1001 Albums Summary

Best Song: All these things that I have done Worst Song: Mr Brightside (:/) Not my favourite album, I am not a huge fan of The Killers, ROUGH START

10/10 Amazing follow up to Dark Side, I loved the classic Floyd blend of psychedelic and progressive rock but also the bluesy feel. Sandwiching a few shorter songs between two (one technically??) epics felt like a great example of not sacrificing quality for quantity. I like that you can sit down for an hour and experience the album as a whole without distraction and how this allows you to feel the mood shift from dark to light. Vocals on wish you were here are amazing and you can really feel the deeply personal emotion while listening. Best song: Wish you were here Worst: None?? This is where PF peaked in my opinion everything, pace, structure, tone was beautifully crafted. This is the perfect album.

4/10 Best: Little Red Corvette Worst: Lady Cab Driver (Don’t think I managed to finish this one) Overall, I did not particularly enjoy the sound of this album and really struggled to finish it. Although the entire play through was only 1hr 10mins, it felt like the songs were way too long for me to enjoy and even the ones I liked initially, I found wore thin. I hated the constant repetition and the pace of the album felt way too slow, there was so much going on with the instruments and it hit my ears odiously. At first I thought the album was written to ironically mock the Y2K panic before realising it was released in 1982! This, bumps it up in my opinion, as lyrically it feels very avant-garde, in terms of sexuality and physicality. (See album cover for one example lol) I also really appreciate the fact that Prince wrote, arranged and produced the entire album, you do get the feeling that he’s just a guy having fun in the studio, which honestly I love. The message that this album conveys is really great and it’s probably just unfortunate that I didn’t particularly enjoy the music, the sounds clashed so much for me and it felt like there were so many random patches in odd places. Maybe if I had been around for the release I would have a greater appreciation of just how progressive it was.

7/10 Best: Snowblind / Laguna Sunrise Worst: Supernaut I think this album is fantastic! I was a bit unsure about how much I would like it but I actually ended up playing it through twice. Opening up so heavily and then to the poignant ballad, Changes, really shows the range of the band. I loved the chord progression on the tracks and the use of piano and synth, it’s hard to remember this came out in ‘72. I haven’t seen Snowblind mentioned in other critiques very much, but for me, it was the best song on the album, the lyrical depth and the transition from the main riff to the bridge is amazing. Controversially, I don’t particularly enjoy Supernaut, bar the opening, sorry. I think it works amazingly on this album, it’s just not for me personally. I don’t really understand the hate FX gets, it’s really not that deep, a cool interlude between some very heavy songs.

Best: Don’t Bother Me Worst: Little Child I feel like I should preface this by saying I love much of The Beatles work as a band and even later on as individual artists. “With the Beatles” felt like something that should be playing in the background while visiting my grandparents. It was an easy listen, there were no tracks that I felt particularly inclined to skip while at the same time it lacked much memorability. None of the tracks dragged out, which admittedly would be difficult when fitting 14 songs onto a 33 minute album. The vocals felt so flat to me on many of the tracks with weak attempts at harmonising, sticking out especially on covers like “Roll over Beethoven” which Berry sings with so much energy. Unfortunately, to me it felt like a choir boy attempt at blues/soul music and I didn’t feel the passion that we see in many of the later Beatles albums. Harrison gets a lot of hate for his song writing, however his “don’t bother me” is actually my favourite track of the album, it’s so moody compared to the rest of the album and outshines some of the John & Paul tracks like “Little Child” (I am a hater). The change in tone is refreshing compared with the surrounding, more shallow love songs and shows an early willingness to branch out from the more popular, light hearted lyrics that were loved in the 60s. Also this was George’s first song with the band, in which he essentially tells everyone to leave him alone, which I love. Although this wasn’t my favourite album I still think that it was an important foundation for the future of the Beatles, this was only their second album and they were still trying to solidify their reputation as a pop/rock group. I can see a lot of what I love about future Beatles albums starting to emerge here, experimenting with genre mixing, solid guitar, original songwriting.

2/10 This was the musical equivalent of milk. Everything about this album was so bland, album cover, the fully lowercase titles, the boring acoustic and piano. Not my cup of tea :)

5/10 Best: We’re gonna be friend Worst: This Protector I liked the sound of the vocals on this album, wasn’t my favourite but it had a very 2000’s feel to it, I actually prefer their 2003 album Elephant. The songs I like on this album I really like but overall it feels a bit disjointed and I the songs I dislike, I hate.

8/10 Best: Come as you are Worst: Endless, Nameless This is an incredibly cohesive album with the tracks flowing into each other perfectly without sounding too repetitive. The first half of the album is better than the second (in my opinion), with the opening 5 tracks being enough to cements the album’s reputation alone. The ability to switch from the more quiet tracks to the loud, explosive songs like Territorial Pissings while still maintaining this cohesion is impressive. Every aspect of this album is crafted with so much emotion, Cobains writing & guitar, Grohl on the drums you can feel the passion on each track. Cobains vocals are raw and layer on the heavy arrangements perfectly. I cannot relate to many of the critiques as the vast majority of them had the privilege of listening to Nevermind on its release and getting to see the cultural significance of it but it’s hard to deny the emotion and energy just listening to it makes you feel. Great Album.

I didn’t think the album was bad, however it definitely was not to my taste and the songs went on way too long

4/10 Best: Rapid Fire Worst: Living after midnight I don’t really enjoy nor listen to heavy metal music therefore I don’t have much to compare this album to but I still did not like it. I didn’t think there was anything inherently bad about this album the guitar riffs were good and the sound effects were cool, just not my thing. Reading all the amazing reviews on this album has made me doubt my music taste l, I feel quite guilty for not enjoying it.

10/10 Best: Worst: Be is a truly timeless work of art, the entire album is filled with so much soul and authenticity, the warmth I feel listening to it is quite cathartic. Top ten favourite albums of all time: rhythm, beat, lyrics, vocals - everything is perfect. IMO this is one of the BEST collaborations in HH, Commons lyrics with Kanyes production is immaculate. On top of all this, Be also has one of my favourite intro tracks ever, opening up with the bass that sets the tone for the entire album in such a simple way then blending in the piano and kit so perfectly is beautiful work.

4/10 Best: Wood Beez Worst: All these songs sounded the same to me This album is embodies how I imagine 80s music exactly. Loads of synth, gated drums, men singing in high pitched whispery voices I would never listen to this on my own initiative but I’m glad I did, it gave me loads of nostalgia of listening to the 80s Top of the Pops reruns on MTV with my dad when I was little. However in saying this, It’s not really my thing and I probably won’t listen to it again.