1001 Albums Summary

The Isley Brothers, 3 + 3 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Album #7 and a new discovery for me. This is a great record, a really really enjoyable listen. I wasn’t very familiar with the Isley Brothers beyond Footsteps in the Dark and the fact that they’ve been sampled heavily in hip hop, Kendrick Lamar, Ice Cube, that sort of thing. I do really enjoy soul music, even if I don’t tend to gravitate towards it that often. The opening track here is an utterly smoking soul song with a cracking guitar solo at the end. In fact, there are loads of guitar parts across the album that I really really like. It feels like an album of moments. I don’t necessarily love every song all the way through, but there’s at least one moment on every track where I think that’s really fucking cool. It also turns out I already knew a few of the songs, including the opener and Summer Breeze, which I think is beautifully placed towards the end of the album. It really lifts things again after the middle sags a bit. Overall, I really really enjoyed it, and I’ll definitely be checking out more from this group in the future. Always nice to get a genuinely great new discovery

Metallica, Metallica ⭐️⭐️ Album #8. I cringed a bit when I saw this come up this morning. I’ve known Metallica all my life. I wouldn’t say I’m a fan. I like and borderline love a few of their songs, but they’re a small doses band for me. I was anxious at the thought of listening to the whole album. Turns out I was right. I have a few major gripes with this band, chief amongst them being their sound. Not the music, not the composition or the lyrics, it’s the fucking sound. Horribly compressed, like it’s playing from within a resonant box, sucking in on itself, completely devoid of dynamics. I hate it. This, to me, is not heavy. It doesn’t feel loud. It feels artificial in a majorly bad way. Secondly, it’s the rhythm section. Much of this stuff has been meme’d to death, but it’s still worth pointing out. The bass is so undefined. It’s just a low end splat in the mix. And Lars. Before today, I actually felt the criticism he gets was unfair. But my God. I’m sure these drum parts were meticulously crafted, but they’re played so rigidly. I’m a drummer myself, admittedly not part of a billion dollar band like Metallica, I’ve never made ten quid in music, but these parts are played so boringly and lifelessly that I feel you’d get more soul from a drum machine. What earns this album a second star for me is Kirk Hammett. His playing is class. His solos elevate every song on the album, particularly The Unforgiven, which is by far the best track here. One of the only songs with a real dynamic range, and where James ditches the trademark snarl and actually sings a bit. I also like some of the faster songs, like Holier Than Thou. I know this album is a departure from their thrash metal roots, so maybe I’d like the earlier albums more. I may get slated for this, but I don’t get it. By the end, I felt pulverised. Maybe that’s the point. I’ll probably never listen to it again.

The Who, My Generation ⭐️⭐️⭐️ Album #9. This is a strong three, and it could easily become a four with repeated listens. Of all the British Invasion bands, I’m least familiar with The Who, so I was delighted when this came up. They’ve always been more of a singles band for me. This is some heavy shit, heavy even by today’s standards. I can’t imagine what people thought when it was released in 1965. 1965! I don’t really care for the soul and blues covers. I totally understand why they included them, paying homage to their influences and introducing them to a British audience, but on a modern listen I’d rather hear James Brown or Muddy Waters do these songs. That said, Nicky Hopkins is pure class on I’m a Man. I also think Daltrey sounds a bit awkward on the covers. Their original tracks are far more compelling. My Generation and The Kids Are Alright are iconic and rank among the best songs of the 60s. As a band, though, holy shit. They sound fully formed here on their debut album. Crashing, smashing drums, chunky bass lines, and frenetic, ahead of its time guitar work. It sounds incredible. However music was recorded back then, it just feels like you can’t recreate that sound today. It’s beautiful. The slightly weak link for me is Daltrey, who sounds like he’s still finding his voice on this record. Overall though, really enjoyable.

Radiohead, Amnesiac ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Album #10. My first Radiohead album on the list, and probably one I’m least familiar with. I’m a big Radiohead fan and I love most of their music. I would question the inclusion of this album on the list, despite it being very very good, as it’s essentially an outtakes album from the Kid A sessions. It does feel like that in a lot of ways. It doesn’t feel as cohesive as some of their other projects, but why would it? It’s not really a full blown studio album in the same sense. It gets four stars because it doesn’t reach the level of consistency of their other masterpieces like OK Computer, Kid A, and In Rainbows. That said, it absolutely does reach those heights at times, particularly with Pyramid Song. This is as good a song as any I’ve ever heard in my life, and might possibly be their best ever. It’s a very top heavy album. The first half is absolute spectacular and includes a lot of their staples. Radiohead at their best. Funnily enough, this period is often seen as their departure from guitar rock, but this album actually has loads of guitar on it, and whenever it appears it sounds incredible and fits the tone perfectly. I Might Be Wrong has an absolutely crunching riff, and something about the guitar interplay on Knives Out reminds me of In Rainbows and even parts of The King of Limbs outtakes, like it was pointing towards where they’d go later. The second half undoubtedly drops off. I wouldn’t call it filler, because by definition it isn’t, these are outtakes. But anything from Dollars and Cents onward doesn’t really do it for me. Life in a Glasshouse is clearly a complete song, but it’s not a personal favourite, even though I know some people love it. Finally, this album is dark. Dark as a pitch black night. It’s probably their darkest record, even darker than Kid A. There’s no Optimistic here. It’s bruisingly bleak. I really enjoyed it, and I’m looking forward to more Radiohead as the list goes on.

Antony and the Johnsons, I Am a Bird Now ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Album #12. I did not expect to give this five stars when it came up this morning. I have a real soft spot for this album. I remember when it came out, and weirdly enough I remember listening to it the year it was released. Looking back, I don’t know how I got into this as a 13 or 14 year old, but I did. I think it was because of My Lady’s Story. My Lady’s Story is one of my all time favourite songs. I think it was the only track I’d heard at the time. I must have come across it on some compilation somewhere, and that’s why I bought the album. I’ve been listening to it on and off for years. I’m absolutely not made of stone, I love a good weepy film and a weepy song, and this one routinely brings me to tears. I don’t even relate to the subject matter at all. It has nothing to do with my life. But the composition, the performance, and the lyrics are just staggeringly beautiful. As for the rest of the album, I hadn’t listened to it in years. Looking at the tracklist beforehand, I recognised some titles and thought I could hear them in my head, but I was completely wrong. I didn’t know this album at all. It is so beautiful and so well performed. Antony’s voice is incredibly unique, I genuinely can’t think of another singer who sounds like him. Beautifully emotive. And the lyrics are even better. There’s not a wasted line on the whole record. Nothing feels off or out of place. The imagery is gorgeous throughout. The guest appearances are great as well. Boy George is fantastic on You Are My Sister. And it’s got Lou Reed on it, for fuck’s sake, that tells you all you need to know. I’m loving this 1001 albums exercise because it’s forcing me to re evaluate records I thought I knew. I did not know this album at all. It absolutely deserves your full attention, so when it comes up for you, sit down and really listen to it.

Motörhead, No Sleep ’til Hammersmith ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Album #13. I wasn’t fully sold on parts of this while I was listening to it. I think I’m a Motörhead fan more in principle than in practice. One thing that bothered me early on was how little I could hear Lemmy in the early to mid section of the album, but that seemed to sort itself out as it went on. I’m not usually a big fan of live albums, but this absolutely does its job, because it made me desperate to see Motörhead live. RIP Lemmy. It gets four stars because when it’s good, it’s fucking blisteringly great. Proper bruising punk metal. I love Lemmy’s crowd interactions, he’s just a funny guy. His interviews and documentary prove that. I especially loved the bit where he told the crowd to shut the fuck up. It’s one dimensional, but that’s barely worth mentioning. It’s a Motörhead album. And the dimension it operates in is fucking great.

Ramones, Ramones ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Album #14. What can you say about the pioneers of punk here. This is a great, short, punky album that predates the 1977 birth of punk itself, so respect has to be given for it being such a trailblazing album. Is it one of my favourite punk albums of all time? Probably not. It’s very one note and quite monotonous to listen to at times, but also quite enjoyable because it is what it is, similar to Motörhead yesterday. It just is what it is. It’s so groundbreaking that it has to be respected and taken on its own merit. While a lot of the songs do sound the same, the subject matter jumps around wildly, from Nazism to drugs to surprisingly tender moments like I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend, which is probably my favourite song on the album. It’s also very short and snappy, so it gets points for that too. I don’t really see myself listening to this much in the future. It doesn’t necessarily contain my favourite kind of punk sound. I much prefer Never Mind the Bollocks, Here’s the Sex Pistols, which I think took the formula of this and brought it to a different level, though I know a lot of people would disagree with me there. But yeah, the lyrics are great, the riffs are good, and it’s a short, sweet, punky album that was way ahead of its time and completely groundbreaking. It paved the way for one of my favourite genres of music, so it definitely has to be respected.

The Beatles, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Album #15. I think in recent years this album has become underrated. I know Rolling Stone had it ranked as the greatest album of all time at one point, and now it’s somewhere in the 30s. It feels like it’s fallen a bit out of favour in Beatles discourse compared to Revolver, Abbey Road, and even Rubber Soul. I think this could very well be their best album. Conceptually it’s definitely their most sound album, and maybe one of the most conceptually sound albums ever made. The whole Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band idea is genius in my opinion. It was a great turn for the band to make, and I think they threw themselves into it. The tone and style are about 90 percent consistent with the concept. And it’s just fun. There are a lot of great songs on it. I think it might be McCartney’s strongest album. He’s all over it. While I wouldn’t usually jump straight into his more granny, sitting by the kitchen sink type songs, this probably has his best ones. She’s Leaving Home is great. I love Lennon’s vocal contributions too, even when McCartney is leading. And Lennon’s own songs are spectacular. It’s hard not to listen to A Day in the Life and think it’s one of the best songs ever recorded. My only gripe is Within You Without You. I don’t think it fits the tone of the album. Before anyone gets annoyed, it’s actually one of my favourite songs on the album on its own. I listen to it regularly. It just doesn’t fit the rest of the record in my opinion. It’s also Harrison’s only solo writing credit on the album, so maybe that’s just where he was at. I sometimes think about what it would have been like if Strawberry Fields Forever or I Am the Walrus had been on this instead. That would have been some tracklist. Look, it’s The Beatles. It’s arguably their most famous album and it’s just a cracker. I’m trying to limit five star reviews, but it’s very hard not to give this one five stars.

Charles Mingus, The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady ⭐️⭐️⭐️ Album #16. I am a total philistine when it comes to jazz. The depths of my jazz knowledge extend to Miles Davis’ Kind of Blue, which is probably the equivalent of someone only knowing Heartbreak Hotel by Elvis Presley. I don’t even know if that’s a good comparison, but that’s the level we’re at. It’s hard to review an album like this after one listen in one day. I usually listen to these albums first thing in the morning, but today I ended up listening to this while on a nighttime expedition to buy frozen broccoli. It turns out that might have been the perfect way to hear it. I like the dark tone and atmosphere. I really like how the whole album sounds. It’s sinister. My jazz terminology is poor, so I don’t really know how to describe individual parts, but I loved how the first track moves from sinister to sultry to freaky in a really subtle, smooth way. The second track felt pure cinematic. There’s also this weird bit where a trumpet sounds like a voice, I thought that was cool. The third track has an incredible piano opening. I don’t know if this album has been sampled to death by hip hop, but that section feels ripe for it. I started to lose a bit of patience on the fourth track, but I liked how it kept bringing back the main motif over and over again, and almost every time it returned it sounded uglier. That was really interesting. There are loads of moments that keep you on your toes, stabbing percussive tuba, random injections of flamenco style guitar, just strange choices that somehow work. The sound of the album and how cohesive it is is genuinely impressive. Why three stars? I feel like this might grow on me, and I’ll try as the list goes on. I am looking forward to more jazz. But as a genre, it often leaves me cold. It doesn’t really convey an emotional message to me in a clear way. When everything goes chaotic and mental, drums flying, saxophones and woodwind shrieking and billowing, I’m not always sure how I’m supposed to feel. I tend to feel very little. I prefer the quieter sections, they feel more meaningful to me. Maybe I’m just not smart enough for it. I’m sure this album is incredibly well thought out and composed, and I’m sure there’s meaning there, I just don’t connect with it yet. Maybe with repeat listens it’ll click, and maybe I’ll grow into jazz more as this list continues. For now, it’s a three star.

Jorge Ben, África Brasil ⭐️⭐️⭐️ Album #17. I’d never heard of this album until I joined this and started the 1001 album generator. I’d seen it reviewed a few times and people have really waxed lyrical about it, giving it five stars. For me, it’s good. At points it’s very, very good. It’s just not really my thing. I like African-influenced music — I’m a big fan of Fela Kuti — but I don’t really care much for samba or that style in general. I don’t hate it. I just don’t feel much towards it. The positives: the vocals are incredible. Some of the songs, like the opener, “Xica da Silva” and “História de Jorge”, are class. And the repetitive rhythms are something I usually really enjoy in music, but unless the rhythm really catches me, it doesn’t bear repeating, if that makes sense. It’s an interesting album. I gave it a few listens when I had the time, but it didn’t click with me in the way it seems to for most people. Just my opinion. That said, I’m looking forward to more stuff like this. It was a completely new discovery for me, and I really enjoyed that part of the experience.

Haircut 100, Pelican West ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Album #18. Another new discovery. Third in a row. A great new wave record. I’d never even heard of Haircut 100. It’s not necessarily my thing, but it definitely flirts with the kind of music I tend to gravitate towards. Uptight rhythms, lovely muted rhythmic guitar and melodic lines, and while the saxophone isn’t my favourite instrument when it shows up, it’s suitably camp and tastefully used throughout. It’s kind of the focal point in a lot of ways. The singles are the best songs here. They’re insanely catchy, especially Love Plus One, which has an amazing chorus. I could definitely see some of these songs making it into my general rotation, so this was a hit for me.

Muddy Waters, At Newport 1960 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Album #19. Big blues fan. I love the early blues musicians, especially the 1920s originators. Not so much this more modern version, but I’m still a big fan of this kind of music. I’d never listened to this album before. I don’t tend to gravitate towards Muddy Waters that much. He doesn’t necessarily have my favourite voice in blues, although I fully admit he’s a complete legend and incredibly influential. I prefer the growl of Howlin’ Wolf or the grittiness of Son House and Blind Willie Johnson. But we’re reviewing a Muddy Waters album here. It’s a class set. Amazingly well recorded and produced. I love how the crowd get more and more into it as it goes on. It becomes livelier and more exciting, and Muddy even loosens up towards the end, especially on Got My Mojo Working, which is my favourite track here. He’s almost just making noises at certain points. There’s something so sinister about this type of music. Singing about having your “brand” on someone is just nasty. His band is insane as well. The piano playing from Otis Spann is unbelievable. And I don’t think anyone does that slow 12 bar drawl quite like Muddy Waters. So yeah, this is a very strong four. As a product of its time, maybe it’s even a five. It’s so well recorded and just a really enjoyable listen if you’re into this kind of music. Another new discovery for me, my fourth in a row.

David Crosby – If I Could Only Remember My Name ⭐️⭐️⭐️ Album #20. And my new discovery streak ends today. I’m very familiar with this album. I’ve been a David Crosby fan since my teens, and this once ranked amongst my favourite albums, so it was interesting to return to it. Let’s get the bad stuff out of the way. I have a major gripe with David Crosby (RIP), and it’s his lyrics. As I’ve grown older and more cynical, I just feel they’re the epitome of hippie nonsense. A large portion of his songs are about how he doesn’t know what’s going on. From The Byrds to CSN/Y and into his solo work, David is always asking the question: what’s going on? In this modern and frankly scary world, I ask that question a lot too. But David provides no insight whatsoever. He’s a great singer with not much to say. He even keeps us on our toes with “Laughing”, which opens with: “I thought I met a man Who said he knew a man Who knew what was going on” Oh really, David? What did he say? “I was mistaken.” Right… more of the same, so. Musically, though, this album is gorgeous. He’s an exceptional musician, surrounding himself with other exceptional musicians. And occasionally he does break away from his lyrical restraints — “Cowboy Movie” is a class, light-Dylanesque story that turns into a Crazy Horse-style jam. And “Traction in the Rain” is such a beautiful song, arguably his best ever. On the whole, though, I feel there’s a bit of filler. The two closers, “Orleans” and “I’d Swear There Was Somebody Here”, aren’t the most compelling or fleshed-out tracks. It’s a good album from a period of music that I love, and I did enjoy revisiting it. If you’re into this kind of stuff, I’d recommend Linda Perhacs – Parallelograms or Alexander “Skip” Spence – Oar. Similar vein, but for me, more interesting.

The Rolling Stones – Let It Bleed ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Album #21 The second album in The Rolling Stones’ purple patch where they could do no wrong (except for Altamont and tax evasion.) This is a much stranger and more lo-fi record than I remembered. I hadn’t heard it in a while. It’s bookended by two of their most bombastic songs, both fantastic and absolute classics. Everything in between, though, feels more stripped back than I expected, and a lot more country. Not a complaint, just an observation. I don’t love this record as much as some of their others, but it has too many great songs not to give it a four. That said, there are a couple of tracks here that I think have better versions elsewhere. “Country Honk” isn’t as good as “Honky Tonk Women,” which is essentially the same song. And I much prefer the live version of “Love in Vain” from Get Yer Ya-Ya’s Out!. Also, and I know it’s a fan favourite, “Midnight Rambler” is a bit goofy. It never really did much for me! On the other hand, it’s probably got one of Keith Richards’ best vocal performances on “You Got the Silver.” I absolutely love that song. I’ll probably reserve my five stars for Sticky Fingers and Exile on Main Street. I don’t think this quite reaches that level, even though it’s an absolute classic. Great record all the same.

Album #22, Def Leppard, Pyromania ⭐️⭐️⭐️ We’re getting into a genre I couldn’t care less about. ’80s heavy metal isn’t my thing. I don’t know if this counts as hair metal, and I’m not that familiar with Def Leppard. But I’m leaving my bias at the door for these listens. It opens with “Rock! Rock! (Till You Drop)” and I thought, oh God, here we go. But you know what? It won me over. First and foremost, it’s loud. Properly loud. Everything is well balanced and clear in the mix. You can hear every instrument distinctly. The drums are absolutely huge. It’s full-on stadium metal. Whether you like the music or not, you have to appreciate a record that sounds this big. It’s headache-inducing at times, but it is what it is. It’s a great-sounding record. Song-wise, I don’t care for some of them. You have to take the corniness at face value and accept that it’s part of the deal. “Too Late for Love” does nothing for me. The songs about rock and roll are pretty boring too. “Photograph” is easily the best song on the album. There’s a cool effect on the melodic guitar lines, kind of a phased, reverbed sound, and I love it. Any track with that kind of melodic playing really benefits from it. “Comin’ Under Fire” is good. “Die Hard the Hunter” is too long. A couple of others are decent. I’m giving it three stars because, for what it is, I actually enjoyed it. It won me over. I wasn’t in great form today and thought this would drive me mad, but it actually cheered me up a bit. So I owe it that.

Album #23, Van Morrison, Astral Weeks, ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ This is a really difficult one to review. It’s such a unique record. I can’t think of another album that sounds like it. The closest comparison I can come up with is Spirit of Eden by Talk Talk. It feels like lightning in a bottle. If you sent Van in to record it again, I think it would come out completely different. It’s hard to explain, but it feels like pure music. It isn’t weighed down by obvious structure or form. It’s boundaryless and just spills out of the speakers. The songs feel almost improvised, like they’re being made up on the spot. At times they seem like they might fall apart, but they’re held together by Van’s voice, his lyrics, and the way he phrases things. He squeezes too many words into a line or stretches too few across a melody, and somehow it works. He pushes the songs forward. There’s momentum behind everything. The arrangements swell and shift in subtle, unexpected ways, with little melodic lines appearing and disappearing. It somehow feels both stripped back and incredibly lush at the same time, which is an impressive balance to strike. It’s a beautiful record and deserves all the praise it gets.

Album #24, Bob Marley and the Wailers, Natty Dread, ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I’m a fan of reggae, even if I’m not that knowledgeable about it. I’m probably more of a greatest hits person when it comes to Bob Marley, but I was familiar with a good few songs on this. I think it’s a good album. Lyrically, he’s a great writer, and some of the vocal lines here are genuinely brilliant. There are songs about sex and revolution, and most of them are really strong. The title track is unbelievably catchy and perfectly placed in the middle of the album. I still think the live version of “No Woman, No Cry” tops the studio version by a fair margin. The album version is very good, but the live one is transcendental. I know this was the album where Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer left, and it does feel a bit more minimal than some earlier material. That said, the backing singers are fantastic and really fill it out. I’m not an expert on reggae, but I really enjoyed this. Looking forward to more.

Album #25, David Bowie, The Next Day, ⭐️⭐️⭐️ This was a hard one to review. I ended up listening to it twice. Not usually a bad thing, but I finished it the first time and struggled to remember what each song actually sounded like, so I gave it another go. It’s art rock, definitely, and it’s challenging in places. There are some good songs, but I wouldn’t call it a catchy album. Some of the chord progressions don’t do much for me, and there’s a kind of dissonance throughout. I’m sure that’s intentional, but it just doesn’t sound great to me as a full album. I’m also not a fan of Bowie’s double-tracked vocals on some tracks. I find them distracting and not that pleasant to listen to. That probably sounds more negative than I mean it to. It gets three stars because there are some very good songs here. “You Feel So Lonely You Could Die” is my favourite. It’s one of the moments where he doesn’t get in his own way with too many effects or segues. Some of the main riffs across the album are very strong too. Also, this is driving me mad: the riff in “Valentine’s Day” sounds like it’s lifted from another song. I don’t even mind that, I just want to know what it is because I’m sure I’ve heard it before. This is my first Bowie album on the list. I was surprised to see it included. I know it was part of the revised 2014 edition and came out in 2013, so maybe there was a bit of recency bias. It was a big comeback, but I don’t think it’s anywhere near his best work, and I’m not sure it’s one of the 1001 you need to hear before you die. Still, there are worthwhile songs on it. I just don’t see myself going back to the whole album any time soon.

Album #26, Bruce Springsteen, Darkness on the Edge of Town ⭐⭐⭐⭐ I’m not a Bruce disciple. I bow to the altar of Bob Dylan and Neil Young most days of the week. I do like Bruce and his music, but I’m not a fanatic. I have a soft spot for this album, though. About 15 years ago, when I first moved away to college, I was obsessed with it. I’ve no idea why it was this one in particular, and I hadn’t really listened to it since, so it was fun to go back to it. I’m not really a stadium rock kind of guy, and Bruce often strikes me as stadium rock. My favourite album of his, by a wide margin, is Nebraska, so that’s usually more my thing. You’d think this wouldn’t work for me, but it really does. Funnily enough, it’s the more bombastic songs I enjoy most. “Something in the Night”, “Streets of Fire” and the title track are my favourites. There are a few I don’t care for. “Prove It All Night” feels a bit disposable to me, like that traditionally weaker second-last track on an album. His lyrics are strong. It’s working man blues and romance all over the record. Great singer, great band, and powerful in places. Looking forward to more Bruce as this goes on.

Album #27, The Smashing Pumpkins, Siamese Dream ⭐⭐⭐⭐ One of my all-time favourite albums from my teens. Suitably so, as this is the band at their most angsty. I hadn’t listened to it front to back in a long time, only the odd track here and there, which I always enjoy. In my head, I held this in very high esteem. So it was revealing to go back to it. The good stuff: they’re a huge-sounding band. Smart alternative rock. Super dynamic. They earn the massive solos and instrumental breaks because they build in moments of quiet and beauty. You turn it up when it’s soft and get blasted when it explodes. It’s really well produced. Billy Corgan is really interesting because he gets away with complete and utter schmaltz. Take “Disarm”. He’s singing about being a little boy over all these fucking church bells and maudlin strings. On paper, I should be saying, “Fuck off, Billy. That’s bullshit.” But it somehow works. It’s genuinely moving. And I’ll be damned if “Spaceboy” isn’t still my favourite song on the album. However, that overwrought sensitivity doesn’t always land for me. “Mayonaise” is a fan favourite, but I find it cheesy. Very pre-emo, and emo isn’t really my thing. The reason it’s not a five anymore is the length. It drags. I wouldn’t call anything filler, but some tracks feel unnecessary. You don’t need “Rocket” when you have “Hummer”. You don’t need “Sweet Sweet” when you have “Luna”. It slows the momentum. You can already sense Corgan’s tendency toward excess and a future in rock operas. The arrangements can be a bit much. But they’re an intelligent band. “Soma” and even something as wild as “Silverfuck” are carefully constructed. So it’s a four now. I was surprised, and a bit disappointed, but I can’t give it five anymore. I still think it’s one of the most important albums of the 90s, and absolutely one of the 1001 you should hear. Still a massive fan. And yes, the bloat only gets worse from here with Mellon Collie and future releases. But that’s for another day!

Album #28, Isaac Hayes, Hot Buttered Soul ⭐⭐⭐ Right, where to start with this? This could be a two star on another day, but I’m giving it three because I’m in a good mood and it did kind of work for me in places. I actually knew this album already. I listened to it years ago, so I wasn’t going in blind. Let’s start with the bad stuff. There are basically only four songs. It’s a 45 minute album and that’s not a lot of material. Maybe that’s common enough for a soul or jazz leaning record from that era, but I don’t think it really works here. If you break it down, there are only a handful of musical ideas stretched across the whole thing, and I’m not sure that’s enough to hold my attention for that long. “Walk On By” is a good song, but it’s too long. It actually reminds me of “Suspicious Minds” where the best bit is the chorus, but a huge chunk of the track is taken up with a drawn out ending that doesn’t really build to anything. Same kind of issue here. “By the Time I Get to Phoenix” is basically the centrepiece of the album, but I don’t think the payoff justifies the long spoken intro. It’s a cool idea, and I respect it, but in the modern day of destroyed attention spans I found it hard going. Sometimes that kind of slow burn works. For me, this time, it didn’t. The positives, his band are amazing. “Hyperbolic” is an absolute belter. Proper jam. “One Woman” is decent too. Not one of the best soul songs I’ve ever heard, but solid. The musicianship across the album is the highlight for me. Isaac himself has a great voice, but I’m not sure I’d put him up there with the absolute soul greats as a singer. Maybe that’s not the point, but when you’re on a list with so many legends it’s hard not to compare. This came out in 1969, and I don’t know enough about the context to say how influential it was. Maybe it was groundbreaking and I’m just not appreciating that side of it. As I said at the start, this is probably a two for me on another day. But “Hyperbolic” is such a tune, and “Walk On By” has some genuinely beautiful moments, so it gets a three.

Album #29, Calexico, Feast of Wire ⭐⭐⭐ This is pretty close to my kind of thing. I like indie and alternative country like this. Maybe not so much Tex Mex, but I’ve never really gotten into Calexico or Los Lobos properly. Every now and then a song of theirs comes on and I usually enjoy it. This is the first Calexico album I’ve listened to in full. I’ve seen them live as well, but I barely remember it, which probably says something. I’m sure I enjoyed it at the time. It’s a good album, but there are too many instrumentals for me. Having seen them live, I now remember there were loads of instrumental sections there too, so I get that it’s part of what they do. It just doesn’t do much for me. Some of them sound like film soundtrack pieces, and I don’t really reach for that kind of thing. A few are cool though. Some have a trip hop feel, heavy drums and strange strings, which I liked. Not exactly trip hop, but in that territory. The best thing about the band is Joey Burns’ voice. There’s something about it that I really like. It’s understated and vulnerable, and it suits the music perfectly. I just wish there was more of him singing on this record. Not all the songs are that memorable either. The opening two tracks are very strong and made me think the album was going to be excellent, but I lost interest as it went on. It gets three stars because there are some very good songs here. My favourite was “Not Even Stevie Nicks”, which honestly sounds like a Wilco song and is probably the biggest outlier on the album. Maybe that says something. I think what I’d actually prefer is a more stripped back version of Calexico, or even a Joey Burns solo acoustic album. So if any fans are reading this, point me in that direction. More of him, less of the instrumentals.

Album #30, Miriam Makeba, Miriam Makeba ⭐⭐⭐⭐ What a treat. A genuine new discovery from an artist I’d never even heard of before. I didn’t know the name Miriam Makeba at all. A quick glance at her wiki shows she led a pretty incredible life, so I’m looking forward to doing a proper deep dive. The page for this album is sparse, but I know it’s her debut from 1960. I’m not very familiar with music from that time, especially anything coming out of Africa, so this felt like a proper discovery. The whole record is basically a vehicle for her voice, and what a voice it is. She’s funny, sweet, occasionally a little bit sexy, and genuinely beautiful throughout. The instrumentation is sparse, but it really suits the material. I’m not usually into flamenco style Spanish guitar, but it works here, especially on the more sombre tracks. The authentic African rhythms and vocals are the real highlight for me. Even more than her covers of traditional American songs like “House of the Rising Sun”, which I still enjoyed. I’m also a sucker for backing vocals. It’s usually female backing vocals I gravitate towards, but here it’s baritone male singers and it fits perfectly. This is exactly why I’m doing this list. There are bound to be gems I’ve never even heard of, and this is definitely one of them. Looking forward to hearing more.

Album #31, Violent Femmes, Violent Femmes ⭐⭐⭐ I’m anticipating downvotes. I was really excited when this came up. It’s been on my personal list for years and, on paper, it should be right up my alley. The good stuff is this. I love the uniform sound of the album. Frenetic, stripped back three piece indie rock. There is a sloppy but tightly rehearsed energy to the album. There’s great backing vocals too. It’s a homage to classic rock and roll and I love that. “Add It Up” is particularly mental. “Gone Daddy Gone” is great and “Blister in the Sun” remains an absolute classic, probably the best song on the album. “Good Feeling” is also a wonderful last minute change of tone and pace for the closer. The musicianship is top notch. It’s hard to play this sloppily. The bad is Gordon Gano. His voice grates on me. Something about his register really hits a nerve in my tinnitus stricken ears. Also, and I don’t really mind rip offs, but his whole approach is a Jonathan Richman rip off. A quick Wiki states that he was going for a Steve Wynn of The Dream Syndicate, but he’s not Steve Wynn, he’s Jonathan Richman, and something about it bothers me. I don’t find it sacrilegious or anything, it’s just that Richman reeks of cool because he doesn’t give a shit, but Gordon’s lyrics, (to be fair, written at 18 years old), portray an angsty teen that cares too much. Not that Richman didn't write schmaltzy songs too! But there was a satirical edge to all of it. With Gordon, the style doesn’t match the substance. It’s really hard to explain and I'm ill prepared for my rational to be torn to shreds. Overall I was disappointed. I had hyped this one up in my head for a while without ever listening to it.

Album #32, Black Sabbath, Vol. 4 ⭐⭐⭐ For context, my favourite Black Sabbath song is Planet Caravan. I grew up listening to their first three albums. Paranoid was one of the first songs I learned to play on drums. However, I never went beyond Master of Reality, as I felt and still feel like it was a step down from the first two, and I had an inkling they fell off after the first three. So this is my first time listening to Vol. 4. And like Violent Femmes yesterday, I wish I’d heard it twenty years ago. Because my tolerance for crunching heavy metal is limited these days. And what crunching heavy metal it is. Huge big fucking riffs with bells on. It’s Tony Iommi’s album through and through. I have to give them plaudits though. They try a few experimental things outside the formula. The samba bit on Supernaut, the lush Laguna Sunrise, and the stupidly simple FX, all of which I enjoyed. Then there’s Changes, which is tender, touching, and a genuine classic. What I don’t enjoy is the endless proggy segues. The way they stop and switch gears into another riff and beat is probably technically impressive, but there’s too much of it throughout, especially on Wheels of Confusion and Under the Sun. I prefer when they keep it dumb and simple, like on St. Vitus Dance. Two other things to note that aren’t necessarily criticisms, even if they sound like it. Lyrically, they are dirt simple. They’re not a thinking man’s band, and I don’t think they’re trying to be. But hearing Ozzy Osbourne sing through a maelstrom of guitars is as iconic a sound as any, the best example being Supernaut. Finally, the mix is very inconsistent throughout. Weirdly though, I think I prefer the muddier sound of Cornucopia. It’s almost proto stoner metal, a genre I probably prefer nowadays. I would have lapped this up in my teens. I do wish I’d continued my Sabbath journey back then. It’s a band I genuinely respect and admire.

Album # 33, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Born on the Bayou ⭐⭐⭐⭐ I was only delighted to see this come up this morning. I fucking love Creedence Clearwater Revival. They’re easily in my top 10 favourite bands of all time, and I regularly binge them throughout the year. I’ll probably end up on a bit of a binge now after listening to this. They’ve written some of my all time favourite songs. Run Through the Jungle, Born on the Bayou, Ramble Tamble. I regularly play these and never get tired of them. I just can’t fault this band. I love all the individual parts of them. Their guitar playing is class. Their riffs are so memorable. And John Fogerty’s voice is just iconic. One of the most unique and best singers in rock music, I think. I saw him live about seven or eight years ago and he still had it. Still great. Great lyricist. Wonderful songwriter. I love how danceable they are. No wonder they had such huge hits, because there’s such a groove to their music. On the longer tracks, like Keep On Chooglin’, you’ve got that repetitive rhythm in the back and you just get sucked into it. This isn’t their best album. That’s probably belongs to Cosmo’s Factory or Willy and the Poor Boys. But it’s still Creedence, and it’s still great. It’s got some iconic songs like the title track and Proud Mary. Some great deeper cuts like Bootleg. And Penthouse Pauper is just a gas tune. It’s funny and it makes you think. It does have a weak spot. Really only one, but it’s a long one. Graveyard Train is just too long. I get it, and it is a suitable change of pace, but for me it’s not very interesting. It’s their Muddy Waters blues jam, but it’s not the best of their long jams. Nor is “Keep On Chooglin’.” I wouldn’t rank that as highly as something like “Ramble Tamble,” even though it is still very good. Those two tracks take up a lot of the album, so that weakens it and probably takes a star away. But you still have John Fogerty absolutely ripping it, and for that alone it has to be at least four stars. If you don’t really know Creedence, I’d actually say start with a greatest hits. Even though the albums have great deep cuts, I’d argue they’re the best greatest hits band of all time. They were a hit machine and wrote some of the best singles of that era. So I’d seek out a compilation before diving into the albums.

Album #34, Sheryl Crow, Tuesday Night Music Club ⭐⭐ A 90s album with some of the worst 90s pop tropes. This actually starts off very strong. Sheryl has a good voice, her lyrics didn’t initially offend, and it’s a kind of heartland rock, Americana pop style that I was enjoying. The first four tracks really set the album up as a solid alt-country experience. She’s no Lucinda Williams, but it felt like it was heading in a direction I liked. Then Solidify comes on and it all deteriorates very quickly. Once the beats get bigger, the quality drops. Run, Baby, Run is a no, no, no. Sheryl is rapping on this and it just feels desperate. We have a slight return to her roots on No One Said It Would Be Easy, but the chorus is so unbelievably clichéd that it completely distracts from the emotional weight of the song. I’ll give her some props for What I Can Do for You. It’s a brave song, and the sleaziness of the character she’s playing genuinely makes me uncomfortable, so that one works. All I Wanna Do is okay. We’ve all heard it a million times, so I’m already jaded by it. My gym plays it constantly. I can understand why it was a hit, but it’s one of my least favourite forms of 90s pop, that white-rapping-trying-to-be-cool style. And then We Do What We Can, a foray into lounge jazz. At this point I just didn’t care for it. It feels like she’s throwing everything at the wall to see what sticks. There’s a slight return to form for I Shall Believe, but by then all my goodwill is gone. Not for me, this one

Album #36, Yes, Close to the Edge ⭐⭐⭐ Prog. I don’t know where I stand with prog. I used to hate it. I probably still do. The closest I get to prog is Can and Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band, two bands I absolutely love. I also like music that isn’t really prog but clearly takes influence from it, like Black Midi. But pure, on-a-drip straight into the veins prog, I don’t really know about it. So this was my first time listening to Close to the Edge. I’ve heard loads about it, and this is a review after just one listen. The good things are obvious. The musicianship is phenomenal. I know their bassist, Chris Squire, is considered one of the greats, and you can hear why. The rhythm section is spectacular. Some of the grooves they lock into are fantastic. There are also some really beautiful passages across the three tracks. There’s a lovely string section in the first track, and some cool guitar work in the third track. It’s hard to pick out individual moments, but there are definitely parts I enjoyed. I just don’t really care for this style of music. The constant segues into something else, the feeling of musicianship for musicianship’s sake. I need a bit more than that. I’m not saying the band doesn’t have more going on, but I just don’t get it. I don’t really get what the message is supposed to be or how I’m meant to feel listening to it. I don’t get much emotional weight from the songs. I’ve no idea what they’re about either. That’s fine in theory, but it just doesn’t resonate with me. I’m definitely more of a punk person. And to be fair to prog, we probably wouldn’t have had punk if it wasn’t reacting against this kind of music. So I do give it some credit for that. There are highlights on the album, but there are also a lot of moments that feel completely inconsequential to me. I don’t need a massive church organ solo appearing out of nowhere in the middle of a song. I just don’t really see the point of it. It gets three stars because there are some genuinely great moments. But honestly, I just prefer choruses.

Album #37, David Bowie, Young Americans ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ I’m glad Bowie lived to make the music that he did, but without meaning any disrespect, cocaine and Bowie seemed to go hand in glove around this period. There’s something interesting that happens when an artist makes music that’s very obviously derivative. The elements of the genre they’re borrowing from often end up exaggerated. It’s like they lean too hard into certain parts in order to make it work. That’s kind of what happens on this album. This is exaggerated soul. Everything is turned up to the maximum. The chord progressions are big, soulful progressions. The backing vocals are huge. The smoothness and slickness of the sound are pushed right to the front. Even the lyrical style leans heavily into the genre. It’s basically an exaggerated version of soul music, and I absolutely love it. I love the sound of this record and the feel of this record. I don’t really care if it’s derivative, and I don’t care that Bowie himself didn’t seem to look back on it as fondly as some of his more experimental albums. When I want a Bowie fix, I sometimes reach for this before albums like The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars or the Berlin-era records like Low. It’s probably not his best record, and it might not objectively be a five-star album. This is definitely a personal rating. But it’s one of the most enjoyable Bowie records to listen to. You can put it on in almost any situation and it works. This album and Station to Station, and Bowie’s short move into soul music generally, are probably my favourite period of his career. I love every song on it. It’s an album that works best as a full listen, even though the individual songs stand on their own. Just putting it on and letting it play is a great experience. Even the slightly strange inclusion of Across the Universe by The Beatles, which can feel a bit clumsy at times, still ends up soaring. The songs are quite long for what they are, but they draw you in as they go. They build gradually and they’re incredibly catchy.

lbum #38, Prince, Sign o' the Times ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ How could you not be bowled over by this? This is easily the best new discovery I’ve had so far. Outside of the album Purple Rain, I’ve never actually listened to Prince. So it was pretty eye-opening. This isn’t usually my kind of thing. I like soul, but I’m more of an old folky and punk kind of guy. But the quality of the music here, the inventiveness, and the consistency across such a diversity of genres and styles is incredible. I adore the minimalism. How he got such a great pop sound from so little on some of these tracks is beggars belief. It's all tied together by his voice. Is this the best use of multi-layered vocals in music? The way he sings and harmonises along with himself is just so creative. The one thing that isn't consistent is the mix, but I love the more lo-fi/demo sounding songs like Play in the Sunshine and It. It just works! The album moves through style after style, it goes from strength to strength. The last run of songs are the best on the album, but by the time I got there I was already completely won over anyway, so it really just sealed it. It deserves all its critical acclaim. I can’t get over this one. It's an 80 minute long album and I listened to it twice back to back. This is going to be in my rotation for a long time to come.

Album #39, Tom Tom Club, Tom Tom Club ⭐⭐⭐⭐ This might not be a five star, but it might be one of my favourite albums to listen to so far. I hadn’t really heard of Tina Weymouth or Tom Tom Club before, even though I’m familiar with Talking Heads. Maybe I’m just not deep enough into Talking Heads to have come across it before. This is just a great record. I’ve only listened to it once so far, and I imagine it will grow and grow on me. I love any album where the drums feel like the main instrument. The drums here are big, the beats are big, they’re repetitive and right in your face. Then you have all these melodic bass lines and arpeggiated synths drifting in and out around the rhythm. It opens with this kind of wacky rapping vocal, which I actually thought was great, but it did make me worry that the whole album was going to be sung in that low-talker, cutesy voice style. I wasn’t really looking forward to that. Thankfully that’s not the case. Tina Weymouth’s vocals are great across the album. She moves between childish, smooth, silky, slightly sexy, and even a bit sinister at times. A lot of the tracks actually have a sinister feel to them, especially Booming and Zooming and L’Elephant. Some moments are downright spooky. And then there’s Genius of Love. I knew that song straight away. I’d heard it loads of times before but never knew who it was by or even what it was called. That might actually be the best track on the album. I love how long it is too. It just keeps going and going, and they squeeze every bit of creative juice out of that groove. Yeah, it’s a great record. I’m definitely keeping this in my rotation. I think it’s only going to grow on me the more I listen to it.

Album #40, Neil Young, On the Beach ⭐⭐⭐⭐ I’m a huge Neil Young fan and always have been. I love his story, his style, the music he’s made, his lyrics, his singing, and his songwriting. I love all of it. This is the first Neil Young album to come up on the list, and it’s one of my favourites of his, maybe even my favourite. It actually got me thinking about his albums before this one even came up. While I definitely think On the Beach is an album you need to hear before you die, does Neil Young actually have a five star album? Does he have something like Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band or Blonde on Blonde? I’m not sure he does. He has so much music and such a deep, colourful discography, but none of his albums feel completely flawless or perfect. At the same time, nearly all of them are worth listening to at least once. So I’m even a bit surprised at myself for not giving On the Beach five stars, because it’s probably the closest he gets. Maybe that will change if more of his albums show up later. It’s a great album. It might even be his lyrical peak. Some of the lyrics here, especially on the title track, are incredible. Lines like “the world is turning, I hope it don’t turn away / I need a crowd of people, but I can’t face them day to day” are so affecting. If you don’t relate to that at some point in your life, you’re made of stone. He’s a genius lyricist. There’s some really transcendent music on this album. On the Beach, Ambulance Blues, and Revolution Blues are highlights. Revolution Blues in particular is one of the hardest hitting songs of the 70s. It’s just a bad motherfucker of a tune. And he’s got Levon Helm and Rick Danko playing on it, absolutely battering away. It’s a really unique sounding folk rock song. There are a couple of slightly weaker moments. See the Sky About to Rain is beautiful, but it doesn’t quite fit the album for me. It’s a lovely song, but it doesn’t hit as hard as some of the others. Vampire Blues is a great standard blues track too. Lyrically everything fits together and ties the album up nicely, but musically a couple of songs feel slightly less essential. Like the rest of what people call the Ditch Trilogy, the mix is rough and choppy, the performances are rough, and everything feels a bit ragged. But that’s exactly what makes it perfect in its own way. You never want Neil Young to sound slick or overproduced, and he almost never does. Slick just isn’t a word that belongs anywhere near his music. It’s ragged glory or nothing with Neil Young. One of my favourites of his, but it does make me curious what other people think. I’m a massive Neil Young fan, but does he actually have a five star album? What’s the real magnum opus? After the Gold Rush? Rust Never Sleeps? I’m genuinely interested.

Album #41, Tom Waits, Bone Machine ⭐⭐⭐⭐ I love Tom Waits’ philosophy on sound. I remember reading an interview years ago where he talked about how he knows he could push a button on a computer or a mixing desk to get a certain reverb or percussive sound, but instead he prefers to go out and actually find that sound himself, track it down and capture it. This album feels like that philosophy in action. Some of the sounds on this record are just crazy. It’s so raw. It’s stripped back in places but layered in others, and some of the percussion genuinely sounds like he’s kicking and battering furniture around a room. I honestly wouldn’t be surprised if that’s exactly what he was doing. It’s a great record and I’m very fond of it. It contains three of my favourite Tom Waits songs: Earth Died Screaming, Jesus Gonna Be Here, and Goin’ Out West. It’s a heavy, nasty album in a lot of ways, but it also has some really tender moments. It almost feels like it’s caught between two moods. There are very delicate songs like A Little Rain, but the album overall is dark and pretty bleak in places. That’s fairly typical of Tom Waits though. He rarely sticks to just one style across a whole album. There’s a raw edge to everything here. His vocals are incredible throughout, which is nothing new. It’s one of the most unique voices in popular music. I love the album and I think it’s one of the best records of the 90s. It’s not quite a five for me though. There are a few weaker moments that drag a little, especially In the Colosseum. I’m not a huge fan of that carnival or festival kind of sound. Two other things stand out. I genuinely wept at the final verse of A Little Rain. It’s one of the saddest verses I’ve ever heard in any song. Absolutely devastating. And the introduction of that chainsaw guitar on Goin’ Out West is one of my favourite moments in music. That tone is incredible. One of the best guitar sounds ever recorded. I’d fight any guitar snob who says otherwise. Great album. Not five stars, but a very, very strong four.

Album #42, Curtis Mayfield, Super Fly ⭐⭐⭐ I’d never really listened to Curtis Mayfield before. I would have assumed that I’d heard the odd song here or there, and I always thought that if I did a deep dive on him I’d probably be a fan. Now I’m not so sure. This is a soundtrack record to Super Fly, which I’ll probably never watch. Is the movie any good? Because of that, it isn’t really a full-fledged studio album. It was made as a soundtrack, so the album feels a bit jarring at times. It’s not something I’d usually seek out because I don’t normally listen to soundtrack records. Lyrically there are a lot of characters and bits of story and exposition. I assume that all makes sense in the context of the film, but on its own it isn’t that engaging for me. He raises some interesting points about drug addiction and things like that, and there are some good lyrics here and there, but overall it didn’t grab me. Musically it’s a sweet funky soul record, but it feels a bit more loose and jazzy in structure. The songs are more free-flowing and there aren’t many obvious choruses jumping out of the speakers. For this type of music I didn’t find the songs particularly explosive or attention-grabbing. There are some very good tracks though. Little Child Runnin’ Wild and Pusherman are great. Freddie’s Dead is great too, and Superfly is very good. The rest I could mostly take or leave, especially the instrumental pieces. They didn’t engage me that much, although I imagine in the context of the film they probably work perfectly well. Then there’s Curtis’s voice. I always thought I liked his voice a lot, but after hearing a full album of it I found it a little one-note at times. When the song is great, his voice works really well, and the breathy, whispering delivery he uses is a great trick. It’s very distinctive and recognisable. But over a full album it can feel like it only does one thing. Maybe that stood out more because this week I’d been listening to Prince and Kendrick Lamar, who do so many different things with their voices. Compared to that, Curtis didn’t impress me quite as much. So it gets three stars. I should also say I’m in awful form today, which probably influenced the review. On another day I might find this album more engaging. But today it’s a three. A light three.

Album #43, Dolly Parton, Coat of Many Colors ⭐⭐⭐ I’ve always been a big admirer of Dolly Parton. She’s written some absolutely amazing songs over the years, and a couple of them are on this album. As an album artist though, I’ve never really fully gotten into her. On the surface this is a pretty simple country record, but it does take a few little turns along the way. Most of it is straightforward country, but there are moments where it moves into other styles. The Way I See You leans much more into soul, and If I Lose My Mind moves into more traditional ballad territory. A lot of the album really comes down to two things: Dolly’s voice and Dolly’s lyrics. Her voice is pure gold. She’s a fantastic singer, and the little bits of colour and inflection she puts into lines, the way she bends notes here and there, is genuinely beautiful. Lyrically she’s very strong as well. She’s dealing with some pretty big ideas here. The title track, Coat of Many Colors, is a beautiful song and one of the best songs about poverty I can think of. It’s also one of her most personal songs, and it’s done really well. She can be funny too. Traveling Man is kind of gross when you think about it, but I did find myself laughing by the end of it. There are darker ideas throughout the album as well. There’s a song about a mother running off with her daughter’s man, which is pretty bleak, and If I Lose My Mind deals with a woman threatening to kill herself if she stays in the situation she’s in, admitting that to her mother. These are heavy themes. Later in the album she moves more into her gospel side. I don’t usually mind gospel music, even though I’m fairly agnostic, but her personal religious outlook isn’t something I really connect with. I actually found myself getting a bit annoyed at times. The Mystery of the Mystery feels like a song about willful ignorance wrapped up in religious belief. I respect that those are Dolly’s beliefs, but it’s not something I find particularly appealing in a song. The closer, A Better Place to Live, also has a few lyrical moments that rubbed me the wrong way for similar reasons. That said, it doesn’t take away from the fact that she’s a fantastic songwriter and a fantastic singer. Overall I didn’t love the album and I probably won’t go back to it, but it’s still a solid three stars for me.

Album #44, Jethro Tull, Aqualung ⭐⭐⭐⭐ I’m in an awful mood today. I’ve been fighting a bad cold for the last few days and on top of that I have to deal with a colonoscopy tomorrow. I’ve got a full day of prep ahead of me, something I’ve never experienced before, so I’m anxious and I feel like absolute shit. The last thing I needed today was a prog album. I wanted something easygoing, something familiar, something I knew was going to be a guaranteed five stars. Instead I got Aqualung, an album I’d never listened to before. I know it’s a classic, but it’s never been anywhere near the top of the list of albums I’ve been meaning to check out. Still, I said I’d approach everything on this list with an open mind. And you know what? I actually really liked it. I thought it was pretty great. I’ve only listened to it once and it feels like there’s a lot more to get out of it on future listens. First of all, I think it’s desperately uncool music. Whatever “cool” is supposed to mean, this album definitely isn’t it. But it also isn’t really prog rock in the way I expected. It’s much more like folk rock in a lot of places. There’s a fairly uniform sound across the album and the songs have proper structure. It didn’t strike me as nearly as pretentious as I thought it would be. I’m not a huge fan of the title track, Aqualung, but some of the other songs are very, very good. Locomotive Breath in particular is great. The riffs on that track are fantastic. I was expecting loads of flute all over the album because that’s what Jethro Tull are known for, but it’s actually used fairly sparingly. When it does come in it works really well. Ian Anderson’s voice is very good. The lyrics are a bit strange though. I’m not entirely sure what the album is about yet, but it does make me curious enough to go back and listen again to try to figure it out. In a lot of ways it feels like a proper 70s hard rock record with some beautiful guitar playing throughout, which I really didn’t expect going in. So yeah, this one surprised me. I’ve been bowled over a little bit by a prog-adjacent album. Who knew?

Album #45, Fiona Apple, Tidal ⭐⭐⭐⭐ I absolutely love Fiona Apple’s 2012 album The Idler Wheel…(etc). I’d nearly rank it among my favourite singer-songwriter albums ever. I first listened to it the year it came out without really knowing much about her, and I still go back to it all the time. Songs like Periphery and Anything We Want are among my favourite songs by female artists and singer-songwriters in general. So I’m a bit of a fool for never really listening to the rest of her catalogue. I tried the first few tracks of Fetch the Bolt Cutters at one point, but for whatever reason I had to turn it off and I never went back to it, even though I know it’s hugely loved. Other than that, I hadn’t heard a scrap of her music. She’s one of those artists where I’ve always had this feeling that I’ll probably love the rest of her work, so I almost kept it in reserve, thinking at least I’ll always have more Fiona Apple to discover. So this is my second Fiona Apple album and it’s so good. Someone should make a list of the most impressive albums ever released by teenagers. This should rank very highly. She wrote this when she was around 17 to 19 years old, which is mind-blowing. The maturity of every element of it shows a kind of wisdom and experience way beyond her years. Her voice is husky and beautiful, and the chord progressions and melodies across the album are just gorgeous. At one point listening to Pale September I genuinely felt like I was in a bit of a trance. The lyrics are excellent throughout as well. She weirdly reminds me of Jeff Buckley at times, another jilted chanteuse, but she’s even better. My favourite tracks are probably the three singles, especially Shadowboxer. There’s a bit of a trip-hop feel to them, which I love. Sleep to Dream really shows that more aggressive side of her voice. The drums and instrumentation are fantastic, and I really like how nearly every song expands into an instrumental outro where the band stretches the musical ideas out. So why isn’t it a five? Honestly this might be the strongest four I’ve come across. The middle section of the album, around Slow Like Honey to Never is a Promise sags a little for me. It leans more into straightforward singer-songwriter territory and some of the songs start to feel a bit melodramatic and less interesting. That stretch brings the score down slightly. But still, this album has genuinely given me another reason to live because now I have to go and discover the rest of Fiona Apple’s catalogue. She’s very obviously a genius. So yeah, an extremely strong four stars.

Album #46, The Pretty Things, S.F. Sorrow ⭐⭐ Yeah, this didn’t do it for me at all. Let me preface this by saying this is probably my favourite era of music. I love 60s rock. I love Canterbury stuff. And I’d never heard this before, except I actually had Baron Saturday in a playlist at some point. I must have liked it once, but every time it comes on now I just think, what the fuck is this, and turn it off. There feels like there’s a good album in here musically, but the mix is dreadful. It has some of the worst 60s psychedelic tropes in how it’s put together. The hard panning is brutal. Drums in one ear, guitar in the other, and it just kills any sense of power or intensity. I honestly think this would sound much better in mono. I get that stereo was still a novelty at the time, but it’s completely overdone here. The mix is also wildly inconsistent. Vocals too low, bass too loud, and then it flips the other way on the next track. I don’t need things to sound pristine or polished, I love lo-fi music, but bad mixing and poor decisions really annoy me. When you compare it to what bands like The Beatles, The Kinks, The Rolling Stones, or Small Faces were doing around the same time with psychedelic and conceptual records, this just sounds miles worse. It’s a bad sounding album. There are a few good songs. Balloon Burning, Death, and The Loneliest Person are all decent, but outside of that I didn’t really enjoy much of it. I get that it’s considered the first rock opera, which is important historically, but rock opera isn’t really my thing anyway. Maybe it was groundbreaking at the time, but on a first listen I didn’t really grasp the concept, and I don’t have much interest in going back to it. It’s probably the worst album I’ve heard so far on the list.

Album #46, Fiona Apple, Fetch the Bolt Cutters ⭐⭐⭐ I’m no mathematician, but what are the odds that I’d get two Fiona Apple albums in the space of three days? I was delighted to see this come up because I loved Tidal the other day. This, not so much. This is probably one of the most critically lauded albums of the decade so far, so I’m not trying to be contrarian here at all. This is just a personal reaction. I’d never actually listened to it before, even though I’d been meaning to do a deeper dive into her catalogue. Up to now, the only albums I’d heard were Tidal and The Idler Wheel. There are definitely positives. It’s a really inventive album and a big departure from her earlier work. It feels like it picks up where Hot Knife left off. The way the percussion is used is genuinely cool and creative. No two tracks sound the same. It’s a strange, interesting listen. Lyrically it’s very strong as well. The big moment on For Her genuinely shocked me, it really landed and was very powerful. There’s humour in places too, and overall it’s a great lyrical album, which isn’t surprising for her. What’s missing for me is her singing and those big, rich piano chord progressions. I don’t begrudge her at all for trying something different, but she spends a lot of the album in this kind of half-spoken, quick fire delivery, which I don’t love. Because the record is so focused on percussion, there’s very little piano, and very little of those beautiful chord movements that I loved on her earlier albums. I really missed that. My favourite track was Ladies, probably the most straightforward song on the album, which probably says something about my taste for her music. Because of this, I didn’t get much emotional weight from it. I never really had that moment where the hair on the back of my neck stood up. It just didn’t move me in the same way. That said, this album screams “grower”. Alas! With this whole exercise, there is rarely a day where I can listen to an album twice. I’ll definitely come back to it because I am a fan of Fiona Apple and I want to get to know her music better. But for now, I didn’t quite see what the critics saw in it.

Album # 47, Sufjan Stevens, Illinois ⭐⭐⭐⭐ This was a big album in my teenage years. I remember when it came out and all the talk about him making an album for every state in America, and how exciting that was because of how good this was, and also how good Michigan was as well. Two very good records. But he never really lived up to that promise, which in fairness would have been incredibly daunting and probably impossible anyway. This is a great record, totally deserving to be on this list. I’m quite familiar with it, I’ve listened to it a good few times over the years, but I do have to be in a particular mood to put it on. It’s inventive, beautiful, and lush. Genuinely joyous music, which is very hard to achieve. In a lot of ways it’s actually quite simple underneath all the arrangements. It does feel like a product of its time, that mid-2000s indie sound, kind of like Arcade Fire, and it also reminds me of Belle and Sebastian, just more bombastic. He has a great, very unique voice, he’s a good lyricist, though sometimes the overwrought sensitivity can be a bit much, and he just sounds like someone with a head full of ideas. I love the Choir-style backing vocals on some of the tracks, they’re beautiful and very unique. My criticisms are probably a bit unfair. I actually think objectively this is a five star album, but for me today it’s a four. I think it’s too long, and that’s something I tend to feel about Sufjan Stevens albums in general. There’s just a lot of material here. None of it is bad, but not every track hits the same level. There are a lot of interludes that feel Eno-esque, which are nice, but they add to that sense of overload. Listening to the whole thing in one go can feel a bit daunting, and by the time you get to “The Tallest Man…”, which is a great song in itself, it can feel like you’ve already heard a lot of those ideas earlier in the album. For me, the spine of the album from the title track through to “The Man of Metropolis…”. is spectacular, and it’s the part I go back to most. The rest of the album I could take or leave most days. I think I’d probably like Sufjan Stevens even more if he was a bit more of a ruthless editor. But that said, there’s no bad songs here. It’s a great album, and definitely one everyone should hear.

Album #47, Earth, Wind & Fire, That’s the Way of the World ⭐⭐⭐ This is going to be a relatively brief review for me. I didn’t love it. I didn’t really feel much towards it at all. I don’t think I needed to hear it before I die, but I did……and yeah! Nothing really stood out to me, and nothing really annoyed me either. I could tell there’s a big mix of genres going on. For example, on See the Light there’s that blend of jazz and African-style music, and across the album it’s mixing funk and soul throughout. It’s not straightforward music. It’d probably be more rewarding with multiple listens, but it just didn’t grab me in any way, so I think three stars is pretty fair. My favourite track was Reasons. I loved the falsetto on that. The vocals are great across the album in general. I didn’t think the lyrics were anything special though. I also really didn’t like the spoken word bit at the end of All About Love where he’s telling me to stop what I’m doing and think about things, such as love and life and this and that. I don’t have time to do that right now! But yeah, it didn’t do much for me. On to the next one.

Album number 48, Slipknot, Slipknot ⭐⭐ I hated nu metal when I was a teenager. It was the big thing at the time and it never, ever gelled with me. I’m not really a big metalhead in general, though I do like some metal. So this isn’t really my thing. A few years ago, a friend recommended Toxicity by System of a Down, and I ended up loving it. I thought it was brilliant, and if it came up on this list I’d probably give it five stars. So when this came up, I went in with an open mind thinking maybe I’d been wrong about this genre. And I kind of was, and kind of wasn’t. Starting with the positives, the production on this is great. I love some of the choices, like the turntable scratching, the drum and bass-style intro on one of the tracks, the squelchy effects, phasing, and all that found-sound percussion stuff. It keeps things interesting. Even though it’s about 49 minutes long, I can’t say I was ever bored. Musically, it is quite formulaic. Once the verses and choruses kick in, it’s hard to differentiate a lot of the songs. They do change things up a bit on tracks like Prosthetics and Scissors, but for the most part it sticks to that same structure and guitar tone throughout. That’s the genre though, so it kind of is what it is. The best thing on the album is the drumming. It’s outrageous. Absolutely spectacular. I genuinely found myself wondering how he came up with some of those parts. The fills, the sound of the kit, the crack of the snare, the weight of everything, it’s all incredible. The drums are nearly front and centre, and they carry a lot of the album. And that’s kind of the issue. Because what is actually front and centre is Corey Taylor. To be fair, he’s clearly very talented. He can do everything. The growl, the scream, the clean singing, even a bit of rapping. But I just can’t stand this style of vocal. It’s what puts me off every time. I find it really cringey. It’s just this solipsistic whining, moaning, and over-the-top angst. When I was a teenager and going through my own stuff, I never connected with this kind of thing. It just feels boring to listen to, and because he’s so high in the mix, you can’t escape it. I honestly think I’d enjoy this album more if the vocals were stripped out entirely. And it’s not even necessarily his fault, it’s just the style. It suits the music, but it’s not for me. Going back to Toxicity, there was always a bit of ambiguity in what Serj Tankian was doing. Here, there’s no ambiguity. It’s all very direct, very dramatic, very in-your-face, and I just can’t take it seriously. I found it cringey as a teenager and I still find it cringey now. So yeah, some great musicianship, especially in the drums, but the vocals completely ruin it for me.

Album #49, My Bloody Valentine, Isn’t Anything ⭐⭐⭐ Bit of a spoiler, but Loveless is, for me, the best album of the 90s. I’ll probably be very hyperbolic when that comes up. I love My Bloody Valentine, and as an Irish man I kind of claim them as one of our own, even if they’re more of a transatlantic band. They have to be one of the weirdest bands of their era. This album feels more like a proof of concept in places than anything else. It’s heavy on the dissonance, and a lot of the tracks are very experimental, but it sounds a bit cheap at times, like the production is letting the band down. I can kind of see why Kevin Shields was so obsessive about Loveless and the sound he was trying to achieve, even to the point of bankrupting the label, because here it feels like the production is holding them back. But it’s not just the production, the songs aren’t as strong either. It’s lacking the beauty that Loveless has. This feels like a debut from a band that would go on to do much greater things. That said, it’s not bad at all. It’s definitely worth a listen. I prefer the more straightforward tracks to the more experimental ones. Again, it’s very heavy on dissonance and doesn’t quite have the same payoff. The vocals are those lovely, dreamy MBV vocals, but I don’t think their voices are particularly strong on their own, and that wall of sound they perfected later suits them much better. So yeah, I’ve ended up talking about Loveless a lot here, but this is still a good album. There are some great songs on it, and it’s clearly the sound of a band on the way to something bigger.

Album #51, Boston, Boston ⭐⭐⭐ I tried to leave my rock snobbery at the door and, for the most part, it worked because I nearly enjoyed the hell out of this. It starts off so well. More Than a Feeling, despite being one of the most overplayed songs of all time, is perfect. It’s Monday morning, get-you-going music. I love the vocals and the huge guitars and those elongated notes that just ring out forever. Absolute banger. Same goes for Peace of Mind, and by the end of that I was properly pumped. But then Foreplay/Long Time goes on for a very long time and the momentum drops. The proggy organ excursions are all over this record and that’s probably the weakest part of it for me. The best thing on the album is the dual guitar sound. It really reminds me of my much beloved Thin Lizzy, and I’m an absolute sucker for that. Smokin' filled me with nostalgia as it is featured on GTA: San Andreas. The rest of the songs kind of range from good to shite. Rock & Roll Band is probably the worst offender, it genuinely sounds like stock rock music. The lyrics are super basic throughout, but it is a genuinely positive album, and I don’t listen to enough positive music, so it was a nice change of pace. I was also a bit shocked to find out that Brad Delp died by suicide. I never knew that, and it did take me aback. (Though I know he was not the lyricist). Not perfect, but at the end of the day this is a feel good album!

Album #52, Cheap Trick, At Budokan ⭐⭐⭐⭐ I went into this very blind. I’d never intentionally listened to Cheap Trick, and even checking their top songs on Spotify didn’t reveal anything I recognised. But this is right up my street. It sounds like a punkier version of Big Star, who I love. I should probably do a proper dive into their studio albums, because this is very much a live album. It’s hard to pick out every individual element of the songs, so it’s hard to judge how good they actually are underneath it all, but what it does have is energy and a really great live sound. I love hearing the crowd on albums like this. I feel that’s the whole point of a live record, and there’s loads of that here, though I do wonder if some of it is piped in. There are great guitar riffs, ripping solos, and class drumming throughout. The vocalist sounds weirdly English at times, like he’s doing a 1977 punk impression, but it works. The band it reminded me of most, though, not least because it was recorded in Japan, was Spinal Tap. That might sound like a dig, but I fucking love Spinal Tap. Really enjoyed this one, and I’d definitely listen again.

Album #53, Shuggie Otis, Inspiration Information ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Super unique summer album. I’d never heard of Shuggy Otis, but I spent the morning reading about him, and yeah, what a crazy “what could have been” story. He essentially stopped making music after this album, which was his third, but he also could have ended up being one of The Rolling Stones. Mad stuff. This is a really unique, strange album that seems really ahead of its time. It’s a mix of different genres, in particular R&B and soul, but blended with jazz, funk and psychedelia. The presence of the drum machine just makes it feel a lot more modern as well. What’s really interesting is how all these different melodic lines appear in the songs, and they just kind of drift off into different areas, most of the time really beautiful ones. It’s really well produced and just very, very interesting overall. If I had any criticisms, I’d say it can feel a little bit aimless at times, but that’s just the style. It’s not a particularly focused record, but I think that kind of suits it. My other reservation would be that he’s not a particularly strong lyricist, even though he’s a very good singer. The lyrics can be quite basic, but interestingly, as the album goes on, he sings less and less, so that sort of balances out. Even as an instrumental-heavy album, it really works because of the choices in instrumentation. So yeah, really interesting record. I’ll definitely listen to it again.

Album #54, ZZ Top, Eliminator ⭐⭐⭐⭐ I’ve seen this album panned on this subreddit, 1 and 2 star reviews every time I see it come up. Having never heard it, I feared the worst. I’m here to tell you that you are all wrong. This is class. A genuinely funny 80s rock album that doesn’t take itself seriously at all. It’s not an album that should even be critiqued. To think too much about it would be to miss the point. But let’s give it a go. This is Billy Gibbons’ album through and through. Though I do like Dusty Hill’s “I Got the Six” and his bass playing on “Thug”, the album is essentially a vehicle for Billy’s guitar, and what a player he is. It’s not flashy, it’s all tonal and it’s perfectly weighted. I don’t think I’d change a note that he plays on the whole album. He’s also a great singer. Understated for hard rock and a damn funny lyricist. The production is very 80s hard rock, which can be a bad thing on occasion, but here it works. It’s not over the top, it’s more like a sheen over the tracks that suits them perfectly. The one thing I’d say is it sounds mostly like a drum machine throughout the album and it’s very processed. I don’t mind drum machines or repetitive rhythms at all, but the drums can lack a bit of dynamism. Still, like the other choices on this album, it feels intentional and it serves the songs. Despite the silliness, I get the sense that all these songs were put together with a lot of thought and care, and it shows. Queens of the Stone Age haves cited them as a major influence and you can hear that swampy sound through a lot Josh Homme’s guitar work. For that alone, I am grateful.

Album #55, Funkadelic, One Nation Under a Groove ⭐⭐⭐⭐ I thought every song on this album was going to be about funk, but no…..there’s a 10 minute song about shit as well. I absolutely loved this album. It’s so fun, so inventive, so creative, and just really enjoyable. Despite a lot of the songs being very long, they never lose your interest. Just when you think it might drift, something new comes in, a melodic line, a great vocal, a searing guitar solo, or even just a lovely chord change, and it pulls you right back in. If you’re not into a track in minute one or two, you probably will be by minute four or five because they just keep evolving and grabbing your attention. Similar to ZZ Top yesterday, it’s not an album you need to overthink. You just need to feel it and go with it. It’s made for dancing more than analysing. I’m just really glad this album exists.