1001 Albums Summary

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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.

Largely forgettable and badly produced in places

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

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

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

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).

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

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

Some nice moments on most tracks but this is largely unmemorable

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

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

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

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

"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.

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

A near flawless record

Lean, catchy, immaculate

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

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

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

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

Enjoyable listen on the whole

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

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.

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

A soaring, tender, beautifully engineered album

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Beck's guitar? Yes. Everything else? Nah

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.

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

Killer singles and some bright moments but too much unmemorable filler

Eerie, unnerving, excellent in places.

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?

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

Absolute classic, an essential soul record

Sex synths and nihilism

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Mostly good, never great. One of their weaker albums

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

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

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

A haunting, brittle masterpiece

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

Note perfect record from the alt country queen. Incredible

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

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

Wu Tang is for the children

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

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

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

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

Love this. Crackling with energy

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

Soulless, risk-less corporate rock slop

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

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

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

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

No notes

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

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

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

Casual misogyny aside this thing is superb

Noisy nasty wild and sometimes fun. Loved it

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

Easiest 5 so far. Absolute perfection

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

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

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

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

More hit than miss. Less rapping though please

Legendary voice and some good covers, but not essential

Whiskey Bar oompah nonsense aside this is amazing

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

Guy can really write a love song

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

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

Beautiful. The lack of brass makes it super relaxed and accessible. It's soundtracking a lazy poolside afternoon in Corfu, with success

Absolute shit

One or two belters but mostly too whimsy and half baked

Jazz funk yacht rock. I'd understand anyone saying it's gross, but I dig it

Amazing. Perfect late night driving record. The back three tracks are an amazing run

Loved this live-sort-of-but-not-fully live album. Well engineered, Lynott and co in their prime. Baffling that this is the only Lizzy album on this project though

Raw and pioneering. Disco rap was dead once this dropped

AIDS, house parties, religion and altar egos. Yes!

Not for me man

The writing. His voice. The passion. The performances. This is it.

Weird and unbelievably groovy, until The Overload, which is pure Joy Division. The music nerds are right, this one's perfect

Flits between cool and boring. Grab a nightcap and groove to it until you fall asleep on the settee

Liked it way more than I thought I would.