1001 Albums Summary

Really strong openers but sort of meanders in the back half,

I think I prefer Kate Bush as a singles artist more than as an album artist. Hounds of Love is good, I just don't know that I'd ever opt to sit down and put on a Kate Bush album as opposed to just listening to her best tracks on any given day.

S’alright I guess

It’s iconic, what else needs to be said. Would drop it to 4.5 for that one interlude track if I could but I gotta give SOMETHING a 5 eventually.

It’s the first album I remember ever consciously listening to but I was on the fence about actually returning given how awful a human being MJ was. Like, the first movie I ever remember watching was also Michael Jackson’s Moonwalker, effectively all based around the songs from Bad. Does that make this a concept album? The songs are still incredible compositionally and super formative for me, and I feel like dumping this as a 1 or 2 because of how I feel about MJ also does a huge disrespect to everyone else that worked on this - particularly the excellent Quincy Jones production.

Nowhere near Radiohead’s best but… it’s still Radiohead. Shortly before their prime for my tastes but you can still see how the foundations they laid here will grow and develop into records like OK Computer, Kid A and In Rainbows.

Something about the way the distortion and reverb hits on this album makes it my favourite of Hendrix’ output. Probably helps that it has higher highs for me than his other work.

An album that gets better each time I relisten. I remember being sort of middling on it at first but this most recent re-listen cemented its excellence for me. Maybe it just hit me differently at this point in my life and after all the other music I’ve heard that’s changed and influenced my taste in the years between listens.

I ain’t listening to 3 hours of this again. I didn’t vibe with it on my last and hopefully only listen and I’m not willing to sacrifice another 3 hours to see it my opinion has changed. Life’s too short.

I respect Kraftwerk as pioneers of electronic music, but I still don’t love their output. It’s all a bit twee and awkward, particularly whenever vocals are involved. I don’t actively dislike their stuff though. This is just a middle of the road album for me.

Some incredible tracks alongside some of my least favourite entries in the entire Beatles discography. I’m not even talking about Revolution 9 which is at least so strikingly bizarre as an audioscape that it illicits some kind of thought provoking reaction out of the listener. Wild Honey Pie is one of the worst things ever committed to recorded audio in history and its only saving grace is that it’s a short track. Otherwise I can’t fault the production on the White Album. Even McCartney’s grandma songs sound nice sonically despite still not being for me even remotely.

Less good than I remembered it being. A few highlight tracks but probably not an all-timer for me at this point.

A clearly incredibly important album, if I rated it from that perspective it’d be a clear 5 for legacy and influence. From a modern perspective and for my personal tastes, it keeps to a very narrow scope. It excels with blues bars and that early rock n roll structure, but that’s all there is. The tracks sort of blur together in my mind and all sound alike. Thankfully, it doesn’t outstay it’s welcome at a swift 30ish minutes though!

Don’t know that every Jimi Hendrix track is a hit for me, and I’m not always huge on his vocals, but this is clearly an incredibly important record that was far ahead of its time.

An album of two halves for me. Some tracks I love, others I was just confused by. Parts of it feel like proto Pixies which I can get fully behind, the other half was probably too experimental in a way that wasn’t massively cohesive for me. Felt like those tracks came from the school of flinging things at the wall and seeing what sticks. I’d probably give it a 3.5 if I could but will have to settle on a 3.

Y'know I liked this more than I thought I would for a Country album. Still not my taste at all but I could easily have this on in the background and be perfectly content.

Peaks with the first two tracks and the rest is mostly just passable, if unmemorable, bubblegum pop. Don’t have much else to say about it really.

Helps that Lennon is my favourite of the Beatles songwriters but I do understand the complaints that this is basically just a Beatles album recording of Lennon channeling the therapy he was going through. A few days after listening (and this is maybe my second or third listen ever) and the songs have again slid entirely off of my brain. But I still like this every time I listen to it - especially compared to other late era Beatles output like the White Album. It’s consistently good, even if I don’t think it stands as an all time great.

Better than I was anticipating and I would probably relisten, but I’d also struggle to remember how any of the tracks actually sounded. Is this one of the 1,001 albums of all time though? Probably not.

It's an interesting turn for Beck to just make a breakup album that barely even resembles his other work. It sticks out, but mostly in a good way. Surprisingly cohesive and I always got the impression of it being honest and genuine.

An almost perfect album. Works at it’s best when Air are playing to their strengths, and stumbles when they’re trying to be more subtle and cinematic. Final track is a bit limp compared to the preceding one, which would have left things on a stronger note - might have been improved without the vocals. Insane to me that some reviews go below the 3 mark for this, or even go so far as to insinuate that Air are “not real artists”. If anything, this list needs far more soundtracks than it currently has and more than just film soundtracks too.

I’m a Dylan hater (or just find his music does nothing for me). Entirely forgettable apart from learning that one of Adele’s song is a cover of a late track on here. Made more tolerable by imagining Slinky Dog from Toy Story was singing this album to me instead of Dylan.

DOMINION

I’m still rating this a 4 but I don’t disagree with the lower aggregate this has on here. If you cut Moonchild entirely, this is an easy 4 or higher.

Costello never really hits for me. Imperial Bedroom’s tracks have some incredible composition, but every time I listen to anything by EC I’m always left thinking “I wish this was sung by someone else.”

An incredible debut, thoroughly consistent even if I don’t think every track is an all-timer. Only real complaint is that the album ends so abruptly. Feels like it needed an extra track to wind down rather than just stopping but it is what it is.

Was better than I was anticipating and ended up knowing at least two songs. Starts out strong but by the end I understood why this was eventually removed from the list. Completely fine but surprised it ever made it on the list originally. Recency bias perhaps?

Surprised by how many of these tracks I knew already, and how much more I enjoyed it just by virtue of being an album not by a guy/bunch of guys. Incredibly refreshing and worked for me in a way that a lot of rock of this era doesn’t.

I think I’d probably err close to a 4.5 if I could but probably one of the most influential albums of the 90s with numerous all-timer singles. It’s closer to a 5 than a 4 though, and unlike others on this list I’d rate 4 stars and think “is this really one of the 1,001 compared to other omissions?” RATM is undoubtedly something that should be on anyone’s version of the list.

Not one for me. I just don’t like folk.

I forgot how good Led Zep II was. Just an incredibly cohesive work. Whilst every track may not work as a single or all time greatest hit, the cumulative effect of every track in sequence is staggeringly enjoyable.

I remember being quite ambivalent on this when I last listened, but I enjoyed this way more than I was anticipating upon return. Maybe I was just in a foul mood originally. Whilst I think it’s a travesty that Mezzanine isn’t on here but EBTG get two albums, I find most of the other user reviews on here being quite harsh on balance. Critics, both professional and non, generally seem to struggle with having anything nice to say about any music even tangentially dance related. I’d probably put this at a 3.5 if I could, but I’m giving it a 4 to both be a bit more positive and to counter out the lazier thoughtless reviews.

Criticising this as the sole product of being related to Beyoncé seems incredibly reductive. Is it the greatest album ever? No, but it does have some pretty great production and featured performances. It lacks dynamism and everything is maybe overly mellow, but I’d struggle to be upset if anyone popped this on as background music. I can’t even find it in me to be upset by the multiple interlude tracks. I came in thinking I’d be making a snarkier review where I’d shove 8 of my own interludes in. But they barely take up any time, are woven into the tracks, and aren’t filled with content designed to shock like many male artists historically seem to find so amusing. They all offer insight and positivity and I’m not so cynical that I can’t find value in that.

It’s hard to form an opinion on this when every track has blended itself into an abstract lump of play-doh in my mind. It’s a multi-coloured lump of play-doh you could still play with just fine, but you’re never gonna smoothly unblend those colours again. That is to say, I didn’t hate this but I don’t particularly remember any track immediately afterwards or think anything was particularly standout during my listen. Just fine.

Not every track works for me but when it hits, it really hits. Just happy to have something to listen to that’s so sonically different than the vast majority of this list.

If Coldplay has no haters I am dead. I guess I generally prefer this Radiohead knockoff era of theirs to their latter Swedish House Mafia for Mums one but it’s degrees of difference at best. I’d regularly think the opening instrumentation for a track was quite nice only for Chris Martin to open his mouth and ruin the whole thing. That said, Yellow and Trouble were basically UK radio mainstays for most of the 00s and have earned their place as a piece of the furniture. Not good furniture, mind. It’s more like some weird little tchotchke you’ve always known at your grandparents house. Hideous, but to not have it there would be fundamentally wrong.

I was ready to instinctively give this a 5 on the back of Tom Sawyer, YYZ, Limelight and Vital Signs but re-listening reminded me there’s a good reason why I tend to always skip the other songs. Some of the longer, softer prog ballads feel so self indulgent, even when they’re not singing about a Ferrari. I’ll settle on a 4 but those earlier mentioned tracks truly are all timers.

I prefer Getz / Gilberto but this is still an all timer in my books.

I was almost filtered by this album. The opening two tracks made me feel physically nauseated. But I’m glad I stuck it through. Maybe one of the better psych rock albums I’ve listened too and I feel like it’s a more listenable audio freakout than the Beatles’ White Album, which released a whole year after this. Is it worth opting into the additional tracks from the re-releases that double the length of this? I can’t really say. I don’t think it massively added or detracted to the overall experience - some tracks were decent but I can’t help feeling that ending on the original closer (The American Way of Love Parts I-III) would be a more cohesive experience. YMMV.

Already knew I liked the most famous tracks on the album but never listened to it as a whole. Starting to think Machine Head might be a good album.

Supremely easy to listen to but nothing really jumped out as me as incredibly memorable. Very much a background listen for me.

I had to put together a custom youtube playlist for this because this was impossible to listen to otherwise. Album is strongest at its bookends and the middle segment is still good, just less compelling. Refreshing to listen to something outside of the typical slew of hegemonic rock from white boys.

Blues can sometimes feel too structurally repetitive for me, but Muddy Waters at Newport earns its reputation for me with the caveat that the B Side does most of the heavy lifting. The sheer energy on the second half of this album salvages a fairly middling Side A for me.

Didn’t hate it as far as Folk albums go so that’s a resounding endorsement from me. The jazzier styled and structured tracks work best here. Better when they’re not singing about Jesus.

I’ve tried once or twice with YHF before and it’s never really clicked. It still hasn’t massively but I enjoyed this listen more than previous attempts. If more of the tracks had greater focus on the dynamism and more memorable hooks of some tracks I’d probably be able to distinguish between the tracks a bit more easily in my mind. As it stands, it all feels like a bit of a staticy haze of sad rock with lots of filter effects. I’ve never fully understood the legendary reputation this album has both from critics and online, but Ashes of American Flags makes me consider how this album was received immediately after 9/11 and if that had a larger impact on the American cultural psyche at that given moment in time.

A notable gap for me. Iconic run of tracks from Fu-Gee-La onwards. Feel like it maybe doesn’t put its best foot forward though, took a track or two to get going for me. As ever, I could take or leave hip-hop skits. They detract more than they add here though and that’s probably the worst thing I can say about The Score.

I recently slated Non Stop Erotic Cabaret, giving it a 2/5 and feeling that other synth pop bands since were doing it far better. This is doing it far better, two whole months before Soft Cell’s effort. I still don’t think it’s the most compelling listen ever but I had a lot more fun with it than NSEC. It’s a high 3.

I’m not a Britpop fan by any stretch, but this had moments of enjoyment sprinkled throughout. Song 2 remains iconic, but ended up really enjoying Death of a Party. At times, it’s guilty of being too much of a Beatles tribute. At others, it feels more like it’s following the zeitgeist instead of being it. It’s particularly easy to follow the throughline from some of the tracks here to Albarn’s later Gorillaz output. It’d still probably be the worst Gorillaz album but being the worst Gorillaz album is still a major accomplishment by most metrics.

Novelty music for a simpler time; which translates to bad music for a modern time. The instrumentation is fine but it’s accompanied by actively hostile vocals that just irk me beyond belief.

This gets 2 stars purely on the basis that their cover of Tainted Love is the de facto version of the song now. I’ve never seen an album so heavily propped up by one song before. What’s being sold here as early synth-pop with minimalistic tracks and discordant vocals has been done a million times better by others in the years that followed. Maybe you just had to be there. Very little here that was redeeming for me.

I'm hitting my limit with the number of unimpressive demure white boy light rock bands playing drony tracks that all blend together. I'm only 50ish albums in. This was fine. There's nothing that particularly stands out for me as bad but the good moments are so fleeting that they barely register.

I didn't like it back in the day, and I like it even less now with everything surrounding Win Butler.

I think I just have to accept that I dislike most 80s synth-pop. Don’t You Want Me is an all time banger but this is 1,001 Albums to Listen To… If this was a 1,001 *songs* list then that track alone should be an auto-include but the rest of Dare was just too uneventful and occasionally irritating for me to ever want to listen again.

Completely unmemorable but inoffensive rock and or roll. Never really understood the Stones fascination and this is nowhere near their best work.

Front half is loaded with some of the most iconic pop rock of the 2000s. Back half feels like it borders on self-plagiarism for the first half. I still prefer it to other albums I’ve sat through as of late, but I get why it got pulled from the later editions.

A younger me would have rated this a 4 but now it hits more like a 3.5. I still enjoy this more than the majority of albums I’ve been given so far but it’s clearly not Judas Priest’s best. Glad I finally listened though, British Steel was always a bit of a blindspot for me in my Metal days. Steeler sure is proto Electric Eye though, huh?

Iconic and still sounds miles better than so many albums that have been spawned because of it. The only real negative thing I have to say is that I hate, and always have hated, the last 3 seconds of War Pigs. A weird blemish on an otherwise great album.

I always flip-flop between whether I prefer this or In Rainbows, but they’re both excellent albums. Some tracks just massively outweigh the others in my mind though. Even if this album was reduced down to Everything In Its Right Place, The National Anthem, How to Disappear Completely and Ideoteque it’d still be a 5 star work.

Somehow always missed this one despite knowing it would be completely up my street. 14 years late to the party is better than never!

One of the better new-to-me albums I’ve listened to on this journey. Very fun, highly energetic, lots to like.

Incredibly influential both generally and for me in my formative years. Takes a dip in the middle section but picks right back up at the end. I imagine a lot of non-Brits will rate this lower but this album basically IS British Culture for the late 90s, encapsulated in disc form.

I gave this a second listen to be completely fair to it but I just sadly detested this. I’m sure this was incredibly important and influential but it pales in comparison to all of its spiritual successors. Hundreds of newer artists have done what Welcome to the Afterfuture is doing in a far more cohesive and compelling manner. Every time a track started getting me on board there would, without fail, be some element (instrumental or vocal) that would be brought in that ruined the whole vibe for me. First album I’m rating a 1/5 on here though in retrospect maybe I should have been a bit meaner to some others rather than being generous and giving them a 2/5.

I never actively choose to listen to PJ Harvey, just never really grew up with any exposure to her work, but I usually always enjoy it when I hear it. This is probably my favourite of her’s that I’ve listened to though, only real gripe is with the best track on the album being a hidden bonus with around 90 seconds of silence in front of it. Hidden tracks were always neat in a Tape/CD era but in a streaming one it means I’ll never add those tracks to a playlist for regular listening, even if I love them.

Detroit Rock City’s shoulders must be tired from holding the rest of this album up. How did one of the best rock songs of all time end up front-lining an album of middling, juvenile tosh?

Influential as hell, and while it doesn’t always work for me (Watermelon Man intro gets a bit grating) this is so innovative and modern sounding for something from 1973. If I could rate this a 4.5, I would.

It’s still a baseline level of good because Madonna knows how to write iconic pop music, but the album very clearly peaks immediately with the title track. Not my favourite of hers by any stretch but still very listenable.

A much stronger second half, but nobody does what Maiden does quite like Maiden. If you took their combined body of work, it’d certainly have a diminishing effect. Taken on it’s own, however, Number of the Beast is clearly one of their greatest efforts, if not THE greatest.

Feels more like a cultural artifact than one of the best albums of all time. The biggest hits were absolutely everywhere at the time but the rest of the album is just fine.

Maybe my third listen ever and I always really enjoy it but I never return for whatever reason. Probably because I’m an idiot.

Not my first listen but this cements my feelings that Queen work better as a singles band than an album one for my tastes. When they hit, they hit hard. When they miss, I find them really grating. There’s a reason more than half of these tracks never get active radio play anymore. Would rate it 3.5 if I could.

The seeds of what REM would grow to become are here and plain to see, but it maybe doesn’t match their highest highs for my tastes. Wouldn’t begrudge anyone saying this was their favourite of their work though. More of their unique sound starts creeping in towards the back end of the album, and I’d personally prefer to put this at a 3.5 if I could.

Pleasantly surprised. I don't think any individual track particularly stands out as massively strong other than the titular opener, but the whole album carries a pervasive moody vibe. It's Duran Duran but darker (and earlier). You'll know pretty quickly if you like it or loathe it. I'm distinctly in the former camp.

Brain chemistry altering. Luxurious, immaculate production accompanied by some of the best lyrical work ever on any album - both in tone and performance as well as content.

As with Imperial Bedroom, I feel like I'd like most of these songs significantly more if they were being sung by anyone other than Elvis Costello. I found more to like here than on IB though, but it's still a straight down the middle pick for my tastes. When it's great, it's great. When it grates, I'm in hell.

I never know how I feel about CCR. I don't actively dislike their stuff but very little of it actually does anything for me. Bad Moon Rising features on this album and that immediately elevates it, but other tracks have already fallen out of the recesses of my brain. As a positive, it's only a 30ish minute listen. As a negative, I still found myself clock-watching when I was surprised it was still going.

The first three tracks always throw me off as the weakest on the album, but beyond that point it’s a thoroughly enjoyable listen. Odd in that there’s very little Bowie on the Bowie album, though.

I love Dolly as much as the next person but I’m still not a country person. Mostly enjoyed this though, just not particularly my taste.

For someone who typically hates anything Folk, I didn’t hate this.

I think it’s time to accept that I’m a bigger fan of Panama and Hot for Teacher than I am of the rest of this album. Pound for pound, self titled is far more enjoyable. Jump sucks and always has. Sorry.

Chris Cornell’s has one of the greatest voices of all time, and this is my favourite of Soundgarden’s work that I’ve previously listened to. Black Hole Sun followed immediately by Spoonman is one of the best shot-chasers on any album ever.

Didn’t listen but at one point I thought this was incredible. The minimalist production performed in a maximalist style was striking, nothing else sounded like this. However, just like Kanye this has aged horribly. Fuck Nazis. Stop listening to Kanye and stop falling over yourself to accept his transparent “apologies” he wheels out whenever he has new music to promote.

There’s a theoretical version of this album that I really fuck with. This isn’t it.

After a strong first impression this album becomes the hip-hop equivalent of asking “when are they getting to the fireworks factory???” The titular track is the only real standout for me beyond the openers and this album suffers with some of the worst excesses of 90s hip-hop/rap misogyny that I’ve heard yet. “I sure wouldn’t rape you” isn’t the reassurance Mr Cool J thinks it is, and even considering the context of the 90s and the tropes of the genre and form this one line brought the entire album down at least one ranking during my listen.

Between this and Sisters of Mercy maybe I’m just a goth now?

I had to listen to this three times before rating it. Not because it needed evaluation, I just really, really enjoy Ill Communication. Constantly in a three way tie for best Beastie Boys album against Paul’s Boutique and Hello Nasty. All just sublime. This is the first Beastie Boys album I’ll give a 5 to, and it won’t be the last.

This is the kind of Pysch I abhor. I’m sure it was massively influential, and I imagine I’ll enjoy later Pink Floyd output significantly more, but I loathed this. It’s giving an unironic version of Spinal Tap on stage with the shitty undersized Stonehenge.

An incredible album, not without some flaws but it’s been a captivating listen for coming up on two decades now and I don’t see that changing any time soon.

Weirdly captivating and incredibly glad to be able to experience something completely new to me like this. Some tracks are obvious standouts like Tinseltown in the Rain and Automobile Noise but as much as I enjoyed this (particularly compared to other people on here) I will concede that several tracks struggle to form unique identities and feel like they bleed into each other. Albums like this desperately make me wish I could give .5 ratings because I’d give this a firm 3.5 if I could. I don’t love it enough for a 4/5 though, sadly.

When I first listened to this years ago, it left a negligible impression outside of the iconic title track. Several years removed and I’m glad I had the chance to re-listen and re-evaluate. Whilst I feel like it diminishes towards the end (maybe we’re in the afterglow) this just really hit differently for where I am in my own life. It’s nice to love, and be loved. The entire record is so earnest and wholesome in a rare way that doesn’t make me cringe into oblivion.

Whilst I enjoy the wry witticism on the titular track and the general early concept album feel of this, I wasn’t massively compelled by the bulk of it. Not great, not bad.

Insane production weighed down by the misogynistic legacy of hip-hop that all albums of this era wear as a scarlet A across their chest. Can’t fault the cultural importance and general quality though, and I’m not expecting Dre to have a time machine. I can only judge it as an artefact of it’s time and to fully remove it from that context would be misguided.

Occasionally captivating, sometimes bad, but primarily boring. Their later output is far more dynamic and gripping. That said, this is a decent study in minimalism and stretching one specific guitar sound as far as it’ll possibly go.

What a rogue choice for any Slipknot inclusion. Some tracks I like but this is nowhere near their best output and it’s baffling a band of their calibre got two entries on this list compared to other artists only getting one.

There’s a choice of “It’s fine (Positive)” and “It’s fine (Negative) and this probably leans more the former. I’d give it 2.5 if I could because I didn’t actively dislike it but this also categorically is not what I want to listen to. Fly Away (Butterfly Reprise) inches this over for a 3/5 though.

Britpop but make it moody and a bit goth? Didn’t dislike this nearly as much as everyone else seems to. Not to say I loved it but I enjoyed this more than most britpop honestly.

I’ve never been big on The Verve. I can accept that their biggest hits form an irremovable part of the tapestry of 90s music but I’ve always found them quite blasé and droning. Just fine on a full listen, but possibly still my least enjoyed flavour of Britpop which I already have little time for.

Only the last two tracks really made me take notice, and one of those was a Dylan cover.

It’s Led Zep IV. What else needs saying?

I can’t fault the craft, it’s an immaculately produced album and one that’s super important in rock and glam history. That said, I think I still only really love Get It On and could take or leave the rest.

This had the sauce. I can’t really verbalise what it was I liked about this, but it’s just really competently made and effortlessly sleazy in a way that doesn’t come off as completely offputting.

Been blessed by some all-timers lately. I already loved this album, so it’s an easy 5. It’s more Getz Bossa Nova but this is the one with Girl from Ipanema. How could it not get a 5?

Seminal, but imperfect. I get why this is on here but the fact Discovery was never added in any later edition is, frankly, baffling. When Homework hits, it’s some of Daft Punk’s greatest output. When it misses, it’s some of their worst. High Fidelity is basically a completely flawed execution on what they’d later get so right with High Life. Rollin’ and Scratchin’ has to now live in a post Alive 2007 world where it’s been repurposed into something far more compelling. I love this album, but I simply struggle to reconcile it being Daft Punk’s only output on this list. Particularly when so many middling rock and folk groups get multiple questionable additions.

Psycho Killer might be the only song I outright love on here and want to belt out, but the rest of that album just has that effortless cool weirdness to it. Incredibly listenable for how otherwise challenging aspects of it are.