1001 Albums Summary

I do not have the musical skill, knowledge, or aptitude to speak on the craft here. As a listener though, I dig a bluesy electric guitar just jamming out, that is a mood I could sit with for a while.

Before this listen my only engagement with Van Morrison was hearing Brown Eyed Girl on many a summer playlist. While I really enjoy that song I’m not sure this album is going to be my go to choice for chilling. I appreciate the folk/soul sound, but it failed to win me over. This feels like an album you listen to while spending time with someone special or to remember spending time with someone special. So maybe in that specific situation I’ll return to a few of these tracks.

Not familiar with Frank Ocean, a musician I’ve heard of thanks to being a critical darling but I’ve never listened to yet. So I’m going to just jot down the notes as I go along. Early part of this album indulges in too many tangents. It’s distracting. When he finds his groove, though, the tracks improve. Appreciate the theme of frustration with affluence and proximity to wealth, throughout the album, though it is at times a bit muddied. Are we observing or participating? I can't decide. The complaints also feel a little halfhearted. Okay! The Track "Pink Matter" has a wonderful, if sincerely misplaced Dragonball Z reference. Mentions of Majin Buu earn points from this reviewer. I'm an easy mark. Also , I see you there Andre 3000. Finished. The second half of this album is high quality. Polished production, expected given the names associated, that gets labeled as neo soul. Matching storytelling with the R&B beats. I dig it.

"It doesn't matter if we all die." This is the opening lyric to the opening track, "One Hundred Years" and captures the reputation of the The Cure. It is also the nihilistic tone that permeates this entire album. An album of intrusive thoughts, repeating repetitively, exhausting and animating in equal parts. Robert Smith is trying to get these thoughts out of his head, if they end up in yours, well that’s just collateral damage. Sorry you entered the blast radius. Beware of bleakness. "I will never be clean again." According to the tales of the the recording of this album there was heavy drug use, confrontational episodes, and an all around depressive atmosphere. Well, you've got an album that reflects such origins. The result is a singular sound, with one track blending into and sounding like the next. "Is it always like this?" It is an album of messed up rockers playing music despondently because what else are they going to do? Be respectable? This wasn’t meant for you. It was never meant for you. You’re just peaking in. That sound you hear. It’s a sound that rises from the haze, the middle of their mess. It is the sound you get when you point a camera and microphone at that mess to record the degradation. It is, in a word, pornography. "Waiting for the death blow."

My first 90s album of this exercise! Yay! Green Day has always been a favorite of mine, though never in my absolute favorites lists. This album was my introduction and remains my preference of their discography. Full disclosure, Dookie was one of my initial 10 albums from Columbia House back in the day. Remember them? It has been a minute since I listened to this album in full but I was pistoning my hands with every Tre Cool mini drum-fill like I was 15 again. This album runs on juvenile energy ("Welcome to Paradise" & "She") and wild unfocused anxiety. ("Longview"; "When I Come Around" ; and "Basket Case"). I recall all of it. Do you have the time to listen to me whine? As a teenager who lived through it too, it is hard to convey how this energetic sound, coming right on the heels of grunge, just popped. It was like hearing color. And I love grunge. It was just nice to also have some pop punk back on the menu too and Billy Joe Armstrong and these guys were everywhere in 1994. I’m not sure the album truly merits a “5”. It’s a solid 4, but personal history and 90s nostalgia bump it up to a 5 for me. So I was glad to come back to this albun. A reminder of another time. A time when I was young enough to laugh at poop jokes. "hehe...dookie”

Yep, this is music that could potentially be played at and get you moving if you’re at the club, however, I’m not at the club and if I was I’d probably be a wallflower. Beyond that it is an album that fails to achieve escape velocity from the club for me. One track I knew, the “Back to Life” hit. Less than a handful I would return to, “Keep On Movin’” & “African Dance”. The rest… If this is still on the list come the next edition, I think it’s a fine candidate to update with a newer album.

“How we live in his existence just being English upbringing, background Caribbean“ New listen for me. So an odd thing happened as I listened to this one. I initially bounced off of it, just not for me, but something kept nagging the back of my mind. Then halfway through the album, around the track Five Man Army, it started hitting for me. And by the end I wanted to start it over and listen to those first few tracks again. Ah there it is, that start to “Safe From Harm” put me in mind of 311’s “Beautiful Disaster” and that brought the whole album into focus. The beat heavy sound with bits of electronic, reggae, and rap. Wouldn’t be surprised to find out Massive Attack was influential on them. (Upon reading the Wikipedia on this album I see that this album and band are a massive (pun not intended) influence on many artists.) Trip hop. That makes sense. I dig it. A 3.5 that I don’t feel like rounding up to a 4. I’m probably adding these tracks to the playlists: Safe From Harm Blue Lines Five Man Army Daydreaming Lately.

MGMT missed me. Completely. Their sound. There timing. I’d never heard of this band until last year (2025). Now I know that probably says more about me and my disconnect from popular music at the time than anything else. They hit at a time when I was not listening to anything new and most of my music listening time was given to things like audiobooks. To my ears, this is an unfocused mess. Just a mishmash of influences being tried out to see what sticks. I can see the appeal in the approach but it does not work for me. One intriguing track and the rest sounds like an EA Sports Menu screen . I’ll find my chill music elsewhere. How? How is this included on Rolling Stones 500 greatest albums of all time? Now, I feel like I’m the one being punked.

First impressions: This sounds like the Thursday night band at the local roadhouse. They're trying things out but don't have the energy to be the weekend act. There is potential though. Just let them jam for a bit and they might get there. The Southern rock sound. Blues with bits of Appalachia, Bluegrass, and folk in it. I dig it. The first half of the album (A double album divided into four parts) was stronger for me than the second half. Part 1- The Raven sounds like a live music jam. Fun and inviting. Part 2- The Wilderness has that slowing down from the jam sound because we need to go to church the next morning. See they're practicing to be that Saturday night act and need a few songs to soften the end of the night. Part 3 - Consider & Part 4 - Rock & Roll is Here to Stay must be the midweek brainstorms for next week's set. Again, this is the weaker half of the album for me and where you find a lot of the bloat. A few of these songs are keepers. Conclusion: A bit bloated, however, understandably so. Seems like a side project, a space for these musicians to indulge in what catches their interest. More of a 2.7 for me that I'll round up to a 3.

“Music is my savior…I was maimed by rock and roll.” It was raining the day this album showed up on my project. I listened to it walking through the rain with the dog before the sun came up. It was still raining when I was listening to this album during my morning commute. It added to the introspective ambience. I wish I had found this album earlier in life. I wonder if my entire life would’ve turned out different had I found this album during my teenage years when it came out. Like that Jim Belushi movie where he gets to see what it would’ve been like if he had hit a home run instead of striking out in a high school baseball game. Would’ve it have been a parade of fashionable lovers, a garage full of cars, and the career fast track? Okay, probably not. What I do know is that my mind wanted to manufacture years, decades, of nostalgia for this album as I was listening to it for the first time today. I can imagine hearing this on a college rock station. I can hear this on a NPR’s Rock & Roots alternative rotation. It is infused with this certain 90s sensibility, a yearning to experience the epiphany that figures life out and the disappointment when it doesn’t occur. And it is all soundtracked by pure uncut 90s alternative rock country. Needless to say, I loved the album. Solid 4.

New listen and going in blind. Never heard of ABC before. Bombastic opening track, that really has big Phantom of the Opera energy. As the album proceeds from there I can tell they are going for over the top self-importance. A certain Broadway presentation. However, as I reached the track, “Tears are Not Enough” it started to get me laughing. It was difficult to take it seriously. Yes, this is how part of the 1980s sounded! That said, I can appreciate indulgent spectacle, even this one, and found myself enjoying stretches of this album. Maybe stretches is too generous. When I forgot myself I enjoyed fragments of this album. Everything has a very disco sound meeting the 80s on top of a synthesizer. As a child of the 80s the synth-pop will always feel familiar though I never developed a deep love for it.

What a voice! I'm more familiar with her other album, "Back to Black" but still enjoyed seeing this one pop up on the list for today. Listening to Amy Winehouse is like hearing a shaman access the spirit world, she communes with good spirits and evil spirits where none of them act predictably. She displays such an array of emotions you feel them reflected back at you. Late night hope, future regret, snide cattiness, frustration, complaint, playfulness, desire, or musing. A voice brimming with charisma and songs written with deep character. I just wanted to press play and let this album burn all the way down like a cigarette left in the ashtray.

There was that window of time in the 1990s where a bunch of people got into layering beats with traditional cultural music. I always kinda dug it. I was a fan of Enigma which William Orbit was a contemporary of as well. This album came out the same year as The Cross of Changes. The next year an album of Chanting monks from Spain would go double platinum. It was a thing at the time. So whatever you call it EDM, ambient, trip hop, new age world beat. This is an album I wouldn’t mind throwing on to work to or just vibe with.

"No, it's just more lock-jawed pop-stars, Thicker than pig-shit, Nothing to convey, They're so scared to show intelligence, It might smear their lovely career" Whenever I get my album for the day I always note the release year. This being a 2004 album makes perfect sense when the first three tracks are so overtly and clumsily political. I'm not going to fault an artist for earnestness, but damn, if these lyrics weren't painfully cumbersome. That continues throughout the album even as we move from broad political topics to more personal losses and complaints. In fact this whole album has a whiney-ness to it. Along the way, however, I found some narrative threads worth pulling on for brief moments. "The World is Full of Crashing Bores" and "First of the Gang to Die" both earned back enough of my attention to see where they were going. After the album ran out of steam and thankfully ended. I'm told The Smiths are worth checking out but Morrissey on his own is burdened by trite songwriting and a milquetoast rock sound. I think this is what the kids call Cringe nowadays.

Kids, as you get older you're going to find that you need to listen to good music. This is good music. I'm halfway through the first track and I can tell I'm going to like this album. The music is full of warm tones and lifting solos. I could feel the breeze off the ocean hitting my face. I could taste a splash of spiced rum in my drink. Where did this drink come from? Don't worry about it. I listened to this album on repeat twice before I even thought to stop it. I listened to it throughout the day. It was a welcome addition to the day. Reading up on this album afterwards tells me that Stan Getz & Charlie Byrd's Jazz Samba kicked off the bossa nova craze in America. Well for that I thank them. This whole abum was a delight.

"When I wake up in my makeup, Have you ever felt so used up as this? Album opens with the propulsive mania of the title track "Celebrity Skin". Its got enough wild confidence to throw its name into those "Best Side 1, Track1" arguments. I don't know how well it would fair overall, but any tracks on the other side of the argument probably don't want to get in a tangle with this one either so who knows. "Awful" loses some of the wild mania to put a glib smile on female rebellion while "Hit So Hard" brings out the distortion in sound and life. "Malibu" and "Reasons to Be Beautiful" grapple with disenchantment settling in. Now we're faded somewhere in Hollywood. "Dying" - This is my surprise face to find out Billy Corgan hand his hand on this track. It could've slotted neatly in on "Mellon Collie and The Infinite Sadness." In fact Corgan got involved on a handful of tracks I see. Back half of the album is a bit more muted. "Northern Star" is a haunting lament in context "I knew I'd cherish all my misery, alone." that is well paired with proximity to the track "Boys on the Radio" on the album. By the time you reach the end of "Petals" you feel a little fatigued but that maybe going outside and getting some rays of sun would do you good. Final Thought: There is something about that 90s alternative rock sound. I grew up with it, I still love it. Enjoyed this one. A deep through line of how the pop culture fame machine chews through young hopefuls. Given Courtney Love's position in rock history, perhaps she is one of the few voices that should be heard less as pretentious to on this topic and maybe a little more experienced.

My body was actively rejecting this album as I listened to it. I had to immediately put on my high energy playlist when it ended. I was quite surprised to see I had a "liked" song on my Spotify from this artist. It was "The Wanderer" from Dion and The Belmonts. Guess I enjoyed the Doo-wop / Rock and Roll era much more. Apparently Dion was not happy with this album and called it "funeral music." I agree. Let's just bury it and not speak of it again.

"First of all, we'd like to thank Jethro Tull for not putting out an album this year." - Lars Ulrich opening Metallica's 1992 Grammy acceptance speech. So I get Jethro Tull is known as the prog rock band with the flutes, but for most of my life I've known them as that old-not-really-"Metal"-band that beat Metallica for a Grammy back in 1989 for Best Hard Rock/Metal performance. Thus, here I am nearly forty years later about to listen to a Jethro Tull album in full for the first time. I've heard a few songs here and there over the years, just FYI. ...And I enjoyed it. There is much to chew on here. This is one of those pieces of art that I think age has helped me appreciate. I would not and did not have the patience for an album like this in my younger days. Now, I'll sit with those guitar riffs and wait for that flute to drop. Musing about "God and Religion" and throwing you hands to the sky in frustration with the whole affair. Okay, make your argument. I'm listening. This is the type of album you want to have discussions about, good or bad. Whether you enjoyed it or not. Still think Metallica got robbed in 1989.

“I lost myself in a familiar song. I closed my eyes and I slipped away.” Every track ended with a booming radio voice declaring “This is Classic Rock!” Was that just me? Hell Yeah! Seriously, one of the load bearing pillars of 1970s rock that was already classic when I was old enough to start listening to music on the radio. I came of age in the MTV era though so I have limited nostalgia for Boston. Still, this album rocks. The first side is 100% top tracks. “More than a Feeling” will take you away. There’s a reason the cover has a spaceship. And “Peace of Mind” is the perfect companion track to bridge to the top shelf classic that is “Forplay/Longtime.” Second half of the album is a slight dip in enjoyment for me but only as compared to side one. All in all, it made for the perfect Friday drop.

“When you believe in things that you don’t understand, then you suffer.” This is my first time listening to this full album. I’d heard Superstition but that was about it. I’m having trouble thinking of words to describe how this album is making me feel. It’s smooth and funky. In a single word, groovy. The instrumentation is high quality craftsmanship and Stevie Wonder’s voice is something to behold. My single complaint is some of the repetition within the individual songs reached a point of annoyance for me. (Thinking of the line “Maybe your baby done made some other plans.” On the second track “Maybe Your Baby”) It’s a small annoyance, because overall this album is the fix for what ails you. I can see myself getting in a mood to return to this album.

“It doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter. It doesn't matter. It doesn’t matter. It doesn't matter.” This feels like a You-had-to-be-there album. You had to be at the club when this kicked in. You had to be on some chemicals to pick up what the Chemical Brothers were laying down. You had to be there when John Wick murdered his way across the entire rave dance floor. The Chemical Brothers were heralds. The sound of EDM would come to influence all of pop music, or at least seemed to to me. And it’s hard for me to assess that. If competently done, it sounds…fine enough to dance and trip to, I guess, but beyond that. I don’t know. For me I'm not sure how this music transcends that simple functionality. Block Rockin' Beats went hard and I can see it soundtracking a good action scene or sports highlight mix tape. but again, that goes back to the you had to have been there of it all. As far as the EDM type music goes this is electronica that seems to have less charisma that say a Daft Punk, or am edge like the Prodigy. I dig it well enough: it’s fun. Fun for a night, just not forever.

Alright! Going in I know this album already has two all-timer tracks for me in "One" and "Mysterious Ways." The rest of the album is mostly uncharted territory that I'm eager to discover. I think i mentioned in a previous review from this project that I will not fault an artist for being earnest. I appreciate earnestness and that is probably why I have a higher tolerance for U2 that the average person who is not already a big U2 fan. They tend to be a polarizing group as I understand. Zoo Station - loving that distortion on both the vocals and the electric guitar. Inject that 90s sound right into my ears. Even Better Than the Real Thing - Okay, I remember this track too. These first two tracks put me in mind of "Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me" which came a few years after this but was one I really liked and I'm digging the proto-versions here. One - Like I said, this one is an all-timer for me. The quiet pleading, the punctuating outbursts that attempt an understanding. Bono pulls off all the vocal musings. It also contains one of my favorite lyrics, "Have you come here for forgiveness? Have you come to raise the dead? Have you come here to play Jesus, To the lepers in your head?" That'll sit in my head all day. Until the End of the World - I'm loving this track too. Am I contemplating a 5 here? I think I'm contemplating a 5 here. Wild! Lets see how the back half of the album hits. Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses - First track that made me somewhat impatient. Attempts to achieve soaring lyrics and guitar parts, but the title is too much and its repetition within the track does not bring it back around. So Cruel - Keeping the pace slow here. Not a bad thing, per se, we'll see how it plays out. The Fly; Mysterious Ways: Tryin' To Throw Your Arms Around the World After the lull of the previous two tracks we pick back up with a great three track run here that really puts that 5 in sight for me. Ultra Violet (Light My Way) & Acrobat keep the energy going with Love is Blindness bringing it all to a definitive conclusion. So what i thought might've been some minor pacing problems turned out to be solid deep breath between two great stretch of tracks. Overall this was a solid hour of music. U2 has always been a omnipresent part of the rock landscape during my life. So I was never surprised to encounter them, Live Aid, award shows, Super Bowl halftime, unasked for in your iPod. They're just there. Now maybe I need to listen to some more deep cuts. I think I enjoy U2 more than just in passing. Color me shocked. This whole listening project has demonstrated to me all the music I've missed in my life so far. I'm glad I'm doing this.

An album that almost got lost in the shuffle. I’ve got no special affection for Otis Redding. I know his voice from a few unavoidable songs that get included on various playlists. Ones that usually mentioned oldies, you know. So when presented with an album of covers from the mid-60s my enthusiasm was muted. It was the morning. I listened to the album. Slowly, a few of the tracks started to grow on me. If I had only given this album a once over listen I might’ve forgotten it quick and moved on, but I didn’t. I had the time today, so I gave a second listen. I took a mulligan on my initial take. Redding’s voice does the majority of the work, he can pack a lot of emotion into single verses. The guitar and horns, though, bring an understated enjoyment to this album that I didn’t catch at first blush. Really good stuff there. They elevate even the fun frivolity on tracks like Shake. Highly enjoyed the tracks: Ole Man Trouble A Change is Gonna Come My Girl Wonderful World Also found some of the music more suited to later evening listening. Something to consider for the rest of the project.

Sounds like a college movie scoring project. Hope the guy earned that MFA in Sound Design off this. I'll give a point for keeping a coherent thought throughout the entire album. It does evoke an action movie atmosphere. But seriously, how does this merit inclusion as one of the 1001 slots?

"Sittin' on the bed and I'm lyin' wide awake There's demons in my head and it's more than I can take I think I'm on a roll, but I think it's kinda weak Sayin' all I know is I gotta get away from me" Oh man! It makes me so happy to talk about The Offspring. This band and particularly this album hit me at the age of 14 and they were a musical pillar of my teenage and high school years. Dexter, Noodles, Greg K., and Ron Welty (the classic band make-up) sure knew how to appeal to goofy teens like myself. As I've aged they have slid down from a top 3 personal to more of a legacy top ten band of mine. Still, I could probably do this rating from memory. A lot of these tracks remain on a few of my playlists, but some have grown hazy from disuse. Track Highlights I appreciated the running gag of the hoity-toity listener which is juxtaposed with the crashing noise that follows it. It never gets old to me. Nitro [Youth Energy] - Is a 2 and a half minute opening mission statement full of piston drum kicks and relentless riffs. Keep up loser! Bad Habits - Road Rage build up to one explosive punchline. Gotta Get Away - Best track on the album. Has aged the best. Playlist staple of mine. Come Out and Play - Punk rock that descended from surfer rock. The Offspring show off that Southern California flavor with a Dick Dale inspired riff. Was ready for radio and MTV from the first moment. Probably helped too, when Quentin Tarantino reminded the world of surfer rock by opening 1994's Pulp Fiction with "Misirlou" by Dick Dale himself. 1994, we remember you well. What a year! Self-Esteem - May be the track that has aged the worst, honestly. At 15 this was a perfect expression of my own awkwardness and disaffected self. Now it is much too whiny and contains more self-flagellation than I want to indulge in. Part of me can still relate to this song, but like a bad memory of a situation you eventually resolved. Conclusion.: My god this album remains a helluva lotta fun to listen to. Heavy but playfully-in-your-face-riffs that bring boundless amounts of nervous energy. A reminder that "Smash" unlike its 1994 Pop Punk counterpart, Green Day's "Dookie," was made while The Offspring were on independent label Epitaph. Sidenote: Smash is the best selling independent label album ever. There is less polish on this production; it still brings the heat. Its got all the elements of punk; blowing off steam catharsis (Nitro [Youth Energy], Bad Habit), an abundance of anxiety (Gotta Get Away; Self-Esteem, Not the One), simply expressed sincere concerns with social issues (Something to Believe In, Come Out and Play, It'll Be a Long Time), and bouts of hyperbole (Genocide, Killboy Powerhead). It makes me feel quite old to know that The Offspring have been an active band for 4 decades. Sometimes that youthful punk energy burns out quick, but sometimes it keeps you young by being a constant source, a reminder, of youthful energy you can return to over and over, over the years. Solid 5 from me.

Common is a name I’ve encountered on other rappers album, but never listened to any of his own stuff. This album is…serviceable. It’s good-not-great mid-2000s rap album. The hooks worked and the rap flows well enough. Yet nothing stood out to me. And honestly I don’t have much more to say about it than that.

This album gets a 5. For me this album would get as high as you can rate. 5. 500. 5000. 5 million. Infinity. This album gets infinity from me. This one is quite personal. I may go long on it. I don’t know. That is because this album long ago ceased being an artifact of music for me and became maintenance medication. I need regular doses of this album to properly function. This album hit me at age 20 like a revelation. It is not hyperbole to say this album got me through college. It got me through my 20s. It got me through my 30s. Its getting me through my 40s. I listened to this when I had a bad day at work, when I needed the rush of adrenaline to pull an all-nighter to finish a paper, on my way to and from game nights with my buds, when I was lonely, when another romance flamed out, when I lost my job, when I landed an even better job, when the wife or kids are stressing me out, or whenever I just need it. I’ve listened to this album on repeat for over a quarter of a century now. I've listened to it 5 times today at the prompting of this project. It is the cosmic background radiation of my mind. I daresay if you put a needle to the grooves on my brain it would play this record. I was already a fan of the rap-rock sound that would be forever known as Nü-metal. Korn was a prominent band for me in college. Linkin Park seemed to perfect this in 2000 with Mike Shinoda as the hip-hop guy and Chester Bennington as the rage-screaming rock guy. Seriously, I could hear Chester scream about anything and feel it. He had as much pain in his voice as anybody since Layne Staley to me. The chemistry these two, MS & CB, achieved in the way they handed off tracks to each other was immaculate. Inevitable. Like a binary star system circling each other until the collision explodes releasing supernova force. Add to this mix persistent towering guitar riffs from Brad Delson, Rob Bourdon’s drum mastering, and timed under the hand of Mr. Joe Hahn on turntable mixing. Its perfect. The Tracks. This album defines no skips energy for me. Each track is awesome. I get it though if it’s not your thing. I do. It’s hard for me to argue on the merits of musical craft. I just love the way this album sounds. I would love their sound almost as much on Reanimation and Meteora. Here is my ranking of them in order of personal enjoyment: One Step Closer Crawling With You Papercut Runaway Forgotten Cure for the Itch In the End Points of Authority Pushing Me Away A Place for My Head By Myself One Step Closer is my go to "I'm angry song" and has been my most listened to song on Spotify every year I've had a subscription. In conclusion, there is a lot more I could say, however, I probably don't need to go on. Im afraid I will descend into florid repetition if I haven’t already. I’m sure I will hear more great music to come on this project, but I can definitely say I will not love any album more than this one.

Second The Chemical Brothers album in a week. My enthusiasm is muted. So is this album it seems. This blended into the background, mostly, seamlessly. Nothing stood out to me. Yes, these guys know how to design sound. That said there is little I can add to my previous review. It’s difficult to rate these albums. It’s like the bathroom music for The Matrix. It will get you to nod your head for a while, but for what? 3/5 - Inoffensive and ambient.

“So I get into the game, but always keep it the same And I’ll be using’ your name, but they’ll be yelling’ at me, “Poor boy, poor boy!” Jack White has always been a personal enigma to me. I like The White Stripes and his other projects when I hear them on the radio. On the other hand he is also a musician I’m told I’m supposed to like by lots of people and critics with loud opinions on music. And me, well I’m sometimes a contrarian. So I can’t say I’ve ever given a Jack White album (and by extension The White Stripes) a full listen. So this will be a new listen for me. Surprising, that’s the word. That guitar forward rock that tilts and lilts from one moment to the next. I can hear the mastery on display. White will show you his chops, and he has plenty, before he changes it up. He earns your trust and then says, what if we we went over there? You coming? I found that usually, I was. In another timeline, I could see myself giving this a 5 because I’ve spent a decade with it. I haven’t though and something unseen is keeping it at arms length from me. I’ll give it a 4.

"I've been drawn into your magnet tar pit trap." I was barely 13 years old when this album dropped. When Nirvana was on top of the world I was still in the process of aging into my teenage angst. Now I'm the one who is old and bored. Being the tail end of Generation X means I still have a claim to Kurt Cobain being a spokesman for my generational cohort if only just. However, outside of what MTV fed me (and believe me when I say they fed A LOT of Nirvana), it wouldn't be until college that I truly embraced this band. Of the big four grunge acts I gravitated toward Soundgarden and Alice in Chains more early on and later more toward Pearl Jam. Why? Don't know. Nirvana was just omnipresent and it felt like they were too big to be claimed as "your" band. Again, maybe I was just a year or two shy of truly "getting it." Upon reflection, In Utero has to be listened to as a reaction to how big Nevermind and subsequently Nirvana, grew. This is the band's response to the phenomenon of one of the best selling and most influential albums ever made. That response ended up being a question by Kurt Cobain as rock god asking you: "What will you put up with?" "How much can I get away with and still be your rock god." How much will the label let me do?" On the lead radio/MTV video single we’re going to talk about eating cancer when it turns black, that cool? We're going to take the catchiest pop guitar part on the album and put it on a song called "Rape Me" and Kurt is going to scream the title as the chorus, okay? Are you cool if we just title one track "Radio Friendly Unit Shifter" and have an intro that is the most god-awful anti radio screech we can imagine? How about calling being happy dumb? How about if one fourth of the album is abrasive noise, yeah? And the world said yes. A resounding yes for all of time. The world loved it. In Utero may outclass Nevermind. It’s loud, noisy, and at times intentionally distasteful. It is nearly perfect. It was the follow-up that confirmed the talent, vision, and artistry of Nirvana. An album by a group of guys coming to the realization that they are now rock gods and are expected to behave as such. Well, they're going to see how much the label and the audience will let them get away with. It is difficult to convey to anyone 5 or more years younger than me how the 90s felt truly. How the concept of "selling out" was at all times to be avoided. In Utero may be an ur-text on this. Nirvana became the biggest band in the world off of Nevermind and Kurt Cobain immediately wanted nothing to do with it. Reportedly said, "I'm embarrassed by it now. It's closer to a Mötley Crüe record than it is a punk rock record." So the next album, this album, was intentionally provoking. Provoking both his label and his audience. Who were we to gainsay the voice of a generation? And I'm going to end on "All Apologies." The last track on Nirvana's final studio album may be my favorite Nirvana track of all. It serves as a fitting goodbye, though we didn't know it at the time. It was so good that it would also be the last Nirvana song played on the Unplugged set list. "All Apologies" was the send off, "Where Did You Sleep Last Night" was the final encore, but we'll get to that another time, I'm sure. Yeah, this album is a solid 5 for me. Not for nostalgia, not for musical perfection achieved, but for recognition of commitment to the vision and refusing to completely sand down the rough edges. Also, it’s good. "All in all is all we all are."

“I try not to say nothing, the DA might want to play in court.” I saw another review say this and I’m going to steal that line, “Not all 5s are created equal.” This album is long and I was never bored. Not once. Never grew tired of it. That’s only happened with Eminem, Jay-Z, and Wu-Tang as far as rap albums go. Rare company there. Now I do have a history with this album. 2003 was near the end of college for me and is probably the last time I was really “In Da Clubs.” Also, my roommate at the time was really into rap, especially anything off Shady Records. I remember a weekend when this album was on loop for hours. Maybe my enjoyment of it is a form of Stockholm Syndrome. Who knows. First it is a meeting of West Coast gangsta rap and R&B heavy New York rap produced by Eminem and Dr. Dre. The pedigree couldn’t be better. That blending of East Coast/West Coast was still something to behold in 2003. These are prime grade A beats in our ears. And 50 Cent brings the vulgar bravado of a charismatic heel. He’s a villain in his own story, I’m not rooting for him, but damn I’m intrigued to see what happens next. And he beefed with everyone! Nas, Ja, Jay. He would eventually purchase Puffy’s own documentary away from him and produce a diss documentary. Someone observed that is a biblical level of hate. So yeah, highlight tracks Patiently Waiting Many Men (Wish Death) In Da Clubs High All the Time If I Can’t Last note, one final time: G-G-G-G-Unit.

“To sexy rock critics, Slanted and Enchanted might as well be Thriller or the Dark Side of the Moon. Pitchforks Perfect 10 review of the Slanted and Enchanted reissue was so intimate and rapturous the guy wrote it out longhand.” – Rob Harvilla on his podcast “60 Songs that Explain the ‘90s” on the episode for Pavement. Listening to this album made my hand itch for a Sega Genesis game controller. Not because of any associated memories, I didn’t listen to Pavement in 1992, but because damn if the whole of this sound doesn’t instantly transport me back to the early to mid ‘90s. Pavement is the perfect example, the quintessential, indie rock band noodling around in the 90s. They are probably the 90s indie rock band you imagine the slacker love interest to be in. You know the one representing artistic authenticity. They make lethargic slacker rock on indie labels, feud with The Smashing Pumpkins, play Lallapalooza, and get loved by rock critics at every publication. Not to give the wrong impression, I did not listen to Pavement in the 1990s. I wasn’t that cool or underground. I lived in remote Appalachia. They didn’t play Pavement on the radio there or much on MTV. I might’ve had a few brief brushes with them on 120 minutes or something, but have no memory of it. No, I was not aware of them until I listened to Rob Harvilla’s podcast in 2021. And I discovered I love their sound. I truly do. But I still can’t seem to get into them. “I’m tryin’, I’m tryin’, I’m tryin’, I’m trying’, I’m tryin’, I’m trying’, I’m trying’ and I’ll try.” So here I am at the prompting of this project once again listening to Pavement to see if they stick. “I’ve got one holy life to give.” It may all sound the same, but that’s not a complaint when I’m enjoying it. Summer Babe – Winter Version is a catchy opening. The repeating bass contains a decade of undirected malaise in of itself. “Every time I sit around I found I’m shot.” The titles on this album are pure indie rock: “Trigger Cut/Wounded Kite at :17”, “In The Mouth a Desert”, “Jackals, False Grails: The Lonesome Era”. Yep. So maybe this time, Pavement and I will mesh. Maybe I will be that cool. Or not. Whatever.

Albums like this one are when I feel out of my depth. You have such a well known artist with a reputation for producing great music, but here I am ignorant of the vast majority of it. Paul Simon is a known name to me and I loved the “You Can Call me Al” music video back in the day when I saw it on MTV. The thing is when I first encountered the goofy music video with the comedian from SNL I was too young to know any of Simon’s back catalog. Even now I only know a few of the hits from Simon & Garfunkel. (Hey, but that’s why I’m doing this project isn’t it?) So, I’m interested to see what this album beholds. Its airy and light. Simon concerns himself with wordy almost-monologues. He is quite the storyteller on this album. Then sets about populating the tracks with folk and world music experiments. And here I don’t know if he is just dabbling or if this is what one should expect from a Paul Simon album. I particularly enjoyed the accordion on The Boy In the Bubble and the Cajun ditty “That Was Your Mother.” A few of the tracks fell flat, however, and Simon leans on musical aptitude to try and refocus but fails to bring the necessary energy. The entire album, even the better tracks, seem possessed of a meandering wanderlust. Road trip to Graceland, ride the river down the bayou, or a stroll through an African Markert. I can get on board with that though and enjoy it.

“Everything is either too tame or there's too much anger I didn't like the beat, so I hated, Might Delete Later" You nerdy pricks would find somethin' wrong with 36 Chambers.” Eminem, “Renaissance” from The Death of Slim Shady Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) is a muthafuckin’ masterpiece! Don’t think about it too hard. Just bring the muthafuckin' ruckus. Oh yeah, this entry might have some strong language. Give it a five and start nodding your head. You've got eight guys here letting loose with the flows inspired by a love of kung-fu movies and a gritty urban existence. What witty criticism can you provide that is going to make any difference. You're bringing a pen to a sword fight. Here's my counterargument: A guy named Ol' Dirty Bastard rapping about slicing shit like a samurai. I guess if you had to get intellectual you could talk about how influential this album was and became even more so over time. How it reestablished the East Coast hip-hop scene even as the G-Funk West Coast sound was becoming ascendant. One might be tempted to examine the cross-culture aspects more in depth. Why bother? Spin "Da Mystery of Chessboxin'" one more time. Or "Wu-Tang Clan Ain't Nuthing to F'With." Or "Protect Your Neck." Or any track from "Bring Da Ruckus" to the Conclusion. Then spin it again. Listen to Inspectah Deck pass the mic to Raekwon to Method Man to U-God to the Ol' Dirty Bastard to Ghost Face Killer to The RZA to The GZA. The rotation may be long, but its damn cool company. Tiger Style!

A new listen for me as I was not aware of this band until they popped up as today's album. This first track, however, had me do an actual spit take. I don't want to spoil it for anyone out there, but listen to the lyrics. I hope I don't laugh through this entire album. Some of the middle tracks recover, and it ends better than it begins. First, the album does good work creating a dreamscape of sound. The music is low and dreamy, but then the spell is continually broken once the vocals start. Look, I get that an operatic voice may be an acquired taste, but this one wasn't exactly for me. Add in relentlessly horny lyrics that occasionally drift into unintentionally hilarious territory and you have this album. 2.5/5 that I wouldn't round up to 3. Tracks that I might return to for curiosity's sake: When I'm Sleepy... We Still Got the Taste Dancin' on Our Tongues Through the Iron Gate

"It doesn't make any difference what city. All cities are alike. That's why I'm out here now...cause I'm from the city, a long way from the city - and that's where I want to be right now." The Stranger on the Highway, Easy Rider (1969) Given the year, 1968, my first thought was this sounds like a band that played at Woodstock. Looked it up and sure enough, there they were. This album had all the range I wanted for a Monday morning commute. A touch twangy, a touch bluesy, with a good dollop of gospel to remind you of church when you’re out there on the road between Sundays. The band name, album title, and cover art brought no recollection to mind. The first few tracks provided some folksy strumming and I thought it was alright. Then we hit "Caledonia Mission" and followed that up with "The Weight" and boy did my ears perk up then. Not gonne lie, I rode that wave until the end of the album. It meanders like an old man talking, telling stories, voicing regrets and weariness. I didn’t want to interrupt the old fellow. This music sits too far away from me in time to claim, but thankfully that time is behind me and I can listen to most of these old tales anew. Also, hindsight shows itself in what came after. I mean I can hear a little Deep Purple in “Chest Fever” or a touch of Cream in. “Long Black Veil”. Take those old records off the shelf. I’ll sit and listen to them by self like Seger. Also, I guess when you spend a year touring behind Bob Dylan and become known as his first "electric" band then you get to call yourself "The Band" and expect people to know who you are. Generic name aside, I was digging what The Band was putting down. A solid 4/5.

“Well, I'm back, da-na-na-na, na-na-na-na-na-na Fix your bent antenna, tune it in, and then I'm gonna Enter in and up under your skin like a splinter“ Eminem - “Without Me” So the first thing I noticed about this record was that the artist was stylized as an "impresario." Not a musician or singer. Weird. Made me scratch a little bit more on the Wikipedia article before I went any further. Found out the hip-hop well on this album is deep. This album's downstream influence looms large. And none of that save it from being fucking terrible. The first track was so ambiently aimed world music I felt like I was playing a game of Sid Meijer's Civilization. Just needed to automate my workers, build a wonder, and research agriculture. That fond memory of a game I loved would be the highlight of the album. It was all downhill from there. This is a pirate radio broadcast of an album. On paper, I can see the vision, I just can't, or don't want, to hear it.

This was exactly the type of album I look forward to on this project. A completely new to me experience that is good enough to think on for a bit. I didn’t bounce off of this at all, but at the same time it never really captured me. I liked songs on this album, but the overall experience failed to fully achieve lift off. Perhaps that is due to the slower paced methodical delivery of the vocals. The thick bluesy bass mixed together with that delivery of coarse lyrics gave the album a feel of walking through a dank and grimy apartment. Come for the superb guitar riffs, avoid standing under the water stain on the ceiling. I can see why The Stranglers accumulated such a reputation. And seriously, at nearly fifty years later, I’m not interested in debating punk or not punk. We are so far removed from that time and place that all of the distinctions have been too far smoothed over to tell. At least I think for anyone that didn’t live through it and I didn’t. To me they are a 1970s punk-ish British band. I might check some more of their stuff out. The Track Highlights Hanging Around (Get A) Grip [on Yourself] Ugly

"Test your might, test your might, test your might, test your might. MORTAL KOMBAT!" Techno. That was the term I knew all of this European house music by in the 1990s. Techno was the big bucket every beat centric rhythm focused electroniclly made thumping sound got put into. Oddly enough like many Midwestern/Southern/Flyover white kids of America I was introduced to this music from yes, the 1995 soundtrack to the movie Mortal Kombat. IYKYK. I'm having memories of the Mortal Kombat soundtrack because in that same year, 1995, Daft Punk released "Da Funk" which would later be included on Homework. "Da Funk" is awesome. It is the low growl of a club, before my country ass ever had a notion of what a club was, building collective anticipation and then just holding the audience at that moment for 5 minutes. It was exotic in a way nothing in my immediate vicinity was. Daft Punk was about the best example of House music for me. Who knew how to structure instrumental house better than these two French guys could? That said Homework is not their best album. There are a few good tracks beyond "Da Funk". "Around the World" is a journey in three words and a beat. "Revolution 909" is a dream of an evening. This album descends into annoying repetition in too many spots and runs about 15 minutes too long on its play time. "Rollin' and Scratchin'" & "Rock n'Roll" are both seven and a half minute disasters. Remove both of those and the album tightens up very well, in my opinion. I'm just a little annoyed that their second album is not on the list, because Discovery is a far better album in my opinion. I even have the DVD of the Interstella 5555: The 5tory of the 5ecret 5tar 5ystem movie. Watch that if you ever get a chance, that's my recommendation.

This is the second encounter with Morrissey on this project, but the first with The Smiths. Let's see how this one goes. I can see that I will likely enjoy The Smiths a lot more than Morrissey's solo stuff. Johnny Marr pulls from a deep well of musical influences to craft a rock sound worthy of the name. These first tracks are reminiscent of early 60s rock. Jangling guitar forward upbeat songs that seem to be at odds with the angsty lyrics. The intros and outros on these tracks are great. Its the 80s' but not a synthesizer in earshot. I dig it. When the second half of the album decreases the pace it still delivers. And for most of the album we see a great fusion of the vocals and the musical arrangement. All of the music on this album works for me. My fingers never itched for the skip button. Yet some of the vocals and songwriting approached annoyance for me near the end of the album. Morrissey at times sounds like he is singing into a can from another room. Maybe the rest of the band put him in timeout. I called the first Morrissey album I listened to for this project cringe. I wanted to give The Smiths an honest chance, however, since a band is often more than just the lead singer. This album was not that so I'm glad I was able to hear it with open ears. The rock sound was much improved and Morrissey was restrained enough to not detract from it. A 3.5 that I'm rounding down. Track Highlight Rusholme Ruffians What She Said Nowhere Fast Well I wonder

This is The Beach Boys and the album is titled Surf’s Up, so I thought I was in for some youthful California sound. I was mistaken, in a good way. Because the 60s are over here on this album. The band that survived the British invasion now has to live in the 70s. This is a new listen for me and I’m glad The Beach Boys didn’t let themselves be completely captured in the amber of 1960s California sunsets. This album has a weird dark earnestness to it, coming across as schmaltzy in many spots. This feels like an emo record 30 years before emo. Early on we get the point that this is a different Beach Boys album. “Don’t go Near The Water” is a warning to the listeners to tread forward carefully. “Long Promised Road” is full of contemplative lulls before bursting forth with defiant determination. The band would never reach the heights of Pet Sounds again, but honestly how many albums that followed would? I can appreciate trying, and even failing, at new directions. This one is a psychedelic mess, but surprisingly quite a few interesting points worthy of attention. It lands on the 3+ side for me but not enough to reach a 4. Track highlights Long Promised Road Student Demonstration Time Til I Die.

Elvis Costello is another name I am aware of without being able to name any of his music. I’m not even 50 albums into this and that is a sentiment I’ve encountered quite a bit. My musical knowledge may not run deep but my enthusiasm and appreciation do. Leaning into those a lot. And there is much to appreciate on this album. That’s because Costello musical knowledge does run deep. Reading up on it seems like this guy loves everything! At first the year of 1986 threw me because I could’ve of heard much of this album on any random 1990 indie movie soundtrack. Something from Miramax or New Line Cinema. But the more I thought about it the more that actually tracked. At that moment in time these movies would’ve pulled from this exact time and this sound. More studied ears may hear a bit of The Beatles, Rolling Stones, or The Byrds but being a teenager of the 90s I’m hearing notes of Gin Blossoms, Sublime, and Radiohead. It’s funny how these musical lineages branch out. Anyway, I enjoyed this album well enough. Track Highlights Tokyo Storm Warning Home is Anywhere You Hang Your Hat I Want You Crimes Of Paris