1001 Albums Summary

A classic and powerful album, have a cigar and wish you were here easy to listen to separately. Interesting that you only hear the vocalist 9 mins into the album. Reminiscent of PF’s early work with Syd Barrett

This album transcends seasons. Some songs fit a glorious sunny spring day, others (Everybody Hurts and Sweetness Follows) merit more of a melancholic cloudy grey day. Classic songs like Nightswimming and Man on the moon perfectly capture Stipe’s iconic voice and the consistent use of orchestral instruments and piano make this an album bring a tide of nostalgia over you

WOW. This album was a powerhouse in its first listen. The layering of instruments, genres, moods. Joni I’m sad that I have neglected you in my life as an avid listener up until now. Raised on Robbery a particular highlight. Only giving four stars as I need to leave something for the GOATs…

This album grew on me. Stevie’s vocals in Boogie on Raggae woman are unapologetically cool and effortless. Heaven is one of those powerful songs that could make anyone reconsider their faith to god. Listening to this album at the end of the day and really taking in the rhythms, lawlessness of Stevie’s voice and all the beautiful harmonising bumped it up

One to come back to. The first half of the album grew on me at the second listen. I like Jack White and other White Stripe albums, but I think it was too much cacophony for how I was feeling.

Needs coming back to but compared to other REM albums it feels lacking

Meh. I didn’t love. A couple of the songs grew but can’t say I’m a new found fan of Donovan. Will come back to this

Need to listen to it all the way through once more. But it’s a great collection of songs and has reminded me how much I like the pretenders

Eh I didn’t love, maybe it will grow on me but I also didn’t get much of a chance to listen properly

As a south Londoner it is obvious that some songs resonated strongly with me and the energy, unapologetic vocals make you want to vigorously scream YES. A band to come back to

Like fine wine. I hadn’t listened the the full album in years and what a treat. Psychedelic, old school alternative rock, incredible guitar segments, the rhythm and percussion. I could help but sing along on my commute to so many of these songs. Instantly put me in a good mood as I delved into what is an intensely pleasurable listening experience

I might be harsher here purely because the album wasn’t on Spotify and it was a struggle to find each song and listen to in order. This was a fun album, but in my opinion a very basic way of combining almost stereotypical rhythms of Latin America amongst other cultures. The music is fun and perhaps I need to look into the lyrics more

I’m somewhat comforted by the fact that I like other XTC stuff. The beginning started off well with the orchestral accompaniments. But as this album progressed, it started triggering a deeply visceral feeling within me. They say art is supposed to evoke something within you and connect to your emotions, will this album did it in the form of irk, shock, horror, grimace. NO NO NO. If you were a musical theatre kid in school, into nerd rock, have an unhealthy relationship to Disney soundtracks, then maybe this is the perfect album to start your day with. For me, it felt like an audio khole that I am sure will haunt my nightmares for days to come.

I have a new found appreciation for albums that are less than an hour. This felt like a saga time commitment and challenging to fit in one sitting. I hadn’t come across Todd Rundgren before, but instantly recognised some great songs like Hello it’s Me, I Saw the Light, It Wouldn’t Have Made Any Difference. The album has a three parts to it: up to Sweeter Memories it’s fun laidback jazzy soul harmonious (although I really didn’t like it takes two to tango). Then it transitions into a genuinely irritating annoying phase. I would believe you if you told me Todd was drunk in despair and feeling petty, then smoked a j when he wrote Song of the Viking as he fantasised about a different corporeal experience. I went to the mirror is when the album picks up again for me, like he’s getting his shit together after being in a weird pit of misery. Enter the beautiful powerful guitar mixed with the piano. Black Maria he’s back in a groove, slowly standing up. Overall I liked the transition of the album as if we’re joining Todd in getting through the pits of life. It fits different moods, but I definitely prefer the songs on the rockier side, as well as the beginning others harmonious sunshine simple jazzy songs.

It was fine but not a particular standout album. I like some of Queen’s music, but it’s also not really the type of everyday listening either.

Unfortunately I wasn’t able to listen more than once the whole way through (for it being two hours long!!!!), but I loved this. The progressions, mix of rhythms languages moods. Disc 1 was stronger than disc 2 in my opinion

The fact that Britney had these vocals at the age of 17 is wild. Better than I thought it would be, but mainly the first couple of tracks that brought me down nostalgia.

I like Beck. Overall it was a good listening experience, in particular I liked Missing as it’s reminiscent of beachy hazy guitars and vocals with strings often seen in Brazilian jazz

I think I may have liked disc 2 than 1 (practice demo versions). Triffids was a new discovery for me but as a fan of Echo and the Bunnymen, The Beat and The Smiths, they slot in very well to my music library. Is it revolutionary? No, but some great songs all the same

Ask and you shall receive. Give Aretha an assignment and she shall deliver. A classic for very good reasons. Concise album where each song is a standalone. I hadn’t realised how many of the songs I didn’t know have been used in recent house music. Do Right Woman, Do Right Man will remain in my head for the rest of the day

The beginning had some good songs which reminded my of Joni Mitchell’s more heartfelt ballads. But then it became rather mundane and I was bored by the half way point.

What more could you ask of an album? Fun, energy, sleazy, sophisticated, gut wrenching lyrics, belters, immaculate guitar…songs to listen to on a sunny terrace watching the world away, songs to jump up and down and shout to, songs for a long road trip, songs to lock eyes with your best friends and enjoy the nth dimension of musical paradiso. Truly uplifted me. Made me reconsider whether By the Way remains my favourite RHCP album, excellent contender.

Agh I really wanted to like this album if only to appease Dave Mustaime and because Metallica get on my nerves, but alas. I slightly liked the title track Peace Sells, but that’s about it. My metal days are very much over and most of the album just exasperated me.

Part of me wants to truly dislike oasis, but I can’t. The album brings back nostalgia, Liam’s vocals are iconic and so satisfying to hear, the guitars, at times verging on psychedelic, are excellent. I suffered a delay in my listening schedule as I had Slide Away stuck in my head the entire day, but Columbia, as well as the version with Noel’s vocals in Disc 2 of the album, comes out as a new favourite. They knew they had something to give to the world, and they delivered it in this album.

One to come back to. Do you realize?? is probably one of my top 100 songs of all time, but the album in which it is situated is rather disappointing. The album starts off well and is probably something to enjoy whilst carrying out mundane chores. The folky guitar and vocals are the highlights. It then gets progressively weirder as they start to settle into the theme of Yoshimi undertaking this galactic battle. If you are trying to go about your day with this as a backdrop, good luck to you my friend. All we have is now is where they frankly lost me. So all in all a mixed experience

Here’s me thinking I liked psychedelic rock. It reminds me of a classic Quentin Tarantino film with the characters overtaken by some subconscious need to delve into the bizarre. But give me an hour and a half of it, of which there are many versions of the same songs, and I will furrow my eyebrows in confusion and slight boredom. Had this album have been half its length, maybe I would have seriously delved into it more. It’s not bad, but nothing special alas.

A warm hug on a Wednesday morning to reassure you before the beginning of a work day. I’ve listened much more to Paul Simon’s Graceland and The Rhythm of Saints, the only song I knew from his self-titled album was Me and Julio. But it’s still great. The reggae influences, the flute sections, the slow carefree tempo of Run that Body Down, the country/rock mix of Armistice Day with its excellent guitar…expectations met.

Respect for putting this album on this list. I only knew Work it before listening to the whole album, and preferred the first half to the second, but it empowers you, gives you confidence and makes you want to move. Creds to Missy Elliott, she is a key face in hip hop

I love Dire Straits and have listened to this album a lot over the years, but was I slightly bored/disappointed this time? Money for nothing, walk of life, so far away, brothers in arms are all excellent, but sometimes the album can feel slightly monotonous and dragging. All in all I still really like this album

Enjoyable, fun, a couple of songs I recognised from jingles. Memorable? Not particularly.

Here comes my love of synth and new wave. Jim Kerr has the emblematic voice of post punk. The album opens with Someone Somewhere, a hauntingly beautiful balled with the darkness of new wave. The echoes of the guitars throughout the album, but particularly in Colours Fly. The more poppy Promised you a miracle. I didn’t love the interlude of Somebody up there likes you, but this is quickly made up by New Gold Dream and Glittering Prize. The art of the BUILD UP so brilliantly shown in King is White and in the Crowd. And all in 47 minutes? Powerful, effective and excellent.

You need to be in the right mood for this album. It’s powerful, intense, but can at times it can just be awful cacophony, screeching, repetitive bars to make you go insane (I’m looking at the keyboards and synth on Hard Lovin’ Man here). PROCEED WITH CAUTION AND KNOW WHAT YOU ARE GETTING YOURSELF INTO. Ian Gillan undoubtedly has a great voice and some of these songs are great, I tended to prefer the beginning to the breakdown chaos of the end, but hey maybe if I wasn’t a regular city commuter trying to bring peace into my morning routine as I listen and instead a punk cruising down a coastal highway with a cigarette over my window I would be totally in the mood for this.

Another one that perhaps needs the right mood. I loved Dirty Boots as the beginning track, but the grunge that follows is something fifteen year old me might have appreciated more. I hold Mildred Pierce responsible for ruining my morning. You know what’s crazy? On one of the songs I thought wow I do really like this, only to realise the album had ended and Spotify had started playing Incinerate from another album. Has my music taste mellowed out into preferring more melodicness? Perhaps. Sorry if I’ve lost my edge.

I think I have decided that you can only start a song with an organ if your name is George Michael. I’ll be honest, the first track of this album (While you see a chance) sounds like the generic backing tracks you would get on a keyboard (which I incessantly played with at the age of 10 to the chagrin of my parents). It gives knock off Daft Punk? I definitely prefer the more soulful songs like Arc of a Diver and Second Hand Woman and the more groovy Night Train. At the same time, the album gives divorcée seduction, nostalgia, but an acceptance that your best years full of youthful excitement are behind you.

Two men discovering random electro tracks for the first time and wanting to cause pain. Help.

WTC AINT NUTHING TA F WITH!!!!!! Trailblazing and an excellent listen. If an album transforms your mood, whilst combining great samples, fresh lyrics, and keeping it varied and FUN, well sir I call that a job well done.

Courtney Love will always have a special place in my heart as a Nirvana aficionado as a teenager and general advocate of women in punk. I stupidly didn’t pay attention to the album name and listened to the whole of Live Through This thinking it was my album of the day. I’m happy I did that before moving on to Celebrity Skin. They are so different and capture Hole from its darker, grungier side, to a more melodic pop punk take. How does one get her vocal cords? Being a chain smoker for 10 years? A deal with supernatural forces? Throwing a riot? Asking for a friend. On Celebrity Skin: this album is a lot of fun and powerful. I don’t think I’d be able to take it seriously from many other people. Hole will be a band I came back to, and this album in particular.

WELL WELL WELL if it isn’t old Donny. One of my most controversial opinions which I always receive a slew of hate for is that I truly believe Madonna’s version of American Pie is superior to his original (Sorry white boys on karaoke) This album came at a good time, a reflective Sunday, walking back home, the wind graced me and decided to stop, or maybe I was just blanketed by this album? Particular highlights were Vincent, Crossroads and Winterwood. Tracks to listen by yourself with the lights down low sipping a tea, or in love. And back to the titular track: I hate to say it, but I may have changed my mind. The original occupies an important place in and of itself (still not discounting Madonna’s version altogether though). This and Everybody Loves me Baby had me dancing around the kitchen singing a long. Overall, a pleasant surprise.

The only song I knew of Harry Nilsson’s was Everybody’s Talkin. I enjoyed this album, and thought there were some solid songs. It goes from poppy folk, relaxed 70s male guitar, to more soulful. Songs like Down and Early in the Morning surprised me in terms of Nilsson’s vocal range and sheer capacity to make such different powerful music, I was impressed. Naturally I’m not the biggest fan of some of the more ballad type songs but they have a place nonetheless. Coconut as a song is wild and bizarre. Jump into the fire has some more 50s swing rock influence. But all in all, I enjoyed.

Ugh I’ll be honest I couldn’t finish this one. Not only did it make me cringe about my Kerrang buying era but it was actively dampening my morning. Can you listen to this when you’re not feeling angsty? It makes me think, how angsty was I as a teenager to truly enjoy this type of music and listen to it at any hour of the day?!

Meh this was fine. My first time coming across The Gun Club, and it seems to blend into other bands and music I’ve heard before but can’t exactly pin down, which is maybe its downfall. Don’t get me wrong, I love punk rock. There’s good energy, I like the blues influence, and it’s fun, as any good punk rock album should be. I probably like the guitar in Fire Song more than others, and I liked Goodbye Johnny but this is a more ambivalent “I guess?” than any strong feeling. If you put this album on, would I complain? No. But would I actively reach for it or have any burning desire to come back to it? Nah. Am I losing my faith in punk rock more than a mood? Perhaps.

I wanted to like this album more than I did, but I wasn’t a big fan. Very over the sexualised bizarre interludes which made me feel uncomfortable and it shadowed the potential of me actually enjoying this. If I have to skip a decent amount of the album then the overall listening experience is just not great. On the actual songs, I liked No Awareness, Earth People, Wild and Crazy, and Halfshark is pretty funny, but I don’t know if I’ll be coming back to them in a rush.

Ughhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh How has it been 11 years since this album came out? I really hope this is the one and only Adele album you force me to listen to on this list. I’m still in pain from the amount of Adele we were force fed in 2010-2015. HAVE MERCY. ENOUGH FOR A LIFETIME. This wasn’t as painful as 21 but if this made it to the list I can’t imagine how 21 won’t. I’ll give credit where credit is due. Undoubtedly, Adele has talent, a great voice and some good lyrics. It does not mean I need to listen, or enjoy listening, to her. Whilst her pitch is fine, her voice can actively annoy me in its transitions. I don’t like being a hater but listening to this album didn’t change my mind. Hello needs to be buried in a time capsule only to be resuscitated after a nuclear winter. She seems like a funny person so I am sorry. Maybe poor Adele is just the victim of over-commercialisation? I’ll let her weep with her millions.

Fits the name to a tee. I snubbed Ryan Adams when I was at a festival he played at over ten years ago thinking he was a dated douche and released mid music. I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed his voice (David Grey-esque), guitar and lyrics (Bob Dylan Americana influence). This album picked me up, swirled me around, dropped me. I was slightly bored by same of the slower melancholic songs but perhaps I wasn’t in the right mood to truly appreciate it (maybe I’ll come back to this in a heartbreak worthy moment). All in all it’s opened my eyes to Ryan Adams and made me interested in listening to more of his work.

Other than the odd song I’ve not been much of a Suede listener. Brett Anderson is one of the iconic voices of Brit pop, and the guitars mix synth with psychedelic, pop and punk. Their lyrics are fun and the Melodie’s are incredibly catchy. I enjoyed their self titled album, some tracks stand out like So Young and Animal Nitrate, but I think the other songs are ones that would grow on me as time goes by. Although I can’t exactly give it the title of masterpiece, it’s definitely an album and band I’ll return to.

Not just excellent, but truly a GOAT. I remember listening to this album for the first time, probably when I was 15 and The Strokes skyrocketing to my favourite bands. Many years later and it still holds a special place in my heart. This album is perfect, each song is a banger, from the classic Last Nite, Someday, Soma, and Is this It, to the head banging The Modern Age and Barely Legal. Julian Casablancas, thank you for gracing us.

Look I know Billie Holiday is a classic and a legend, but I’m judging on my listening experience. This was fine. There is a place for this. But it’s not a fave. I find the slowness at times awkward for me. The songs and their lyrics are beautiful but would I come back and listen? Meh.

Ahhhh serenity. My second Paul Simon album on this list and probably my favourite. Puts me in a good mood. Some songs I didn’t recognise and others I hadn’t listened to in a while. From the mix of different sounds, instruments, moods, vocals, everything sounds harmonic and well thought out. Making a song like Diamonds on the Soles of her Shoes is talent enough, but putting it alongside other greats like You can call me Al, I know what I know and Graceland? Top tier.

One of those albums where the songs can mesh into one. Frustratingly I remember there being a song I really liked in my first listen (was it No Reservations? Or Up in the Air?) but now can’t pinpoint it for the life of me, which all the more justifies the meshing point. I had never heard of Hüsker Dü before and wanted to enjoy this after hearing them described as a lesser known REM in their influential role on post punk. But the album felt a bit shoddy around the edges. I found the song You’re a Soldier irritating to say the least.

What was initially an eye roll at today’s album pick immediately became appreciation as I delved back into what was long forgotten in my mind, the world of Metallica. A memory of seeing them back when I was a teenager with my friends and feeling an electric atmosphere. Are those days behind us? Maybe I haven’t given up on metal yet. Melodic, anthems, head bangers, a good range of crescendo and slower tracks.

I can sometimes find myself impatient with The Doors, and it did happen at times with this album, but they have such a distinctive sound that you can’t help but feel nostalgia and appreciation at the same time. Break in through’s intro to the album is iconic, and within 20 seconds The Doors are in their signature funk carried through the whole album. This album reminds me of a Saturday night spent in Trisha’s, people clamouring over each other, half proven gossip spreading like wildfire, whilst the band unpretentiously carries on in the corner at their leisure. Alabama Song sounds like something out of a Wes Anderson film (maybe it really was on one of the soundtracks). Overall, the album lacks some variety, but it is a quintessential Doors listening experience and you will not be disappointed.

Honey come quick! This website gave us energy, excitement and fun by gracing us with B-52’s!!! I’ve come back to this album a few times over the past few days and hence the belated review as I never seem to finish it in one sitting, and so my views are also more skewed to the beginning of the album. It gives off the scooby doo gang all grown up hanging around a diner making animal noises. It can be weird and poppy at times with the squealing, but how can you not want to dance around whilst listening?

Call me predictable, but how can you not love Pulp and Different Class, with its timeless belters (Common People, Disco 2000), London/British culture references peppered throughout, Jarvis Cocker’s iconic vocals (at times sounding like a drunk man at karaoke consoling himself with a Stella). Listening to the whole album opened my eyes to the singalong friendly, polished songs like Misshapes, Live Bed Show and FEELINGCALLEDLOVE. There is enough variety from the guitars, tempo and moods to keep you thoroughly entertained, whilst giving you nostalgia for the era of britpop that felt dominated by Oasis and Blur. Long live Pulp

A belated review for an album that took me by surprise. Up until now I thought The La’s were victims of the one-hit-wonder phenomenon with the anthem of There She Goes. As the generator brought this album up for me, I thought hey at least there’s that feel good song that arguably all women love. But to my pleasant surprise, this album has variety!!!! It reminds me of REM, the Smiths, Simon and Garfunkel, Beatles, some influence of psychedelic rock, at times some of the early 50s jive rock. That’s to say, very enjoyable, although perhaps not revolutionary. Again, an album I’ll be coming back to, probably when I’m dancing around my kitchen.

Bracing myself for the eye rolls of others on this page. Yes, it’s Brit pop, yes it can feel safe, and perhaps a B-tec version of Oasis/Stone Roses, but HEAR ME OUT. Like others I only really know The Only One I Know and always enjoyed it as a song, reminding me of my time at uni being carefree and living like any other British teenager experiencing life away from home. The album is fun, the songs are catchy, they bring nostalgia, there’s a common thread through the songs but at the same time provide enough variety. Reading around the album and seeing that it was their fifth surprised me, so perhaps I will accept that it’s slightly playing safe. It reminded me of the later more polished Oasis albums where Liam’s vocals become less screechy and more melodic. But as a SOUND, do we enjoy? It’s a yes from me.

New to Wilco. Instantly groaned as I was Being There consisted of two discs. But I enjoyed. See a bit of Ryan Adams, Radiohead and The Replacements. A bit of rocky, country, folky Americana, with guitars front and centre. Disc two goes a bit more melancholic, bluesy, acoustic. Probably one I’ll come back to. Not mind altering stuff, but good.

A flute. What other band brings a flute into rock and roll so well. Just a couple of weeks I put on Jethro Tull driving around the Portuguese countryside, only for my family to ask to switch the music. Not for everyone, but I enjoy. Other than a few songs, I had never listened to a full Jethro Tull album, and Aqualung was a great discovery, with JT at its best. Fun, good lyrics, jazzy, folky, awesome guitar (from Cheap Day Return’s acoustic to the bigger belters like Up to Me and Locomotive Breath), variety in the heavy/soft (of course well balanced by the FLUTE, bringing medieval vibes in a non ironic way). An album I can imagine was fun creating, and excellent for a roadtrip. Ian Anderson’s vocals provide more variety than I thought, turning raspy in Cross Eyed Mary.

WOW. Another band I thought I had never heard music from. This album blew me away on the first listen. Welcome to the Pleasuredome instantly secured a place in my “top long songs” as well as an after vinyl playlist. Heart thumping, energy, dramatic, fun, god I wish I had been able to witness this album live. Listening, I realised that I knew Relax, and also appreciated their covers of Born to Run and War. The history behind Relax and the controversy around normalising LGBT discourse makes it all the more deserving of the glory I am bestowing on it.

Women in STEM is great, but women in rock? This is what our economy needed to kickstart us all on our sad commutes to work. Shirley Manson’s breathless effortless lyrics on some classic songs like Stupid Girl, Queer and Only Happy When it Rains remind you that a woman does not need to scream to provide the perfect vocals to a catchy rock album. There’s some semblance of the Cardigans in the guitar and bass, kooky and dark at times but still melodic. I enjoyed As Heaven is Wide, Not my Idea, Vow and My Lover’s Box in particular, and will definitely be coming back to this album and more of Garbage’s work.

Yeeeeeeehawwwwwwww long live the Zutons!!!! This album is a great chiller on a weekend morning, film soundtrack, accompaniment to walking around or a long drive. I remember listening to Havana Gang Brawl in my teens and it’s a song that’s stood the test of time, creeping back into my thoughts at different intervals over the last few years. Fun, groovy, David Mccabe’s vocals are audio velvet. The saxophone and guitar combo works so well. I want to listen to this album in a dingy Soho basement jazz bar with a knock off glass of wine in hand. Once again the scousers hit, and they hit well.

Props to putting what I’m sure is one of many Eminem albums on this list. Undoubtedly Eminem is a legend in his own right, blending funny witty violent lyrics with great samples (Dido’s Thank You being the obvious example). This album has some classic songs that have stood the test of time, Stan, The Real Slim Shady) and other songs that haunted me at the ripe old age of 12 when I was a devout Eminem fan from its detailed accounts of anger and violence (Kim, which I can’t stomach to listen anymore but appreciate what he was trying to do). It’s not my favourite album, but like any classic Eminem work it has me singing along to the lyrics many many years later.

Raspy, drunk, clouds of cigarette smoke, cheap Jack Daniel’s, worrying if your card is gonna go through on the next round, shouting gossip in a crowded bar. This is Jim Morrison’s perfect form. LA Woman captures perfectly The Doors’s signature sound mixing blues, rock, early garage, punk. In the tree diagram of music genres, it sits high up influencing so many other greats. Besides LA Woman, Love her madly, and Riders on the storm, other songs like Been down so long and Hyacinth House are excellent and deserving of a moment amongst friends. That being said, listening to this album inebriated can induce you into semi psychosis, (can music actually get you drunker? It can definitely compound d feelings of dizziness and not knowing your bearings- I’m looking at you L’america, with your taunting organ) so tread with caution.