It's fine. There are some absolutely legendary tracks buried in here and I have nothing but love for Duane Allman, but let's be honest. It's 1970 boomer guitar noodling for the most part. It's a very excellent specimen of 1970 boomer guitar noodling, but I think there's enough of it out there.
Some underrated highlights IMO are Key to the Highway, Have You Ever Loved a Woman, and Nobody Knows You. Everyone knows Layla, fewer people know how messed up the backstory is.
No thank you. I have all the respect for Coltrane and I love a good jazz ensemble, but I need a touch more structure.
If I ever need to wipe an ear worm out of my head though, this album would probably do it.
Better than I expected. Definitely heard the early punk influence and Talking Heads vibes. I've never been a big fan of 80s pop and this isn't really my cup of tea, but I'd definitely take it over Madonna, Wham, or Whitney Houston.
Love it. It reminds me of some later stuff I've gotten into that is more laid back, almost background music. I could absolutely add this to my rotation for listening to during work. I like the instrumental focus, the low-key psych-rock shoegazer vibe.
I'll dock it just one star because it's not ideal as a standalone work, which should be expected from a film score. I'll almost certainly check out more work from Air though.
Got bored, didn't finish. There are sections of wonderful musicality that I really enjoyed, but the album as a whole lacks contrast from track to track. It's very same-y. Also, Thom Yorke's vocals have pretty much always bored me.
In my book, Radiohead is one of those bands that is an amazing group of musicians all but ruined by their vocalist. Please, give me more of the band and less of... that guy. Too bad in this case Yorke is central to their process.
I'm a fan of Bowie. Not so much this album.
There a couple of good grooves in this album, but that's as much as I feel like I can say for it. Got bored, DNF'd.
2 stars because it's not actively grating.
There a couple of good grooves in this album, but that's as much as I feel like I can say for it. Got bored, DNF'd.
2 stars because it's not actively grating.
It's... fine? Again, got bored and DNF'd
I honestly never cared for The Cure too much but this album hits. Not 100% my cup of tea but I enjoyed it overall. I've never given any of their albums a full listen and I'm glad I did for this one.
Nope. I really hope I get to some good music soon or I'm going to start regretting this 1001 albums thing. I've had a couple of good albums and the rest is just kinda grating. I'm down with supposedly "groundbreaking" work that might not be the best quality or most accessible all the time, but this is really trying my patience
I was ready to hate this as just another batch of Dad Rock but honestly, this is pretty good. Very Paul McCartney in all of the standard great and also sometimes a bit boring ways. Solid album, I'm glad it was short.
Well that was bland and self-indulgent. I tolerated it. I've begun reserving one-star ratings for albums that actively offend me and this isn't quite that bad.
I loved every minute of this album! The 2010s soul revival really had my heart with groups like Sharon Jones and the Menhan Street Band and it led me to some of the OG groups like The Meters and others. However, War never quite made it onto my listening routine even though I had heard of them.
I'm going to have to listen to the rest of their catalog now, if it's half as great as this album I'll be a happy man.
I fully recognize from an artistic standpoint what makes this a great album. It just doesn't really do anything for me. I'm quite sure 99% of that is having grown up in a world that came after this album, I've heard this kind of thing a million times and it's worn out. The shock value is gone. What once surely felt raw and real now feels cliche and overdone.
Frankly, I think too many edgelords took cultural artifacts like this album and made it their whole personality and just ruined it. 3 stars to try and be fair.
This album doesn't belong on any lists, seriously. Giving it 2 stars only because it isn't actively offensive to my ears.
Great band. Why this album though? Unless you're already a hardcore fan of a band, nobody wants to listen to a live album. There are VERY few exceptions to this rule, and this isn't one of them.
Yes! Something new and great! I loved this. I'm a big fan of desert blues, starting with Tinariwen a few years ago which then led to Mdou Moctar, all great artists.
I can understand why this isn't everyone's cup of tea due to the language barrier, but let's be honest, most of us don't know the lyrics to half of English pop songs, I certainly can barely understand Nirvana, let alone global superstars like Sai or Bad Bunny for those of us who don't speak Korean or Spanish. The music speaks for itself, I don't need to know the words. This album hits nice and hard, give me more!
Great album, I'm a little embarrassed that I never gave it a full listen despite loving half the tracks on it. My only gripe is that it runs long, it's hard to find a 2 hour block to actually enjoy an album like this.
I liked that better than I expected. New Wave was never really my jam, but the first half of this album was quite enjoyable. I like the overall mood and style basically aside from the vocals.
Oh man, 15 year old me LOVED this album. I still dig some thrash metal here and there and 80s/90s Megadeth absolutely ranks. My musical tastes have expanded since then and 37 year old me expected to be somewhat bored with this particular album, but nope. 5/5 this album absolutely fucks.
Listened to this a lot as a teenager, kinda had enough of it.
I love me some compound time signature jams, and this is the OG!
Not my thing, but not actively offensive
Amazing voice, I can see why a lot of people like her. Me? Not so much. Her lyrical structure is either nonexistent or just beyond me. It's like listening to someone tell a stream of consciousness story that doesn't have a point. Even that I can roll with if the rest of the music is interesting enough. Buuuut it isn't. Moody girl in a coffeehouse does nothing for me.
It gets 2 stars because it's not actively offensive to my ears, but I do find it unbearably boring.
I like Miles Davis. I do not like this album. I understand from an intellectual perspective what made him special, and the new ground he broke with records like this. Unfortunately, that new ground was a little too chaotic to really enjoy much of. I'll stick with Kind of Blue, thank you.
Oh HELL no what kind of white bread nonsense is this? I've had mayo sandwiches more interesting than this.
Albums like this make me seriously question why I should consider this 1001 albums list worth my time at all. It's almost like whoever "curated" the list just grabbed anything that happened to chart in the last 50 years, assuming that makes the album worth listening to. It really doesn't. There's been some good stuff on this list here and there but then this? Come on, man.
If you're going to do instrumental jazz, this is how you do it. A nice balance of improv and structure, creativity and form that doesn't disorient the listener OR bore them. Everyone has different tastes of course, but this is mine when it comes to jazz. 4 stars, not something I'd obsess over, but still an album I quite enjoy.
I think most of the other low reviews already said it. Adele is incredibly talented and her voice is SO good, it's just a shame she only seems to use it on piano ballads. Please, someone convince this woman to get in front of a band with a bit of a groove. She could absolutely slaughter with a touch of soul or R&B in her songwriting but for some reason she insists on writing soundtracks for Lifetime movies. Such a waste.
I reserve 1 star for actively bad albums since evidently that's a problem on this 1001 albums list... so she gets 2. Not actively bad, just uninteresting.
As if answering my prayers after being served up my 2nd Adele album, I get Janis Joplin. Obviously not the polished vocalist that many people prefer, but damn it if she wasn't afraid to take risks and have a little soul, even a pinch of funk.
Drawbacks are that it's obviously a product of its age so you get your share of early 70s psychedelic guitar wanking, but this album keeps it mostly tasteful unlike many of its contemporaries.
Great album, 4/5
Reading the reviews, I can see why people seem so split on this album. It has all of the trappings of yacht rock/easy listening but there's more going on under the surface than all that. Aside from Sade's great voice, the band does a great job comping and playing off one another, particularly the sax and keys.
However, it's not that far under the surface. I find I mostly fall in with the "meh, boring" camp here. Like, I can tell this band doesn't have a drummer, because rhythm truly seems like an afterthought in this songwriting. That, and they really make you wait for those few nuggets of fun. It's just not for me.
If you like this album and want something with a similar mid-80s vibe but musically WAY more interesting, just put on some Donny Benet and get 100x sexier.
There are some good tracks in here, but it's a bit mellow for my taste. Not bad.
I was ready to hate this, but I don't and I'm struggling to articulate exactly why. It's very raw and not great, you'll get no argument from me on that. But they're going for something interesting here.
It's rhythmically interesting... to a fault. I like the experimentation but it's a miss, like they forgot to ground the syncopation and time signature changes with a coherent groove. The vocals are bold and adventurous... again to a fault. I can say much the same about the instrumental work and orchestration. It's like they strive for interesting musical things to experiment with and overshoot each time. I can't help but appreciate the effort and enthusiasm, but there's really no arguing that the execution isn't quite there. And then they close it with a John Lee Hooker-style endless boogie jam session that's just... idk, let's just say that I'm glad the Allman Brothers figured out how to do that well so we didn't just go into the 70s with THAT as the standard.
It's like these guys tried to do what bands like KGLW and Chicano Batman would later perfect, but these dudes just didn't quite know how to pull it off. I feel like I even hear Motorhead and Led Zeppelin in here sometimes. This is the unrefined raw material that someone else could come along later and turn into something good. It's like looking at a car from the 1910s and going "wow, this really sucks, they clearly hadn't figured out how to make a good car yet", but you have to have some respect for the pioneers who had no clue what they were doing, but tried anyway.
Also, flute everywhere? That's a choice.
RRRRRRRRREEEAAAGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
5 stars
I have a soft spot for American fingerstyle blues and folk. Give me some Doc Watson any time and it'll take me to a happy place. I hadn't heard of Bert Jansch but I was immediately pleased to hear that guitar work.
I know this kind of music isn't everyone's cup of tea, but it's MY cup of coffee by a campfire. 5 stars
Rod Stewart ruins this album for me. I always thought it was a tragedy that Jeff Beck spent so much of his career under the illusion that he needed a lead singer in his band at all. He went through many, and frankly none of them were necessary. He was an amazing guitarist and could've let that speak for itself.
So this isn't my thing. But. I wasn't bored, at least not usually.
Love this album, what else is there to say?
Not my thing, but not bad.
I have nothing against Simon and Garfunkel, but they've never been a favorite group of mine. It's impossible not to have heard a lot of their music and I do always kind of appreciate it. Paul Simon is clearly a great songwriter and the vox speak for themselves. Still, as folk music goes they're a little bland for my taste in general.
All that said, I've never given this album a proper listen before and I liked it better than I expected. It's probably not something I'll just put on for myself, but it was fine. If it was longer than 28 minutes I'd probably DNF, but mercifully they kept it short and sweet.
Great album! I'm no jazz aficionado but I've always liked Monk when I heard him. Unlike some of the other jazz that this list has served up so far, this still has enough structure for a layperson to find the groove and enjoy. Monk and his collaborators aren't afraid to experiment and get weird by any means, but it's kept grounded and accessible which I greatly appreciate. 4 stars
Once upon a time, I would've really loved this album. 60s Clapton is better than 2020s Clapton, no argument there.
But honestly, I'm bored with psych blues at this point. I'm a huge blues fan too, but I got tired of listening to Brits regurgitate the blues at us a while ago- and as much as this is way blusier than, say, the Beatles, it's still far, far too British.
I gave this a chance, I really did. It wasn't as bad as I feared, but I was bored within 5 tracks. I gave it two more tracks to recover and it never did. It's just a snoozer.
I really wanted to enjoy this more, but the other reviews pretty much sum it up. It's amazing for its time, but doesn't really age well. Still, it's enjoyable to hear some of the OG work that's so often referenced and covered nowadays.
Another group that I understand is important, but when I actually listen to it it does nothing for me. I think I sometimes suffer from "oh, this again". I want to hear new, different things and when a million garage bands have copied a band like this, it's not new or different to me. In 1983 it was probably a revelation, but in 2026 it's elevator music.
Tom Petty absolutely deserves to be on the 1001 list. But this album? And ONLY this album? Come on guys, no love for Damn the Torpedoes, Highway Companion, Last DJ, Wildflowers, Southern Accents, Full Moon Fever, or any of his other MANY platinum albums loaded with amazing music? REM gets 4 albums, ABBA gets two, but Tom Petty only gets one and it's this one.
Sometimes I seriously doubt the creds of the curators of this list. Still, good album. But not even in the top 5 for this artist, honestly.
Not my favorite Hendrix album because it meanders a bit, but still damn good. Much better than any blues-shaped albums the brits were producing at the time.
You know, I really like thrash metal so I'm a little embarrassed that I never gave Anthrax a listen. I've known about them since I was a kid but I just never picked up an album,
The vox aren't the greatest but the rest holds up right next to any other great thrash album, 4 stars!
