My 1001 Albums Journey

106

Albums Rated

3.65

Average Rating

10%

Complete

983 albums remaining

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1960

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Hip-hop

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Albums

You Love More Than Most

Album	You	Global	Diff
Rejoicing In The Hands Devendra Banhart	5	2.8	+2.2
Kala M.I.A.	5	2.91	+2.09
Pieces Of The Sky Emmylou Harris	5	3.12	+1.88
Songs Of Love And Hate Leonard Cohen	5	3.2	+1.8
The College Dropout Kanye West	5	3.31	+1.69
Fear Of A Black Planet Public Enemy	5	3.34	+1.66
It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back Public Enemy	5	3.36	+1.64
Lost In The Dream The War On Drugs	5	3.38	+1.62
Odessey And Oracle The Zombies	5	3.41	+1.59
Blonde On Blonde Bob Dylan	5	3.48	+1.52

You Love Less Than Most

Album	You	Global	Diff
1989 Taylor Swift	1	3.26	-2.26
The Good, The Bad & The Queen The Good, The Bad & The Queen	1	3.03	-2.03
All That You Can't Leave Behind U2	1	2.98	-1.98
São Paulo Confessions Suba	1	2.85	-1.85
Californication Red Hot Chili Peppers	2	3.69	-1.69
She's So Unusual Cyndi Lauper	2	3.48	-1.48
Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers	2	3.38	-1.38
Roger the Engineer The Yardbirds	2	3.1	-1.1
The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway Genesis	2	3.08	-1.08
1977 Ash	2	3.03	-1.03

Artists

Favorites

Artist	Albums	Average
Beatles	2	5
Public Enemy	2	5

5-Star Albums (27)

View Album Wall

It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back

Popular Reviews

Out Of The Blue

Electric Light Orchestra · 1 likes

4/5

A bloated glorious mess. Loses a full mark for the pronunciation of "Birmingham" in Birmingham Blues; you're from Shard End, Jeff, you know you fucked up

Fire Of Love

The Gun Club · 1 likes

4/5

First Gun Club album I've done cover to cover and thought it was excellent. Stooges with blues licks

Power In Numbers

Jurassic 5 · 1 likes

3/5

Good. Charli 2na and the gang are objectively great MCs, and there's some truly awesome tracks including an amazing Big Daddy Kane feature, bit this thing's too long and the production is flat in large parts.

Chirping Crickets

Buddy Holly & The Crickets · 1 likes

4/5

Lean, catchy, immaculate

Otis Blue/Otis Redding Sings Soul

Otis Redding · 1 likes

5/5

Absolute classic, an essential soul record

1-Star Albums (4)

All Ratings

Brothers

The Black Keys

4/5

Absolute rock blues stomper. Starts ok, whole back stretch is superb

She's So Unusual

Cyndi Lauper

2/5

Not for me. Some fun production in places, but it's basically 2 big singles and a lot of loud, mostly forgettable filler

Stankonia

OutKast

5/5

An iconic duo at the peak of their powers. Oozes charisma. Incredible production. Every feature works. One of my all time rap favourites

Hot Buttered Soul

Isaac Hayes

4/5

Wonderful record. Amazing to see and hear the record's influence on other artists and projects I love. Walk On By is the masterpiece, one of the great soul tracks of all time. The rest is very good but cannot compare.

The Number Of The Beast

Iron Maiden

4/5

A beefy, memorable and catchy album, epic lyricism. Bruce Dickinson's objectively amazing voice is too theatrical at times for me though. Pretty essential, even for someone for whom NWBHM isn't a go-to genre

Low

David Bowie

5/5

Moody. Bowie and Eno lock in fully to the post punk synth experience and it's some ride.

Rubber Soul

Beatles

5/5

Mega. Great hearing them evolve from the pure love song format on this. Some of my favourite Beatles songs on this. The Elvis cover at the end is a bit odd

Definitely Maybe

Oasis

5/5

Is it perfect? No. Is it even as good as the band claim it to be? No. But it's rock pop written and played with the passion and vigour of lads that knew they had one chance to be the biggest band in the world. And they took it.

Third/Sister Lovers

Big Star

2/5

Largely forgettable and badly produced in places

Electric

The Cult

3/5

Meat and potatoes hard rock. Great drums and vocals throughout, but didn't move me.

Pornography

The Cure

4/5

Nice slab of cold dark goth rock. Rhythm section is killer. Dense and atmospheric. Robert Smith's depressing lyrics and limited vocals add to tensions. One or two tracks need a bit of extra something though, bit flat in parts, but great overall

Figure 8

Elliott Smith

3/5

Raw, honest, human, but man is it sad. Some excellent songs on here, particularly those with a bit more meat in the arrangement, but many are too sparse and I can't get on with Smith's voice for the most part. Good, but wouldn't hurry back to this

Graceland

Paul Simon

3/5

A complicated album to review. Some magnificent instrumentation, especially in the rhythms and fretless bass playing. But Simon's twee storytelling and thin voice just doesn't mesh well overall and hinders more tracks than it compliments (You Can Call Me Al and Diamonds... being clear exceptions).

The Infotainment Scan

The Fall

4/5

Slick, groovy, with just enough Smith snark to scratch that itch. Nice influence of rave and industrial on the often excellent rhythm tracks. First Fall album done back to back and I'll definitely be going back to it

The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway

Genesis

2/5

This album definitely enjoys the smell of its own farts. A few interesting instrumental arrangements aside, it's all pomp and no soul. Not for me

The Contino Sessions

Death In Vegas

2/5

Some nice moments on most tracks but this is largely unmemorable

Private Dancer

Tina Turner

3/5

The first half of this thing flies out of the gate. By the midway point it starts to lose me. Bar one or two exceptions, the songs become less memorable, the instrumentation too dated. Tina's voice is an absolute force throughout

Doolittle

Pixies

5/5

This album is perfect and I pray at the temple of Kim Deal

Rejoicing In The Hands

Devendra Banhart

5/5

Beautiful, mysterious, unpredictable, intimate and strange. Can't wait to discover more Devandra Banhart after taking in this freaky folk masterpiece a few times.

The Good, The Bad & The Queen

1/5

Sub-standard forgettable Gorillaz-lite fare. I read it was inspired by Fela Kuti and Tony Allen, can't hear it at all

Kings Of The Wild Frontier

Adam & The Ants

3/5

"Antmusic for sex people" made me laugh out loud. At one point I'm hearing yodelling over a Link Wray lick. It shouldn't be good but it is. Mostly.

Siamese Dream

The Smashing Pumpkins

5/5

Alongside OK Computer as the best alt rock album of the 90s. Magnificent

Automatic For The People

R.E.M.

4/5

A near flawless record

Chirping Crickets

Buddy Holly & The Crickets

4/5

Lean, catchy, immaculate

Killing Joke

2/5

Some cool moments, some of the punk and proto industrial elements were interesting but this was largely forgettable and too one-paced

Queens of the Stone Age

Queens Of The Stone Age

3/5

Good debut, hard gritty sleaze rock. Uneven though and definitely a level below some of their future records

Parsley, Sage, Rosemary And Thyme

Simon & Garfunkel

4/5

Stunning album that belongs in the same conversations as their future classics

Tres Hombres

ZZ Top

4/5

The boozy sunburnt uncle of QOTSA's debut. Dope AF

Fear and Whiskey

Mekons

4/5

Enjoyable listen on the whole

Vol. 4

Black Sabbath

5/5

Rawkus, massive. More ambitious than their (amazing) previous three albums. For me this is Sabbath at the apex, hanging onto the band and their sanity enough to get this done before the walls cave in. Ozzy sounds incredible

Power In Numbers

Jurassic 5

3/5

Maggot Brain

Funkadelic

5/5

A monster of an album bookended by two of the best pieces of music I've ever heard. Essential.

Lost In The Dream

The War On Drugs

5/5

A soaring, tender, beautifully engineered album

Dog Man Star

Suede

3/5

All over the place. Each track sounds like 4 or 5 tunes piled on top of one another. Pompous, dramatic, occasionally beautiful, especially Bernard Butler's lead guitar. Strong last few tunes

Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers

2/5

I'll take the hits, you can keep the rest

The College Dropout

Kanye West

5/5

So much fun. So much soul. Then it all fell down

One Nation Under A Groove

Funkadelic

4/5

I don't think the Spotify link worked properly, just sent me to the one tune? Great tune though

Garbage

4/5

The songwriting propels it above a lot of its contemporaries of the time. Some killer tunes.

Odessey And Oracle

The Zombies

5/5

Note perfect. The ultimate cult album? Anyone into psych, garage rock, invasion, prog, jangle pop will find something, maybe everything, to love here

The Blueprint

JAY Z

4/5

Great album with some generation defining tracks on it. One or two bits of dated fluff stops it being a bonafide classic. Girls Girls Girls still makes me laugh out loud, whether it's meant to or not

Roger the Engineer

The Yardbirds

2/5

Beck's guitar? Yes. Everything else? Nah

Eliminator

ZZ Top

3/5

Well, Tres Hombres it ain't. Too compressed, polished and predictable, but there's some fun to be had with it. In a cherry red Corvette speeding through El Paso, perhaps. Not so much on a bus in grey Birmingham UK.

Songs From The Big Chair

Tears For Fears

4/5

Superb synth pop. Play it, love it, remind yourself that Head Over Heels is one of the best songs ever made, listen again

1977

Ash

2/5

Killer singles and some bright moments but too much unmemorable filler

Virgin Suicides

Air

4/5

Eerie, unnerving, excellent in places.

Truth And Soul

Fishbone

2/5

I almost bailed at one point. Not my thing at all. Is this a stupid album trying to be serious or a serious album being stupid?

Beauty And The Beat

The Go-Go's

4/5

Beautifully coincidental, I'm listening to this on International Women's Day. This is a triumph of new wave pop punk brilliance cover to cover

Otis Blue/Otis Redding Sings Soul

Otis Redding

5/5

Absolute classic, an essential soul record

1999

Prince

4/5

Sex synths and nihilism

São Paulo Confessions

Suba

1/5

Didn't enjoy this. Samba acid jazz downtempo electronica? Nah

Remedy

Basement Jaxx

3/5

90s summer dance bangers front to back. Hard to hate

Court And Spark

Joni Mitchell

4/5

Mostly beautiful, at it's best it's pure poetry. Ends a bit strangely; didn't like '...Twisted' much

The Next Day

David Bowie

3/5

Some brilliant tracks on this but lots of the mid section goes without much pulling me in. He sounds amazing though, crooning through the slower tracks. Oh, and I'm not having the album cover

808 State

3/5

Solid slab of acid house. Has an all time classic, a few bangers and a couple of duds.

Vanishing Point

Primal Scream

2/5

A couple of nice basslines aside this is a boiled chicken breast of an album. Annoyingly bland, instantly forgettable

Bayou Country

Creedence Clearwater Revival

4/5

Chuck the 8 minute slog of a track out and this is a bona fide swamp rock classic

Let It Bleed

The Rolling Stones

3/5

The big tunes are huge, the filler sucks. The Rolling Stones will always be a greatest hits band to me. Give me Rolled Gold any day

Get Behind Me Satan

The White Stripes

3/5

Mostly good, never great. One of their weaker albums

1989

Taylor Swift

1/5

Style is a banger. Clean is fine. The rest of this is HORRIBLE

I Should Coco

Supergrass

3/5

Solid, Alright and CBTF are fantastic, but they went on to make much better singles and albums later on

Twelve Dreams Of Dr. Sardonicus

Spirit

4/5

I dig this. Tight and loose at the same time. Great voices, basslines, grooves and harmonies

Pink Moon

Nick Drake

5/5

A haunting, brittle masterpiece

Out Of The Blue

Electric Light Orchestra

4/5

A bloated glorious mess. Loses a full mark for the pronunciation of "Birmingham" in Birmingham Blues; you're from Shard End, Jeff, you know you fucked up

Pieces Of The Sky

Emmylou Harris

5/5

Note perfect record from the alt country queen. Incredible

Beyond Skin

Nitin Sawhney

2/5

It's well put together and provocative. I liked the South Asian/ hindustani sounds a lot, wished it leaned into that even more as the electronica and trip hop inspired vocal elements dated it badly. Mostly interesting, sometimes moving, occasionally cringe. And I hope there's meaning behind the album cover because it's horrendous

Peace Sells...But Who's Buying

Megadeth

2/5

Expected way more. Some cool grooves but really nothing that blew me away or even pulled me in

Enter The Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)

Wu-Tang Clan

5/5

Wu Tang is for the children

Talking Heads 77

Talking Heads

4/5

Tina Weymouth is astonishing on this. Well, on everything. But especially on this. Belter of a debut

Space Ritual

Hawkwind

2/5

Guess you had to be there. And high. Really high.

E.V.O.L.

Sonic Youth

3/5

SY go noise-goth and it's pretty darn good

Are You Experienced

Jimi Hendrix

5/5

Honestly, what must this have sounded like when it was first unleashed? One of the great debuts

At Newport 1960

Muddy Waters

4/5

Love this. Crackling with energy

Tidal

Fiona Apple

3/5

My first deep dive into a Fiona Apple album and... it's fine. Lovely at times. But most of it drifted along without getting my attention. Expected more

Either Or

Elliott Smith

3/5

Second Elliott Smith album and have much the same feelings for this one; sad, brittle, honest, but something's missing for me that stops it from being great. And I just can't get on with the double tracked thin vocals, they do my head in.

Fire Of Love

The Gun Club

4/5

First Gun Club album I've done cover to cover and thought it was excellent. Stooges with blues licks

That's The Way Of The World

Earth, Wind & Fire

4/5

Banging. Not so fussed with the ballads, nice but just don't hit the same as the disco bops

Rock 'N Soul

Solomon Burke

4/5

The album name says it all. Burke can scream like James Brown and croon like Sam Cooke, it's his show and it's all killer. The formulaic, stock- 60s' Atlantic arrangements stop it being a stone cold Otis Blue level classic

Dookie

Green Day

4/5

Sounds like how a teenager's bedroom smells. Pop punk 101

Songs Of Love And Hate

Leonard Cohen

5/5

I'd never really bothered with Cohen. I now realise I am stupid

All That You Can't Leave Behind

1/5

Soulless, risk-less corporate rock slop

Bright Flight

Silver Jews

4/5

Beautiful front to back with guitar lines that broke me a few times. Amazing.

Urban Hymns

The Verve

3/5

It's either big hits or noodly groovey jams. Pretty solid. For those into shoegaze, I thoroughly recommend their debut album A Storm In Heaven. It's a classic

Strangeways, Here We Come

The Smiths

4/5

Sadder than I remember, think it's because it's the break up album. Couple of tunes fall flat but some of their very best is on here, especially the middle section

Led Zeppelin II

Led Zeppelin

5/5

Classic. Easy 5. Fun game: drink every time Plant sings "baby"

Fear Of A Black Planet

Public Enemy

5/5

No notes

Arc Of A Diver

Steve Winwood

3/5

AOR yacht pop done well but not incredibly. Wild having this sandwiched between two Public Enemy records. That's what I'm here for.

It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back

Public Enemy

5/5

An absolute force of an album. Still fresh, still hits like a hammer

Californication

Red Hot Chili Peppers

2/5

The hits hit but overall this is forgettable and the songwriting is garbage

The Band

4/5

Casual misogyny aside this thing is superb

Atomizer

Big Black

4/5

Noisy nasty wild and sometimes fun. Loved it

Young Americans

David Bowie

3/5

Starts and ends strong but this is at it's best when Bowie's to the side and the backing vocalists are doing their thing

Exodus

Bob Marley & The Wailers

5/5

Easiest 5 so far. Absolute perfection

The Velvet Underground & Nico

The Velvet Underground

5/5

It's got its status for a reason. The Heroin/There She Goes Again/I'll Be Your Mirror 1-2-3 punch is an all timer

I Against I

Bad Brains

3/5

Solid, but too much mid-tempo metal funk fusion here. Much prefer the ferocious hardcore of their debut

Roots

Sepultura

4/5

Punishing groove/nu metal. The heavy, authentic Brazillian roots influences puts it above others of its time. A touch too long but, this slaps hard AF

Kala

M.I.A.

5/5

Hard to emphasise how fresh amd original this sounded when it dropped. Still is. And not even a wack ass Timberland verse can prevent a 5 star review

Odelay

Beck

4/5

More hit than miss. Less rapping though please

A Girl Called Dusty

Dusty Springfield

3/5

Legendary voice and some good covers, but not essential

The Doors

5/5

Whiskey Bar oompah nonsense aside this is amazing

I'm Your Man

Leonard Cohen

3/5

Certainly took some getting used to, and the arrangements are all over the shop, but there's some gems to be found in here, "Tower of Song" especially

The Seldom Seen Kid

Elbow

4/5

Guy can really write a love song

The White Album

Beatles

5/5

It's a mess, but its best bits are some of the greatest in pop history

Blonde On Blonde

Bob Dylan

5/5

Classic, although I don't like his blues tracks as much