Favorite Tracks: Picture This / 11:59 / I'm Gonna Love You Too / Just Go Away
Rating: 4.1
I've heard Blondie's hits, of course, but this was my 1st time listening to this album. Quite a range of sounds, but great guitar work throughout and Debbie Harry's voice sounds great across the album. Enjoyable listen!
Favorite Tracks: Up On Cripple Creek / Look Out Cleveland / Jawbone
Rating: 2.9
I've heard this album a few times before; while not my favorite genre, I can dig the folksy, southern rock vibes that never fully stray into country. And Up On Cripple Creek is an all time banger. The multiple vocalists are cool. I'd have to be in exactly the right frame of mind to put this on -- by a lake with a beer? next to a campfire with a doobie? apparently just not sober? -- but I can appreciate the musicality and that this is a seminal album that defined a certain sound for a lot of music that came afterwards.
Favorite Tracks: Zombie / Mr Follow Follow / Mistake
Rating: 4.4
Only day 3 for me with 1001 Albums, but this is the kind of exposure I was hoping for from this exercise! I'd never heard of Fela Kuti and found this album super interesting and enjoyable. Will definitely dig more into his discography, and reading about Fela on Wikipedia was fascinating, what a story!
Favorite Tracks: Rockafeller Skank / Gangster Trippin' / Kalifornia /
Rating: 3.25
Crazy that this went 2x Platinum in the US and 4x Platinum in the UK with over 5 mil copies sold. How far EDM has come! There's a solid Pitchfork retrospective by Brad Shoup that I enjoyed reading about how this album, and how the culmination of Norman Cook into Fatboy Slim all came about.
For me, it's charming in a nostalgic sort of way. I listened to the whole hour-ish straight through as a background to work emails. In that environment a lot of the songs hit as a bit repetitive and they are all about 2 minutes too long for something where the entire conceit is that you can hear 15 seconds of a track and "get it." But the bangers still bang, and it all sort of fades into a toe tapping, if a bit mind numbing, mélange.
Favorite Tracks: Mannish Boy / Bus Driver / The Blues Had a Baby / Walkin' Thru the Park
Rating: 4.2
I dig a good blues album, and I've listened to this before along with some other Muddy Waters' albums like the Chess Box, the London Sessions, and even Electric Mud.
Overall this is just a rock-solid, classic, blues album that leans a bit into rock, and Muddy's voice and guitar playing shines throughout. The harmonica parts, courtesy of James Cotton, are great throughout as well.
Favorite Tracks: The Unforgiven / Nothing Else Matters
Rating: 1.8
Listened to the (Remastered) version. I've just started this Album Generator journey (this is album 5) and it feels like I need decide my paradigm for scoring. I've always preferred listening to a full album vs. singles or a playlist; my main goal for working through this list is to expose myself to classic albums through the ages that I might not bump into otherwise, in order to expand my own horizons as an appreciator of music.
Should I endeavor to score objectively? If so, this album obviously had a massive impact, the production is polished, the guitar work rips, and the rhythm section is on fire. It went freakin' 15x platinum for goodness sake.
Should I score it by how much I personally enjoyed the listen, and/or likelihood I'll listen again? If so, this is just not a genre I vibe with and even if an "all-timer" like Enter Sandman pops up on my radio, I'll tune to another station. I'm glad I gave this a listen, but there's zero chance it'll be in my rotation or that any tracks here will be on any playlist I create.
So, decision-time. For posterity, I'm going to define my scoring on a personal enjoyment level:
5- Excellent from beginning to end; would listen again, maybe even right away
4- Highly enjoyable listen; will save specific songs and likely listen to this album again in the right mood
3- Fine; I can appreciate it even if it isn't my thing. Didn't exactly dislike but didn't do anything for me
2- Maybe a song or 2 I didn't mind, but on the whole I just "got through it"
1- Nothing enjoyable; zero chance I'll listen to this crap again
Which means final score for Metallica Metallica.... 1.8
