1001 Albums Summary

Still a solid listen. I haven’t heard it all the way through since it was released. Several 5s and 4s, only a couple of less interesting songs, but nothing that brings the album down or slows the momentum. I’m still not a big fan of zydeco. 4.5

I don’t like what Chicago became, but this album is ok. Terry Kath rules!

Not my cup of tea. It’s like if Thornton Wilder wrote musicals or a less cool Scott Walker.

Great. Not as good as ATliens or Aquemini, but excellent.

Fantastic! Guitar driven British power pop in the tradition of The Who. One of the best of the 90s BritPop wave. 4.5 I have to save my 5 star ratings for perfect albums, but this is close.

I like noise rock and more avante genres of music, but this was a little too repetitive and I’m not a huge fan of blast beats. It was enjoyable. I just like something a little more dynamic.

Solid listen. Not my favorite by Steely Dan, but very good.

Solid. Brilliant. The prototype for the greatness of 90s hip hop.

I forgot how good this was. Pretty great throughout. Last couple of songs kind of throw the brakes on the momentum, but very good overall.

Superbly pleasant. Listened on a rainy morning while drinking coffee. The musicianship is sublime. Locked in. Listen to Jimmy Smith.

Not a fan. Sorry. Meh.

Perfect album. One of the best of the first psychedelic era

More like Bored of Canada. Just kidding. Mellow. No. Offensive, Chill.

Great album. Ground breaking. Almost a 5. Starts strong but small decline toward the end of side 2.

Not my thing, but I see its value. I’m feeling generous.

Same as previous. I need to be in the right mood for this. It’s good for what it is, just not something I would choose to listen to unless I was in some very specific circumstances. Still feeling generous.

3 really great songs, 4 very good songs, 1 ok song. I’ll let everyone else decide which ones they are.

Side 1 is so great. Heavy funk, incredible version of Walk On By. Side 2 explores the romantic elements of r&b beautiful string arrangements and horns. 4.5

Decent for a later period U2 album. Pretty average compared to their early, more energetic output. 3.5

I love this album. This revitalized Neil and his on again, off again band, Crazy Horse and solidified his influence on the new generation. Recorded live in Neil’s barn, it does sound like a bunch of geezers jamming, but it’s the best band of geezers there is. I’m trying to be reasonable with my rating considering the quality and weight of Neil’s discography. As much as I’d like to give it a 5, I think a 4 is more reasonable, but it’s great.

Not a huge fan, but these first 2 records are undeniably good. I know the 3rd record is everyone’s favorite, but I feel like it’s bloated and overproduced. Their first record will always be my favorite. This one is a 4.4

It’s a fun record from the early 70s glam era, with a little more pub rock feel. I’ll give it a solid 3.7

3 great songs, 9 very average songs

Most people don’t have much regard for this album compared to the totality of Zeppelin’s oeuvre, but I love it. I like that aren’t trying to punch you in the head with riffs on riffs and thundering drums. They’re bringing the folk and their third album. Jimmy playing a lot of acoustic here, Jonsey is bringing the mandolin and synths and Bonham is downright subdued. No orgasmic caterwauling from Plant (just a little Viking battle cry). 4.7^

Boring. The vocals are annoying. Song structure is flat. No dynamics. All the songs are the same. I want to be nice, but I just don’t like it.

This thoroughly enjoyable album is the pinnacle of the outlaw country movement featuring its best representative and singer in Waylon Jennings and its greatest songwriter in Billy Joe Shaver, who harassed Jennings until he agreed to record his songs.

Incredible. Quite possibly the best album of the first wave of the post punk era. Dark and menacing, but also upbeat and danceable? Great bass lines and sharp, angular guitars. Snotty vocals. Great. 4.8 (I’m bumping it up to 5 because it’s one of my all-time favorites)

I’m getting a lot of albums I like a lot. Some of my most favorites. I’m afraid this thing is front loaded and going to get a bunch of garbage at the end, but I know… I got a long way to go. Lou Reed is one of my most favorite songwriters of all time. I know he’s kind of divisive artist, but I’ve never let that be a deterrent. Most of my favorite artists are notorious grumps with unconventional singing voices, but isn’t that more interesting? It’s like getting the news from a grizzled, trustworthy old school journalist over some plastic, smiling talking head with perfectly coiffed hair. You just know they’re lying. Lou Reed ain’t lying. He’s giving it to you straight. The ugly truth. Street level. Lou Reed is the Edward R. Murrow of rock and roll. If he says “I thought I was someone else, someone good”, it cuts deep… Perfect Day, what an incredible song. This album is like the punch in the gut that you didn’t know you needed. 4.7^

Incredible live album by Van the man. This one kind of gets forgotten when talking about the greatest live albums of all-time, but it deserves to be up there with Live at Leeds or At Filmore East. Van Morrison at his peak as a live performer. 4.5

Great band. Woefully underrated. This is generally considered their best album, but the have many as good (or maybe better) and they even better live. I saw them on tour with Iron & Wine (who they’ve also recorded with). If you like this, dig deep. It’s worth it. 4.4

Not my favorite kind of music, but pleasant. Excellent musicianship and arrangements. I could do without the strings on the title track.

The The is one of those bands I’m supposed to like, but it never clicked. I can’t really explain it other than there are other bands from the genre and time period that do the same thing, but better. Dude’s vocals get on my nerves a bit. This Is The Day is great song though.

Whatever genre of music this is… I don’t like it. It’s lightweight and no substance pop music. It’s not unpleasant. I just does nothing for me. There is music adjacent to this that I do like.. say, Cocteau Twins, but the depth is night and day. 2.5

Definitely the style of hip hop I like the most. 5 was west coast but shared a lot of the same vibe and influence as the soul informed groups of the 90s. I like this album, but I’m putting it below those top tier albums. Still, very good. 3.7 (I’ll bump it to 4)

Brilliant album by a songwriting master. Almost perfect. There’s a couple of lightweight songs, but they don’t bring down the overall greatness of the Album and the great songs are pop masterpieces. Truly one of my favorite albums. 4.8 I’m bumping it up to a 5.

Prior to this record, I just thought Radiohead was ok. I saw them open for R.E.M. on the Monster tour, they were supporting The Bends. They were just ok. Not a great live band, but enjoyable. Then I bought OK Computer on a whim. I was floored. It’s a perfect album. Honestly, Fitter Happier is not a great stand alone song, but in context, it’s obviously relevant. 4.9

Oh, boy… I don’t like this. I didn’t like it then and I don’t like it now. It’s like everything I didn’t like about the second half of the 90s chopped up into a soup with no regard for compatibility or flavor profile and it’s still also very bland. If a pair of JNCO jeans became sentient and made music it would sound like this. I do think I finally understand why people who listened to this were so angry, I’m angry. This is making me angry. I’m an angry teenager with labret piercing and my parents are dumb. They don’t understand. Nobody understands. It’s kind of funny though. I’ll be nice and give it a 2.5 for the effort… oh, the effort. I’m not rounding up.

Heavily influenced by the Jimi Hendrix, Clapton formed this power trio with top musicians, Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker and made the best album of their short career. Clapton makes his best music when he’s inspired by other musicians which didn’t happen enough. This album is great though. 4.5

I’m from Texas. ZZ Top is the official rock band of Texas. OK, that’s probably not true, but if you’re from Texas and you don’t like ZZ Top, you have to leave once you turn 18. That’s not true either, but if you don’t like ZZ Top there’s probably something wrong with you and you’re not fun to be around. Seriously, how can you not like ZZ Top?! What genre is ZZ Top? Funky Texas Blues Rock Boogie? How fun does that sound? Pretty fun. Two weird beards and one guy named Beard who didn’t have a beard?! Again, fun. Also, if you were a teenage boy in the 80s, those videos were pretty great. I like ZZ Top. I would like them even if I wasn’t from Texas. 4.6

Great album. 6 perfect songs, 4 very good songs and my favorite Smiths song is on this album. I’m not going to reveal the answers to any of these suppositions. I’m going to be dodgy and unpredictable like Morrissey

I had never heard this record. Really good. I like Midlake who back up Grant (former singer/songwriter for the Czars) and convinced him to end his hiatus and make this record. It’s a little uneven, but there are some great songs here. Sigourney Weaver and Chicken Bones are standouts. 3.7

Love Joni Mitchell! Incredible voice. Great songwriter. Fantastic guitar player. This album is nearly perfect. 4.5

I like Queen. This wasn’t one of my favorite Queen album, but I liked it more than I remembered. Solid 4

Great album. This is the Byrds in transition. David Crosby, Michael Clarke and Gene Clark becoming revolving door members leaving Mcguinn and Hillman toexplore a simplified approach and experimenting with country instrumentation. Great guest guitar work from James Burton and Clarence White and pedal steel by Red Rhodes, but also mixing in some Moog synthesizer. It’s an interesting approach and turns out to be extremely influential. 4.6

I still say this is as good as it got for Oasis. So much potential. I saw them at a small club in Texas on this tour. Amazing. All attitude and hooks. Then the audience got bigger and so did the egos. Which is fine. You have to believe to succeed, but to me they lost that real swagger and replaced with a more performative version. They had some great songs after this, but it was a decline in quality and effort. Solid 4

This album is so great. They cover so much musical ground here. They bring the noise (and Chuck D). Kim Gordon attacking misogyny in hip hop and left wing politics all in the same song. The guitars are all at once wild and expressive, but still well in control. The drums are composed in service of the song like an alternative/noise rock version of Ringo Starr. The songs are alternatively and simultaneously accessible and challenging. It’s an impressive feat. I’ve calculated 4.7 because there’s a couple of songs that go against the flow without derailing the album, but I’m bumping it up to a 5 because it’s such a great and important album.

I’m a little puzzled at this selection when House Of GVSB and Freak*on*ica are floating around out there. Good on GVSB for crawling their way out of the DC hardcore scene and having the good sense to relocate to NYC, expand their sound and make more interesting music, but this isn’t quite the peak of that experiment. It is a good jump from their first record, but not quite there. They peaked with the two aforementioned records and kind of just leveled off. Some bands just occupy a verse specific space in time and GVSB dodged grunge and ducked Nu Metal, but missed the Indie Rock train of the early 2000s and just fizzled out. They were a breath of fresh air for a couple of years. Some bands never get that. Hooray for GVSB! 3.4

Another band with “hardcore” roots, another odd representative album choice. fIREHOSE formed after the incredible Minutemen had dissolved after the tragic death of singer/guitarist D. Boon. Fan of the band and guitarist, Ed Crawford of Ohio (as referenced in the album title) convinced bassist Mike Watt and drummer George Hurley to start playing music again. On a personal note, I was very excited about fIREHOSE because I was such a big fan of Minutemen. I was a teenager at the time and although I listened to a lot of punk, outside of a handful of bands, I never really connected to the hardcore scene. A lot of those bands I liked were on the SST label, but unlike a lot of those bands, Minutemen were different. More musical, minimalist drawing from a broader range of influences funk, jazz, r&b and punk, but not like anyone else. fIREHOSE kept the same blueprint but formed an identity of their own. I, personally would have gone with Ragin’ Full On or Flyin The Flannel, but Fromohio is very good. Listen to fIREHOSE.Listen to Minutemen. 4.5

I discovered Nick Drake in the early 90s He was for me, like Jeff Buckley was for most people of my generation. I’m no Anglophile , but I love British musicians and songwriters who don’t shy away from their roots. Ray Davies is another one. I learned more about life in England from Kinks records than any Dickens novel. Drake was incredibly efficient. He released three perfect albums and met a tragic end. He had a beautiful voice, was a phenomenal guitar player and wrote amazingly deep and sorrowful songs. One of These Things First is one of my most favorite songs. 4.7 I’m bumping to 5 to upset the algorithm.

I have to admit, I didn’t really connect to Minor Threat when they were active. I didn’t identify with the hardcore scene outside of a handful of bands like the Minutemen (who were only hardcore adjacent), Bad Brains, Circle Jerks and a few others and at 13 I was gravitating to more melodic music in the alternative area. Also, I grew about 3” that summer and got very awkward on the skateboard. It wasn’t until I heard Fugazi that I went back and listened to Minor Threat with more interest. Out Of Step is an influential release. You can hear it in a lot of the alternative rock that came out in the 90s. The songwriting is a step above a lot of their contemporaries. 4.3

Ok. I don’t like this kind of pop music. It all sounds the same to me. It’s ok while I’m listening to it. What I mean by that is that it’s unobjectionable… most of the time. It just doesn’t stick to me. I forget about it seconds after I hear it. There’s usually no musical hook. It’s just kind of moves forward without going anywhere. That being said… this is probably as good as this style of pop music is going to get. This lady is a great singer. I get it. She sings with so much emotion and power. It’s moving. Almost manipulative. If you’re heartbroken or one of your parents just died, don’t listen to this… or do if you want to cry. You’re going to cry. Maybe that’s what you need. It’s sad piano music for people who need a good cry, but if you’re one of those emotionally healthy people who needs to cry a lot, this is as good as it gets. I don’t want to cry. I have things to do today. 3.3

I La La love Pixies. What a great band. So influential. I remember the first time I heard this record. I couldn’t even fully process it. What are they even doing? What are these songs about? Mutilation? Scuba Diving? Big Dicks? Is that Spanish? Why do I like it? Who is this Black Francis character? Why doesn’t the bassist sing more songs? This guitar player is great! That drummer swings! I like this band. A lot. 4.8 ^

I have to be honest… of the big 4 “grunge” (whatever that means) bands, Nirvana is the only one who can hold my interest for a whole album (maybe I’m basic, but I like them hooks). Pearl Jam, Soundgarden and Alice In Chains all have great songs, but getting through a whole album is a bit of a slog (which could have been a better descriptor for the Seattle music scene… Slog Rock!). That being said Dirt is a damn good record and, as far as I’m concerned, AIC’s best (I do like that Sap EP though). However, there’s a few songs that bring it down. If this album was 10 or 11 songs deep, it’d be near perfect. 3.9

Classic 90’s hip hop. Soulful. Great rhymes. It’s a little dated… just a little. The best thing this record did was introduce the Lady Ms. Lauryn Hill to the world. I would rather listen to The Miseducation. 3.7

I love R.E.M. I remember seeing them on the original Letterman Late Night show in ‘83 of the last century. They became my favorite band. I feel like I’m almost at the age where I can really lean into it, but I haven’t gone grey or shrunk five inches yet. I’m looking forward to it, but I digress. I was 13 and from a place where you had two kinds of music you could listen to. It was country, or metal, or you were a pariah. I was a pariah. I listened to little metal (I didn’t get country yet, but that changed), I also listened to a lot of stuff that I didn’t really talk about in mixed company. The radio and MTV were ok to watch just be careful about which artists you talk about at school lest your sexuality come into question. There were small enclaves of kids who liked different kinds of music with a little bit of crossover and my close friends who were very open about music. It should come as no surprise that the few gay kids at my school were in the cool music club. R.E.M. was one of those bands that the cool kids liked, but might get you punched or looked at like you had antlers growing out of your head. I remained an R.E.M. fan throughout the IRS years and through the Warner Brothers years even though I missed the jangly folk rock, they held my interest through all the evolution toward a more polished production and overtly pop sound. Automatic For the people was the biggest step to date. The album was darker in tone, in sound and lyrical content. I didn’t know if I liked it the first time I heard it. It took awhile for me to adjust. It was very different. I came to really love it, but I’m still adjusting to it. It’s not the first R.E.M. record I usually pull off the shelf, but every time I do, it still surprises me. It’s one of the few records that makes me feel like that. 4.7

Lovefool was a huge in 1996. Everybody loved it. Grandmas, little kids, soccer moms. It was a huge hit. It was on movie soundtracks. Just a perfect little pop song. And like all good pop songs, everyone got sick of it, but it’s probably been long enough that people like it again. The good news is the Cardigans didn’t let themselves be defined by Lovefool. The bad news is the rest of this album is kind of uneventful. 3.3

What can I say about Jimi? So brilliant and otherworldly. This album catches him stretching out and experimenting. The psychedelic fuzzed out rock is still present, but so is some more jazz and more traditional blues. It’s hard to definitively pick my favorite Hendrix album, but it’s probably this. 4.8^

NEU! is one of those bands I slept on for a long time. I think when I was a teenager I thought krautrock, prog rock and electronic music was all kind of similar and I wouldn’t like it, but I remember reading articles and interviews with bands and artists I did like and NEU! Kept popping up. I would hear a sound here and there, but that didn’t solidify my perception because they all sound like a different band. Once I hit my 20s I started feeling more experimental and liked challenging myself I got into NEU! and all those deterrents became dividends. This album has a lot of variety, but it’s also really solid and steady with different themes and moods but it never feels disparate. It’s great. I recommend. 4.7^

I have to admit I was a little disappointed with Kid A when it came out. I really liked OK Computer and I was expecting another big guitar record. It seemed like too much of a left turn at the time, but now it seems like a natural progression. I think it helped to hear these songs live and living amongst the OKC and Bends songs. I really liked Kid A now, but I still like OK Computer and In Rainbows a little bit more. 4.6

Boring. I have yet to hand out a 1. I know it’s coming, but not today!

There are three great songs here. The rest are very good. Beautiful harmonies, maybe the best behind the Everly Brothers. 3.8^

What a voice.Soulful. Incredible Memphis musicians. It’s one of those records that is drenched in quality and authenticity, but still appeals to a broad audience. It probably converted more than a few housewives into soul/r&b fans. 4.2

Stevie Wonder could not be more aptly named. This run of albums from Music Of My Mind (my personal favorite) through Songs In The Key Of Life is incredible. Talking Book isn’t the best of the five and it’s hard not to compare them, but it possesses a few of his best songs. Innervisions and SITKOL are more solid albums, but who else can claim a run of 5 albums this good? Dylan? Beatles? Stones? Bowie? Tough company and Stevie played most, if not all, the instruments on these records. Amazing. 3.7 ^

This album makes a strong case for Pulp being deserving of the best BritPop band of the 90’s. More clever than Oasis. Weirder than Blur. More sophisticated than everyone else. Heir to the throne of bands like the Kinks, the Jam and the Smiths as chroniclers of life in Britain. Jarvis Cockers lyrics are raw and pointed. The music is simple but bombastic at the same time arrangement of spikey synths, sweeping guitars and drums building into crescendos like some kind of bizarre, art show musical production. Pulp doesn’t get their well deserved recognition, but they are great and this album is their magnum opus. 4.5

I love Margo Timmins voice. I like how Cowboy Junkies disturbed the alternative rock scene by lowering the volume. I love their music taste that shows in the songs they cover. I love their original music. They are one of a kind. They started a quiet revolution and opened the door for the alternative country scene that stumbled in after them. I saw them play in the 90s at my favorite grubby club and it was the first and only time I saw them put folding chairs out on the floor. The Cowboy Junkies demand that you sit and listen. Please be quiet.

Speaking of great voices… Sarah Vaughan in a smoky Chicago club with a trio of great musician playing all the right notes and only the right notes? Yes, please.

What can I say? I think Grace only touched the surface of this dude’s talent. It’s tragic that his potential was cut short. 4.4

The Ramones were first and had more endurance, but Nevermind The Bollocks is the sound of the first cannon fire of a revolution. The Pistols were born to die in a brave, glorious explosion. Unfortunately, the end was more like a whimpering gasp and the legacy keeps dragging itself out like a reflection in a thoroughly smudged mirror. Props to Steve Jones for being a good enough musician to make this record a John Lydon for capturing the disenfranchisement of youth in seventies UK. Style over substance is the lesson learned here and Neil nailed it when he said “It’s better to burn out than fade away”. The Sex Pistols epitomize both sides of that enduring principle. 4.4

Sex Pistols and Dead Kennedys back to back. It’s very fitting because I’ve always viewed Jello Biafra as a more jovially sardonic predecessor to John Lydon. As much as I was turned off by the hardcore punk scene, mostly the invasion of the jock punks, boneheads and the macho, aggressive atmosphere, there were great bands that came out of that scene and called out the toxicity of the scene. DK and Biafra were at the forefront of that sentiment. Incredibly self aware and journalistic lyricism and funny the Dead Kennedys seemed to exist to antagonize the scene they found themselves in, but more than that, they were critics of the corporate consumerism and political conservatism of the 80s. The represented what I liked about what was being touted as hardcore punk. The labels are meaningless. As Nirvana showed a decade later, you don’t choose your audience, they choose you and you have two choices. 4.4

Ray Charles had been a professional musician since the age of 15, but his recording career started later. He was 27 when his first record came out on Atlantic Records. This album came out two years later. Of course, for people in the know, Ray Charles was a badass, but I like to imagine people first exposure to Ray being this album. “Genius?! Who does this guy think he is?!” And then they put it on… Let the good times roll indeed. Charles is cutting up some jazz standards with a loud, heavy cats. Dudes that played with Duke and Basie. This wasn’t your mother’s bid band. This ain’t Glenn Miller. Genius? You betcha. It’s not bluster if you back it up. Side 2 adds some strings to the mix for some soulful ballads and the best version of Don’t Let The Sun Catch You Cryin’ you’ll ever hear. Who does this dude think he is? Ray mother fucking Charles, that’s who.

The Rolling Stones are probably the greatest rock and roll band ever. It’s pretty hard to argue against it. You certainly can’t say they haven’t endured. The Stones, Bob Dylan, Paul McCartney… they seem to be in some kind of geriatric race against the grim reaper. The Rolling Stones have survived through their blues based beginnings, pop, folk, psychedelia, country rock, funk, punk, disco and for 80+ year olds, they still sound remarkably fresh. Let It Bleed is the Rolling Stones figuring out who they’re going to be going forward. The sixties are coming to a close. They dabbled in flower power and psychedelic rock, but now the darkness is closing in. Gimme shelter… it’s like a prophecy. We all need someone we can lean on. You can’t always get what you want. Midnight rambler… Things are getting dark. The Beatles and Brian Jones will be gone in a year and the Stones are making their best records regardless. They will revolutionize the idea of the rock and roll road show as sound system technology catches up. They will roll with changes and adapt to every new sound in popular music without ever losing the core of their own unique qualities. This album was a big step forward. 4.7 I’m just going to give this a 4 because I know Sticky Fingers and Exile On Main Street are coming. Although it’s probably better than some 5s I’ve cavalierly doled out.

The Unplugged series is pretty hit and miss and there’s probably more misses than hits. Nirvana’s performance was one of the best. Glowing through the shadow of Cobain’s death, it transcends the television broadcast and stands alone as a live recording. Cobain performs like he might be aware of his fate and legacy and the band delivers subtle and beautiful arrangements of selections from their catalog and incredible choices of covers of Vaselines, David Bowie, Leadbelly and Meat Puppets joined by the “brothers meat”. Cobain gives one of his best performances, Grohl plays with subtlety without losing power m, Novoselic is a solid melodic anchor (and pretty decent accordion player, while punk icon Pat Smear gives Cobain acoustic support. Every song is a killer especially the last spine chilling performance of Where Did You Sleep Last Night. It’s as superb as it is somber considering the incredible loss of an artist with so much potential.

I have to admit… I love Neil Young. I like his voice. It’s unique, beautiful, fragile. He’s a great, expressive guitar player and distinctive whether he playing acoustic or electric. I don’t understand people who don’t like his voice, criticize his style or doesn’t understand his influence. This is a great album. Something about this period really hits me hard. I listened to this album a lot whe I was 18-19 and going through some tough times. Neil pulled me out of the spiral many times. How could this world be that bad if Neil young is in it. I’m wearing a Neil Young shirt as type this. Did I mention I love Neil Young?

Ok. This is what I’m here for! Something I’ve never heard of that I’m going to like! I’m excited!…. Uh oh… what is this? It sounds like if Jack White and Bjork did a side project, but Jack didn’t show up and Bjork half-assed it. Is this supposed to be spooky? This song is literally single notes on a synth with 2/4 hits on the zap effect on a drum machine while some creep is whispering in my ear. Ew. This is pretty low effort stuff. I’m pretty bored. I’m starting to think I’m not going to hear anything I like that I don’t know already. Come generator! Generate something new and good! This sucks.

Every time I listen to T Rex, I wonder why I bother listening to anything else. Marc Bolan is like if Buddy Holly was born 10 years later did a bunch of drugs and wrote songs about wizards and dragons. T Rex is the apex of the glam rock era. I like to boogie. 4.7

Desert Blues is my most favorite world music genres. I first got into African rock music in the 90s, through a co-worker at a Caribbean restaurant who was from Zimbabwe who got me into Fela. I would show him bands like The Clash and Velvet Underground. Later on, I found those Zamrock! comps and just got interested rock music from Africa. Another coworker introduced Group Inerane and I got into Tuareg and desert blues. It’s so interesting to hear blues rock return to its roots. Instead of American blues with straight forward 2/4 beats, this Polyrhythmic closer to funk with emphasis on the one. Circular, arpeggiated guitar parts and loops. I love this stuff. 4.3

Why are metal records produced so poorly? The drums especially sound so thin, cymbals are washed out, the bass drum are so compressed, the guitars are muddy. I don’t like this style of vocals, but I would like a lot more if everything else was recorded and mixed as well as the vocals. This is actually good. The drummer is insane. The guitar player is pretty great. The bass player… do they have bass player. I can’t hear one. I want to like this more, but the production sucks. Sorry, guys. 2.5

This is one of those records that is better if you’re in the proper mood, but if you’re in the proper mood, you’re not doing so good. It’s a great album, if you want to hear some suicidal alcoholic on LSD music. It’s dark in here, buddy. This is going to sound weird, but I think I prefer a happier Robert Smith. This album is great though… somehow. 4.5

In contrast to Pornography, this is a joyous celebration of funk. Sly Stone didn’t create funk, give it up for James Brown, but he distilled funk into its final form and George Clinton put on a rocket to outer space. This album is perfect for your next party. Unless your parties suck. Think about it. 4.5

Like a lot of people, I became aware of Beta Band from hearing Dry The Rain from that scene in High Fidelity. This album doesn’t have anything on it that would make me buy it if I heard it while record shopping, but it’s very good. It’s the most solid 4 I’ve heard so far. Not 3.9. Not 4.1. Just a solid 4.

I think this is my favorite Bob Marley record. The original zippo lighter cover art is super cool. It rivals Sticky Fingers and caused less damage. Some of Marley’s best songs are featured, but The Barrett Brothers rhythm section is the winning element here. 4.2

My dad had a subscription to Rolling Stone magazine and liked reading the album reviews to see if he was missing out on any new music. He was a bit of a risk taker so, often he would buy an album based on the review and if he didn’t like it, he would give it to me. That’s how I got The Clash and London Calling. I think he got both because he couldn’t remember which one was reviewed or the London Calling review was so good, he took a chance… anyway, he didn’t like it. He didn’t buy any punk records after that, but I liked it and I bought punk records. I already had a couple of Ramones records. Dad probably regretted giving me those Clash records, but if he did, he didn’t mention it. He was more concerned about Metal for some reason. It was the 80s and there was all that satanic panic nonsense…. I reassured him I wasn’t a master of the dark arts, and that was the end of it. None of this has anything to do with the Clash’s first album which I said I like… not as much as London Calling, but it’s still very good. 4.5

I thought there was a “no compilations” rule here. OK… welol go about King Of The Delta Blues or The Great Twenty-Eight then. The Hives are pretty cool regardless of the rule breaking.

Belle &Sebastian really occupy a specific time and space in my music listening experience. The late 90s were interesting. There were a lot of different genres popping up as the reign of “grunge” dissolved into Nü metal and the heavier rock bands took a back seat to more pop oriented genres. One of the more more interesting subgenres was twee pop and Belle & Sebastian was the king/queen of twee. I really got into them for a bit, but I hardly ever listen to them now. I don’t know why. This is definitely their best album. 4.8

I love Iggy. What can I say? What would music be like if Iggy didn’t form the Stooges? We would’ve gotten here, but it would be different. Less interesting. Not as fun. Iggy makes music like if Godard and Bo Diddley made a movie together, but the medium was the light of a roaring fire illuminating the wall of a cave. Like a visionary primitive. Lust For Life covers all our primal urges through an art nouveau filter. It’s minimalistic abstraction. Everyone thank whatever higher power you believe in for Iggy Pop.

So many times over the last 20 some-odd years, I’ve tried to listen and receive new hip hop with the freshest ears I can imagine, but for the most part, I can’t connect. It’s not that I’m too old because I’m in tune with culture, even though I don’t personally like much of it. I’m pleased to declare that I connect to this record. Lamar pays attention to details like my favorite hip hop artists do and, most importantly, it’s soulful and musical in composition. This a really good record. There’s a couple of dead spots, but it’s got a good flow and I never got bored. 4.6

Cheap Trick was my favorite band when I was a kid. Everyone else liked KISS (who I always thought never musically lived up to their image) but, I thought Cheap Trick was more authentic and fun. It’s kind of crazy that both bands made it big off of live albums. It’s a different energy that’s hard to capture in a studio. Cheap Trick was also the first concert I saw without my parents. I know a lot of people don’t get this band and I’m not trying to change anyone’s mind, but if you don’t like Cheap Trick, even a little bit, you’re no fun to be around. Sorry. I don’t make the rules. 4.3

This isn’t Dire Straits best album (that title belongs to Making Movies imo), or their biggest hit (Brothers In Arms), or their most experimental (Love Over Gold), but it is a calling card. Mark Knopfler is the new gunfighter in town, he’s got skills and they’re all on full display. Fast and effervescent as Hank Marvin, sweet and clean as B.B. King and picking fingers like Chet Atkins. A new guitar god has arrived. If Sultans Of Swing was the only song on this album he still would made his point. 4.3

1988 was weird year. All the early 80s Pop, New Wave and Metal was falling off in favor of something more honest and authentic. Along comes Tracy Chapman. Authentic, earnest, sincere… folk rock? What do you know? Powerful voice. Fast Car and Baby Can I Hold You are clear winners. 3.6

I love Alice Cooper. The first and the best original shock rocker, but not just a showman. He had great songs. Again… album choice not the best. Why not Billion Dollar Babies or Welcome To My Nightmare or one of the early ones when Alice Cooper was the name of the band and not his persona. I don’t want to complain too much because this project seems like lot of work went into it, but Alice deserves more. He’s not just some creepy old guy that hangs out with Johnny Depp. He’s a foundational and influential rock star. 3.7

Essential soul. These guys didn’t just make groovy instrumental soul music, they were the house band for Stax Records. The driving force behind Otis Redding, Wilson Pickett, Sam & Dave, Carla Thomas, Albert King… they were major badasses. 3.8

The Beatles try to be deliberately anti-art and avant/garde but wind up inventing 13 alternative rock subgenres on this double album that hit stores in a plain, white sleeve with no title in 1968. The psychedelic era was over. Raw, sometimes loud, sometimes silly minimalism was the idea. Still reeling from the death of their manager and fresh off a soul searching, inspiring but, also disappointing trip to India, the fab 4 was burned out on everything that came before. There are some arguably low effort, self indulgent songs on this album but, it’s unfair to not consider the White Album in its entirety because the Beatles as the most popular band in the world were ballsy and arrogant enough to make an album that could have alienated everyone and collapse the whole facade of Beatles, but that wasn’t too far away. 4.7^

Solid. A couple of bangers… Jay Z hasn’t ever held my attention outside of a few hooks that make me say, “oh, yeah…” but, this is good record.

I became a Björk fan in ‘92 when I saw the Sugarcubes support U2 on the Zoo TV tour with Public Enemy. I liked the Sugarcubes well enough, but the singer was charismatic, ultra-unique and weird. When Debut came out I had no idea what to expect and I was correct. Björk made a spectacular debut seamlessly blending music styles to create the music perfect atmosphere to hold her sweet, lilting, growling and sometimes chaotic voice and continues to be a singular, musically mercurial dynamo. 4.5

Middle of the road new wave. Two good songs and the best one is a cover… a good cover, but nonetheless… everyone reading this should listen to Gloria Jones’ original version of Tainted Love.

For me, Depeche Mode has always been what I refer to as a singles band. They have a greatest hits record worth of really good songs but listening to one of their albums is a bit of a slog. They have some really good single songs though and Never Let Me Down is one of them. 3.5

The last really great Metallica album. After this they really just got in their own way. Apparently, Cliff Burton was the anchor and aesthete of the group. And Justice… could have been good if they hadn’t restrained their new bass player. They got haircuts and started writing ballads which confused their fans into thinking they were still good, but after that it’s been very hit or miss (mostly miss). Hunting sleepy bears, mocking the suicide of infinitely more talented and relevant musician and making documentaries exposing themselves as dumb babies were not great choices… however, this album and the two previous are classic metal records that everyone should own. RIP Cliff Burton. 4.7

Oh, Mariah… the cover pic is so promising. That voice is sublime even wth all the over singing, vowel stretching, diphthong lingering, melismatic runs… that just goes nowhere. The production is squeaky clean. Bright snare beats, tinkling piano runs, sweeping strings, acoustic guitar runs… it’s so boring. I just don’t like radio friendly r&bish pop. I’m sorry, butterfly. 2.5

Bleh.. There are three good songs out of SEVENTEEN and they didn’t age well. That’s way too many songs. Who does this dude think he is? Natalie Portman’s boyfriend? Moby is a nerdy cretin who was relevant for 6 months and now he insults great songs by great bands because he doesn’t understand their intent. Boo Moby. Boo. 2.3

If someone asked me, “what does experimental pop sound like?”, I’d probably play this album. More focused and less shambolic than the You Made Me Realise EP, but not the fully realized statement of Loveless, Isn’t Anything sounds like a band on the verge of accidental bliss. My Bloody Valentine makes pop songs under the disguise of artsy noise rock. Don’t let them fool you. 4.5

One great song, does not a great album make… However, Rapture is a solid record. A few reviews ago I was not so kind to Mariah Carey and to support my case, I present Sweet Love by Anita Baker. This is how you do it. This song makes me feel like I’m being caressed in a soul sanctuary of divine healing. Ai it’s Baker is like the female vocal equivalent of Barry White. I used to feel ashamed of my love for this song, but I don’t care anymore. It’s the song I like that is least representative of 99.999% of the music I like. The rest of the album is ok. 2.7

“ We are the priests of the Temples of Syrinx!” Rush is the most unintentionally hilarious rock band ever and I mean that in the kindest way imaginable. Side 1 of this album is like the nerd version of Ted Nugent’s Stranglehold. The lyrics are embarrassing, but it rocks. Peart’s fascination with the philosophies of Ayn Rand is an unfortunate source of inspiration, but it’s entirely possible that the direness of objectivism had escaped his interpretation. I’m willing to give them the benefit of the doubt especially since they went on to make Signals six years later. 3.7

The most impressive thing about Aja is that it’s much more fun to listen to than what I imagine it was to make. Fagan and Becker had 40 different hired guns in and out of the studio because they are “perfectionists” or whatever and give directions like, “I want a shuffle, but not a Chicago or Motown shuffle” or writing songs with so many notes, so close together that they had to hire a 12 fingered guitarist to play on it… ok, that last one is a joke, but listen to the guitars on the title track. At least they had the good sense to not pull any of that finicky bullshit when they convinced Wayne Shorter to play on their record. Despite all the fastidiousness and to their credit, Aja is a great record. It’s like a Jazz starter record. If you like it, you might like actual jazz, but if you already like jazz, you probably think this record is bullshit. I like jazz, but I also like this record. I give it a 4.7.

Beep boop boop beep (repeat 12 times) drums and bass comes in for 24 bars then drops out and beeps and boops get quiet while some ambient noise fades in… a woman’s voice whispers something indecipherable, a phone is left off the hook, the drums and bass come back in, the woman starts whispering again, drums and bass fade beep boop boop beep… just a whole album of that. 12 “songs”! Mr. Orbit made 3 of these? It’s not that I don’t like electronic music, I just need it to be a little more interesting. It’s not awful, but it’s pretty low effort and boring. 2.3