Based on my Last.fm statistics I've only listened to couple of Sam Cooke songs before this. Not the biggest fan of live albums but I did enjoy listening to this.
According to my Last.fm statistics this is the first time I'm listening to Adele but of course I've heard many of these songs before. Adele has a beautiful voice but the album gets pretty boring pretty fast.
En jaksanut loppuun asti.
Not my cup of progressive rock. I do appreciate the musicianship but it was hard work listening to the whole thing.
Surprised to see the sixth best Radiohead album on this list.
I do like Disintegration, but I'm not often in the mood to listen to it. The Head on the Door, Boys Don't Cry and even Faith give a faster reward.
This might be the best hip hop album ever.
Because I'm in my forties, the slow but inevitable shift from indie pop to folk, country and all things acoustic is well on its way. Nevertheless this is the first artist that I've never even heard of (and it's only day seven). Didn't think this would happen so fast!
Enjoyable country pop album.
When I was a kid my father had Brothers in Arms cassette in car stereos so I have a soft spot for Dire Straits. I must admit that I've never listened to the debut album (except for Sultans of Swing). For me the highlights are Down to the Waterline and Wild West End but if I'll ever feel the need to listen to Dire Straits, I'll choose Brothers in Arms.
Crazy to think that Mark Knopfler was in his late twenties when he wrote these songs. He probably has been a middle aged white dude since birth.
Some country, some Rolling Stones, a lot of beer and quite possibly other substances as well.
Musically this is right up my alley but for some reason I haven't heard this before. Glad I listened now!
I loved Funeral and was disappointed after the release of Neon Bible. Haven't listened to this in years and the sexual misconduct allegations make it even worse than I remembered.
Fly or Die was released 2004 and first edition of "1001 Albums..." 2005 so this is a prime example of recency bias. There's no way that this would make the cut now.
"You" should listen to "In Search Of..." instead of this before you die
A breath of fresh air after a couple of mediocre albums.
I've had this in my record collection for twenty years, and it still sounds fresh and timeless. A true classic!
I was 13 years old when I saw the "Intergalactic" music video and got really excited about Beastie Boys. Teenagers do weird things so instead of "Hello Nasty" I bought "Licensed to Ill" (and "Beastie Boys Anthology: The Sounds of Science" about a year later).
I think that the golden age of Beastie Boys starts from "Paul's Boutique" and ends with "Ill Communication" but "Licensed to Ill" is nonetheless a fun album. At least half a star is due to nostalgia.
I have one Mark Eitzel's solo album (The Invisible Man) but I probably haven't listened any American Music Club albums previously. This seems like a very strong album after the first listen.
Quite far from my comfort zone but I liked this one a lot
After listening to this album I'm pretty sure that Meg White was the talented one in White Stripes.
My Last.fm statistics say that I've previously heard only a couple of Fela Kuti's songs so it's about time to listen to a whole album.
I don't like live albums but in this case the feeling and the groove get the job done. A 16 minute drum solo was a bit too much
Before this I had heard Dirge and Aisha so it was reasonable to think that The Contino Sessions might be a pleasant listen but it turned out to be somewhat tiresome. Some nice bits here and there and three good songs (Aladdin's Story is the third one) but that's about it.
Pleasant background music but doesn't seem to reward on a closer listen.
I did like "I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor" but I probably have never heard the full album. It has aged surprisingly well!
How can rock music be this boring?
I put Live/Dead on as background music and got annoyed after 5 minutes or so. Later in the day I focused on listening and at times even enjoyed what I was hearing. I'll never listen to this again though.
In December 1997 I was 12 years old when I got this album as a Christmas present. I really loved it back then which makes sense because metal music in general and Metallica in particular is the logical and very common next step after children's music.
I haven't listened to this in 25 years or so but I still remember every song. At least 1.5 stars for nostalgia.
I grew up reading both Finnish and English music magazines which in early 2000s were full of all kinds of lists. The one thing those lists had in common was that Bob Dylan (or the Beatles) was usually at the top. I guess I believed what the lists were saying, because I ended up buying a few Bob Dylan albums. When I was in my twenties, I tried to like Bob Dylan, but now that I'm in my forties, I think that I finally actually do. This is no Nashville Skyline, but a solid album nonetheless.
I've listened to this multiple times over the years but I still don't quite understand the reputation this one has. It's a strong album and has multiple great songs but unfortunately at times it sounds like you could have heard it on the most mainstream radio station possible.
Although The Pogues can be blamed for inspiring a couple of absolutely terrible bands (I'm looking at you Flogging Molly and Dropkick Murphys), Rum, Sodomy & the Lash is an excellent album.
30 albums so far and 12 of them are in my collection. This is one of them. Banger after banger.
This isn't Radiohead at its best, but it's still Radiohead. A solid and often overlooked album.
Not my favourite Tom Waits album.
Because of all the comedy and spoken word and because it focuses on mood rather than songs, "Nighthawks at the Diner" isn't an album I would listen to again and again.
I'm not a fan of modern radio pop but Green Light is a great song. This might grow on me with further listens but unfortunately I'm allergic to the crammed and generic production. Wonder if it sounded better 9 years ago.
Since I didn't listen to Pantera as a pre-teen, there's absolutely no point in starting now. This album makes 52 minutes and 52 seconds feel like a very very long time.
It can't get much worse than this!
Another one from my record collection (so far 14/35). I haven't listened to this one in years, but it sure sounds good after yesterday's Pantera.
I'm not familiar with Lana Del Rey's work, except for a couple of her biggest hits. Based on one listen "Chemtrails over the Country Club" is enjoyable, but in places so uneventful that I get a little bored.
Is this really the Lana Del Rey album that every one should listen to?
A bit uneven, but the highs are really high.
Big Star is great but I tend to lean towards #1 Record or Radio City.
I was born in 1985 so back in 1997 and 1998 I was exactly the right age for Prodigy. Breathe and Firestarter still sound good almost 30 years later but Smack My Bitch Up must be one of the worst songs ever released. Apart from those three songs, there's nothing really special about the album but it still goes on and on for an hour.
I enjoy the bossa nova vibe but Frankie does his best to ruin everything. I could still imagine putting this on on a lazy Sunday morning.
Haven't listened to this one in years! Teenage Kicks is the obvious highlight but Here Comes the Summer and Get Over You are almost as good. The song material is overall really strong! I set the bar for five stars a bit too high but this one comes pretty close.
This sounds both ahead of its time and very 80s at the same time. Everything good about this album is most likely due to the original musicians and Trevor Horn.
Back in the early 2000s, we didn't have internet access at home, so I faithfully and diligently read Finnish music magazines. Probably in August 2000 Markku Halme (RIP) reviewed Parachutes and said in his positive review something like "boys from good families have made a warm, but truly uncommercial album". At fifteen years old I was already a proper indiepop boy so I thought that this will be something no one else will ever love or understand so I bought Parachutes without hearing a note. The disappointment came only around the time of the second album.
This is Coldplay's best album and "Don't Panic", "Shiver", "Yellow" and "Trouble" are as clearly Coldplay's four best songs. Unfortunately, the other songs are not nearly as good.
There must be a Marvel-multiverse where Coldplay only ever released those four songs on an 12-inch and continued with real estate jobs or banking or whatever and music nerds would pay handsome money to get a copy of that EP.
In my books Belle & Sebastian is the 4th best band all time, behind only Yo La Tengo, The Magnetic Fields and Teenage Fanclub. Tigermilk is my favourite Belle & Sebastian album so this is an easy five.
Not terrible or annoying, but a really boring and unnecessary album. If you feel like listening to French house, there's no reason to choose a cheap copy like this.
I wasn't expecting much, but this was a positive surprise. Ten decent songs (and whatever "Eruption" is) in 35 minutes is apparently just the right amount of Van Halen.
Runnin' with the Devil and Ain't Talkin' Bout Love are the obvious highlights.
Another one from my collection (so far 20/48). I have always admired Björk and I really like "Debut" but I haven't ever truly loved any of her albums. So I guess it's a strong four stars.
I love David Bowie, I like T. Rex and can understand the appeal of some of the hard rock bands, but Mott the Hoople doesn't seem to give me much.
Hunky Dory used to be my favourite Bowie album, but nowadays I prefer Ziggy Stardust and Low. Great album anyway.
I don't usually like live albums, but this one works quite well. Nevertheless, if I feel like listening to Cheap Trick, I choose "Heaven Tonight".
This was the first time I listened to an entire Nine Inch Nails album. I understand the importance and influence of this album, but I would have liked it a lot more if I was 15 years old. The lyrics are definitely the worst part.
Revolver may well be the Beatles' best album, even though it has Yellow Submarine on it.
I like "Are You Experienced", but I've never listened to "Electric Ladyland" in its entirety before. The first few songs and the last couple of songs are great, but there are some weak songs in between as well. More song writing and less guitar playing would have done the trick. I do like the sound and production though. Around 3,5 stars.
I don't have "Time (The Revelator)" in my record collection, but I've listened to it on Spotify a few times before. An excellent record that works as background music but really comes into its own when listened to with concentration.
Fourteen more or less perfect pop songs in 35 minutes. That's the way I like it! Rubber Soul is a glimpse into what the Beatles were and what they will become. There aren't any bad songs on Rubber Soul, and the same can't be said for their later albums.
I listen to this quite often in the background of my morning routines. It gives a nice start to the day. The quality of the album drops a bit towards the end, but the atmosphere carries through.
Interesting and educational but I'm not even nearly educated enough to enjoy this.
This is my fifth live album in this project, and only my 60th in total. Of course, no one should listen to that many live albums.
I knew Thin Lizzy's biggest hits, and based on that, 80 minutes with the band didn't sound appealing but this was somewhat better than I thought. A few good songs and a good vibe. I'm still unlikely to listen to this ever again.
It's been almost 17 years since this was published. Time flies!
By the way, I think everyone should listen to Colossal Youth by Young Marble Giants.
The second best Radiohead album, in my opinion (second only to OK Computer). Great pop song after a great pop song after a great pop song. Easy 5 stars although I have to admit that since I've listened to The Bends hundreds of times over the past 25 years or so, I don't feel like listening to it very often anymore.
My dad loves Deep Purple, so even though I haven't listened to Deep Purple much on my own, I've heard a lot of these songs multiple times. I've also seen Deep Purple live, not in Japan in 1972 but in Oulu Finland in 2014.
Deep Purple has a few good songs, but none of these live versions are up to the standard of the album version. Also, there should be some rule that limits the number of solos to one per song.
I didn't like Merriweather Post Pavilion all that much back in 2009 but now it sounds refreshing and a lot less irritating than I remembered. Requires right state of mind. 3,7 or so.
This was the first time I listened to Superunknown in its entirety, and at first I was a little excited because an album with such a high reputation has to be good! Pretty soon I noticed that it's not.
There are a couple of decent songs on the album but the 70 minute runtime makes it feel monotonous, bloated and dull. Relatively polished production doesn't help either.
At first I thought about giving it three stars, then two, but the more I think about this album, the closer it gets to one star. Better stop now.
This is what Queen could have sounded like if they had any taste or style. Strong four stars
Here in Finland there is a nationwide radio station called "Radio Rock". Their slogan is "We play what we want" but in reality they might have the the shortest playlist of all the mainstream stations in Finland. Whenever you open the radio, you are likely to hear Money for Nothing, One and Nothing Else Matters, the biggest hits from Back in Black and a few Finnish songs (usually Nightwish and Apulanta).
In addition, how many times you'll hear Back in Black (the song) during an ice hockey game? A dozen?
I guess there was a time when AC/DC sounded dangerous or interesting but nowadays you could play You Shook Me All Night Long to a shopping center full of people and no one would be upset. About half of the songs on this album are no longer even music, but sound wallpaper for commute to work, for the beginning of the home team's power play and for lost youth.
I'm not a particularly big fan of The Rolling Stones, but Beggars Banquet is still an excellent album.
It's taken a bit of work, but luckily I've had almost 20 years to work on this. A unique album.
Great beats, decent rapping and interesting production. Would be four stars without "Da Bichez".
I could still name quite a few rap albums that should be on this list instead of The Sun Rises in the East.
Sure, I know The Police's biggest hits, but I've never been a fan. Synchronicity pretty much lived up to what I expected: skillful and stylish playing, one overplayed hit and a couple of other good ones (King of Pain and Synchronicity I and II), one really crappy one (Mother, obviously) and a few decent songs. I might listen to the highlights again, but that's about it. Strong three stars.
This works well as a background music, but it's not "easy listening" at all, since my concentration is lost within a couple of minutes. Quite pleasant, but not much more than that.
Like many others in the early 2000s, I believed the hype and bought Highly Evolved. Unfortunately this album has only one great song and one pretty good one, but the other ten are harmless and forgettable.
Since it's Sunday, the sun is shining and I'm in a good mood, I'll round it to three stars.
Let's start with the positives: Doves isn't the worst Radiohead-inspired band.
This should be my kind of music but I didn't care for Doves back then and I don't especially care for them now, although when I'm listening to the album I find that I like most of the songs. The problem is that after the album ended, I realized that it didn't leave any emotional mark. I don't think I'll feel the need to listen to this again.
A breath of fresh air on a list that has a surprising number of completely mediocre albums. Tight, punchy, and engaging album.
Before this, I knew ELP by name, but I'd never heard any of their songs before, so I sat down, put on my headphones, and tried to focus on listening. Luckily, it didn't feel like a complete waste of time, and I didn't get particularly annoyed, although this kind of music normally causes annoyance.
The mammoth title track is clearly the most interesting song, and I also liked the "Infinite Space" instrumental, but the rest of the song material didn't seem very strong. "Are You Ready Eddy?" made me think that the album was over and Spotify had randomly selected some shitty boogie band to play.
I know, you know, your mother knows and pretty much everyone else knows that this is a great album.
So I tried to listen without prejudice (and googling). My interest remained for the first two songs, but after that my concentration started to wander and the this became background music. A rather boring album that didn't really evoke any emotions.
I don't feel like listening to Michael Jackson and it doesn't help that this album is surprisingly meh.
My project has only just begun, but it already seems clear that the best albums I haven't heard previously are jazz records. Head Hunters and Jimmy Smith's Back at the Chicken Shack are albums that I will continue to listen to in the future.
I haven't listened to a whole Destiny's Child album before but naturally even I know the hits. After the first three songs I was actually quite excited but then "Nasty Girl" happened and the album didn't recover from it or maybe I just lost my interest.
As a teenager, I loved Fatboy Slim's "Praise You" and "Weapon of Choice" music videos (both directed by Spike Jonze), but it never occurred to me to check out their earlier work.
Well, now I have. At first I tried listening to "Better Living Through Chemistry" with my morning coffee, but it didn't work at all. On a run after work, the album sounded better but it's still just decent and a little outdated big beat stuff.
One of those albums that I know by heart, but don't listen to much anymore. It's an important album for me, but of course it has also had a huge cultural impact.
And yet I prefer New Order.
I don't want to waste my time listening to Antichrist Superstar or writing about Marilyn Manson. I listened to this album when I was younger, so strictly speaking I'm not cheating.
I think 1996 was the best year in music so there are plenty of great albums to listen to instead. Here are 5 albums that I think should be on the list of 1001 albums but aren't:
1. Weezer: Pinkerton
2. Fountains of Wayne Fountains of Wayne
3. Rocketship: A Certain Smile, A Certain Sadness
4. Brendan Benson: One Mississippi
5. Go Sailor: Go Sailor
Sometimes this project feels pointless, but records like this give me the motivation to keep going. I should rewatch Treme.
Consistently strong, but not Talking Heads' best album. Deserves its place on the list.
Unique and timeless. One of the best albums of all time.
Over the years, My Bloody Valentine has inspired countless (shoegaze) bands, but none of them sound quite like Loveless.
Paul Weller founded The Jam when he was 14, disbanded the band when he was 24 and released the first The Style Council album when he was about 26 years old. Cafe Bleu is something really different from the Jam: pop album with soul and jazz influences, some funk and even an awful rap song! I appreciate artists who follow their vision and are not afraid of change even though I don't love this album.
Starting to like Steely Dan is a sure sign of middle age.
This might be a bit of a hot take but DAMN. is Kendrick Lamar's best album. This one and Butterfly are both pretty great as well.
As a kid, I saw the "Viva Las Vegas" music video and loved it so much that I wanted a ZZ Top album. Their "Greatest Hits" cassette was probably my first album.
I'm not really into these blues rock Santas anymore, but La Grange is a great song.
One extra star for nostalgia.
It sounded good at first and there are a few highlights, but 78 minutes is too much. I struggled to finish the album.
I gave three stars to "The Fat of the Land" and "Music for the Jilted Generation" is slightly better, so
I love Dusty in Memphis, but I haven't listened to this one before. Full of familiar and great songs, though.
This is exactly what I needed for my Monday morning.
Before listening to this album, I knew that Eric Clapton had done a terrible Bob Marley cover, cheesy "Wonderful Tonight" and this album's "Layla". I also had this image of him being both a racist and an anti-vaccination jerk (which is a pretty common combination!), so I was both surprised and annoyed when the first two songs on this album were so good!
After "I Looked Away" and "Bell Bottom Blues", the album level dropped. At some point the aforementioned "Layla" came along and pretty soon after that the album ended and I lost 76 minutes of my life.
"All Mod Cons" doesn't have The Jam's best songs but it quite likely is the band's most consistent and balanced album.
Blur made dozens of great songs, but none of their albums are perfect. Parklife (or Blur) comes closest.
The title track and Girls & Boys are overplayed, so I tend to skip those, but there are great moments (End of a Century! To the End! This Is a Low!)
Bayou Country is my 100th album in this project, so it's time for some stats:
5 star albums: 9
4 star albums: 39 (including Bayou Country)
3 star albums: 35
2 star albums: 15
1 star albums: 2
My favourite decade seems to be 1960s and my favourite genre after 100 albums is punk.
Let's see what the stats look like after 200 albums.
I borrowed "Come Find Yourself" from my hometown library when I was around 14 because I mixed up Fun Lovin' Criminals with some other band (I can't remember which one). I didn't like it as a teenager and I don't like it now.
