1001 Albums Summary

I could call him Al, but I'll call this album pretty darn great.

They play the shit out of these songs. Too bad the writing isn't terribly compelling.

Some wonderful songs even if I don't consider it outstanding.

I don't think ska is for me--and probably a larger problem I have with punk where the intensity or energy overshadows other qualities that I value in songcraft. That said, this is good fun and I see why it's a classic.

SIMPLY THE BEST.

Gonna give this two stars because, while it's a fine album, we're grading this on a curve of essential listening for one's entire life. And while I did not hate any moment of this, very little of it left me with anything I'll remember.

A solid end to the Quincey/MJ collaboration. A steely collection of songs where Michael has never sounded tighter. Love the edge on this thing.

Groovy.

Nice! Love how varied it is! Sinéad has presence for days! Wish I liked the songwriting more!

Like a warm summer's evening. Exquisite, deceptively simple writing and performances. May never be a huge favorite but is enchanting nonetheless.

Smooth!

Fun album! If my life weren't in total upheaval this week, I'd probably enjoy it a great deal more.

Maybe I'll listen to this without the added tracks on the U.S. edition. But there's some lovely stuff here.

Gorgeous.

2000s indie folk was catnip for teen me, and honestly, this really scratched that itch. Lush, full of presence, with wonderful songwriting.

What a vibe! So gentle! Does any particular track stand out? Not particularly. Yet, I am nonetheless transported.

SIMPLY THE BEST!!!!

Is it fully my thing? Nah. But there are a bunch of incredible songs and some of the most forward-thinking production ever.

Sonic Youth's final hour. Or 45 minutes or whatever.

Good, but too long.

More notable to me for its massive influence, but still a lot of breezy fun.

*shrug* I don't hate this. Far from my favorite U2.

Absolutely stunning, and while this is a little out of my zone, I'm so happy I get to listen to more country music through this project.

Yeah... nah.

I've been a Blur skeptic/agnostic, but this puts most of my indifference to rest. Really strong stuff.

HAHAHAHAHA!!! Yes, YES!!!!

Divine.

Millimeters from perfection.

WHERE THE HELL DID THIS COME FROM???

Magnificent.

Mad I can't give this six stars.

The best to do it.

Pretty good. For the purposes of this project, gonna rate it a little lower, but it's absolutely worth checking out.

Speaks for itself.

Maybe still her best!!

Yeah, it's okay.

It's a fine debut but they get so much better than this.

*Chef's kiss*

Really surprised me. Could definitely see myself bumping this up. Good stuff.

*thumbs up!*

Hey! A pleasant surprise!

Never gonna be my favorite post rock classic but I appreciate it for its idiosyncrasies and lower stakes.

Totally pleasant. Beautifully recorded and performed. Wish there were more highlights and less patter.

Giving this the softest of 2s only because the production is so ahead of its time. Otherwise, this really stinks.

Boss.

Sick.

Maybe her third or fourth best album and a total masterpiece.

Yeah! Sure! Sounds good!

As great as I remember, maybe better.

Rush is never going to be my thing but I enjoy and appreciate most of what's going on here a great deal.

Like flying in an empty sky.

If the back half sags a little, it doesn't hurt it so much that this it's not one of the best albums ever recorded.

FUNKY!!

Very uneven, but the highs are so strong. Should've been an album of songs as good as "Every Breath You Take" and "King of Pain."

You know what rules about this album? Literally every moment of it.

Takes a bit of a dip in the back half. Gonna give this the softest of fours. This is really good.

*shrug* I had a nice time.

An album I'll come back to every five or six years and like. This would be the first time I loved it.

Hell yeah.

Would be a four if the back half were stronger but this is a lot of fun. Only really demands much because the songs go on for so long but rarely overstay their welcome individually.

Stunning and deeply sad. I love it.

British meathead shit. Gotta give it up.

Not my favorite east coast classic but I appreciated it far more this time around.

Probably my lowest scoring Radiohead album on this list.

I actually like this fine but it's undoubtedly one of the weaker albums I've gotten so far.

Was going to give this a three on the outside, but the way this evolves and grows is simply too effective. Soft four.

Skipping ahead to this one. Lower on my T-Swift rankings but I can't deny it's got more juice than not.

What's going on with that sailor portion?

Another revisit that brought this up for me. Really good album.

Wish these immaculate songs were in service of better developed storytelling.

Simply not as aligned with this one as I'd like to be but it has plenty of strong moments.

King shit.

Funky!

Yeah, it's Murmur. It rocks.

Wish the rest was as strong as its mind-melting bookends, but it's still great.

Wish this did more for me.

Sorry! Moz freaked it on this one!

Immaculate.

One of the most absorbing and bruising rock records ever made. Blistering and wounded and beautiful.

I mean... their best? Maybe???

I am so close to giving this a four but I have to be honest with myself. I like this a whole lot!

There are way worse albums that have been too long.

Pretty! Wish there was more there!

Funky!

Wish I liked this a little more.

Total Vic-tori

Top five of all time for me.

Top 10, maybe top 20. It had been a while since I revisited this. Happy to report the magic is still there.

I was not familiar with your game!

Wild!

Meh. I didn't hate this.

All teeth. I love it.

Still really good. Wish I thought it was great.

Nice!

Hell yeah.

Has a handful of outstanding tracks but is way too long.

Lotta fun.

Rocks hard. I'm almost certainly never going to listen to this ever again.

I haven't listened to this in full this decade but I've listened to it overall more times than I can remember. I know it too well and it is too formative for me not to have a place in my heart for it.

Rules.

It's good!

Smooth!

*shrug* That's fine.

Intense!

I miss the old Kanye

Legendary!

Funky also!

Expected a much weaker album and just thoroughly enjoyed all of it, even if I wish it cut the three or four weakest songs.

If I were in a slightly better mood, I might bump it up, but I'm just not totally feeling this today.

He came!

Goes hard.

The lightest of fours.

Super solid!

Them bleeps bloop hard.

It's to the detriment of this album that it has a monster ambitious suite that rocks so hard, and then a bunch of songs that are merely okay.

Kinda wish each song was about 10% stronger.

Pretty, but outside of a handful of great tracks, just a little lacking.

Too long, but moment to moment, I'm having a great time.

Real good shit.

Classic rock at its absolute finest.

Whatabanger!

Top heavy but good throughout.

I love this album so much, but I can't quite justify giving it a 5 today. Very close, though!

*shrug* I liked it okay.

A strong improvement on Transformer.

Rock music is the best.

That's nice!!

Man, music is the best.

Very close to a five. Just a few songs too long. Otherwise, lives up to the hype.

I liked this okay but it really wore on my by the end. Half a very good album couched in some novelty nonsense.

Underrated!!

Almost 70 years old, yet it feels utterly timeless.

Love this with all of my heart.

Hey, I'll have what she's having.

Even if it's a few songs too long, it's still so good track by track that I gotta give it the highest marks.

This has pushed back my project a few weeks because I had to listen to every Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds album. Zero regrets.

Shockingly catchy and smooth. Love it.

Yeah! Very good!

Lovely!

Yeah, sure.

In my bones, this one!

Should've been the start of a starling career. Still a formidable set of songs.

The poster child of being greater than the sum of your parts.

Too long, but very good.

Hey! That's pretty good!

Not bad, but not my thing.

As a Stones skeptic, I gotta give it up!

Look, I might give this a four in the future, but I really only care about "Life on Mars?".

Nirvana's best???

Even a slightly lower tier Nina Simone album is some of the best music ever recorded.

Have to give it up. That's a five.

Yup!

Music is the best.

It's good!

Kinda perfect?

Not as good as the previous Buckley we did, but I admire the swings.

Love it!

I got a good chuckle out of it.

Bobbin' my head!

Nah.

Yeah, sure.

Gotta check out more of The Fall.

I like the album Tommy!

No notes! (Or, you know, lots of them, but no criticism.)

What a nice surprise!

The more I sit with this, the less I like it.

Could do without the lyricism on here, but musically and sonically, it's kinda bulletproof.

So lovely.

What a king!

Rockin'!

STEVIE!!!

Uhhh... Where did that come from??

It took almost 200 albums, but I finally found one to give a single point. And man, is this well-earned. It's not just that Kid Rock is a tacky MAGA loser who cosplays as a working class southerner; it's that his imagination is limited to womanizing and partying and wiping his ass with other people. There's one song about a relationship gone awry that kinda has some juice, but it mostly sounds like self-pitying swill. I get that this has some value as a piece of pop culture history, but at what cost? Just 71 minutes of loser shit for bozos and date rapists.

Landmark work of genius.

One of the five greatest pieces of recorded music in my lifetime.

We were!! We were born to run!!!

I mean, come on! What's not to love?

While I know Britney Spears fans would rank this lower overall, this is still a seminal album, and pretty fun!