1001 Albums Summary

I’m not familiar with basically anything on this album and it’s a very different vibe from most of their hits, but this is definitely still a showcase of Queen’s gorgeous musicality. It’s interesting to hear a fairly delicate approach to the vocals compared to the bombastic belting that people usually associate with Freddie. His range and control were definitely exceptional. “Ogre Battle” is a lot more in line with their hits. Actually a lot of the latter half is. It gets pretty goofy.

Alright. I get why people liked this, it is musically interesting, but honestly the vocals take a lot out of it for me. They’re very hard to process but not even in the interesting Cocteau Twins or Beck kind of way. It seems like the lyrics should be what carries or maybe justifies the mood/atmosphere but that’s not happening for me. It could just be my problem between my hearing loss and auditory processing difficulties. I enjoy the slightly heavier/grungier stuff but this just isn’t for me.

Man I’m sorry but I simply can’t. I get why this is important and there’s no denying that Dylan was a great lyricist but I just find folk music grating. I also really wish his lyrical style varied like… at all.

Ok!!!!!!

Hell yeah brother. Chill and sweet, vocally gorgeous. I really like this recording of Everybody’s Talkin’.

I think listening to this in 2026 and not in the mid 60s makes it extremely difficult to appreciate what’s so special about this. The Who stated that the album really doesn’t reflect their stage performance from the time and I do imagine this hit very differently live, especially given the novelty for British audiences. I just think that listening to this now highlights that the blues-y influences leaning more into what would become “hard rock” have been done better in the intervening time. I do think this is interesting particularly when compared to what the Beatles had done just a few years ago. Their early pop hits still work for me, whereas early Who recordings don’t particularly make me feel any sort of way. Maybe not doing this list in chronological order is actually a disadvantage.

Shame about Bowie as a person but… come on man. It’s good. You know it’s good, I know it’s good, hell yeah. The horns…. The HORNS! The production, mixing, mastering!

Sorry, but… I’m bored. It’s just not good. I’m sure they’re better live but these recordings feel so flat, and there’s so little variety that each song just kind of melts into the next but not in a good way. I don’t really understand why this was included. It doesn’t help that I was dreading listening because I really hated their most popular hits so maybe i’m bringing prejudice into it. Regardless, not coming back to this.

It’s fun, it’s flirty, it’s a party! It’s also 2 goddamn hours long, but who doesn’t like a good mambo? So far, it hasn’t overstayed its welcome because it brings a lot of variety in instrumentation. The production is very good too, nothing feels over or under-emphasized and the dynamics are… dynamic! From a dancing point of view there’s an interesting mix of pacing and attitude going on as well. I am adding Tito Puente to my dream blunt rotation