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.