much focus there was on actual songwriting... but oh boy, they sure had time for pentatonic scale jamming..

good kid, m.A.A.d city

Kendrick Lamar

3/5

I enjoyed this more than I expected. Lyrically, it's not overly relatable for me (recognising I'm not the target audience), but some good grooves to enjoy along the way.

Tapestry

Carole King

5/5

A songwriting masterclass. Real, honest, unfiltered. Understandably one of the top sellers of all time.

Pornography

The Cure

2/5

I think this would've been a lot more enjoyable for me at a different time of my life, but today, it just felt monotonous. Very much a mood piece to sit in, when you're in the mood to sit in it.

My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts

Brian Eno

4/5

Really freakin odd, but a whole lot of fun.

Guitar Town

Steve Earle

3/5

Heaps of corny country lyrical stereotype boxes ticked, but also a lot in this taken straight from the Springsteen playbook, which gives it a bit more substance than I was expecting. I think the trick to enjoying this one is to not take it quite as seriously as it may have initially been intended.

Surfer Rosa

Pixies

2/5

A couple of good tunes, but for the most part I found this a sloppy, disjointed, garage band mess. Perhaps that's due to fatigue from this style of delivery being so far overdone over the following few decades, perhaps it's just not meant for me as I listen today. I am, however, grateful that it exists, knowing the influence it had on albums and artists that came shortly after it.

James Brown Live At The Apollo

James Brown

3/5

JB doing JB things, with his incredibly well oiled machine of a band. If you can for half an hour ignore the fact that he was a really terrible person, this is a delightful capture of early 60s live show energy.

Winter In America

Gil Scott-Heron

3/5

A bit of a slow starter, but has some great tracks and heavy lyrics. I love a bit of jazz flute, keys are beautiful, and H20gate is brilliant.

Sunshine Superman

Donovan

4/5

Very much a time machine to the mid 60s psychedelic rock movement.. this was great. Extra points for Zep members involvement.

Illmatic

Nas

3/5

Rap ain't really my thing, but I gotta respect this one. Found myself grooving along to the boom bap beats far more than I expected.

A Wizard, A True Star

Todd Rundgren

3/5

Absolutely bonkers, for the most part. I'm going to need to give this few listens to work out what the heck happened, and to like it even more.

Green

R.E.M.

4/5

I've always had more of an admiration than a love of R.E.M., really only knowing the hits and never digging further. Initially, listening to Green, I felt the same way.. but, the back half of this album is brilliant. Maybe it took me until then to 'get it'?

A Christmas Gift For You From Phil Spector

Various Artists

3/5

A Christmas classique, that I have no reason to listen to at any other time of year.

Parklife

Blur

4/5

Some absolute bangerz on this. Girls & Boys is enough for a high rating on its own.. Album-wise though, it feels like there's a bit of filler that dilutes the overall quality.

Talking Book

Stevie Wonder

5/5

Beautiful. The classics are there, but there's a very soulful energy in there too.

Beauty And The Beat

The Go-Go's

2/5

A couple of great tracks, like the opener, but overall very one-paced and not overly invigorating.

Pet Sounds

The Beach Boys

5/5

Absolutely wonderful. Innovative, vast, reflective, challenging, joyous. One of the best ever.

The Man Who

Travis

4/5

Surprisingly quite an enjoyable listen on a gloomy morning.

Music From The Penguin Cafe

Penguin Cafe Orchestra

4/5

A beautifully merged together collection of tunes and styles. I'm not sure I've ever heard anything like it. Enjoyed with breakfast and coffee on a lazy weekend morning, which I think is suitable. Will listen again.

If You're Feeling Sinister

Belle & Sebastian

2/5

Well that was a particularly uninspiring listen. There were a few moments where it almost got interesting.. but then yeah nah.. meh.

The Chronic

Dr. Dre

2/5

This hasn't aged well lyrically. At times repetitive, needlessly offensive and tiring. Some great G Funk beats in there though, and G Thang goes alright.. but I think I'd rather just listen to P Funk instead.

Pink Moon

Nick Drake

4/5

Knowing a bit about the Nick Drake story, this album is beautiful & heartbreaking all at once. The stripped back production makes this album feel like exposing an open wound to the world.

No Other

Gene Clark

3/5

This one has some flashes of really cool stuff, and some flashes of really forgettable stuff. Wears it's influences on its sleeve, but never quite lives up to them.

Rubber Soul

Beatles

5/5

Nothing to say that hasn't already been said. The album that transitioned the Beatles into my favourite era of theirs.

Vol. 4

Black Sabbath

5/5

Laying the sludgy foundations for an entire genre ain't an easy thing. It's not my favourite Sabbath album, but it's sick.

Entertainment

Gang Of Four

3/5

The bass and drum duo carries this album for me, and well it should.. the guitar is all over the place, though fun at times. Vocals not overly enjoyable.

Elvis Is Back

Elvis Presley

3/5

This is enjoyable, but never really hits the heights of his legend. Maybe Elvis just ain't the same without seeing the movin' and shakin'?

It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back

Public Enemy

4/5

Yeaahhhh boiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii Best hip hop album of the list so far. Got a bit repetitive, but overall lots of fun.

Boston

4/5

Glam, rock, falsetto, harmonized guitar solos, and some banging hooks... all delivered with a fat dollop of traditional dad rock energy. Great stuff.

Lazer Guided Melodies

Spiritualized

3/5

This was probably about 20 minutes longer than it needed to be.. I liked some of it quite a bit, but the filler tracks in between made the whole thing drag..

My Aim Is True

Elvis Costello

1/5

His aim my be true, but I fail to see the point.

Oracular Spectacular

MGMT

3/5

I'm a bit torn with this one. The popular stuff has been played to death, but is ok, I guess. There is some skippable junk that didn't need to be included. Also, some pretty cool explorations on the second half.. It's a fence sittin' 3

The Visitors

ABBA

3/5

Synthy moody ABBA. Great songwriting and some interesting twists and arrangements. Didn't wow me, but enjoyed exploring this one.

Life's Too Good

The Sugarcubes

4/5

Odd, silly, fun. I expected nothing less. Probably wouldn't seek it out for my collection, but I enjoyed listening.

Hunky Dory

David Bowie

5/5

This is an absolute classic. It was amazing listening back to this after a number of years, and hearing the threads of the influence it's had on so much music since.

Skylarking

XTC

3/5

Interesting, but I wouldn't say inspiring for me.

Bat Out Of Hell

Meat Loaf

2/5

An assault of energy shoved at you with reckless desperation.

You Want It Darker

Leonard Cohen

4/5

Dark, brooding reflection on life from his deathbed. What a farewell album.

Beyond Skin

Nitin Sawhney

3/5

An intriguing listen. Something very different to what has been presented so far on this list. Some great tunes, some others forgettable, but nice to hear some cultural diversity.

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

Faces

3/5

I don't like giving too many threes, but I feel like this was a pretty middle of the road early 70s rock album.

Junkyard

The Birthday Party

2/5

Bio says they are 'dark and challenging', and I'd say that's about right. Not as bad as some others have mentioned in their reviews, but not one I'll be returning to in a hurry.

The Yes Album

Yes

4/5

I've heard this album many times, but not for quite a few years. It's typical of the experimental nature of the time - longer songs, grand themes, complex arrangements, odd time signatures. Call it prog, but mostly it comes without quite as much doodlydoodly wank as some of the later stuff. Howe is obviously a feature on this as the newest member, but Anderson's vocal arrangements are pretty special.

Oar

Alexander 'Skip' Spence

2/5

Nothing to write home about..

Paranoid

Black Sabbath

5/5

My favorite Sabbath album. Brilliant.

Trio

Dolly Parton

3/5

That wasn't as uplifting as I'd hoped it would be..