1001 Albums Summary

Solid, riff heavy rock and roll. Probably more like a 3.5 but not really my thing. I appreciate it though. I don’t think I’ve ever actually listened to it all the way through although certainly familiar with it from being adjacent to some of the music I loved in 1995 or whatever. The coda to super unknown is fun and the little marching band into Beatles melody of head down. Black hole sun is a winner thirty years later. It is just its own distinctive vibe (file under: Chris Isaak wicked game).

Eh. There are so many incredible live Neil sets out there these days I don’t see needing to revisit this. Kind of meanders professionally until sedan delivery which is strange and fun and rips pretty hard before concluding with a crunchy, unenjoyable rendition of my my hey hey. 2.5*

Maybe the only other queen album I’ve heard it in entirety aside from night at the opera. Brian and Fred announce their virtuosity right off the bat and I can imagine loving this album if you’re really into what they do. I felt like I was listening to the soundtrack for a play I hadn’t seen interspersed with some generic seventies rockers. A few highlights- killer queen, stone cold crazy- but this generally confirms that I’m not too interested in queen best their (mostly excellent) singles. I never really understood why all the metal bands loved queen so much but stone cold crazy is a metal blueprint. I wasn’t at all surprised to see that Metallica has covered it several times.

Paul doing all his Paul things.

Muscula,r dude rock with lots of terrific guitar interplay. Both of those guys really ripped. Phil, his swag and charisma. I enjoyed this more and more as it went on. Some boring aside, I do look forward to revisiting this.

It’s a ten. A great band at their absolute peak. Diverse and tight. Each subsequent listen is fresh and powerful.

Is CCR the quintessential American rock band? Fogerty was unstoppable at this point.

Was going to instinctively give it a four having lived with it for nearly three decades but then I popped it in. Their last release where it felt like it was just them and me. Their sound changes with Arab Strap (to great effect! [with diminishing returns thereafter]), closing a book on a once mysterious group.

Best soundtrack ever. Prince proving he can do anything. Maybe the best pop album of the eighties. I had like eight copies of this across all formats. Will probably buy more just because. The fucking coolest.

Nick at his most menacing.

I enjoyed some of their earlier singles- twitchy guitars and Karen o is definitely a charismatic performer; that said, this sounds like an LCD soundsystem album and I’m not Johnny Disco. I’m sure I might like some of these songs on a well curated playlist but I was glad when the album ended.

Does these mean there are two Buzzcock albums on the list?!? Punchy, aggressive melodic. Not nearly as awesome as singles going steady though

With her preternatural voice and presence, Aretha singing baby shark for 45 minutes would still be a three star. But with songs as strong as these…

I’m not going to return to this album over and over but man what a strange

Otis taking other peoples songs and owning them. Heck yeah.

Tepid watered down garbage. The pit of American rock and roll.

Mingus at his shamanistic best. Somehow ramshackle and meticulously orchestrated.

No thank you.

Not my kinda rap.

A level of misogyny, homophobia, antisemitism characteristic of the rap of the time (honestly even more so) paired with stories so vivid and expertly told delivered by one of the best to ever do it. Can say the same about his previous (and superior) first two solo albums. I hope he’s grown over the past three and a half decades. 3 as is; 5 without the skits and misdirected anger.

Shit cooks as it goes in. First listen I was annoyed by all the talking, but three listens later and I appreciated this as documentation of a real cookin event.

Sometimes a little clunky but always lovely with at least three perfect songs.

Starts a little politely- maybe due to the Newport audience of 1960. But really gets smoking midway through. Maybe not where I would start but worth a listen.