1001 Albums Summary

It was not without its charms.

The soundtrack to every Scorsese movie.

Whoa, that was awesome. Drum solo on the last song kinda went on and on.

Love Dolly but the music's just not my taste. 4 stars because Dolly rules.

When I was in college I fucking hated Depeche Mode. I was dumb then.

Holy shit, this album rules. I'm 25 again - how did I miss this when it came out?

In Italy for 30 years under the Borgias they had warfare, terror, murder, and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and the Renaissance. In Switzerland they had brotherly love - they had 500 years of democracy and peace, and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock.

Definitely in the "I appreciate this, but don't love it" category of Radiohead albums.

Partly unimpeachably incredible, partly weirdly overcome with ennui. Overall, excellent.

I think I'm getting old. This sounded exactly like a combination of Dirty Projectors and Real Estate (so much so that, when the album ended, it switched to a Real Estate song and I didn't notice), but I'm sure people my age in 1967 probably said the Kinks sounded exactly like a combination of the Beatles and Rolling Stones. Anyway, I'm giving it 3 stars, but it's very possible it's way better than that.

Anything involving Nile Rodgers gets a minimum 4 stars.

I had to give it 5 stars or Danny will beat me up.

Wow, I liked this way more than I thought I would. Really, this is the kind of experience that justifies this entire exercise -- there is a 0% chance I would have listened to this album otherwise, and I really liked it (this is the 4th or 5th time this has happened now, out of like 15 albums total).

The sensation of being slapped in the face by a freezing cold industrial hose converted to music. I kinda liked it.

I feel the same way about this XTC album as I feel about every XTC song I've ever heard - ANTSA(XTC).

Incredible album - just great stuff. I guess Richard Wagner made some pretty good music too -- here, have this 1, Nazi.

Hotel California (the song) is great - 5/5, no notes. Hotel California (the album) is ass - almost incredibly bad other than Hotel California (the song). Dirk Diggler-Chest Rockwell songwriting level awful; just hideous. 2 stars, up from 1 attributable solely to (1) Hotel California (the song), and (2) the fact that I'm generally inclined to take it easy and, today in particular have a peaceful easy feeling.

One man enter, one man with a slight headache leave.

All time classic that makes me want to take up smoking again.

Really liked this - kinda like the Sex Pistols but if you replaced 50% of the anger with anxiety.

Probably a personal failing on my part that I just can't seem to manage to like anything by Leonard Cohen. Weird because I love Tom Waits and like Nick Cave. Oh well.

What a great and unexpected surprise inclusion on this list; I had never heard of this, but it was amazing.

Man, I really liked this and did not expect to - catchy, sad-dad music. Another experience that really justifies participating in this.

I love Beach House - just beautiful music. This isn't my favorite album of theirs (that would be Depression Cherry), but it's still awesome.

A stone cold classic - not much else to say, really.

One of my all time favorites. Really listening to it this time ... the lyrics of the title song in particular are just unreal -- "can you tell a green field from a cold steel rail"; devastating.

Bloody Well Right is fun. Everything else is awful - goopy, overly-dramatic, 70's Air Supply crap.

I get why people would like it, but not my thing.

5 is not enough stars. This might actually be the best 90's grunge album -- Obviously Nevermind is incredible, but this is so underplayed by comparison ... Weird coincidence how nearly all my favorite albums happened to come out when I was in my 20's.

First of all, Season of the Witch rocks - comes close to redeeming the whole album. Second, that sound ... that goddamn sound in Sunshine Superman is the most annoying sound in the history of popular music. Checking online, it sounds like it might be Jimmy Page doing ... something with his guitar -- Wikipedia refers to it as "employing an innovative use of the volume control on his guitar for the repeating figure". I guess that's one way to describe it - another would be "interminable" or "for the love of God make it stop". Anyway, the rest of the album is inoffensive Hippie stuff, kinda meh. 3 stars for Season of the Witch.

This was wonderful. Janis Joplin has always kind of existed in the background for me -- a sad, tragic heroine of the hippie era whose music was ubiquitous but never really worth listening to; she was part of someone else's generational experience, certainly not mine. Actually listening to her now ... not only is she incredible, but her backing band is awesome. I was expecting to be bored and I was ... not that.

I wish I was cool enough to love this. As it is, I'm only cool enough to like it.

Take on Me is one of the best songs of the 80's. The Sun Always Shines on TV is the good kind of indulgent, navel-gazing sappiness. Everything else could be in the soundtrack of any John Hughes movie. Warning: May cause feathering of hair.

Dollar Store ripoff of Patsy Cline singing cutesy songs about spousal abuse and alcoholism. Hard pass.

Hey, it's Steely Dan! Actually thought I would like this way more than I did -- other than My Old School, it's just kinda ... eh?

Another album I would never have heard of, let alone listened to, and absolutely loved.

Without its charms it was not.

This was ... good? Did not expect that - do I now have to change my lifestyle, drink different beer, get new friends, etc.?

This was much better than I expected - I expected edgeless, soft hippy-dippy mush, and it really wasn't. Not something I'll likely seek out again, but was definitely worth a listen.

Not bad, not really good, just kinda there.

Yeah, this is the best Hendrix album. A complete mess of a masterpiece.

Complicated relationship with this one. Came out my freshman year of college, and I immediately dismissed it as U2’s sellout album. I grew to like it more and more over the years, and really listening to it again now … I’m right back to where I was in 1987. This was the album where the best band became the biggest band.

I'm aligned with the consensus on this one - 1 very good song (Breakdown), one all-time classic and the rest fine but forgettable. The line between 3 and 4 stars for me is whether you think American Girl is just a masterpiece vs. a generational anthem. I'm going generational anthem.

My favorite band from my 20's even though I only really love their first album (Gish) and half-like their second (Siamese Dream). I've probably heard 30% of this one before now ... really liked it. I sort of have to give it 5 stars but get why people would not.

Feels a lot more recent than 1973 - really liked it. In Every Dream House is one of a kind.

Had never heard of these guys, liked them a lot. Busy day so I had them on in the background a bit.

Frank Zappa seems more like a fictional character than an actual person who once actually existed at this point. Nice to listen to this to remember what the fuss was about.

Another guy I'd never heard of (I like some of his dad's stuff), and really loved. Very easy listening, but I'm of that age, I guess.

My great grandmother who came over in 1912 fleeing the Tsar gave me two bits of information before she died when I was 8: (1) always be a good boy and try hard in school, and (2) AmeriKKa's Most Wanted fuckin' rips.

Woof, this sucked. The stuff that may have once been good (or at least tolerable) is absurdly overplayed and the rest is nearly unlistenable - leaden, plodding, tedious crap.

It would be hard to find a more generic example of forgettable 80's music if you tried. No idea what this album is doing on this list -- The The has much better stuff.

Ok, I liked this way more than I thought I would, having heard other stuff by The Fall and just not really having gotten it. This was much more straightforward punk (I guess technically "post-punk" but I have no idea what that means) than the other albums, and I wonder now whether if I'd heard this first I would have liked those better. Probably.

I didn't like this much, so it's not getting a good review. Interesting that this predates Graceland, though.

Admired it more than loved it.

k.d. lang led the league in People I'd Heard of a Ton But Had Never Actually Heard until now. This was awesome - Patsy Cline brought to the modern era.

Suspicious Minds might be the best song of all time, and everything else is ... I mean it's Elvis.

Needs to be heard loud.

I think it's kind of awesome that, in addition to all-time classic albums, indisputably important albums and just really interesting albums, every so often we get an album that they guy who did this list just happened to really like at some point. No snark - it's actually fun to get one of these.

Cool album - felt like being in a dance club in the 1990's ... or rather what I assume being in a dance club in the 1990's would have felt like.

Love me some Elliott Smith, but (limited "but") (a) I've never listened to a full album of his at one time and it's a bit much, and (b) not sure this is his best album. Easy Way Out is an all-time though - some of the meanest lyrics this side of Dylan at his nastiest.

Ugh, after loving "Blue", I really expected to at least really like this one. Instead, it's headache-inducing mushy goop - "Help Me" in particular is nails on blackboard. The second star is for Blue again.

Liked this a bit more than I was expecting to. I'm not sure it's an album I had to listen to before I died (especially 90 minutes worth of it), but it was fine, bordering on good-ish. I (embarrassingly) have a soft spot for the New York song - probably (definitely) something to do with when it was released.

This was really awesome and fun. I suspect I will never listen to it again, but it was a great, unique listening experience.

That absolutely ruled. Had never heard of this guy (these guys?), this album or any song on it before - complete blank heading in, and was not optimistic based on the last few of these along these lines. Absolutely blown away.

I started listening to this when It came out in 1972 and just finished.

Love, love, love this album.

Really liked it, but didn't love it. The obvious hits are incredible and fun to hear again despite having heard them roughly 1,000 times. The others are fun - much more 80's-ish than I was expecting, though I'm not sure why I wouldn't have been expecting that.

So I would probably give a 7-second recording of Talking Heads walking into a studio and accidentally knocking over a mic stand 5 stars, but this really merits it. Lots of lists about the best first track or best first two or three tracks of an album -- you never really see any about the last song or two. Not sure you're ever going to find two better than Psycho Killer and Pulled Up.

Beautiful stuff - perfect for a Sunday morning, which is when I got this one.

I've tried. I've tried to like Oasis. I DO really like one Oasis song (Don't Look Back in Anger). It seems like I should like Oasis. People who like Oasis like the same music I like. People who don't like Oasis don't like the music I don't like. I don't like Oasis.

Odd parallel to The Joshua Tree with this one - hated it in college, grew to like it more and more over the years and now ... sorta see what I was thinking in college. It's great but really, really whiny.

Everything sung by Neil Young gets a 5, everything sung by Stephen Stills gets a 2, rounding up because I really love "Broken Arrow" for reasons I find hard to explain.

I absolutely love this, and really everything by YYYs.

I had to give this 5 stars or Danny AND Andy would beat me up.

This album was not a good album. I'm clearly missing something with these guys - they seem to appear in lists like these and I've tried them before and ... I'm not even close to getting it.

This is the kind of album that feels like it was recorded personally for me. Just loved it.

Never have gotten this - just not my thing I guess. Actually liked the unfamiliar stuff a good deal more than the relatively well known ones.

I liked the part with the horns.

Reminded me of Leonard Cohen. I don't like him either.

Good background music for work.

Two jazz albums in a row - funny. I liked this one much more. Looks like I prefer the bolder variety. This reminded me of Whiplash.

Listened to it 3 straight times - could've listened to it 3 more. Banger top to bottom.

What if Spinal Tap was not funny.

I'm not sure what the term "This Is My Jam" is supposed to mean exactly, but I'm pretty sure this is that for me.

Pleasant background music. Kinda liked it.

Maybe not the best album on here, but likely the easiest 5-star review for me. Gut punch after gut punch. Weird but very apt coincidence that I get this 2 days after Live Through This.

I liked this! And no one is more surprised than me based on others' reviews and the fact that this is never going to be my favorite type of music. Catchy and fun.

The hits are unimpeachable, but I've heard them so many times ... and the non-hits were nothing special. 4 stars because the highs are so high.

I just want to be the only person who gives this album a 3.

Hard to separate this from the Whole Frank Sinatra Thing, but somehow managed. For better or worse, he really is the absolute best of this whole genre - 5 stars for the music.

TIL there are limits to how much Britpop I can take. Too Oasisy, not Blurry enough. I don't even much like that one damn song from Clueless.

Probably expected to like this a bit more ... I mean it's great and all, but was not blown away (Ziggy is way, way better). Sort of parallel to Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers for me -- two great songs, one an all-time banger (Panic in Detroit / American Girl), the other lesser but also really, really good (Jean Genie / Breakdown), everything else very listenable but not at that level.

I guess I'm now a country fan ... or more likely, a fan of someone with pipes like these; man what a voice. Either way, I apparently need to purchase some fringe.

This was so much better than I remembered it being.

Another 2 Good Songs And The Rest Fine album (Tom Petty, Aladdin Sayne). This one gets 3 stars rather than 4 because I am fucking sick to death of Tiny Dancer - take it up with Cameron Crowe, Elton.

They didn't even ask if I could touch their monkey.

Charms, not without, etc.

Just not my thing.

I love this album - completely bizarre, hysterically (and stupidly) funny, one-of-a-kind.

Man do I love this album - if I could give more than 5 stars, I would.

So this is why I'm here - never heard of these guys, never heard anything like this, and it's just completely fun and awesome. I estimate that it's improved by approximately 14% by virtue of the fact that I have no idea what anyone is saying.

Everything's awesome except the fucking lyrics (literally).

109 albums in and this is, by far, the worst of the lot so far. Painful.

This album doesn't have any of my, like, top 5 songs by these guys, but it's still awesome, if a bit repetitive.

Like getting a can of cheap beer poured over your head (complimentary). Loses a little steam after the first 2 songs (LaGrange is unimpeachable, but I've heard it sooo many times).

This was just plain great - the weird, crazy energy of Rock Lobster over an entire album.

I guess this is hugely influential/important (Apple Music compares it to Rubber Soul, uh, ok?), and I get it based on its release year, but it just seems kinda average-ish to me. Certainly not bad.

This was very good, but I guess I like old bloated Elvis more than young spry Elvis.

My kind of mess.

Like getting yelled at by a particularly articulate, poetic drunk for 45 minutes (complimentary).

Band seems weirdly mismatched to the type of music they're playing - they're too polished and not pissed off enough to be playing punk. The best parts of the album (e.g., Smash it Up Part 1) are the parts that are not punk. Still good - just off.

Amazingly beautiful - a combination of Loveless (MBV) and Beach House's best music, and earlier than either. Fotzpoletic is an all-timer - listened to it 4 times today.

It's really too bad that this gets hijacked by Clapton's Whole Thing because it's actually a pretty good (unexpectedly so) good album.

Liked this but it's kinda sleepy. I like other stuff I've heard from her a bit more.

2 ZZ Top albums in 10 days ... this one's not as good as the other one. The algorithm or vagaries of fate (or whatever) did this album no favors - this would likely be a 3 but for the irritation at seeing this so close to the other one.

Almost forgot how much I love these guys. Can vividly remember listening to Summertime Blues off this one on cassette on my crappy old boombox when I was like 11. Banger then, banger now.

I think you will find, my dear Watson, that the solution to this mystery lies in the first syllable of the band’s name.

Guess Paul was really going through it during this one - in the middle of something he didn't really understand, one might say. Anyway, it's great - you're not supposed to bat 1.000 when you're depressed, but the highs (or lows) are quite high (or low).

Forgot how awesome this was - so many great songs and it seems like you never hear any of them anymore. Among the greatest of musical mysteries: The song "Ironic" is itself a nearly ideal example of irony in that not one of the examples of "irony" in the song is actually ironic (they're all just coincidences and/or things that would really suck), which is the opposite of what one would expect in a song that purports to be about irony. The question/mystery is whether Alanis was aware of this when she wrote it, which would give the song an extra really fun meta-layer. I'm going with yes.

Nasty, brutish and short (complimentary)

Another completely unexpected awesome album - I'm not sure what I'm supposed to wear to a rave, but I guess I need to buy whatever it is.

Even though none of these songs are actually in Grand Theft Auto Vice City, all of these songs are in Grand Theft Auto Vice City.

Music is great, lyrics so whiny ... what do I do with this?

Papa Was a Rolling Stone takes up 1/3 of the album, which makes this exactly 1/3 of an awesome album.

This was way better than I was expecting - cool, moody, atmospheric stuff; really enjoyed it.

In a billion years, I never would have bet that a Pixies album would be this meh.

Nope.

He’s growing on me.

Well, I had that damn Throbbing Gristle album a couple of days ago, so I guess this is pretty ho-hum by comparison. I could see myself getting used to this (and maybe even liking it) if I listened to it a few more times.

I would see the movie that includes these songs like 5 times in the theater.

Julie liked it.

When I'm done working, I'm going to spend all my time at a bar that plays nothing but this album over and over and over again.

Personal quirk, maybe, but I just don't like the sound of the sitar. I also can't stand Light My Fire. Makes this one a bit of a challenge.

This was a lot better than I thought it would be (the fact that it's still just a 3 tells you all you need to know about how good I thought it would be). This will never be my thing, but I sort of get it.

This was really cool - yet another one that I would never have had a chance to hear but for this project. Had it on in the background during work and, weirdly, was absolutely awesome for that purpose.

Had only heard the famous song off this one before - the whole album is just as great. Listened 3 times, could have done more.

I gave 5 stars to Never Mind the Bollocks a couple weeks ago too, but the Clash are so, so much better ... There's a performative, contemptuous quality to the Pistols that the Clash replace with furious integrity. It's the difference between someone sneering at me and scowling at the way things be. Also they're, like, just way, way better at the whole making of music thing, which helps.

Example 5,357,540,641 of why you should never break up the damn band.

It had been so long since I be illin' I think I strained something.

Second Chemical Brothers album in a week and, instead of being sick of them, I like them more every time I listen.

Madonna has the Jack Nicholson problem. Anything Jack Nicholson appears in is overwhelmed by a voice in the back of your head constantly saying "that's Jack Nicholson" which drags along every other movie he's ever been in, so it's nearly impossible to evaluate it on its own merits. You're not watching a movie or a Jack Nicholson performance, you're watching EVERY movie Jack Nicholson has been in and EVERY Jack Nicholson performance at once, and Jack Nicholson's character in whatever the movie is is just Jack Nicholson. Same thing with Madonna - I can't listen to this without thinking "this is Madonna" every second of every song, and simultaneously hearing in the back of my mind every other Madonna song I've heard since the beginning of her career (much of which I really like!). I can't separate the songs from the performer and the performer has a whole overlay that gets in the way of my ability to evaluate the songs. In short, I might have liked this as an album made by anyone other than Madonna, but adding in the whole Madonna thing, I thought it kinda sucked.

Without. Not. Charms. Etc.

Anything involving Nile Rodgers gets at least 4 stars.

So, my theory is this: This is not the best Beatles album (though it's damn good), but it's in the running for most important Beatles album. Why? Because this is when they figured out they could do pretty much anything everyone else was doing better than everyone else, which got them confident enough to start to create their own thing (initially, the "clever Beatles", as George called them, then obviously way beyond). You don't start out with Revolver -- Picasso didn't start out painting people with guitars for faces either.

Remains not an easy listen (frankly, a lot of the songs are pretty much indistinguishable, imo), but there is some great stuff and the sheer guts it took to release something like this when he did is so admirable.

Definitely a soft spot for this one - REM is the ultimate mid/late 80's college band, and this one came out early in my sophomore year. It was totally ubiquitous (back in the days when there was a monoculture) -- everyone loved it, even annoying, "integrity" obsessed contrarians like me. Listening again now ... we were all absolutely right, this album rules.

More performance art/weird-for-the-sake-of-being-weird. Not intended for me, obviously, which is fine.

Not as good as I remembered it being ... probably because I haven't heard the full album since I was about 14, when my Doors fandom pretty much peaked.

The Drowners is awesome, everything else was fine. Any inclination I may have had to give a higher rating was overcome by the inclusion of a song called "Animal Nitrate".

These albums made by a legend who knew this would be his/her/their last definitely hit extra hard.

It is possible that I (or anyone) have never been more wrong about a band than I was about these guys when I was in college. This album is incredible - 4 all timers (World in My Eyes and Policy of Truth are, I think, even better than Personal Jesus and Enjoy the Silence) and everything else is great.

When people say they hate 60's music, this is what they mean.

So mellow I nearly lapsed into incontinence.

First time through: Hey, this isn't too bad - better than I thought, I can see what Cobain saw in these guys. Second time through: Wait, this is even better than I thought - the instrumental songs not filler at all, they might be the best songs on the album. Third time through: This is the greatest album I have ever heard, I am naming all of my children "Meat Puppets".

Definitely was not expecting to like this nearly as much as I did.