1001 Albums Summary

I liked a few of the songs. Morrissey’s voice got to be a lot after a while. Not really my thing but I kind of get some of it.

Beautiful harmonies, meaningful lyrics, some well known tunes.

A few bright spots, but overall I found it repetitive and droning. It was a slog to get through.

A bit heavier than what I typically listen to, but surprisingly melodic and catchy. I would maybe give it only three stars, but I can see it improving upon repeated listening.

Obviously a well known album - but one that I didn't really know. I liked the brightness of the sound. It still doesn't sound dated to me; U2 were ahead of their time.

Iconic album, with some brilliant tracks. I kind of want to give it five stars, but it's just not the kind of music I turn to again and again. The title track will never not be amazing!

Unique doesn’t begin to describe her sound. I was surprised by how much of this album I enjoyed.

Liked the mellow beats that had me dancing around the house, but overall not something I would seek out again any time soon.

Loved the bluesy sounds and continuous drive of the guitar riffs. Great vocals, too.

If 3.5 stars were an option, I would definitely give that score. Really enjoyed the covers of old standards and a few of the original songs, but not something I would seek out.

The tracks were so long - it was like reading a book with long chapters and trying to maintain your attention span. That said, the music was kind of infectious and it grew on me as time went on. Didn’t love it; didn’t hate it; ears were opened to something new.

These songs really made me think about what the artist was trying to say. The compositions were lovely, too. Not something I would have sought out on my own, but I’m glad I listened to it.

This genre is right in my wheelhouse. I liked the arrangements more than her singing, which I find a bit affected, despite her lovely voice. I also didn’t love her jokey treatment of some of the songs, but all in all it was still a great listening experience.

Just didn’t care for this. Talented people all around, but the songs went on too long with too much repetition. They became mini jam sessions. There were a few bright spots, but all in all this was a bit of a slog.

This was an interesting little time capsule. Am I going to make a point to listen to this again? Nah. But it was fun to listen to and the music wasn’t terrible.

There are only a few tunesmiths on this planet who can write lyrics on par with Paul Simon. Gorgeous.

There were some catchy tunes, and it was more guitar heavy than I anticipated. Enjoyable, but more of a 3.5 star for me.

This is a tough one to rate. Did I like it? Yes, quite a bit! Did I like listening to such a specific genre far outside my usual listening for a sustained period of time? Not so much. In short, each individual song - great. An entire album - less great. 3.5 stars.

Well, I thought I was going to hate this. But it was just upbeat enough to be good music for zoning out during a workout. Definitely not my thing, but not awful.

I really liked this! Not uniformly great, but strong songwriting and nice mellow vibes overall.

I am tempted to give this four stars - I liked some of the songs a lot better than songs on albums that I've given a higher rating to. But I didn't love all of the songs or the overall listening experience. If they'd all had Dolly on lead, it'd definitely get a 5. Enjoyable overall.

There were a few tracks I didn’t care for, but all in all this was a very solid and soulful listen.

This was fine. I didn’t find it particularly remarkable, but this isn’t really my genre. It was fun to listen to during a workout. I did really enjoy hearing the radio friendly hit “What Have I Done To Deserve This” again after so many years.

This was a boring exercise in persistence for me. There is one good song that is famous for a reason. The rest were too repetitive and dragged on too long. Disappointing because I generally enjoy this genre.

Wow, this was totally unexpected. I have no idea what I thought it was going to be, but it definitely wasn't what it turned out to be. Initially I thought it was early rap or hip hop, but it deviates from that into a delightful blend of different world cultures. Very pleasantly surprised.

This is definitely not a genre I've spent much time with. I liked the slower songs, particularly Orion. Otherwise, not for me, though I can appreciate the skill.

I enjoyed some of the songs. Country isn’t my favorite, but I do enjoy this era.

Really close to a five star for me. Very atmospheric and nicely mellow. The songs all seem to flow seamlessly and cohere effortlessly. I added a couple OMD songs to my 'likes.'

I liked some aspects of their no frills sound. At times I thought I was in an actual garage.

Endlessly catchy and heavy riffs. This really helped me power through my hour-long workout.

While it may not be something I often turn to, this album is objectively a classic and I admire the craftsmanship.

I couldn’t get into this. There were a few tracks I mildly enjoyed but nothing really grabbed my attention.

I knew she could sing, but she can really SING. Like the vintage sounding tracks the most.

I was pleasantly surprised by this album. Great frontman with thundering bass.

This could almost be a three, as I enjoyed a few of the tracks. But there were also a few I disliked and one I skipped entirely because I couldn't wait for it to be over.

Cinematic. Operatic. Overwrought. Over the top. But fun.

I enjoyed some of this. I had to skim through some of the songs with repetitious clips of people talking. Otherwise, not awful during my workout and at times pleasant.

I confess I skimmed through several tracks. Many of the songs are inventive and playful, with some great beats. But some of the lyrics were off putting and a little gross for my taste.

This was a joyless exercise in listening for the sake of listening. I like rock, but I didn’t like this at all.

The good songs are really good! The rest of them are a bit more ho-hum and the piano sounds a lot alike from one song to the next. But still quite enjoyable.

Absolutely brilliant tracks like All Along the Watchtower and Voodoo Chile (Slight Return), but also a lot of experimentation bordering on mindless noise - at least as far as my taste as concerned. Probably giving it an extra star based on the standout tracks.

A cozy homespun gem from my favorite musician and master of melody. I have nothing but love for it, though I skipped Kreen Akrore as I typically do.

I really didn’t like this - which is a shame because it could have been good if he knew how to edit a bit. I skimmed through the 10+ minute songs and tried hard to get into the manageable ones. Just didn’t work for me.

Catchy tracks, but they all sound so very similar to each other.

Who doesn’t love Tom Petty? Such an authentic sound, as open as a highway on the plains.

I actually liked this one! The other one I had to listen to was not as enjoyable.

I struggled a bit to get through this and skipped through the ends of a few of the songs.

Iconic. Not a bad track on it.

This was just okay. It was a bit dour and downbeat for me. I did really like one song though.

Skipped through most of this. Fun beats but way too repetitive for me. Sorry z

I enjoyed this more than I thought I would. Very inventive and it had a nice flow.

This was fine, I guess. I got a little tired of her voice. Not for me.

Not bad, but it’s not like it’s A Tribe Called Quest, either.

This was nice to hear after having to listen to rap. 2.5 stars.

I tried. I gave up about halfway through and started skimming through the tracks very rapidly. I need melody. I need discernible instruments. This was unpleasant noise. Sorry.

A few standout tracks, and then a lot of songs that all sound a lot alike. Good, but not great.

I dug the grooves, but the songs themselves didn't really do anything for me.

There was zero chance this would get anything other than five stars. My first time ever getting through all of Revolution 9. Other than that…

This was quirky and catchy enough to get me to like it a little.

Interesting album. I can’t say I really liked it, but “The Gift” had me on the edge of my seat.

I tried listening to it on YouTube but didn’t care for it at all.

I still like “When I Come Around.” Otherwise, not really my thing but catchy enough in spots.

I’m a big Sinatra fan, and this collaboration with Jobim is nice, but not quite top tier for me. Love Change Partners, though.

I’ve never really been fond of Janis Joplin’s voice, though there are a few songs that stand out. Unfortunately, there was only one of those on this album. 2.5 stars.

I think I’m lacking some sort of mental computer chip that allows me to really get Steely Dan. I like My Old School, though.

This was one of the worst things I’ve ever subjected my ears to. During the first track, I thought “Okay, this is pretty bad but the whole album can’t be like this.” Boy, was I wrong. I don’t even know what was happening, but I know I hated it. I think there were maybe three tracks where we hear the ‘protagonist’ going on and on about his TV not working? That is some riveting source material. Maybe it was satire, but it still didn’t need to suck that bad.

Two British rappers in a row has me feeling less than charitable. I’ll give it two stars, not because I liked it, but because it wasn’t quite as awful as The Streets.

I liked it. I also like the idea that a Jewish kid from NYC ran away to join a rodeo and learned to become a guitar picking troubadour. 3.5 stars.

I didn’t care for this at all - no ma’am! The songs were mostly melancholy and the melodies, such as they were, fell flat. Boring and joyless and not for me.

Not their best.

Not a big favorite. Most of the tracks sound quite dated. “The Way You Make Me Feel” will always be good, though, and “The Man in the Mirror,” while a bit cheesy (especially with that big jet change at the end!), has a great melody and is a nice motivational sentiment.

I wanted to give it more stars, because I loved the concept and the grooves, but ultimately the songs were too repetitive.

Gorgeous. “Cecelia” is one of the happiest songs I’ve ever heard. “Bridge Over Troubled Water” and “The Boxer” plumb the depths of the opposite emotional pole. There is a lot more I could say, but I’m on my second Old Fashioned and I’m feeling a little lazy. 4.5 stars.

Clever rhymes and some catchy beats and melodies.

I think this album would improve with familiarity. Maybe I’m being too generous. 2.75 stars.

Pearl Jam is supposed to be one of the touchstone groups of my generation (late Gen X) but for some reason it’s never resonated with me. I found it hard to get through and had to skip half of some of the songs.

This started off rocky - in the sense that I didn’t like it - but it grew on me. Nice for zoning out. Very complex things happening with both vocal harmony and arranging.

The lyrics were mostly awful, and at times just icky and gross. Maybe I'm supposed to think it's funny, but I guess it doesn't appeal to my particular style of humor. The frontman was a bit over the top in his vocal stylings, too. It's a shame, because some of the music was actually fun and catchy, but literally everything else marred it.

I know he’s talented. But I’m old. If it’s rap and it isn’t at least 30 years old…

Surprisingly good and nicely trippy in a mellow way.

Pretty good but rather ‘samey.’

I have loved many of these tracks for years and years. R&B from this era is my bread and butter, and Solomon Burke is a giant. But there are a few songs on here that are a little less than great, so I’m stopping just short of five stars. 4.5 stars.

Five for the beats and 1 for the rest. I have a sense of humor but gross is gross.

Fun but so repetitive after a while. Blitzkrieg Bop can’t carry the weight of the entire album.

Some nice melodies, and good lyrics, but his voice truly is a lot.

Mellow and interesting but failed to capture me.

Absolutely lovely, joyous, and sweet. Liked even the more minor key tunes. Multiple ‘likes’ added on Spotify.

I liked Heroes and Villains.

A bit of a slog in a few places, but mostly rather enjoyable.

I'm a bit torn on this one. I really loved the mellower tracks, but the up tempo ones left me a little cold. Everyone involved is obviously brilliant, but my brain doesn't really know what to do with the fast improvisational stuff that goes on forever. It craves a melody.

Well, that was interesting. This double album seems to offer something for everyone. I found myself skipping through the loud screamy ones, but the more chill melodic ones were really nice. With this many tracks, they can't all be bad and they can't all be good. So it's a 3 for me, dawg.

It's Prince. It's good.

Johnny Cash is the epitome of effortless cool.

I have no idea how to rate this. It wasn’t really music in the traditional sense.

The songs all sound a lot alike, but they mostly sound good! I can see people coming at me for giving the Go-Gos 4 stars when I gave Leonard Cohen only two, but a lot of it just enjoyment. Sort of like how I would rather watch Singin’ in the Rain or Back to the Future than Citizen Kane. One may be objectively more artistic, but for me it comes down to pleasure in listening.

Very atmospheric and cool. Didn’t think I would like it, but it wasn’t bad at all.

Not bad, but also not great. I liked the Beatley sounding ones, like Game of Pricks.

You know, I didn’t know what to think. I really only know this guy‘s name because he is almost always in crossword puzzles, but I actually liked its quirkiness.

Lots of fun.

Started out okay, but I grew weary of it pretty quickly.

I liked a couple of the songs, but the loud guitar feedback got to be a lot. People with tinnitus beware!

I like folk music. I like thoughtful lyrics. I even sometimes like minor key, but this was unrelentingly minor key somehow the ingredients just didn’t gel for me.

I love their soaring harmonies and beautiful melodies. Perfectly constructed pop. Rounding up from 4.5 stars.

Pretty close to perfect.

Some cool beats and interesting sounds, but nah.

Such a cool, detached sound.

Must have been great to be there in person.

Yikes. A cacophony of sound. Not in a good way.

I actually liked some of the tracks, especially Roygbiv. But this will just never be my genre.

Ah, balm to my ears. But still not my favorite. 3.5 stars.

N O P E

I couldn't really listen to this. Groove metal, if that's what this is, ain't for me.

2.5 stars. Really talented musicians, just not to my taste.

I know that people give these guys stick for borrowing too much from the Beatles. While that is true (I particularly get more Lennon from them), the music was still very catchy.

Didn’t love it. Didn’t hate it. I’ll probably never listen to it again. 2.5 stars rounding up to 3.

I get why Tainted Love was a big hit. And that’s all I have to say about this album.

Lovely voice and catchy tunes.

This album had a lot of atmosphere. I liked it!

I would have liked this more if she had been singing actual words.

I’m not at all likely to listen to this again, but I didn’t mind it. Some catchy tunes on here.

The temptation is to give them high marks because they’re the Rolling Stones. The thing is, while the good songs are really good, there’s a lot of filler here.

I’m torn. It was different and interesting, and there were some enjoyable moments. But I can’t say that overall it was a great experience for me.

The melodies, harmonies, and exuberance… just pop perfection. 4.5 stars.

Not sure what I just heard! Kind of a wild ride.

Willie's voice is as American as baseball, apple pie, and the sun setting over a field of wheat. Beautiful album of American standards interpreted by a master.

Kind of fun but not something I’d ever listen to, like, ever again.

I actually liked this a lot. Fun and interesting.

I really enjoyed this. He’s at his best in familiar territory (country or country-adjacent music), with the exception of Hurt and the old standard We’ll Meet Again. I didn’t love the inclusion of back up or duet singers.

Life is too short to listen to music you don’t like and never will like.

Great stuff.

Just a whole lot of good songs. Not much else to be said.

Just not my thing.

I know it takes a lot of talent to play this way, but I just don’t like this kind of music. It was okay until they opened their mouths to ‘sing.’

Not bad, but kind of boring. It felt like the songs never really went anywhere.

I feel like this will improve with repeated listening - it didn’t immediately grab me.

Not my kind of jazz, but clearly massively talented.

I am torn. Didn’t love it, didn’t hate it, thought some of it was pretty decent. 2.5 stars.

I want to give it 4. I think it’s good. Just misses a 4.

An interesting album. Lots of images in his lyrics. I like his voice, and some of his melodies are lovely. This made the stranger tracks seem very strange indeed.

Not for me. Nope. No sir.

Subject matter was just too macabre for me, but some of the songs were well crafted.

I prefer the Gershwin covers Ella did with Ellis Larkins, but here you’ve got George and Ira, Ella Fitzfreakinggerald, AND Nelson Riddle. Tough to beat.

I liked this more than I thought I would - it has a fun proto punk energy. But will I ever listen to it again? Doubtful.

Sweet and mellow. Good lyrics. Really liked this.

Some people say Jimi Hendrix is overrated. What I know about guitar technique could fill a thimble, so I won't speak to that. I would say some of the songs on this album are on the weak side, but the good ones are really good.

I didn't know what to expect, but I actually liked this! It was sort of emo, sort of pop, sort of rock, sort of blues... but not any single one of those things on its own.

I think the songs would improve if I gave them more time and grew to fully understand the lyrics. Otherwise they all kind of sounded the same - pleasant enough, but nothing fully grabbed me.

I liked some of the uptempo funky ones, but the ballads…? Not so much.

I dig all the horns and Fame is funky.

I tried, but nah.

I love just about every note Sam Cooke ever sung. In the studio. This, though, hmmm… I’m sure in person it was magnificent. But it was a bit too high energy and all over the place for me, listening to it on the way to get a cortisone injection.

I thought Iron Maiden would be heavy and intolerable. Turns out I was wrong. I didn’t mind it at all.

You know, this had a inauspicious beginning for me. But somehow it grew on me! It was fun. I don’t think they are taking themselves too seriously. Loved the Beach Boys inspired tune as the album closer.

Tough call this one. Wasn’t wild about some of the melodies, but I really liked the vocals and lyrics.

You know, I was going to be more charitable and give this maybe a two. For most of the album that was my mindset - but after 25, 30, 40 songs I’m fed up. There were some cool sounds but cool sounds alone do not a good song make.

There are some very pretty melodies and musicianship on this album. Just didn’t fully do it for me.

Some of the songs were knockouts. Others, not as much.

Nothing quite like the old stuff.

This wasn’t bad. It just wasn’t for me. And that’s okay.

Not sure what I just listened to. Guy seems obsessed with rectums. Good beats though.

This was peaceful and had some pretty melodies.

A lot of fun and energy.

Some of this was pretty enjoyable, but a couple of tracks were truly a slog.

I mean, it's the Temptations, so it wasn't bad, but it wasn't exactly my favorite thing to listen to.

N to the O to the P to the E.

3.5 stars.

I am tempted to give it a 3 because I actually didn't mind it, which is surprising given I don't really care for this style of music. I dug her vocals, though! But it's still a 2.

I know Miles Davis is a genius. But I’m not going to be pretentious and pretend I liked this.