1001 Albums Summary

'Why Did It Have To Be Me' felt like it could have been a Fleetwood Mac song, probably my favorite besides the obvious hits. Maybe don't open up a groundbreaking album on 'When I Kissed The Teacher' but we're in a different teacher-kissing era nowadays, maybe it was a good idea then.

I'd love to hear Tracy Chapman do a cover of 'Big Brother.' The clavinet would transpose well to fingerstyle guitar and their voices are similar. I was also really wanting to hear a heavy guitar riff to come in before the chorus of 'I Believe (When I Fall In Love It Will Be Forever)' just like 'Live And Let Die' by Wings. Still a wonderful song though, and not everything needs to be a power ballad.

When 'Love Song' came on I immediately thought "wow this sounds like a Prince song" and yes, looks like Captain Obvious was right again. Co-produced, co-written and performed by Prince. Always love to discover artist collabs I'd never hear otherwise. I did take a long look in the mirror though after hearing that baby laugh in 'Dear Jessie' and thought "what am I doing listening to this album?" With that said listening to this led me to follow it up with 1998's 'Ray of Light' and I had a wayyyy better time. It made me appreciate this album more in retrospect.

The first time I ever heard 'Give Up The Funk (Tear The Roof Off The Sucker)' was in 2006 on a Honda Odyssey commercial. The van is back!

Fun and quick sample of Queen's 'Flash's Theme' at the intro of 'Terminator X To the Edge Of Panic'. 'She Watch Channel Zero?!' is very 'Sabotage' by Beastie Boys. I think the amount of looped high-pitch saxophone throughout the album started to wear me down but it was worth it. My favorite was 'Party For Your Right To Fight' with the two rappers in unison with each voice panned to opposite channels. A dynamic listening experience.

I love this album so much. I would have loved to have been old enough to enjoy and appreciate this back when it released in 1998. When I was young my dad was a Moby fan so 'Play' was my introduction to electronic music. That and the soundtrack to Pi for some reason. Looking back I think this album specifically has something about it that feels so 1998 to me, like I wouldn't be surprised if a Fatboy Slim song is in a Need For Speed game from that era. Or like the Agent Cody Banks soundtrack.

Incredible album. I love Joni's poetic songwriting. My favorite of this relisten was 'The Last Time I Saw Richard.' I would give 5 stars to 'Hejira' too, that's my favorite Joni Mitchell album and I recommend it.

This record is weird and bad and I like it.

'Life's Greatest Fool' was strong. I started losing interest after that and don't remember anything else I liked about it.

When I sat down to listen to this album I did some time traveling to try remembering hearing it for the first time 13 years ago. Honestly I think I must have been a snob back then because I remember not liking it. Specifically, I remember not liking the twinkly synth and the lead vocals and putting CHVRCHES in pop jail with Ellie Goulding or whoever else I hated in 2013. My favorite song back then (and today too) is "You Caught The Light", but now I feel bad because I missed out on the rest of the solid jams on here like "Science/Visions" and "Night Sky". Maybe there's something inherently misogynistic about writing off the other songs because I didn't like the female vocalist but then praising the song at the end where 'the guy sings finally.' I'm glad I had the chance to relisten and appreciate a solid record.