My 1001 Albums Journey

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Albums Rated

3.13

Average Rating

Complete

1049 albums remaining

Rating Distribution

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Taste Profile

1990

Favorite Decade

Soul

Favorite Genre

Top Origin

Wordsmith

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5-Star Albums

1-Star Albums

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Albums

You Love More Than Most

Album	You	Global	Diff
Wonderful Rainbow Lightning Bolt	4	2.29	+1.71
Coat Of Many Colors Dolly Parton	5	3.42	+1.58
That's The Way Of The World Earth, Wind & Fire	5	3.5	+1.5
Machine Head Deep Purple	5	3.58	+1.42
The Velvet Underground & Nico The Velvet Underground	5	3.61	+1.39
Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness The Smashing Pumpkins	5	3.68	+1.32
Station To Station David Bowie	5	3.69	+1.31
Lam Toro Baaba Maal	4	2.73	+1.27
This Nation’s Saving Grace The Fall	4	2.89	+1.11
Tapestry Carole King	5	3.91	+1.09

You Love Less Than Most

Album	You	Global	Diff
Can't Buy A Thrill Steely Dan	1	3.72	-2.72
Blood On The Tracks Bob Dylan	1	3.66	-2.66
The College Dropout Kanye West	1	3.31	-2.31
The Coral The Coral	1	3	-2
Exodus Bob Marley & The Wailers	2	3.94	-1.94
Appetite For Destruction Guns N' Roses	2	3.71	-1.71
The Stone Roses The Stone Roses	2	3.65	-1.65
Pretzel Logic Steely Dan	2	3.39	-1.39
Home Is Where The Music Is Hugh Masekela	2	3.35	-1.35
It's Too Late to Stop Now Van Morrison	2	3.24	-1.24

5-Star Albums (7)

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Popular Reviews

Wonderful Rainbow

Lightning Bolt · 1 likes

4/5

Very interesting discovery, will definitely revisit I'm quite impressed at the range achieved with the bass here, super creative use The further I go in the album the more enjoyable and varied it is, this is definitely going into frequent rotation

4-Star Albums (8)

1-Star Albums (4)

All Ratings

1999

Prince

3/5

Took Motown and said the quiet part out loud "Let's pretend we're married" is so quaint Literal banger album (aka sintetizzami sto cazzo) Ok but Something in the Water is something else entirely, holy shit

The Stone Roses

2/5

Not wholly unpleasant to hear, but intellectually frustrating I can definitely see what they were aiming for, but the technical skill and musical culture just isn't there Britpop in a nutshell I was going to give this two stars until I got to the song in the reverse (don'ts stop). Just no Somehow it goes even further downhill from there? Leave Scarborough fair alone Ok Made of Stone finally makes a bit of sense. We're back at two stars but barely

Young Americans

David Bowie

3/5

The band is absolutely fire and the songwriting is honestly passionate about soul (Right is a freak exercise, true to form) I do enjoy more the Bowiesque detours (Somebody Up There Loves Me) than the pure soul attempts That said, hopefully people did go listen to proper soul and r&b after this

At Fillmore East

The Allman Brothers Band

4/5

The answer to the question "how many hours can I listen to blues" is yes, so there you go

Ill Communication

Beastie Boys

4/5

For the first half of this it was a solid 3 (Sabotage is just excellent, the rest was a bit touch and go) but the second half is so consistently good that I think I may need to put this in frequent rotation... It may deserve a 4 when all is said and done In any case, the whole thing just exudes love for music and on that I'm on board with the boys

Let's Stay Together

Al Green

3/5

I'm a huge soul fan, but the reverend isn't my favourite - I'm more into earlier greats like Otis Redding, Isaac Hayes, Booker T and the MGs, and the Stax sound (although Al Jackson does a fantastic job as always on the drums here, he's at his best with Donald Duck Dunn) Honourable mention for the Memphis horns that are outstanding as always Very close to a 4, but there's surely other earlier Memphis sound records in the list that will get there and beyond

Born To Run

Bruce Springsteen

3/5

Solid technique and everything, I just don't have any emotional responses to most of these. Except maybe the title track, and even then There's some good stuff when I can tell the riffs apart (e.g. tenth avenue freeze-out) but the deliberate mixing all into a cohesive wall of sound makes it hard for me to enjoy, I need to hear the instruments and the lyrics Yep I realised the muffled sound is driving me nuts, I'm not coming back to this again EDIT: turns out my EQ settings were booked, it's s bit better now - I may revisit it again so bumping it up to a 3

The Coral

1/5

Mimicry ≠ musicianship

Liquid Swords

GZA

3/5

This needs more of my attention than I'm able to give it. It sounds great but I'm sure the brilliance lies in the verse

There's No Place Like America Today

Curtis Mayfield

4/5

Sad soul was both what I needed today and what I definitely didn't. Specifically, Hard times. Christ Also, as an agnostic with a catholic background I have to say without any irony whatsoever that this chorus is excellent: "Talk about Jesus talk about Jesus He never had a hustlin' mind Doin' crime wastin' time Drinkin' that wine"

Smash

The Offspring

3/5

As a 90s punk rocker this is bringing me back to my roots, although I liked NOFX and Green Day better. Still, absolutely solid album, and the sound of my youth - it was good to revisit

Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness

The Smashing Pumpkins

5/5

Look now, this album was everything to 15 year old me almost 30 years ago. I thought relistening to it would have been cringe but boy was I wrong, it's fucking perfect and everything I said I'd give 5 stars to albums that I'd knife fight people over. Don't think I'd knife fight someone else over it, but I'd definitely knife fight myself so

Lam Toro

Baaba Maal

4/5

This was completely new to me and super interesting. I feel like I need to revisit it for sure, but a few tracks are so compelling with their groove (Daniibe) to push the album in the frequent relisten level

Blood On The Tracks

Bob Dylan

1/5

Not one original idea in sight

Meat Is Murder

The Smiths

4/5

I've grown up with the Smiths. I love them. Quite possibly because they do three different things that shouldn't work at all and yet for some unexplained miracle, it all works. It kinda goes like this: Morrissey: it always rains in Manchester and you're all c*nts Andy: check out this funky blues riff Marr: CARIBE! (The only reason this isn't a 5 is that there's only one Smiths album that I'd fight people over and that's Hatful of Hollow, which for some truly baffling reason isn't in the 1001. Some of their best work was in singles)

Rock 'N Soul

Solomon Burke

4/5

Came to this thinking I'm more of an Otis Redding gal when it comes to Kings of Soul. But holy shit that voice. Properly took me to to church. Sorry Sol

Van Halen

3/5

I'd never listened to a Van Halen album deliberately (i don't think anyone can say they've never listened to Van Halen) This was very fun! Eddie is unsurprisingly a beast

Wonderful Rainbow

Lightning Bolt

4/5

Tapestry

Carole King

5/5

So *this* is what a shit load of pop comes from I'm sure there's plenty of people who dismiss this as "easy listening" so this falls squarely into my 5 stars rule (I'd knife fight people over it) Easy listening ≠ easy writing or playing, this is top notch songwriting and execution You can just imagine the creative energy when Carole King presented "Natural Woman" to Aretha Franklin Telemachus the cat is perfect

Appetite For Destruction

Guns N' Roses

2/5

Won't listen again on purpose

Home Is Where The Music Is

Hugh Masekela

2/5

Technically impressive, fantastic groove and vibe, proper jazz fun I just don't know I'f I'll come back to this again - it's not you, it's me

Bizarre Ride II The Pharcyde

The Pharcyde

3/5

The flow and the rhymes are fantastic, proper fun listen

Ragged Glory

Neil Young & Crazy Horse

3/5

I'd have paid good money to hear this live, what a jam

That's The Way Of The World

Earth, Wind & Fire

5/5

Yessssssssss EWF just went and said "what if we play everything" and did so Africano cleansed my soul Ok I just realised what this is: EWF went "what if prog but for people who want to dance" and came out with this absolute masterpiece

Pieces Of The Sky

Emmylou Harris

2/5

Very nice voice but this didn't stay with me The fact that it's a broad set of covers was an interesting review of different songwriters, and Dolly comes out head and shoulders above all others

The College Dropout

Kanye West

1/5

It's such a relief to listen to this for the first time and realise he's a mediocre rapper

Hypocrisy Is The Greatest Luxury

The Disposable Heroes Of Hiphoprisy

2/5

On principle I was really looking forward to this - I'm on board with the message - but wow the flow is just bad

Can't Buy A Thrill

Steely Dan

1/5

With that name and cover, that's not the music I was expecting - how harmlessly competent

The Gilded Palace Of Sin

The Flying Burrito Brothers

3/5

That ste guitar literally ripping through and tearing the 4th wall is my jam There's a tongue frankly planted in a cheek and something dangerous lurking in the shadows

It's Too Late to Stop Now

Van Morrison

2/5

The band is pretty good and the songs sound perfectly pleasant, but soul this ain't Also the accent is just weird

Station To Station

David Bowie

5/5

The self loathing, the dissociation, and the despair are so powerful through the absolutely banging relentless rhythm - my Bowie in a nutshell

Night Life

Ray Price

2/5

Do yourself a favour and switch this to mono if you can, the stereo version is a pain The steel guitar is fantastic and it's always great to see a Nudie suit Very nice voice but overall feels dated considering Elvis had been around for a good while

This Nation’s Saving Grace

The Fall

4/5

How had I never heard this before? This is exactly what I would have adored when I was in my late teens - early twenties Oh well I can at least adore this now so there's that

Machine Head

Deep Purple

5/5

This is fire and Pictures of Home is an absolute masterpiece Everyone who says Smoke on the Water is boring and played out should get their ears checked and get that stick removed from their arse

Coat Of Many Colors

Dolly Parton

5/5

International treasure, and so cheeky

Stankonia

OutKast

3/5

Could have used some editing but the flow is good and B.O.B. is outstanding

Gentlemen

The Afghan Whigs

3/5

Sounds way ahead of its time, surprised I missed this the first time around

The Velvet Underground & Nico

The Velvet Underground

5/5

Look here now, there's a reason this is a classic

Exodus

Bob Marley & The Wailers

2/5

Nice sounds and all but not what I needed to listen to after lunch wanting a nap This feels like it's intended to be some sort of meditative / religious experience and I'm not in the right headspace for it today, I'll come back another time perhaps

Pretzel Logic

Steely Dan

2/5

Had Steely Dan last week, same reaction