1001 Albums Summary

Another fun album from the band I discovered here. Not as strong as their debut album (heard here also), but fun and punk-poppy just the same.

[shrug] In the words of John Heard’s character in BIG: “I don’t get it.”

I love the variety on this record. I probably wouldn't be that interested in the artists that influence Jack White, but I love his particular blend of those influences. A thoroughly great album from beginning to end.

Sleep delays my life / Where does time go Dreams, they complicate my life (Dreams, they complement my life) 4.5 stars

Ugh.

I’d forgotten how much I love this album. There’s nothing quite like a Tom Waits album that’s simultaneously experimental and accessible. An amazing raconteur and storyteller.

Terrific, fun funky stuff. Might warrant a 4 after I get more familiar with. Heard of this band, but this is a first-time listen.

A Kinks classic. Not one of my absolute personal favorites of theirs, but it's pretty great just the same.

Somehow manages to be indulgent, unfinished, superfluous, redundant and anachronistic and completely unnecessary at the same time.

An interesting piece of rock history.

Great stuff. Not a genre I’m ever interested in, but The Pogues are an amazing exception, and this gem is produced by Steve Lillywhite.

While I have nothing against dreamy trip-hop — and I would be fine with any of these individual songs in the right spot on a playlist — this kind of droning, simple, unadorned, repetitive album does nothing for me.

Seeing today’s album and cover art, my first thought was “Oh, that’s that band on the SCOTT PILGRIM VS. THE WORLD soundtrack.” After some rumination on the cinema of Edgar Wright, I realized it was the US movie HIGH FIDELITY where I’d first heard of The Beta Band. I assumed the band was a fictional creation. When I did get around to listening to them — probably THE THREE E.P.’S — all I recall is that I was unimpressed. “Maybe it was the best option [director Stephen] Frears had,” I thought at the time. “Definitely doesn’t strike me as a band Nick Hornby would use in this story.” So, what does a listen to their third album in 2026 reveal? The prog-rock vibe, vocals and harmonies on “Space” and “Lion Thief” bring to mind 1960s Pink Floyd. If not for the crisp production, this might be a lost soundtrack to an unfinished Antonioni film. There’s a lot to like about the music, especially the variety, and “Liquid Bird” is my favorite track. But I can’t get past the banal and uninspired lyrics throughout. Repeating lines like “She’s so wonderful”, “I love your way”, “I love you to pieces” and “I’m so glad you found me” four, eight, sixteen, 24 times is far from poetry. Sure, HEROES TO ZEROS’s musical atmosphere can be interesting at times, but a confessional line from “Space Beatle” sums it up: “What I’m saying has no meaning.”

The only Neil Young albums I’ve ever listened to are THIS NOTE’S FOR YOU (1988) and FREEDOM (1989) and I don’t currently own any Neil Young albums or CDs. Asa a person, I love the guy. A stand-up dude and rock icon, he was flipping the bird at corporate bullshit in the 1980s when few did; Neil Young is the antithesis of “sellout.” But, for the most part, none of his song ever made me want to listen to any of his 1960s or 1970s work. Twangy, countrified rock just isn’t my bag. So, it’s 2026 and I’m listening to Neil Young’s second album with an open mind… On first listen, it’s all unexpectedly tolerable and track 4 (“Down By The River”) and 6 (“Running Dry (Requiem for the Rockets)”) stand out as favorites. I’d probably give the album 3 out of 5. By the second, the entire thing is really, surprisingly, growing on me. The honesty and raw, live real-ness of it all is coalescing into a jangly whole. The last track “Cowgirl in the Sand” is a standout gem this time; it would fit right in on The Beatles WHITE ALBUM. Now the album’s at least a personal 4 out of 5. It’s not the type of music I would ever think to turn to on my own, but I’m grateful I found this album here, fixing a hole in my 1960s/70s rock listening.

Really don’t like Joan Baez’s voice, or that vibrato thing she does. The Animals’ “House of the Rising Sun” is a traditional? Did not know that! This genre just does nothing for me.

Somehow far, far worse than I could ever imagine.

Never heard of this artist before today. Pleasant enough, a good listen.

Way heavier and harder than I remember. While I could like a single Alice In Chains song hearing it on a soundtrack or 97X back in the day, an entire album of this kinda hard rock is not for me. Not my genre.

What a pleasant surprise: Behind the pleasant but played-to-death US hit single “There She Goes” was this UK gem produced by my favorite producer, Steve Lillywhite.

The astonishingly great debut album from one of my favorite artists still sparkles. Every track is a gem.

Jeff Buckley has always struck me as a musician's musician -- one of those artists that so many of my favorites love -- who just has no particular appeal for me. Listening to the entire album hasn't dispelled thst notion. The consensus is that Jeff's version of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" is the best one out there, but I still prefer Rufus Wainwright's.

Less than two weeks into this 1,001 Albums project and we get my favorite band! Alright! XTC’s Andy Partridge and Colin Moulding belong in the pantheon of great songwriting band mates, right up there with Lennon and McCartney. The next-to-last album from my all-time favorite pop band shimmers with ambition, hooks and wit. A melodic masterpiece.

A bit more shaggy, rambling and jangly than what I’m generally drawn to.

This is my first listen to 1970s Brian Eno…. I hear, of course, his later influence on Talking Heads, but the up-tempo tracks had me thinking of The Buggles, Devo and early XTC as well. I look f forward to exploring this one further, and will definitely pick this up on CD or vinyl.

When it comes to my favorite artists, I often end up thinking of their career in three phases. The first, the golden period, is when I first discover the artist, buy all their albums as soon as they come out, listen to them closely, and then await the next gem. Everything that came before is their early period; I’ll invariably work my way through their back catalog until I hit upon some earlier albums I really don’t care for and rarely listen to. But, being a favorite artist, I’ll probably end up owning all their albums. Then there’s the late period. This usually starts when one of the new albums is a big disappointment — like Billy Joel’s AN INNOCENT MAN or R.E.M.’s MONSTER — and then I’m like “Well, I don’t have to buy their albums when they come out anymore” and it goes from there. In this period I will often wait for reviews, stop paying close attention to new release dates, and wait to pick them up months or years later. In my mind, the artist has peaked, will never top the stuff I love, but, y’know, I’m still interested. My golden period for Elvis Costello is TRUST (1981) to SPIKE (1989) and the later period is MIGHTY LIKE A ROSE (1991) to now. BRUTAL YOUTH is one of those top-notch late period Elvis Costello albums I often overlook. I’d forgotten about all the photos of 4- and 9-year-old Declan on the cover and in the CD booklet. And all my favorite personnel are here, too: the Attractions and Nick Lowe are back. Produced by Mitchell Froom and Elvis Costello. Recorded and mixed by Tchad Blake. Mastered by Bob Ludwig. No wonder this album sound so good!

Not a fan of folk generally, but the alternative folk artists often appeal to me, especially from the other side of the pond. Would probably be a "4" if not for how much I've always disliked Bragg's voice.

Short take: Find a 4-minute version of “Good Times,” listen to it, then skip the rest. This album starts with the undeniably terrific song “Good Times” — great beat, love those jangly guitars — and drops off a cliff immediately thereafter. And at 8:08, “Good Times” is four minutes too long; that thing belongs on a 12” as a dance mix. Most of these tracks are choruses in need of a song. Lame, tired, and unimaginative lyrics are repeated over and over. RISQUE is bland, uninspired, numbingly repetitive and vacuous. I expected more from Nile Rodgers. 1.5 stars

I have a few of Elliott Smith’s albums, and I really love just about everything I hear from him. Wasn’t familiar with this one and glad to get a chance to hear it for the first time. A 4 now on first listen, but could grow to a 4.5 or 5 over time.

I have never liked Eagles, and listening to this entire first album hasn’t changed anything. Lowlights: “Chug All Night” (Frey), vocals: Frey “Most Of Us Are Sad” (Frey), Vocals: Meisner “Take the Devil” (Meisner), vocals: Meisner “Tryin’” (Meisner), vocals: Meisner

Geez, I'd really forgotten how annoying "Song #2" is when it was a hit, and then played at every single Reds game, as part of the pre- or in-game ritual, for about 12 years. Ugh. I never wanna hear that again. I like Blur when I hear 'em on alternative rock radio, but this album didn't really do anything for me. 2.5 stars

I’m not sure why — perhaps its the cloying, simplistic hippie naïveté — but I absolutely cannot stand “Teach Your Children” and “Our House,” the two Graham Nash songs. It’s not like I disagree with the sentiment of “Teach Your Children.” And, sure, I get it: “Our House” is an ode to his wonderful life with Joni. But….ugh. It’s like those terrible love songs written by lovelorn solo McCartney. Those two songs alone bumped this album down a full star. And another thing about CSN&Y for me that I’m not proud of: I just don’t like their harmonies. Which is crazy. I love harmonies in music, and Pandora has proven that to me time and time again. But certain bands — like CSN&Y, America, The Beach Boys — I just don’t care for their particular harmonies.

Never heard of this artist before; what an interestingly odd album. I don't hate it so, y'know, that's saying something...but I doubt I will ever listen to or think of this artist again.

Dunno how I missed this band when I was discovering 1970s/80s British punk and new wave back in the 1980s. Right up my alley. What a fun debut!

Well suited for an afternoon spent drinking piss-poor beer and lapping up bitter ruminations from the old fogeys and barflies at the local watering hole. Mercifully over in 28 minutes. The font on the cover is a crime against design.

Given what I’ve heard (on alternative/modern rock radio over the years) and know (Kim Gordon is a rock icon) about Sonic Youth, I really thought I would like this album more. (This is the first Sonic Youth album I’ve listened to in its entirety.) Perhaps those songs I like are on later albums. Didn’t dislike it too much, but I doubt I’ll ever come back to this one again. 2.49 stars

There’s a lot to like about Guided By Voices, and it’s not just because it’s the biggest band to come out of my hometown. But there’s a few things that personally frustrate me: (1) The whole lo-fi thing just grates. I care about good production and great-sounding albums too much. I get it, I see why it’s their thing, but I just would love them more if the albums were more slickly produced. It’s probably why one of my favorite albums of theirs is the one produced by Ric Ocasek. (2) A lot of Guided By Voices songs just feel like remnants or parts of great songs, or the seeds of what might become great songs. Not that these remnants aren’t pretty great themselves — and Robert Pollard’s ability to write hooks and melodies is astonishing — but it all just seems to get dumped out and thrown away, one lick at a time. A lot of their songs just end up being ephemeral to me. I would love Guided By Voices far more if the songs were constructed into more fully realized songs. (3) The sheer number of Guided By Voices albums is overwhelming. I know that seems odd to complain about an artist releasing too much work, but…Who can possibly keep up? 3.5 stars

“…the album’s engineer was so put off by the 18-minute ‘Sister Ray’ that he left to get coffee, complaining that no amount of money was worth listening to that crap.” I’m with him. 1.4 stars

Tom Waits is really his own genre, and this album is a perfect way to showcase what he does best. He’s surrounded by a bunch of terrific musicians on this album, including, on piano and electric piano, Mike Melvoin, a member of The Wrecking Crew and the father of Wendy Melvoin of Prince’s Revolution and Wendy & Lisa.

I don't really go for slow, languid dreamy pop, but I've always liked Lana Del Rey. It probably helps that she sounds like the permanent artist-in-residence at the nightclub in every David Lynch movie. Hadn't heard this one before but loved it like all the others of hers I'm familiar with and/or own.

You can't really go wrong with any Talking Heads albums, and this is one of their best.

liked this a lot more than I expected! My own personal issue with foreign-language music is that I care too much about lyrics to really enjoy it or seek it out. Exceptions are when I have some other point of reference or context, like the soundtrack to Wim Wenders’ BUENA VISTA SOCIAL CLUB. So, while I will probably never revisit this Tito Puente record, I appreciate the influence it’s had on some of my favorite artists like Joe Jackson and Kirsty MacColl (especially her TROPICAL BRAINSTORM record).

I like the music well enough. “Been Caught Stealing” is the standout track, of course, and it’s held up well over the years, but there are some other good songs. Kinda like “Of Course” for some reason — it sounds a bit like an alt-rock band covering a track off the FIDDLER ON THE ROOF soundtrack — but the lyrics about getting slapped in the face grew tiresome by the end. I lke their songs one at a time, but an entire album of Perry Farrell’s voice singing and screaming is a bit much to take. 2.5 stars

I’ve never done a deep dive into the Miles Davis catalog, so this one was a new one for me. Also, this one prompted me to read up on Miles early career in the 1940s and 1950s, so I’m grateful for all that new knowledge. Not really an album in the traditional sense — most of these were released as 78s in the era before albums — it’s still an excellent assemblage of what Miles was exploring as a band leader for the first time. 4 stars

If anyone could pull off this album’s concept, it should be Nick Cave. But this work just rubs me the wrong way. (Kinda like Stagger Lee.) It’s all just…too much. Too bombastic. Too over-the-top. Apparently I prefer my murder ballads on the more subtle side, so I’ll take Springsteen’s NEBRASKA over this every time.

Second time listening. The list of artists inspired and influenced by Roxy Music is long, including Devo, Duran Duran, ABC, Spandau Ballet, Depeche Mode, Talking Heads, and The Human League. I would rather listen to any of those than endure Roxy Music’s first album again. It’s difficult to put my finger on why I find Roxy Music, and in particular their first album, so grating and annoying, but it’s everything. From Bryan Ferry’s smarmy voice to the alternately droning and meandering keyboards, guitars and saxophones to the way the drum fills are mixed in. And it’s not that I’m bored or dismissive about what I’m hearing; I’m actively disliking it. It’s as if my musical preferences were fed into A.I. and Roxy Music’s first album is spit out to push all my aggravation buttons. So put off by consuming this album again, I immediately played Apple Music’s “Inspired By Roxy Music” playlist to cleanse my palate. I love 75% of it. Go figure.

“Frum-MO-he-OH?” Is that some kind of variation of bohemia? fIREHOSE is tight, for sure. It’s easy to imagine the best way to capture them, live in a small club. A lot of this would work there. Sounds like what you might get if you threw Guided by Voices, Living Colour, Little Feat and crisp production into a blender. The standout track (and the only one I’d heard before, which got a good amount of airplay on alternative rock and college radio) is “Time With You.” Like many GbV songs, a lot of these feel unfinished, only getting started towards something interesting and then they’re over. And there’s too many throwaways, in particular the (mercifully) brief drum fill tracks “Let The Drummer Have Some” and “’nuf That Shit, George.” Mostly it all seems ephemeral, nothing you’d remember to come back to once it’s over. 2-1/4 stars

Even my personal dislike of “The One I Love” (from day one seemed like an obvious attempt at a hit single) and that “It’s The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)” has been played to death by 80s radio cannot change that this is an absolutely great listen from start to finish. (And, in the context of the entire album, both these songs still fit in nicely and I forget that I’m really sick of both of them.) R.E.M. in the 1980s: Everything from RECKONING (1984) to AUTOMATIC FOR THE PEOPLE (1992) is just one great album after another.

I useta lump Blancmange, Depeche Mode and New Order into a bin of synth-pop bands that don’t really do much for me. Then Depeche Mode came up with VIOLATOR (1990) — which I loved — and last year I picked up an old Blancmange album on vinyl and liked it more than I expected. Given that, and my fond memories of New Order from friends’ mix-tapes and 80s alternative playlists, I was looking forward to this one. But LOW-LIFE doesn’t really add up to an album for me. It’s basically three great tracks (“Love Vigilantes,” “The Perfect Kiss” and “Elegia”) paired with 5 other OK songs. And taken as a whole this all just sounds too similar on a song-structure level from one track to the next. Too drony and repetitive and icily slick. Overall, disappointingly, these eight tracks just left me cold. 2.5 stars

I’ve been very late to getting around to the Kinks back catalog; it’s only been happening in the last 10 to15 years. They’re a huge influence on so many bands I love, including my two favorites, The Jam and XTC. So often the influences that shape the artists I love just don't click with me, but not so with The Kinks: I absolutely love this band. From Peter Doggett’s sleeve notes for the 1998 CD reissue: “The first Kinks album to be assembled from a variety of different sessions over a period of months, rather than being bashed out in less than a week…FACE TO FACE ushered in a new identity for the Kinks. Over the previous two years they had created and honed a hard rock sound which has influenced young musicians ever since — and then abandoned it. In its place, Ray Davies designed a unique Kinks landscape, a bittersweet vision of life with all its crushing disappointments and snatched moments of pleasure. Davies peopled this world with a cast of cracked actors, bowing to the inevitable pressures of urban existence but never losing sight of their fantasies of escape.”

As I started to listen to this for the first time in almost 40 years, I was thinking….y’know, maybe I’ve been too hard on Depeche Mode. I mean, It’s irony and repetitive and the like, and I really shouldn’t like any of it, but…a lot of this sounds better in 2026 than it did then. But there’s some clunkers in here, too, especially “I Want You Now” (laughably ridiculous, awkward), “Pimpf” (pointless rhythmic exercise) and “Sacred” (portentous).

The occasional good film compositions in this are marred and obscured by repetitive musical loops (the drums are especially bad); repetitive, amateurish and often very dopey sound and vocal effects; and repetitive themes and motifs that don’t really deserve such attention and repetition. More like a 16-year-old wunderkind’s soundtrack sizzle reel sent out with a resume than an actual, fully-realized album. There are literally dozens of actual great soundtracks that deserve to be on this list rather than this faux piece of crap.

I don’t really know jazz, but I like what I like when I hear it. And I know of Bill Evans but not that familiar with his catalog. This was lovely, very enjoyable.

I did not realize the cover was an Annie Leibowitz photo. Interesting. And I’d totally forgotten there was a Prince cover (“When You Were Mine”) on here; unfortunately, it hasn’t aged well. The album’s a lot of fun, and I’d forgotten how it was considered new wave at the time.

If Southern-fried, Tex-Mex rock and blues is your thing, this is a pretty terrific, crisp album with good production values and a nice variety of tempos and styles.

Caroline says this album ain't nearly as intersting as Lou Reed himself. Caroline says she likes a lot of the musicianship and production on BERLIN; if only someone else were singing, instead of talking, through the often simple and monosyllabic lyrics. To the book's contributor's assertions that this is an influential album, Caroline says "That's as may be" but that doesn't mean she should have to listen to it. Caroline says the editor of "1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die" must learn to say no. Caroline says Lou Reed's BERLIN has made it into her book, "4,004 Albums You Must Forget Before You Fatally Fall."

I didn't think I'd heard any Nick Drake before, but listening to BRYTER LAYTER, I realized I must've heard some of these songs in the movies. (Really, the entire album sounds like it could be a soundtrack for a Wes Anderson movie.) Sure enough, I know "One Of These Things First" very well; it's on what may be the best pop-music soundtrack of the 21st century GARDEN STATE (2004). And "Fly" appears in a Wes Anderson movie, of course. How much I loved this album caught me off-guard. I had to listen to it several times before writing this review, and it just keeps growing on me. I really hadn't expected to know or love any of this. It probably helps that the backing band is mostly Fairport Convention, a band I"m somewhat familiar with but very familiar with what their members did later: Richard Thompson is one of my favorite singer-songwriters (and one of the three best guitarists I've very seen live) and Fairport's drummer, Dave Mattacks, played on XTC albums. The album is beautifully produced. What a pleasant surprise.

Luke their namesake, Klaxons can be annoying, droning, up-and-down, and repetitive. But there's also some decent tracks on this album, and there's potential I might like it this more with another, closer listen to both the music and lyrics at some point. Based on one not-so-attentive listen only: 2.5 stars

Forty years after its wall-to-wall permeation of the airwaves, it’s hard to deny the infectious fun of Van Halen on and in 1984. You can’t listen to this album without seeing the broad grins on every band member’s face in those omnipresent videos; Van Halen was having a good time as rock gods and weren’t afraid to show it. I was surprised how great all the singles still sound today, even “I’ll Wait” (co-written by Michael McDonald, who was apparently in every 1980s recording studio). And the rest of the cuts piece the album together well enough to maintain the energy for 33 minutes. 3.5 stars

A lovely bit of Brit-pop here. I really love this one, and a lot of it has to do with the John Leckie’s Beatle-esque production and psychedelic leanings of the sound. And a nice variety of tunes. John Leckie also produced t25 O’CLOCK (EP, 1985) and the long-player PSONIC PSUNSPOT (1987) for The Dukes of Stratosphear, XTC's psychedelic pseudonym. If you like this debut from The Stone Roses, you may very well love The Dukes; thei EP and LP are collected on CHIPS FROM THE CHOCOLATE FIREBALL. At first, you may think XTC is cleverly lampooning the genres they’re aping here, but it’s a loving tribute to the era and a fine album in its own right. And “Your Gold Dress” would sound quite at home on this Stone Roses debut.

Every time this record started to grab me with something — got me thinking that, yeah, this is pretty good, I can give it 3 stars — a subsequent track would be so annoying, dated, or just ridiculously silly and bad that I just couldn’t say I like the album that much. There’s a lot of fun stuff here, but it’s a real mixed bag from one track to the next; the sophomoric and childish crap just brings the rest down. I’m glad it’s the birth of psychedelia, but I’ll take the stuff it spawned over this every day of the week. 2.4 stars

The first great Beatles album.

Do you have a double album -- like, for example, WAREHOUSE: SONGS AND STORIES -- that needs fixing? Here's a life hack: 1. Remove Grant Hart tracks 2. Listen to album Presto! You have a great single Hüsker Dü album. Or a great Bob Mould album. You decide! You're welcome!

song titles are in lower case. gee that's clever. i didn’t even make it to the end of the first track before my wife pleaded from another room, “TURN IT OFF!” even with headphones — which actually makes listening to lcd worse — i couldn’t make it through these songs. ended up skipping through most of them. lcd’s songs often take forever to get going and still manage to go nowhere. i can’t fathom what others see in lcd. so aggravating.

This album’s a great debut, and I'm a big fan, but since this is the only Suzanne Vega album on this list, let’s talk about my favorite Suzanne Vega period, her three 1990s albums. It all starts with DAYS OF OPEN HAND (1990), which Suzanne has said was influenced by recent XTC albums. Her brief marriage to producer Mitchell Froom yielded her two best albums. Folk purists complained, but who cares? If they can’t recognize gorgeous, well-constructed albums and a remarkable collaboration between singer-songwriter and producer it’s their loss. 99.9F° (1992) begins with the rattles, interesting sounds, percussion and effects Froom is known for, but it all brings greater depth to Vega’s terrific compositions. “Blood Makes Noise” throbbingly captures doctor’s office dread, and was read as an allegory for AIDS at the time. One of my favorite albums of all time, NINE OBJECTS OF DESIRE (1996) is an astonishingly lush album. All this beauty doesn’t squash Vega’s songs, it enhances them. Every single song is a gem, a sonic short story. “Caramel” is delicious. You can vividly picture the scene in "Stockings." Tthe waltz “Honeymoon Suite” is a wonderful little vignette and my favorite song about a hotel room, a vivid dream, and new love. And the album’s sequencing, from birth to desire to death, is so perfect, you imagine they spent a lot of time getting it just right. "Do you know when friendship ends And passion does begin It's between the binding Of her stocking and her skin" The elegant simplicity and grace of Vega’s literary lyrics makes it all look easy. But it’s the care and editing away everything that’s unnecessary that makes Vega’s stories so compelling. "When we sleep so close together that our hair becomes entwined I must have missed that moment In the gateway to his mind"

Awful lead vocals. Meandering and noodling. This album hasn’t aged well.

“Kool Thing” is another one of those great Sonic Youth tracks you’ve heard on college radio that makes you think you’re gonna like them. Then you listen to the album…It’s not a good sign when you’re checking to see how much longer a 2 minute 20 second song is going to last. Whole lotta noise here posing, self-importantly, as art. 1.5 stars

After buying RECKONING, my first R.E.M. album, I remember finding MURMUR at one of my favorite used-record shops, pulling out the inner sleeve, and cursing under my breath, "Damn, this one doesn't have lyrics either."

A really great concept double-album recognizes the importance of sequencing. It’s a story told in four acts. The first and last tracks on each side need to establish or end on certain tones to help tell the story, and each side should be a solid listen on its own while contributing to the whole. This album is amazing. I’ve listened to it before, but not this closely. I love Peter Gabriel, so why has it taken this long to delve deeply into his Genesis back catalog? I was surprised hoe many of the songs I knew, likely from deep-cut playlists and live albums. It’s already up there with my other favorite concept albums, including Pink Floyd’s THE WALL, The Who’s TOMMY and The Decemberists’ THE HAZARDS OF LOVE.

SEVEN SINGLES‽ There were SEVEN singles from this album? Are you kidding me‽ And “Women” — an altogether terrible song (“Skin on skin/Let the love begin”) — was the SECOND single? Really? If there’s one thing the music industry does best, it’s pummel us with a band’s underserving follow-up to their big hit album (in this case, PYROMANIA). Whatever good will I may have felt towards some of these catchy songs, it’s all been beaten out of me by rock and 80s radio playing these songs to death. The entire thing is an overproduced, bloated mess. Every track is too long. This album’s more than 62 minutes long and could easily lose 20 minutes.

Less than 80 into this project and we’re getting a third Velvet Underground album? Ugh. OK, I’ve put off listening to this for too long: I don't dislike or hate it. That's something. It’s nowhere near as intolerable as their second album. Some of it’s actually pretty good. The clever construction of “The Murder Mystery,” unfortunately, wears out its welcome long before the eight-minute mark. And there’s just too many ballads on this. Snooze. Overall, it’s just not for me. I’m still way lukewarm to Reed’s whole talking thing, and remain unimpressed with the lyrics. Sure, I can see how people might an…um…elegant simplicity to Lou's songs. But I just find it all rather uninteresting.

Context is important. The first track “God! Show Me The Magic” sounded amazing immediately after the last track on Ray Price’s NIGHT LIFE. (Then again, most anything would.) Pleasant enough, and I definitely have a soft spot for Britpop from this era.

Raw, punky fun. A bit much to take for an entire album. Best if consumed in small doses: three songs at a time, or a cut on a playlist/mixtape.

I'm not really a fan of regular reggae, but the ska from the late 1970s/early 1980s from bands like The Specials (AKA), The (English) Beat, Madness, The Selector, The Higsons and The Apollinaires? Love it. If you liked this album and you're new to British ska from this era, check out THE 2 TONE COLLECTION: A CHECKERED PAST anthology, a 2-CD set of the best 2 Tone tracks sequenced well into a great listen.

Liked this better than I expected, but got a little repetitive by the end. Good vibe, though.

This ranks right up there with bluegrass and opera as what the feds will blast outside my house to get me to scream “MAKE IT STOP!” and end the standoff.

Sure, there are two outstanding tracks here, but this is not one of Bowie’s best albums.

Hmmm....I thought I liked Portishead. But this album? It's just OK. 2.5 stars

For decades, Pink Floyd to me were the four albums from DARK SIDE OF THE MOON (1973) to THE WALL (1979). When THE FINAL CUT came out and left me thoroughly unimpressed, I was pretty much done with anything new. Then, ten years ago, I picked up PINK FLOYD CRE/ATION: THE EARLY YEARS 1967-72 (2016), a 2-CD anthology that was, itself, highlights from a larger 27-CD box set. If you’re not familiar with early Pink Floyd, this 2-CD set is highly recommended! It really opened my ears to what I’ve been missing. I’v since fallen in love with both MEDDLE and their first LP. And, now that I’ve heard all this early Pink Floyd, I’ve filled in all the referential gaps in my knowledge of the works The Dukes of Stratosphear (XTC’s psychedelic pseudonym) were lovingly paying homage to on 25 O’CLOCK and PSONIC PSUNSPOT. Piper: 4.5 stars

Maybe it’s because I read about it first and had very low expectations, but — against all odds — I kinda like this goofy, oddball album. Some of it is absolute crap, but some of it clicked with me.

This kinda punk is a little too hard, too close to heavy metal, for my tastes. Some songs on their own are OK, but this banal album mostly elicits a disinterested shrug. Oh, and I don’t care for the dude’s voice, either.

Some musical artists just don’t appeal to me because they’re unable to transcend that they’re not of my era. Janis Joplin is one of those. I get the talent, and the great voice, but it just comes off as a lot of wailing and screaming. But given the same type of talent 15 to 20 years later, in an era I can relate to, and I love it. Listening to PEARL, all I could think is that I’d rather be listening to Joan Osborne’s THE EARLY RECORDINGS (1996), so that’s what I did. And Joan’s mostly live album is still amazing, blows me away, where PEARL just feels dated and unrelatable. Janis Joplin, Pearl: 3 stars Joan Osborne, The Early Recordings: 5 stars

It’s not you, it’s me. I’ve tried and tried. My brain is not wired to enjoy the structural elements of this genre.

5-star tracks: “Something” - “Oh! Darling” - “I Want You (She’s So Heavy)” - “Here Comes The Sun” - “Because” Over the years, I’ve come around to this album, but…. I still think it’s not the great album that so many Beatles fans think it is. There’re some great cuts, obviously, but I can’t shake the first impression: The lads are fried, burned out, and have nothing to say. With some notable exceptions -- including George's great tracks -- much of ABBEY ROAD reflects the toll of so many amazing recordings in such a short span (1963-1969). They must be sick of the fame, sick of the constant pressure to produce albums, and sick of each other. The keen observation and brilliant lyrics of Lennon and McCartney in the past are, for the most part, absent here. And all the unfinished ideas! Sure, the stitching together of them all on Side Two is one of the most brilliant forms of knitting together a bunch of unrealized and incomplete fragments of ideas ever, but….it doesn’t hide the fact that John and Paul, for whatever reason, just wouldn’t or couldn’t make them into fully realized songs as part of this group anymore.

Sillee and stoopid.

Old-timey, old-school classic R&B from the early 1970s that hasn't aged well. Occasional good grooves, but I generally get bored pretty quickly with this kind of innocuous music.

Years ago I bought a box set of Queen's earlier work, but never got around to listening to it until now. On first listen, this is all very interesting and may grow on me with further listening and a thorough reading of the fantasy/prog-rock lyrics, but for now it's a sold 3 with room to grow.

My two favorite Cure tracks — “Let’s Go To Bed” and “Why Can’t I Be You?” — aren’t on this album. I like The Cure, but I had the same reaction to DISINTEGRATION in 2026 as in 1989. The album has too many songs that are the same languorous beat. The melancholy of both the lyrics and music is too much; the album could benefit from some counterbalance between the two. Not enough up-tempo tracks. Often a song takes so long to get started you start to think this one’s an instrumental. Not one of The Cure’s best by a long shot.

It’s been only 14 years, but I’d already forgotten how great this album is.

It’s kind of amazing how every track is expansive and complex, yet tight and compact.

Never heard of this band before, and after listening I know why: There are so many other bands, like Spandau Ballet, Haircut 100, Fine Young Cannibals and The Style Council, that do what they do better. But I do love that post-punk jangly guitar! I like the music a lot. Some of the lyrics, not so much. And I got bored pretty quickly with the ballads. And that lead singer's voice! Like a disinterested Bryan Ferry with a mouth full of marbles. Ugh. With love to hear this album with a whole different set of lyrics and someone else singing.

Absolute rubbish. I'd never heard of this person before today, and now I'm longing for yesterday.

Never been much of a Joni Mitchell fan. That voice can be annoying, and she always seemed like an musician’s musician. So I figured I’d listen to this once and rate it. But something about BLUE kept me from doing that. The album compelled me to keep revisiting it. It just simply wouldn’t allow me to get away with a cursory listen; it demanded I listen again and again with my full attention. And I had to listen in smaller segments, too: a song or two, then think on it for hours or days; listen to one side, then think on it for a day or two. And, against all odds, I really came around to it. I really can’t explain what appeals to me, nor can I understand it. But from first listen to my post recent, it’s pulled off an astonishing feat by pulling me in. (And getting me more than 10 days behind on this listening project!)

Somewhat bland and repetitive, but I didn’t hate it, so that’s saying something. Functioned as background music today. 2.5 stars

It’s a thin line between hardcore punk and heavy metal.

I absolutely love the music — the instrumental music — of The Smiths. Beautiful production, up-tempo alternative post-punk music that’s right up my alley. Unfortunately, the Great White Mope is an integral part of this band. Every Smiths album is marred by Morressey, who I absolutely cannot stand. Some of my favorite artists, including The Decemberists, love The Smiths. Apparently there’s a literacy and cleverness and send of humour there, too. But I simply cannot see or hear it. Everything about Morrissey grates — his voice, his style of singing, all the lyrics. It’s just awful. I know it s supposed to be funny and ironic, but the way he sings and the words he chooses….ugh. It’s like someone with absolutely no sense of humour trying to be funny and clever and witty. I would love for someone to take the entire Smiths catalog, strip it down to instrumentals, and layer over the top an entirely different set of lyrics sung by anyone else. This would probably be one of my favorite bands.

Pretty good. Definitely brings to mind Van Hunt's first two albums (which obviously came later but I heard first.)

Somewhat interesting but, ultimately, the lo-fi and language barriers are too high for me to get over.

The first record you buy for an artist that becomes a favorite always holds a special place in your heart, and this Elvis Costello album has held up well; it remains one of my all-time favorite LPs. The accompanying show for this tour was my fifth rock concert (the previous four were all Rush) and Talk Talk opened. (If only I could remember the name of the long-gone venue.) “All the bedroom lights go out As the neighborhood gets quiet Everything in heaven and earth Is almost right There’s a wife who’s wondering Where her husband could be tonight And when the phone rang only once She took a dreadful fright Little things just seem to Undermine her confidence in him He was late this time last week Who can she turn to When the chance of coincidence is slim ’Cause the baby isn’t old enough to speak”

As a teenager, I didn’t really see where this weird, bombastic, over-the-top album was coming from, but I liked it a lot. Obviously there’s much to appeal to teenage boys. Now, in 2026, the album sounds like it could be the soundtrack to a jukebox musical of teenage boys called HORNY or HORMONES. Over the years I’ve come to realize why it sounds the way it does; Jim Steinman’s style definitely owes a lot to Broadway. Also in 2026, you really hear the prevailing attitude to women in 1970s rock: they are merely vessels for male pleasure or manipulative harpies using their feminine wiles to trick men into marriage. Back in the 1970s it was all in good fun and didn’t raise any eyebrows, and the thrill, catchiness and humor of the a song like “Paradise by the Dashboard Light” is undeniable. Fortunately, Ellen Foley’s fiery performance on the album, and Karla DeVito’s equally great performance in the videos and on tour helps to counter-balance the misogyny of it all. Teenage me: 4.5 stars 2026 me: 2.5 stars

Not bad and somewhat interesting. It mostly held my attention until the last 2 or 3 songs when my interested started to wane. I might like this more after a few more listens.

Not the best Bowie album nor one of my favorites, but it's pretty good and has its moments. 3.5 stars

Shockingly, given the genre, I kinda like this one. Very listenable. Good production, too. I can see why the Country purists at the time didn't like it; that's probably why I do, in part. A pleasant surprise, this one.

I like some Bauhaus songs, here and there, but a full album's worth of this tenor and tone really didn't do much for me, and I was finding myself very numb to it all.

Take me down to the mystery city Where the hair is big and the songs are shitty

Lovely. This remains k.d.’s best album.

Pretty good, I enjoyed this well enough. I like Echo, but never enough to buy their albums.

It's not you, Dolly, it's me. This genre and this kind of simple, sweet music holds zero appeal to me and absolutely bores me. Honestly, it's difficult to pay close attention to it because my brain inevitably wanders on to something else more complex or interesting while it's playing. I liked a few of the songs, but it's just something I will never seek out to listen to again.

Whatever the hell this is, I was just not in the right mood or mindset to be open to this today. Sounds like a comedian's parody of lounge music today. Not for me today.

This band sure changed a lot between its fourth and ninth albums! Like this just fine, but…gets a little drony end repetitive and all the songs sound the same, so it doesn’t really add up to much of an album. 3.25 stars

What a pleasant discovery! I know of this band, but was surprised that i didn't recognize any of the cuts on this album. But this is the kinda Britpop I love. Very enjoyable.

[yawn]

“When I Grow Up (To Be a Man)” was used over the opening credits for a really terrific, short-lived (only two seasons) TV show called MEN OF A CERTAIN AGE, starring Ray Romano, the late great Andre Braugher and a surprisingly good (given how hammy QUANTUM LEAP was) Scott Bakula. Ok, that’s it. Ive all out of positive things to say about having to listen to another Beach Boys album. 1.5 stars

When this came out, I really loved AJA and GAUCHO but had not yet delved back further into the Steely Dan catalog. “Yes we’re gonna have a wingding A summer smoker underground It’s just a dugout that my dad built In case the Reds decide to push the button down We’ve got provisions and lots of beer The key word is survival on the new frontier” But I absolutely fell in love with the mid-century modern celebration in the video for “New Frontier” and quickly picked up this album, which turned out to be wonderful through and through. It’s one of my favorite albums, and it’s quite possible I’ve listened to THE NIGHTFLY more than any single Steely Dan album since.

Sounds like an Otis Nixon bit about a resurrected brain-dead Elvis, with a limited zombie vocabulary, joining a jam blues band and having absolutely nothing to say that is 42 minutes too long. Considered quitting four tracks in. Wish I had. [Insert boilerplate copy "Why the fuck is this on the list?" here]

This sounds just as fresh now as it did 32 years ago. An astonishing work of menace and despair. I love Trent Reznor's attention to detail. And he knows that to make electronic/digital music sound good and appealing to human ears, it has to have flaws. Given the cinematic tension in this album, it's no surprise that Reznor is a multi-Oscar winning film composer with Atticus Ross. If THE DOWNWARD SPIRAL was done by 99% of musicians, it would probably not work for me. But Reznor nails it.

Reading the entry in the book, thought this might be one I really dislike. A bit of a mixed bag, probably due to the different songwriters. Recognized a couple songs from alternative radio. 2.5 stars

I listened to this once in the 1990s and again today. That’s 4 hours of listening I could have spent on something that elicits more than a perplexed shrug. Interestingly, an album produced and cowritten by Billy Corgan — Hole’s CELEBRITY SKIN — is one of my favorite albums.

Track 2: Oh, I remember this one. If only there was a subscription service that you can pay to never hear certain songs, for the rest of your life, ever again. This one definitely makes the list. The rest of this album is way to hard and metal for me. Maybe back in the day this might've sounded a bit better, but today it's barely listenable to my ears.

Great post-punk fun. This band is always showing up on “Influenced By” playlists by some of my favorite bands from the late 70s/early 80s, including XTC, so I’m glad this band lived up to that. At least 3.5 stars

You're in a contemporary art museum, and you come across a bit of experimental visual art from the 1970s or 1980s. Perhaps it's projected on a small silver screen; maybe it's on a loop on an old console television, or maybe a wall of picture-tube TVs; or maybe you enter a room with visuals splashed on all four walls, something immersive. Nearly every track on this album sounds like it would be what you'd hear as an aural accompaniment to that art. Occasionally, a track like "AB/7A" sounds like it could be on the soundtrack for an Errol Morris documentary. And some tracks sound like the audio from an experimental short film by David Lynch. It's weird and odd and not really music per se, but it did manage to hold my interest. And it's preferable to listening to anything by Eagles. 2.45 stars

Old-timey, dated hippie music that holds very little interest for me personally. Side 1 - The Raven: 3.25 stars Side 2 - Wilderness: 1.5 stars Side 3 - Consider: 1.5 stars Consider finding a theme yourself ’cause there ain't one here. Side 4 - Rock & Roll Is Here to Stay: No rating (lost interest) The whole thing is way too twangy and noodley and southern 70s for me. And that hard turn to bluegrass and country on Side 2? No thank you. The best thing about Stephen Stills going solo from CSN(&Y) is there are no Graham Nash songs to suffer through.

Much better than I expected! Turns out I knew a few of these songs. 3.5 stars

Producer Mike Chapman joins the party and becomes Blondie’s George Martin. Blondie’s best album.

Of course I’m familiar with Hüsker Dü and Bob Mould’s solo work — and like it well enough — and I’ve heard a few of these songs. But I had no idea this Sugar album was so good! At least 3.5 stars

Despite my arbitrary prejudice against bands with stupid names — I’m looking at you, Presidents of the United States of America — I really like this Yeah Yeah Yeahs album. The only two tracks that sounded familiar on this listen were “Zero” and “Heads Will Roll,” which I loved in that mash-up on GLEE. Occasionally this band reminds me of Arcade Fire (but in a good way) and St. Vincent. 3-1/2 stars

The day after AC/DC came to town was one of the buzziest ever, and I’d never seen anything quite like it. It seemed that literally half the students at my high school wore a black AC/DC concert shirt that day. Wearing concert t-shirts to school the next day was far from unusual, but the sheer scale of how many kids were at that show was remarkable. My best friend at the time went and, to this day, says it was probably the loudest concert he’s ever been to. His ears rang for three days. If concert t-shirts were votes, AC/DC was, by far, the most popular concert ever.

I've listened to this before, and it's not really my cup of tea. (Although I do love "The Weight" mostly in the context of being on THE BIG CHILL soundtrack.) I just don't get why everyone thinks the lead singers of this band are so great; I would rather hear Robbie Robertson sing the lead vocals, honestly. 3.5 stars

Not one of his best. This album didn't do too much for me.

Really impressed with the variety on this album. And, sure, it's a little over-produced -- not something I would expect to find on a Simon & Garfunkel album! But I like good, interesting production even if it occasionally makes a routine out swinging for the fences. Really love that The Bangles saw the rocking potential inherent in "Hazy Shade of Winter."

Lovely. Don't really know jazz very well, but I enjoyed this.

The first time I heard XTC was at my best friend Tim’s house: He’d discovered something he wanted me to hear. Back then, in the summer of 1982, Tim had something most of us did not. Y’see, near the end of his senior year in high school, his parents moved about 30 minutes away to Springfield, Ohio, one of the first cable television markets in the country to get MTV. MTV was so new, there weren’t any ads yet, just breaks where the ads should be filled with moon-landing footage and the MTV logo in the corner. The music videos featured many Brit-pop bands, who apparently were ahead of the curve when it came to making music videos. (Coupled with a year of musical exposure at college, I bought 42 albums that summer.) Tim and I had the house to ourselves that day, so we settled into the family room, where the “good” record player was, and I spread out the album jacket and inner sleeves around me on the lush carpet. What first struck me was the beauty of the album cover: not glossy, but a textured dark green with aa outline of some type of animal (the Uffington Horse) and raised lettering in a very unusual, archaic font. The inner sleeves (with lyrics) were also textured paper in an orange parchment-like color. The first track “Runaways” faded up and we listened to side one of the U.K. import of XTC’s ENGLISH SETTLEMENT (1982). At first, it all sounded like a Brit-pop band had time-traveled to the middle ages to record a rock record. The tunes were interesting and well-produced (by Hugh Padgham and XTC) and by the third track — “Senses Working Overtime,” the song Tim had seen the video for on MTV — I knew I was going to buy this one. Then, of course, I got the four previous albums in their back catalog: THE WHITE ALBUM (1978), GO 2 (1978), DRUMS AND WIRES (1979), and BLACK SEA (1980). Listening to the latter, I realized I had heard XTC before; one of our local rock radio stations had played “Generals and Majors” when it came out. (At the time, I was probably put off by the chorus and title, not realizing the irony of the lyrics.) XTC was now my favorite pop band, and I was often buying their new stuff as U.K. imports because the U.S. releases often came later. I had no idea MUMMER (1983) and THE BIG EXPRESS (1984) didn’t do well commercially until now. The critics and I loved them, so I assumed the band was doing well, but apparently they only sold a little more than 30,000 copies each. “So [our record label Virgin] set their collective corporate eye on XXTC selling to the massive US market where the big money was and they made us a proposition we couldn’t refuse,” writes guitarist/songwriter Andy Partridge in the the notes to the 2016 Surround Sound Edition of SKYLARKING. “They figured that to do that we should have an American producer — someone who might find a starred and striped vein hidden deep within that most English of bands.” The band chose Todd Rundgren and “the irony was that we couldn’t have picked a bigger Anglophile.” “I would not say that Todd was particularly a people person,” writes bassist/songwriter Colin Moulding. “Todd was a pretty scary character….like the gunslinger who rides into town in the big Western — elusive, brooding, enigmatic. I didn’t know what to think….But there is no denying he is a very fine arranger. I don’t think I’ve met anyone with such on-the-spot musicality. He was a natural. And how wonderful to bring in outsiders who know what they’re doing and can take your little ditty to places you hadn’t thought of.”

4-1/2 stars If you like this one, check out his next three albums. They’re as good, if not better, than TTD’s debut album, and it’s a shame they didn’t generate the success they deserved. Neither Fish Nor Flesh (1989) Symphony or Damn (1993) Vibrator (1995)

Lots of grating, annoying and numbingly repetitive guitar sounds. 1.45 stars

This is not a genre I would ever go to on my own, but….I really like this album. Much more than I ever imagined. Reminds of the great female singer-songwriters discovered at Lilith Fair or on one of those Lilith Fair compilation albums. 3-1/2 stars

Skip TARKUS and instead listen to ELP's best album, BRAIN SALAD SURGERY (which, inexcusably, is not on this list).

Finally! A punk/post-punk/new wave album on this list that doesn’t suck. I love The Adverts! No surprise, really; John Leckie also produced XTC’s first two albums, their pseudonym The Dukes of Stratosphear’s EP (25 O’CLOCK) and LP (PSONIC PSUNSPOT) and The Stone Roses’ debut album. 3-1/2 stars

Hate? Morrissey? Can do.

For the longest time, FRAGILE was my only Yes album. It was my first record by anyone; my much-older brother had given me his scratched copy. (It still doesn’t sound right without the scratch.) When I explored other Yes albums I didn’t get far, initially. Just THE YES ALBUM and CLOSE TO THE EDGE. I loved both so much I didn’t have an appetite for more. Many years later, when I finally got to the rest of the Yes back catalog, I was pleasantly surprised how rich it is. Lots of terrific albums. RELAYER is great. Their debut album is better than you’d expect. Even GOING FOR THE ONE shines. (I assumed the vast quantities in used record bins meant it sucked. Not the case.) Given all that, CLOSE TO THE EDGE is probably their 2nd or 3rd best album.