1001 Albums Summary

So for my first album, I get Neil Young, an artist I've never really seen the appeal of, despite many people I enjoy listening to holding him in high esteem. After listening to the album, my opinion hasn't changed. It's the voice, which is in full effect on the first couple of tracks. Too high for his range. Once this is toned down, it's a little more palatable. Favourite Tracks - Till The Morning Comes - Great Trumpets, Birds - Lovely harmonies with the band. Least favourites - Only Love Can Break Your Heart - The St Etienne version is so much better, in all it's 90s dance pop. Tell Me Why. Cripple Creek Ferry really annoyed me for some reason, but it's less than two minutes, so it's gone before I turned it off.

Initial thoughts - Some pretty good Southern blues rock. Fairly generic, but I suppose that's more to do with the amount of people who were trying to be CCR in the years afterwards. Best avoid the longer tracks though as they do drag a little.

After the years, after the memification of Wonderwall, after the cocaine albums that followed, this remains my favourite Oasis album. Opener Hello is probably the most awkward track on here, due to the borrowing of the Gary Glitter song. The wall of sound effect is to the fore here, with the three guitars giving the songs a huge sense of space and scale, and the production is able to capture a band going into the stratosphere. Wonderwall is a cliche nowadays, but there's a reason everyone knows how to play it - Simple, straightforward, and full of emotion. A great song ruined by over exposure. My friend asked me if this is Oasis' best album. I said "Maybe..."

A festive reminder that great art can be made by terrible people.

Enjoyed this a lot more than I expected, having had a resistance to "dad-rock" my whole life. I think because it holds it's influences on it's sleeve? "This one sounds like the Beatles, this one sounds like the Stones, this is definitely Who-inspired". Either way, not a bad listen, would probably listen again.

Used to listen to this a lot when it first came out, but drifted away from them when the music started getting "stadium-sized". Listening again now reminds me why I liked the first two albums so much. Heavily indebted to southern rock bands that have inspired them, but with much more of an indie-rock thrash to it. Lyrics utterly indecipherable. Love it.

Not really listened to Costello much outside of the bigger singles (and Shipbuilding, which I love). Quite surprised by this - Definitely not punk, not really new wave. But too spiky in both music and lyrics to be really "mainstream" fare. Pretty good.

Still remains a pretty vital debut. Whilst there's nothing particularly original going on, it's done with humour and heart to make it feel great.

Great opener and not one I expected, hypnotic and massive sounding. Vocally a lot more Thom Yorke than I expected. I only had familiarity with a couple of Wainwright's songs previously (one of which, The Art Teacher is on this album, but stylistically quite different to the rest of it). Really enjoyed this on first listen, I'll be listening again.

I've never really got Springsteen at the best of times, so an album from past his height that threatens to veer into Christian rock on several occasions was never going to swing it for me. Sorry Bruce, I'm sure this has it's fans but it just did not connect with me in any way.

Liked this more than expected. Country rock, great guitar sound in places. Dark End of the Street remains a brilliant song no matter who is singing it. A few riffs and a solo that have definitely been incorporated by other artists later on.

Great album. I downloaded a dodgy copy when it first came out that had Intervention as the first track, which I still maintain is the correct place for it, but the album holds up. Big songs, delicate songs, great production. First five star.

Bowie coming back sounding energised. My favourite of the final two albums, this one has a real bounce to it, and a boozy sax running through the album.

Never liked Weller at the time, but listening to this now, it's nice enough. Solid blues-rock. Never going to change the world, but if you have it on in the background while doing other things, you'll definitely find yourself humming along to a couple of the tracks.

I dislike two types of music: Country _and_ Western. That said, this wasn't _bad_, just nowhere near my comfort zone. Might put it on again semi-ironically.

I mean, it's a classic. Whole Lotta Love still goes hard. Ramble On is the hardest anyone has ever geeked out about the fantasy book they've been reading. The Lemon Song is about lemons and _nothing else_.

Some amazing, smooth 70s soul.

Not one for me.

Really not a fan of jazz, but this wasn't too bad.

The big songs are strong, but I feel I've heard the rest of it done by other, better bands.

Quite enjoyed this. Velvet Underground with some Kinks thrown in.

Love this. Timbaland's statacco beats still sound so good, and Missy just comes out fully formed here.

Never listened to Hendrix outside the big three or four tracks. This was great.

Okay, I'm 48 and have been listening to MBV for about 30 years on and off. I think I can finally say, I don't actually like this album very much. The next album, Loveless, remains phenomenal, but the slight under production of this, and the atonal swamp noises of Soft as Snow as the opening track I just find really off-putting. Feed Me With Your Kiss remains a banger though, so there's that.

I've tried to get on with Dylan, but never really succeeded. That said, this is probably one of my favourites I've listened to.

Starts promising, with some Zombies-esque modpop, but loses steam towards the end.

Really wanted to like this, and suspect that if I'd listened at the time I'd have been a fan, but coming in in 2026, I've heard a lot of this done better by other people. Sadly felt too AOR with awful guitar solos.

Decent bit of pop music. Only heard the big two songs previously, but the whole album is a lot more cohesive than I expected. Church of the Poisoned Mind is great.

Goes on a bit. Only a couple of songs really stick out. Quite like the Who, but listening to this in full was honestly disappointing.

Slightly biased as I listened to this album A LOT in my early 20s. Listening to it now it still sounds phenomenal. Strong start with Dirge, building every few bars until it's bombarding you with a wall of fuzz. Death Threat remains a favourite, with its looping rhythm and scuzzy guitar. Aisha is possibly Iggy Pop's most unhinged vocal. Outstanding noise.

Overlong, but there's some gold in there. You can hear the bands it clearly inspired throughout it.

Two great albums for the price of one.

Felt a bit out of my comfort zone with this one, but quite enjoyed it.

Excellent, early 90s hip hop.

This remains a lovely little album.

Lovely.

Another gap in 'the classics' filled. Never listened to this before, always wrote them off as generic folk, but listening now, I really enjoyed this. Great album.

There's the apocraphal tale of the first Sex Pistols gig where there were only 12 people in the audience, but all of them went off and started bands. One of them shouldn't have bothered. Poor 80s soul. Unpleasant Talking Heads cover. May have been important in terms of the British music scene at the time, but fourty years on it does nothing.

Another hole in the collection where I'd heard most of it, but never the whole album. Glad I've filled that now. It doesn't feel as vital as it might have done in the 70s, but it still has an energy to it.

I mean, it's Sparks. 5/5.

Smoooooooooth.

Pub rock par excellence. Underappreciated and occasionally great.

MOR but not unpleasant.

Good, a little samey across the album.

Another album that used to be bought up a lot that I never got round to. I think I wanted to like this a lot more than I ended up doing. Quite easy to hear the way it inspired a later generation of musicians (A couple of tracks are really reminiscent of early Blur's slower songs, for example), but as a whole it didn't really gel for me.

Enjoyed this more than I expected to, only knowing the big songs. It's a bit more grimy than you think.

5 / 5 for the quality and diversity of the tracks. -1 for being nearly three hours long. +1 for _absolutely_ committing to the bit. Literally something for everyone on here.

Loved this.

Generic nu metal - nasal, whiny vocals, crispy guitars and a sense that just because they have a DJ quietly scratching in the background, it makes them edgy and modern. Might have been distinctive at the time, but listening to this 26 years on, there were a lot of bands around the time who did this better. And I don't like any of them either, so this had no chance...

Not a fan.

(It's on YouTube if you're looking). Strangely compelling, cold war Marxist torch songs.

It's great. Spiky, yelpy, goes left when you expect it to go right. A rightful classic.

Completely different to the album I was expecting. Very good.

Significantly more enjoyable than some of the other early punk albums.

Great first couple of tracks, but loses steam on the second half.

One of my favourite groups of the last 20 years, and most of that is down to this album. From the hypnotic opening beats, to the weaving vocals of Tom and Hadyn flying from falsetto to baritone in a moment, to the lyrics often focussing on broken, violent masculinity; all delivered with maximal, slyly hilarious wordplay, that occasionally pulls words from the English language that have barely been used in a hundred years or so. Sublime, romantic, ridiculous and repulsive. To quote the band themselves "Equally elegant and ugly". Magical.

The usual excellent songwriting with absolutely unexpected delivery. It might be their best album.

Pleasant enough. The big two songs are really good. The rest are standard 60s Psych-Folk fare.

Never listened to Soundgarden outside of the bigger tracks. Definitely more on the "-Rock" end of "Grunge-Rock", almost Sabbath-esque in places. Pretty good, but I'm not regretting sleeping on them for thirty years.

I'll be honest, if I was listening to this in the middle of summer, rather than a wet and dreary afternoon in February, I'd probably have given it another star.

Not heard this before - Well crafted songs with genuinely unexpected Mariachi horns. Works surprisingly well.

Loved this for years. It's not a hugely consistent album, but I quite like the eclecticism.

Bloody love Pavement. Not my favourite album of theirs though.

Liked this one a lot - Drifts from 60s psychedelia to proto-Sabbath, to proto-Krautrock.

"Hey guys, let's form a bland!" Dull, dull, dull stadium rock nonsense.

Parts of it are very good, parts of it are great, a few bits of it aren't. But overall magnificent.

Pavement album #2 on the list. Their first album is a bit more ramshackle than the later ones but still has the Malkmus style nailed.

Bowie #2 on the list - The soul-funk years. It's great. End of.

Always great. You forget just how much of a 60s influence they have, but when the wash of feedback and squeal is toned down, like it is here, the songs really come into focus.

Neil Young album #2. I don't like Neil Young. Apparently, I like Neil Young and Crazy Horse a little more. Good rock sound. His voice isn't egregiously awful on this one, though it still grates. Guitar sound is great. Not bad.

Bangers.

If asked, the first CD I tell people I bought was something cool, but it wasn't, it was Tubular Bells 2. Despite that, I never actually listened to the first one. Thought I'd like this more. I didn't. Viv Stanshall was a national treasure though, so it gets a bonus point for his master of ceremonies and the wonderful, boozy tour of the house at the end of the Spotify version.

Never heard this at the time, but have picked it up in the last few years. It's very good. Weird, off kilter rhythms, spoken word, violent blasts of guitar. Twitchy and anxious. You can practically hear genres being created from it.

I left for five minutes to get a cup of tea, and reader, when I returned I honestly couldn't say if we were on the guitar solo for the next track, or the same one I'd left on. Every song is a couple of minutes too long. Dull blues-rock.

Pass.

Never really loved Iron Maiden from the songs I've heard, and this doesn't change my mind. Not bad.

(Super)Massive sound with the depth of a sheet of paper. Don't think I've ever actually sat through a whole Muse album previously (maybe their debut?), but it confirms a lot of what I expected. Supermassive Black Hole and Knights of Cydonia are pretty strong though.

This album could just be the first minute of Superstition and it would still be an easy five stars.

Came into this project thinking I didn't like Queen, and I didn't mind this album, so I've learnt something today. Eclectic, less pomp than their big tracks.

Really didn't like some of this, quite liked other bits. The benefit of an album going on too long, I guess. Always assumed Rundgren was more rocky, so that was a surprise.

I love LDR, but I'm surprised this album made it onto the list, rather than one of her first two, which I'd assume are a bit more culturally relevant.

One big song, and nine songs that also exist, and sound like that one big song... It's a good song though.

Quite enjoyed this one - A bit more mainstream version of something like FKA Twigs.

I've never been able to put JA in a genre - Too early and flamboyant for grunge, too heavy and psychadelic for hair metal. Just a great, big noise of rock. This is good, but not as good as Nothing's Shocking.

I really wanted to like this, I really did. Got excited at the first minute or so of YYZ, but the rest of the track didn't live up to it. If you like Prog, this might be good.

I've listened to a few of their bigger tracks previously, but not any whole albums. I regret that. You can literally hear the 90s UK indie scene being formed out of it. Short, sharp tracks, phenomenal guitar sound, nothing outstays its welcome. Clearly punk, but also post-punk. Listened to it four times already today.

I know there's the anachronism that the best music you've ever heard came out when you were 16, but god, 1993 was such a great year for music. I still get the neck-chills listening to this album, thirty years on. Wonderfully evocative lyrics full of council-estate glamour and some beautiful music anchoring it all, pivoting from glam thrash to Eno-y ambience on the opening minute of Pantomime Horse. 4.5/5, only because Dog Man Star does what this does, but even better.

Creepy, woozy, almost like something from a kids tv program that no kid would ever watch. Definitely hear the influence on Primus. Played this in the kitchen for about ten seconds before I realised this wouldn't be one to play with the family around. I didn't dislike it, but I don't think I really enjoyed it either.

Another solid batch of tracks. Bowie's imperial phase in full swing here.

It's good. It's not Disintegration.

Knew the singles, but not the album. Protest music for 12 year olds, and that's not a bad thing. Was doing well until they did a nine minute track. The Who is not punk.

I love an album where you can just feel the excitement in the studio. If you don't feel anything when the horns kick in on "Rocks Off", you and I can't be friends.

It's Doolittle. It's an immediate five stars. Great bass, great guitar, great vocals, great drums, great lyrics. Founded a genre. Been listening to it for thirty years, will probably listen to it for thirty more.

Not heard much of Can previously. This was a lot more chill than I expected.

To paraphrase Community: Beefheart is a genius. He has to be. If he isn't, then I've given almost two hours of life to an idiot; that is unacceptable. Therefore, Beefheart is a genius, and I will die protecting his vision. Either an unparallelled work of avant-garde blues / jazz fusion, or an unlistenable mess that sounds like the musicians all threw their instruments down several flights of stairs at once. I honestly can't decide which.

The three singles are excellent, but the remainder isn't really anything special.

Disregarding the mess that 2025 Arcade Fire have become, this is a phenomenal debut.

Not as much fun as I remember it being, but still an enjoyable slice of Daft Punk-esque dance music.

The sound of being 18. There were better albums then, too. Some nicely nostalgic memories here though.

Interesting midpoint between Tom's straight jazz and industrial phases. Enjoyed it quite a lot.

The best Cure album, which in my mind puts it up there as one of the best albums. Dense melancholia, sublime.

Turns out if you play some Neil Young-esque tracks without Neil Young, I quite like them. I prefer Grand Prix as an album, but this is the one that got them noticed. Lovely.

Never really listened to Janis Joplin outside of a couple of tracks, but this was great.

Not much of a fan of this - The Who / Pink Floyd passed through a soft rock filter. Gets an extra point for the piano & saxophone outro of the title track, that was a lovely two minutes.

Not a huge fan of Dylan, but this was good.

It's good. It's a guitar tone that I dream about. Billy Corgan is a dick, but that almost doesn't matter.

Liked this a lot more than I expected to. The second disc is really strong.

Moody, jazzy album that shares a lot of DNA with Scott Walkers later, more Avant Garde albums. Excellent.

Odd one, and an album I'd never have expected from the Bee Gees.

Really liked this - "Tom and Jerry jazz" is where my brain immediately went.

Almost sounds quaint nowadays...

Despite Clapton, I really enjoyed this. Solid 60s blues-rock.

Lovely. Though arguably Promenade is the album that should have made it onto the list.

Quite liked this slice of 60s psych. Might have even gone up another star on after a couple more listens.

Couple of tracks on here are absolutely sublime. And one has the most awkward Kendrick Lamar verse you can be listening to when your kids walk into the room.

It's Elvis. Not really for me, but I get it.

Lovely, low-fi electronic mood music. Almost sounds like it was recorded next to your ear.

Pop-psych-Indie. Very Liverpool. Wouldn't ever say they were essential, but it's very hard to dislike.

Probably my favourite of the three Costello albums I've had so far.

"Cars" has been played to death, but I was surprised how much I liked the rest of the album.

Just got shouted at to turn "The Murder Mystery" off as it's "fucking awful". Reader, I LOVE "TMM". Sonic-Youth-inspiring noise. Other than that, great collection of songs, where you can hear the band starting to really branch out...

I gave it a chance, I swear. It did nothing for me, but at least its a short album.

Never really been a fan of Madness listening to their singles or their innumerable festival appearances, but I enjoyed this a lot more than I thought I would...

Far too many 1-star reviews for this excellent slice of punk-funk-disco-music hall-oddness. Hugely influential, in its own way.

Wasn't a fan then, not a fan now. Music for dinner parties where no-one hears the music.

A lot better than anticipated. Akin to Bow Wow Wow, post-punky with big drums.

Honestly thought this was going to be a poor punk album, but ended up really enjoying it. Much more in the vein of late 80s alt rock. Singer sounds like early PJ Harvey on a few tracks.

Not a jazz fan, but you've got to like this...

"Angry twelve year old" punk. Bonus point for ending before I got too annoyed by it.

Second Steely Dan album so far. I remember thinking I should check them out due to the SFA sampling Show Biz Kids for their "The Man Don't Give A Fuck" track, but never got round to it. Having finally listened 30 years on, I'm genuinely disappointed in everything I've heard so far. Just generic 70's easy listening, which appears from this list to be a genre that by body outright rejects. Show Biz Kids is pretty good though.

Liked this a lot more than I anticipated - Not a big Wyatt fan outside of Shipbuilding, but this was solid.

I mean, it's an easy five stars, isn't it? Just beautiful.

Veers inconsistently between genuinely great pop and poor '80s SAW-esque mawkish ballads.

I remember being quite disappointed with this at the time, and listening to it again, I still am. It's good, it's just the songs don't seem as good as the first two albums...

So good.

Awful punk for, and apparently written by, 12 year olds who are mad at their parents. It was bad when it came out, it's bad now.

This is really good, isn't it?

Lovely.

Spotify version almost seems polite nowadays, like background music at a respectable dinner party. The Youtube "correct" version feels a bit more like I remember jungle feeling at the time and gets another star. Strong album. (Everyone complaining it's three hours long, look at the last two tracks. They're the same album in different mix styles, you don't need to listen to them too, you mad bastards)

It's a shame Kanye has to be such an awful human being as this album is genuinely great. Still, at least we've still got Nikki Minaj's verse on Monster... oh no. But at least we've still got Jay-Z's verse on Monster... oh no.

Really not a country fan. There's a couple of songs on here that I liked more than "were just there" though.

Third Kings of Leon album. Quite liked the other two, this one tries to be a bit too stadium. There may be some correlation between being able to understand the singer, and the quality of the music. I could understand the lyrics quite well on this one.

'salright. Not as good as TLC. Sappy ballads and mawkish final two tracks take away from the quality of the poppier ones...

I need a cigarette after this one.

I love Love. Psychedelic proto-punk. Stooges with a Harpsichord. Possibly invented Chewbacca from the noises on Revelation.

Some good quality 80s indie-pop here. Smiths meets Aztec Camera.

Still not a fan, but this isn't unpleasant.

Not my cup of tea, but I can hear the foundations of a genre being created. Very much the antecedent of Dylan's earlier albums.

The one thing I dislike about this list is that it's letting me know I like Queen a bit more than I thought I did.

Is this their most eclectic album? Thrash, Jazz, Hip Hop, Punk, Funk. Literally inventing hybrid genres at the time.

So good. Just a big eclectic hug of an album. Daft Punk x Bowie x The Fall x Kraftwerk x Sinatra.

Really liked this - Kind of understand why they were bought up a lot in the 90s. Almost Dexy's-esque but poppier.

Dammit, stop making me actively dislike Neil Young. Not terrible. Bonus half a point for that guitar tone on the final track.

I mean, it sounds like a Sonic Youth album. Didn't know this one, but it's very Sonic Youth-y.

Twenties me would have been very disappointed I didn't dislike this. Nothing great, but a pretty solid R&B album.

You can really hear why this record prompted the once-a-decade guitar music bounce. Effortless cool.

Not my favourite Cave album, but with "Into My Arms" and "West Country Girl" has two of my favourite songs of his. Far more downtempo than his previous couple of albums, sombre and contemplative.

The first time I heard NY State of Mind, where, shortly after declaring he doesn't know how to start, Nas starts and then feels like he doesn't stop, or even take a breath, for ten minutes, absolutely blew me away. The rest of the album is good, but never quite manages to hit that highest of highs.

Far as I'm concerned, there is very little that hits like REM in their imperial phase. Every track in here is a thing of beauty. Surprised it was the first time I'd actually listened to this all the way through.