1001 Albums Summary

I usually only listen to Paul's Boutique when it comes to Beastie Boys, but it's nice to mix things up, I like the nods to their hardcore roots and frequent shifts into psychedelic jazz and experimental groove. Better than I was expecting, and more experimental in terms of production. Enjoyed Sabotage more than usual in the wider context of the record. Starts with a really great flow to the whole thing, though it lags a bit in the middle and could probably be tightened up. In general, a highly enjoyable listen.

Been playing a lot of Red Dead Redemption so feeling particularly partial to cowboy music. At the end of the day it's quite fun, though it also feels impossible to divorce from the last 65 years of its recontextualisation and memeification, and gets pretty samey pretty quickly

Just can't really get on borde with Lorde, the over-earnestness of the vocal is hard to get past, every word annunciated as if it's extremely important, but really never going that much deeper than the surface level in terms of content. Though I wonder if I might feel differently were I closer to the kind of age Lorde was when she wrote it, and whether there's just too much of a gap in perspective that makes this harder for me to engage with.

All time classic! Though it's a little bit dated perhaps, I still think this really holds up. The production is hyperactive and fun, the energy is really infectious, the songwriting is witty and sharp. I'll even let De La Orgee slide

I mean, this was catnip as a sad sad angsty 14 year old, I still know this album back to front. Re-listening as an adult, yeah some of it is way too twee for a 31-year-old palette, but you know what a lot of it holds up, particularly the more experimental synthy bits and when they kick up the energy a bit with the guitar

One of the things that’s surprised me the most is the creative sampling and appropriating, the weird use of Enya and various little danchell references. It’s kind of one of those classic albums that you know is a classic for a reason. I’ve obv heard all the big singles from it, but then you listen to the whole thing it’s obvious why. All the same, when records are this tightly crafted, I sometimes struggle to feel a personal connection.

Just a really solid soul album, such a wonderful voice that’s brimming with charisma. Feels pretty timeless

Jam bands just aren’t for me. I get that they’re all very talented but this is just way too much self indulgent noodling for my taste

Banger! One of those albums I’ve heard a million times so a little of the magic has worn off, and Bluebell Knoll is still their best, but you can’t deny this is great

There are like, one or two good tunes on here when Brian Jones gets to go a bit psychedelic, but then the rest are just pure mid-60s blues filler. Jagger’s voice has never honked quite so hard, it’s actually quite annoying. Then there's the lyrics - hashtagproblematic at best, rancid and rapey at worst. A real slog. ¡No bueno!

Is this the most 90s album of all? I think so. It's really uplifting, makes you feel like it's 1997 and Tony Blair's gonna be great and we've ended racism and everything's gonna be OK with no disappointments / war crimes on the horizon. Hot take but I actually like the Brimful of Asha version here more than the Fatboy Slim remix (although the Phoenix Nights version will always be my number one). It's not like, groundbreaking musically, and every now and then we verge a little bit into dreaded electro swing town, and there's quite a bit of filler, but it's got so much charm that I don't really mind.