My 1001 Albums Journey

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3.35

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1990

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Folk

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Albums

You Love More Than Most

Album	You	Global	Diff
69 Love Songs The Magnetic Fields	5	2.85	+2.15
The Contino Sessions Death In Vegas	5	2.9	+2.1
Kimono My House Sparks	5	3.06	+1.94
A Christmas Gift For You From Phil Spector Various Artists	5	3.3	+1.7
Neon Bible Arcade Fire	5	3.34	+1.66
Five Leaves Left Nick Drake	5	3.46	+1.54
Marquee Moon Television	5	3.5	+1.5
Bubble And Scrape Sebadoh	4	2.65	+1.35
Superfly Curtis Mayfield	5	3.7	+1.3
Axis: Bold As Love Jimi Hendrix	5	3.78	+1.22

You Love Less Than Most

Album	You	Global	Diff
Make Yourself Incubus	1	3.07	-2.07
The Rising Bruce Springsteen	1	3.05	-2.05
Picture Book Simply Red	1	2.88	-1.88
The Stranger Billy Joel	2	3.86	-1.86
After The Gold Rush Neil Young	2	3.62	-1.62
Reggatta De Blanc The Police	2	3.44	-1.44
Gunfighter Ballads And Trail Songs Marty Robbins	2	3.33	-1.33
Tommy The Who	2	3.33	-1.33
Fragile Yes	2	3.31	-1.31
Midnight Ride Paul Revere & The Raiders	2	3	-1

5-Star Albums (11)

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A Christmas Gift For You From Phil Spector

Popular Reviews

The Rising

Bruce Springsteen · 1 likes

1/5

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.

1-Star Albums (3)

All Ratings

After The Gold Rush

Neil Young

2/5

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.

Cosmo's Factory

Creedence Clearwater Revival

3/5

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.

(What's The Story) Morning Glory

Oasis

4/5

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 Christmas Gift For You From Phil Spector

Various Artists

5/5

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

Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers

3/5

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.

Youth And Young Manhood

Kings of Leon

4/5

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.

My Aim Is True

Elvis Costello

3/5

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.

Definitely Maybe

Oasis

4/5

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.

Want Two

Rufus Wainwright

4/5

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.

The Rising

Bruce Springsteen

1/5

The Gilded Palace Of Sin

The Flying Burrito Brothers

3/5

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.

Neon Bible

Arcade Fire

5/5

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.

The Next Day

David Bowie

4/5

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.

Lust For Life

Iggy Pop

4/5

Reggatta De Blanc

The Police

2/5

Wild Wood

Paul Weller

3/5

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.

Night Life

Ray Price

2/5

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.

Led Zeppelin II

Led Zeppelin

4/5

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_.

Superfly

Curtis Mayfield

5/5

Some amazing, smooth 70s soul.

Gunfighter Ballads And Trail Songs

Marty Robbins

2/5

Not one for me.

Jazz Samba

Stan Getz

3/5

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

Oracular Spectacular

MGMT

3/5

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

Paris 1919

John Cale

3/5

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

Supa Dupa Fly

Missy Elliott

4/5

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

Beautiful Freak

Eels

4/5

Axis: Bold As Love

Jimi Hendrix

5/5

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

In The Wee Small Hours

Frank Sinatra

3/5

Isn't Anything

My Bloody Valentine

2/5

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.

Blonde On Blonde

Bob Dylan

3/5

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.

Midnight Ride

Paul Revere & The Raiders

2/5

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

Whatever

Aimee Mann

2/5

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.

Colour By Numbers

Culture Club

3/5

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.

Tommy

The Who

2/5

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.

The Contino Sessions

Death In Vegas

5/5

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.

Freak Out!

The Mothers Of Invention

3/5

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

Speakerboxxx/The Love Below

OutKast

4/5

Two great albums for the price of one.

Siembra

Willie Colón & Rubén Blades

4/5

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

The Low End Theory

A Tribe Called Quest

4/5

Excellent, early 90s hip hop.

When I Was Born For The 7th Time

Cornershop

4/5

This remains a lovely little album.

Five Leaves Left

Nick Drake

5/5

Lovely.

Bridge Over Troubled Water

Simon & Garfunkel

5/5

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.

Picture Book

Simply Red

1/5

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.

Never Mind The Bollocks, Here’s The Sex Pistols

Sex Pistols

3/5

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.

Kimono My House

Sparks

5/5

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

Let's Get It On

Marvin Gaye

5/5

Smoooooooooth.

Slayed?

Slade

3/5

Pub rock par excellence. Underappreciated and occasionally great.

The Stranger

Billy Joel

2/5

MOR but not unpleasant.

Green Onions

Booker T. & The MG's

3/5

Good, a little samey across the album.

The Madcap Laughs

Syd Barrett

2/5

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.

Tres Hombres

ZZ Top

3/5

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

69 Love Songs

The Magnetic Fields

5/5

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.

Qui sème le vent récolte le tempo

MC Solaar

4/5

Loved this.

Make Yourself

Incubus

1/5

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...

Fragile

Yes

2/5

Not a fan.

Tank Battles

Dagmar Krause

3/5

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

This Year's Model

Elvis Costello & The Attractions

3/5

Marquee Moon