Fun. Fun is the word that wraps up everything about this performance in a heart-shaped box of chocolates. The excitement! The vitality! The banter, with both audience and fellow musician! It's so easy to close your eyes while listening and imagine yourself in the crowd, twirling around the dance floor with your partner. It's the kind of show that can go on forever and never get boring. I imagine everyone walking out of the club, still feeling loopy.
I saw a lot of comments on this from people who immediately dismissed it because "live album" or "not a good guy." That innate negativity bothers me, and I want to encourage everyone to keep this in mind for every album on this website: it's someone's favorite. This album is someone's favorite album. So I'm going to give every album on here a fair shot and try to understand it like they do. Wouldn't you?
I am a vocalist. Something I get asked from time to time is if I have any tips on how to sing well. I don't--most of my experience comes from singing along to Mike Patton in my car. The one tip I could provide, if any, is to really put your back into it. Embody the words. Invest in what you're saying. Even if you're a "bad singer" you can find the right people as long as you're presenting confidence.
I have never heard any of Elvis Costello's music before, but obviously, the first thing that struck me was his voice. He's a fine singer, but his enthusiasm is what got to me. I found it very easy to get over the obstacle of thinking "why does he sound like that?" and just appreciate it. Then came the impeccable drumming. Then came the savvy, nimble basslines. One by one, every piece came together, and each song sticks to your brain like peanut butter. Side A runs through the listener like a freight train, and while side B slows things down, all the tracks still have the minutiae that make them distinct and satisfying.
It's alright. The songs are beautifully written, and aside from cheesy saxophone solos and the predictable pastiche of a big climactic ending, they're timeless. Even I am not immune to a song like Vienna--I'll listen to it in my car and think to myself "I'm fine. This won't make me cry. Why would it? I'm not tearing up at all" as a lump forms in my throat.
When it comes to the two big ballads on here, I prefer Vienna over Just The Way You Are. In regards to the two biggest hits, I'm definitely on team Movin' Out. But other than the straight New York heat, I'm not a massive fan of the album. I personally feel it loses steam after Only The Good Die Young. But I can't deny that it's a beautiful piece of work.
I have nothing to contribute to the world of music hobbyists and journalism. My perspective is severely limited. I'm picky, stubborn, and there's likely thousands of "classic" albums that I have never heard before. I did this project to broaden my tastes. An attempt to understand myself and my tastes better, and to be able to articulate why I like or don't like something.
Today, on album #4, I encounter my first obstacle: why do I really dislike Crime of the Century?
It feels unfair to say something as dismissive as "I don't like prog rock." Even if I added a stipulation and said "I don't like 70's prog rock" that still doesn't get to the heart of it. I still enjoy some Pink Floyd, and I love Roundabout by Yes, which is quintessential 70's prog rock. So what's going on here? Am I unable to get into its musical theater stylings? Do I not like the thin sound of the keyboards? It's hard to say exactly what turned me off from the album, but from the beginning, nothing even turned me on. I wasn't sold.
I found Dreamer more obnoxious than anything. In fact, I found a good chunk of the album obnoxious. The album as a whole is not bland, boring, or offensive, and I'm not inclined to call it anything particularly mean. But in the course of any music hobbyist's life, there comes a time. A time when you have to admit to yourself...you don't like (most) 70's prog rock.
just dropped my whole fuckin dinner on the fuckin floor stupid fuckin imagine john lennon fuckin ass
There's a lot of talk among Radiohead fans of this being their actual best album, better than OK Computer, the "sleeper hit" of the catalogue. And I can understand that. Everyone involved decided to reel in all the electronic experimentation they had been doing for the last seven years, and get back to writing songs that are just...good songs. Songs that you can play on guitar or piano. Songs that don't cease to exist if your synthesizer crashes and you lose all your presets.
From the get-go, you think it'll be their most experimental album yet, with Thom singing over these delay-scratched sequenced beats. But overtime, '15 Step' ends up feeling more and more natural, and the album never returns to that field again. There's a reason Thom called these "love songs." They're so intimate, they're so grounded. You have good ol' rock-and-roll cuts (Bodysnatchers, Jigsaw) as well as the exceptionally moody songs (House of Cards, Nude, and oh my god Videotape.)
I don't think it's perfect. The songs here are beautiful and many are still catchy, but they don't have the same level of eat-your-heart-out theatrical ambitions that OK Computer does. And while there is no filler on In Rainbows, some songs might possibly overstay their welcome. House of Cards does not need to be 5 1/2 minutes long.
It harkens back to the classics from the 60s and 70s, when albums only existed on a vinyl LP. Every artist only had 40 minutes and change to prove to you why they should be included in your collection. And of course, In Rainbows is no exception. It's for those who wanted a more concise band, less whining, more traditionally great singing. Better drumming, better guitar licks, it's just a beautiful record.
This is your free pass, reader. You do not need to listen to Amnesiac before you die.
I don't believe there is any universe outside of the one we live in where Amnesiac must be heard before death. There are good songs on the album, but 80% of this record is musical backwash--outtakes and rehashes from Kid A (of which I'm not a big fan anyway, but that's another story.) Life in a Glasshouse is a beautiful, unique piece of work, and Pyramid Song is a must-hear across their entire discography. But the majority of the album is sonic experiments that don't deserve to be fleshed out into full songs. They don't even try to flesh out Hunting Bears!
When compared to Kid A, which it must be given the context in their discography, Amnesiac has the lesser version of Morning Bell, the lesser guitar interlude...it even has two songs that sound essentially the same. I am a Radiohead fan, and I don't have it in me to hate this album completely, but I have to give it this score to just let this site know. It does not need to be here. You do not need to hear this before you die, you don't need to hear this at all.
Nothing could have prepared me for how weird this is. Maybe I just hadn't heard the right "art rock" but I was totally surprised by how many multitudes this album contains. One listen was not nearly enough.
There's cute songs, there's hard rock, there's strange singing, there's very plaintive tunes. All over the place. Even after multiple listens now, I'm not even sure if I /enjoyed/ everything on the album. But I'm sure it made an impression on me, a positive one at least. I have to give it credit for that.
Mixed feelings here. On one hand, it's a positively beautiful record. It's sweet, it's nasty, it's soulful, the production is unimpeachable, and Winehouse's vocals are killer every time. It's everything you'd want in a genre like soul.
But I have a hard time separating it from the fact that it's a white woman effectively colonizing a historically black style of music. I guess it depends on who you ask. Fans will say she's "paying homage" to her idols, while deriders will say she's a "ripoff" or a "hack." And she suffered those deriders for her entire adult life before she succumbed to her vices.
She was exploited, harassed, stabbed in the back, and treated like a plaything. A month before her death, at her last performance, she was booed off the stage by her fans. I cannot imagine the mortifying humiliation she must have felt. But if I wanted to, I could just look at any of the pictures that people took of her at her lowest moments.
You have to love her. You have to.
First time I've heard anything from Neil Young. I was expecting something very stripped-back and minimal. And that was my impression for the first few minutes of the album. But once "A Man Needs A Maid" came in...oh my goodness. That beautiful, lush orchestra. And then later on in the album, when The Needle surprises you with thunderous audience applause, cutting straight to one of the few electric jams on the record. The production on this thing is immaculate, despite presenting itself as so toned down.
Harvest actually sounds quite a bit like the album cover. The font itself is flashy and detailed, but outside of that, there is almost no color or any frills at all. The album, both sonically and visually, is exactly what it needs to be and not a bit more. For that, I really appreciate Harvest.
Mysterious, electric, defiant, abusive, violent, talented, gifted, genius, sick, twisted, high, delusional, horrible, perverted, legendary man. The quintessential rock star. A songwriter and performer of unmatched capabilities, burning the candle at both ends for his entire adult life until his lavish debauchery finally caught up with him.
We don't have to "separate the art from the artist" to enjoy this album. The artist is the art. In fact, what other musician represented the unpredictability of their music? It's a beautiful piece of work, brimming with so much lust that Purple Rain was one of the reasons the Parental Advisory sticker exists. He scared people because his music seemed so exotic and taboo, but also because he was a violent man who should never be alone with someone's teenage daughter. What a force to be reckoned with.
"Are we gonna let the elevator bring us down?" Yes. You died in an elevator, buddy. Good job practicing what you preach.
Oh, and the music is fine. Not really my thing. But Let's Go Crazy still rocks. Who doesn't love a good guitar solo?
Luck of the draw.
I've never been a fan of Bob Dylan, but that's not because I have some utter disdain for his music. I assume it's because I just haven't had enough exposure to it. His Nobel Prize for Literature is well deserved, One of my reasons for taking on the 1001 Albums was to get more exposure to classic albums I have yet to hear! And by luck of the draw, my first Dylan album was this live recording. Turns out this is not at all how I want to hear Bob Dylan.
This is a horrible first impression for someone to have for him, for a few different reasons. For one, the singing. I don't know most of these songs, and I wouldn't even be able to gather the content of each song in this recording unless I was reading along with all the lyrics. Then there's the mixing. In the acoustic set, the harmonica will often drown out the guitar completely. During the electric set, there are multiple songs where Dylan's singing sounds very distant, and the whole recording seems to switch from the soundboard to the quality of an actual bootlegged tape.
I didn't enjoy listening to this at all, I can't see myself ever going back to it. But for hardcore Dylan fans, if it's any consolation, I have the utmost respect for the guy. When asked about the infamous "Judas" incident (the only thing about this recording that I would've been interested in, if it wasn't cut out) he said "All those evil motherfuckers can rot in hell." Nice guy.
Anyone who knows me and my music taste knows that noise rock is one of its pillars. I love noise rock, I always seek it out, but I've never really sat down and listened to Sonic Youth. While I don't love it, I'm happy to say that I was mostly impressed with Daydream Nation.
It has surprisingly good flow for a double album; it really didn't feel like 70 minutes. But I was surprised at the things I actually ended up liking. Everyone seems to love Teen Age Riot, but to me it's...a little too indie, too lowkey, too Smashing Pumpkins for me. Does that make sense?
The album impressed me a lot more when it went all-out, like in the middle of Silver Rocket, or the total disassembling at the end of Total Trash. Not to mention the very tail end of the album, Eliminator Jr, which has that really fast, aggressive groove I wish the album utilized more. Cross The Breeze has that in spades too, but those really rocking moments are too few and far between for me.
When I hear "noise rock" I think immense feedback, screaming, songs that go absolutely crazy. Other than a few moments across the tracklist, there's basically none of that here. But there are enough positive moments here that keep me intrigued. I'm looking forward to my next Sonic Youth album, whatever it may be.
"Oh my dear God, what is that horrible song?"
I gave it a fair shot. But it's too boring. Too bland. Too polished. Too repetitive. Too white. It's a statement from a lifestyle that I once envied when I was younger, but I now despise. I do not want to hear about Win Butler's uneventful, uninteresting middle-class Mormon upbringing. I know many people love this album and this band, but I can't get into it. Two weeks into my 1001albums journey, this is easily the worst experience I have had listening to anything on this list.
I'm giving it 3 stars for the music alone. If I was rating the KLF as a project, I would be obligated to give them 5 stars. I mean, everyone at this point knows that they burned a million pounds of their own money, fired blanks into the crowd at the Brit Awards, and left a dead sheep at the afterparty. These two are men after my own heart.
It's hard to separate this album from the lore surrounding the band. I honestly can't tell if it's all one massive joke and the cheesiness is intentional, or is it just straight-up decent house music? I'm inclined to believe it's the latter, but the strangeness of the KLF in general means that I'll never be 100% sure. What strange times we live in.
MORE THAN A FEEELIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIN
If this was my first time ever being exposed to the Boston album, you'd probably find me saying that I liked it but it wasn't anything special. But I loooooove this shit.
I have so many pleasant memories tied to those first two songs. I remember driving with my mom and cranking up the radio any time More Than a Feeling came on. In fact, this album is primarily composed of songs that make me go "turn that shit up!" when I see them on the radio. Peace of Mind was one of the first songs I learned on guitar.
It's absolutely representative of a specific moment in time, that being the era in which it came out. The production is great enough that it's one of the few albums from 1976 that aged somewhat gracefully. They never made anything quite as good as this, but all the time Tom Scholz put into making this album sound "perfect" really paid off. It's beautiful. I gotta love it.
Oh my god. WOW. I had never heard of this album before, I didn't know who Isaac Hayes was, and I was unsure what to expect. I'm really not familiar with soul, outside of a couple other albums from this list I've already heard.
This is MAGICAL. Absolutely beautiful. Hayes' singing is gorgeous, the production is immaculate, the placement of the strings and electric guitar could not have worked out better. I literally did not know that soul music could sound like this.
Having an 18-minute song as the closer to your soul record was certainly bold for the time, but imagine the period that this album came from. You didn't have a phone to scroll through, no video games to play, no one to text while you were listening to tell them how boring the song was. All you could do was lay back, close your eyes and listen to Mr. Hayes sing-talk you a story. It's an incredible listen, and that track isn't even my favorite on here. This is fucking awesome.
I wish this album did less. Nick's voice is very soft and I think it could be very suiting for the style of music he wants to play. But this is doing too much. Northern Sky is a pretty song, but by-and-large, I feel that all the orchestration here is taking away from Nick's playing and singing. A lot of my friends told me that I would like Pink Moon, since that album is 99% just Nick's voice and guitar.
Maybe I'll like Pink Moon when I get there. But as of now, this is all the Nick Drake I know. Wasn't a fan. I wish it wasn't so posh. It's weird. It simultaneously feels like it's trying to do so much, and it's just...not anything to me. I'm hoping that this isn't how I feel about folk in general.
I saw that review which says this album has "goofy noises" and "weird experimental jams" and that's the kind of shit I want!
I was impressed with Fragile. Obviously, Roundabout is a beautiful song, and nothing else on the record comes close enough to achieving its iconoclast sound. And that's okay. It was 1971, and digital recording technology didn't exist yet. You could write all the big rock epics that you wanted, but you could only book so much studio time to record it all, and the big boss is breathing down your neck, expecting the album to be done by Sunday!
Fragile is about half full-length progressive rock songs, half self-indulgent offshoots. It's inherently a mixed bag, so it would be wrong to expect perfection from it. But while I didn't love anything as much as Roundabout or Heart of the Sunrise, the whole record is still a lot of fun! Five Percent of Nothing, with all its jagged and angular rhythms, happened to be a precursor for bands like Primus and Shellac that people idolize today. We Have Heaven reminds me a lot of the Beach Boys, and I love how it latches onto a groove that feels like it could go on forever.
I don't see myself returning to it a great deal outside of a couple songs, but I do feel that it's relevant to the 1001 Albums list. It's a solid piece of rock.
Remember this whole world's a circus. Don't you be the clown."
This is my 20th album in the 1001albums journey. We're at the point now where I have a variety of different albums occupying every rating possible on this site. I was not looking forward to sitting through disco, but of course I have to give every album on this website a fair shot. Someone loves it.
I wanted to give it a 1/5 initially. Even when it's pristine and crystal-clear with pretty grooves on every song, including Le Freak which I hear at work all the time, disco is still not my thing. But a 1/5...do I really hate this as much as I hate the sanitized anthem to gentrification that is The Suburbs, or the monotony that is the 90-minute Bob Dylan live album? C'est Chic doesn't have either of those problems, obviously. It's about loving one another and celebrating life, having a good ol' time. How could I look at this and give it a 1/5?
Somewhere around the song I Want Your Love, it hit me. One of the reasons I joined this site was to broaden my musical horizons. And with every new album I get, I keep looking backwards, comparing it to everything else I've heard and rated, seeing how it stacks up. These albums aren't striving to be compared with everything else out there in the world. They are moments frozen in time, the artists or bands involved simply doing what they can to make "good music," whatever that means to them. Likewise, each of my ratings and reviews, these are all snapshots of my life. I cannot change my ratings, nor do I want to anymore. Typos and all.
I shouldn't be going into these expecting something fantastic, and being disappointed when it's simply not my thing. This is no longer a quest to find perfect albums that have been hiding from me. This is journaling, and having 1001 albums accompany me the whole way. And only at the very end do we look back and tell ourselves "This is what meant the most to me when I heard it. This is what I will take home with me as I move on my life."
But until then, fuck it. I don't like disco.
I know practically nothing about Bowie outside of Blackstar because I'm a dumb little uncultured simpleton. I knew his output in the 70s is legendary but I had never listened to any of it before. I was surprised to find that I wasn't a fan.
I read that this album's lyrics were mostly unwritten "not being written until Bowie stood in front of the microphone." I got the sense of that immediately. Outside of the titular track, which has pretty sparse vocals, a lot of these songs sound like a crazed man yelling at me. There's not anything inherently wrong with that, but it's compounded by the fact that those songs sound so full. They sound messy and cluttered.
Side B remedies that to an extant, and that's what I enjoyed much more about Heroes. Side A was the problem child to my ears. There's so much going on, it takes away from Bowie's vocal performance. I do wish the structure was a bit better, we could've had the ambient soundscapes mixed in with the more energetic rock songs. I don't see much of a reason to have them split up like this. But I still preferred those more. Other than that the album didn't do much for me. I hadn't even heard the title track before.
If I say what I think, I'll be suspended for six months.
Everyone loves respect, both the song on this album as well as the concept. That's the one song I knew before going into this record. And of course I love it, who doesn't? It's a beautiful song. This record is full of beautiful songs, favorites of mine being Respect, the titular track, as well as Dr. Feelgood. That song made me laugh out loud, when she starts talking about how she doesn't have as much time for socializing, she's got to get back to her...appointment.
Other than that, unfortunately, I wasn't too keen on this record. Some people said it's too slow, and that's an assessment I generally agree with. But more than that, I found it predictable. I was hoping that this record took more chances, either vocally or instrumentally. Maybe I've been spoiled by some of the other soul I've listened to, like that 12-minute epic Walk On By from Isaac Hayes. But I found myself hoping that more songs here surprised. It's pleasant, don't get me wrong, but I just didn't find it exciting like I wanted.
Maybe it's because I listened on the drive to work, and I could barely keep my eyes open. I was hoping something would jolt me awake.
My enjoyment of this album may have been hindered by the fact that I listened to it on my commute to work, and I could barely keep my eyes open. I don't know what it is about this week. I have just been extraordinarily tired on my drive to work the last few days.
I regret to inform Mr. Shuggie Otis that I heard his (admittedly cute) album under these circumstances. But I found it just a bit too soft for me. Soft like a cold pillow. A pillow I could rest my head on and close my eyes. I just wanted to drift into slumberland and drive my car into a ditch.
yes never heard the sensual world but she said yes watch the music videos this was nothing special but her voice is lovely mmmmmmmyes many a time the game molly and I play came with me interruptions galore but there was that beautiful sunset we laughed at a picture of hitler we saw the game won eleven to three will I ever go back is there anything the matter with my insides or have I something growing in me coughing and sneezing til the passage dries her voice kept me coming back yes I spun the record over again and over again rockets tail is its namesake there is a movie song never seen many movies and yet it's good yes someone knows someone knows Kevin Bacon they imitate her but no Bjork no Joanna Newsom can only be Kate Bush she asked me with her eyes to rate 5/5 I said yes I put my headphones on and drew her to me and her voice was going like mad and yes I said yes I will Yes.
Remember when this was the most outrageous, heretical, downright sacrilegious thing ever put on tape? It's terrifying! Burn your records, smash your tapes! In reality, this album is so cute! It's adorable! The song about 'Charlotte the Harlot' is no more egregious than the demon-possessed farm animals in Charlotte's Web.
I understand that Iron Maiden and bands like them were massively influential. It was groundbreaking at the time. But unfortunately for them, I find the metal of the future more exciting, more bizarre, more prone to causing actual offense. And that's what I find interesting. There's nothing wrong with what's going on in The Number of the Beast. But it obviously got outclassed pretty damn quick. Now it's just a quick little jolt of classic metal. It's cute.
Oh my god. It's like if background music was recognized as a legitimate genre. It's so goddamn boring. It's so sanitized. How is this 15 songs and not a single one of them does anything interesting? It's insane. And I've seen people that love this album sing its praises, but it's almost always in the context of doing something else! Oh it's good for a dinner party, it's good for painting or crocheting, or for a pleasant drive on a sunny day.
What kind of album is it if people seem to enjoy it the most when they're not listening, and it's just filling space? I'm so sorry Norah Jones, I have the utmost respect for you. But I just. Can't. Vibe.
I'm wondering The Rolling Stones get so many comparisons to The Beatles. As someone who knows the latter but not the former, I expected something at least similar in sound to an early Beatles record. No, what I got was blues rock and typical early country. I am unfortunately not a fan.
It's not just that my expectations weren't met, it's also that I am not a fan of this genre in the first place. I don't like the styling of the songs, I don't like Mick Jagger's voice...it's not necessarily anything reprehensible, and I understand its inclusion on the list, but this is just so totally not my thing. Sorry y'all.
My first rap album that I've gotten from this list. I actually forgot that it had any at this point, I've gotten so much indie rock and soul. I might look back and not understand the 5/5 I gave this.
It's not perfect. There is filler, and I think it definitely gets stronger in the latter half. But I think I kiiinda love this. My first (partial) listen was on a drive to work, and it didn't stick with me then. But I got home, put on my nice headphones, and it hit me. The beats are immaculate, the personality in their voices is great, the surprising darkness in One Of Them is fantastic, the charm in Thin Line, oh my goodness that echoing beat in Break, the music po-po-power of A Day at the Races...and the ending, Acetate Prophets! It reminds me a lot of some DJ Shadow cuts, as well as Frontier Psychiatrist by The Avalanches.
How about a 5/5 for Jurassic 5? Talk about power in numbers.
Usually when I'm really excited about an album, I begin my review by typing out a memorable lyric. That'll be hard to do for this one. Unless I go TJUUUUUUUUUUUUU, TJUUUUUUUUUUUU
I love this Icelandic nonsense. I love how it sounds boyish and innocent, as well as massively ambitious. I love its occasionally cheesy chord progressions, as if the octet is playing on my actual heartstrings. I love the unorthodox percussion that is sometimes there and sometimes not but it is always at the perfect time. It's beautiful. It's occasionally horrific.
I love the shots of noise between songs that last just long enough to blend into the identity of the song itself. I love the loose narrative of a child being born, a new life, starting over, that can actually be applied to the band themselves making this album after a debut that kinda sucked. I love the anthemic melody of Olsen Olsen, a song which I can only assume is about Mary-Kate and Ashley. I love the title of the track afterwards, which loosely translates to "good weather for airstrikes." That's such a kickass sentence. And it fits the music! It's grand and epic like a gorgeous sunny day, but that leaves you vulnerable. It disarms you. It makes you weak.
Sigur Ros has a fantastic sound across their whole career. If this list is just about hearing albums that are good, you could put a lot of their discography on here. But realistically, Ágætis Byrjun is the only one that warrants inclusions on this list. Later on in their career, their brand of post-rock became more accessible, less experimental. That's only because this album stuck the landing. Albums like Takk... are big and beautiful, sure, but in a way they're end up being less ambitious. Because the band knew it was going to work. This album was a massive leap of faith, a hyperextension into a new realm of post-rock that is more personal, timid, quieter and yet more explosive than ever before. And it worked.
Oh yeah, and it's super Radiohead sometimes.
I mean it's not terrible. Most of the popular reviews on here talk at length about how atrocious the album is. And I get it. It sounds super cluttered, all the songs sound almost the same (except for Country Song which is just plain bad and unfunny.) But for what it is, I had a decent time.
I had never heard of this band in my life before listening to this. So I did a bit of reading beforehand, and found that not only was the band high out of their minds, some of them were actually drug dealers? Like...dealing ecstacy? That's crazy. The album does sound like the state of mind for someone who's outrageously high. It's redundant, hard to understand, and just super messy. But hey, I had a good time. It meant no harm.
Fun fact for myself: today, April 29th, is my 26th birthday. I currently have 1065 albums left to rate. There is a new edition of 1001 Albums coming out later this year. If that edition has exactly 35 new albums, which feels possible, then I will finish my journey on April 29th, 2029. My golden birthday.
I really lucked out here, because I happen to LOVE her voice! Every single song here has an incredible performance from her. Her vocal runs are fantastic, even when they don't really seem to add to the lyrics. Sometimes she's just showing off. Which is fine by me, because she sounds awesome.
While every song has her beautiful voice, most songs here accompany that with a truly astounding instrumental. The piano embellishments are just as pretty, and if it's not a subtle ballad like her Black Is The Color rendition, then those are replaced with epic crescendos like the one at the end of What More Can I Say?
Not everything here is immediately arresting, but I strongly enjoyed this record. I had recently listened to one of the Aretha Franklin albums on this list, and was expecting something in that vein. But what we get here, despite the bright pink cover, is something really poignant and desperate. She's really screaming on this, even when it's a happy song. I'll have to get into more of her hits...
It's obviously pretty damn difficult to discuss and/or praise this album without discussing the context from which it came. Nirvana. Kurt Cobain and Courtney Love. Grunge as an entire era. And now we have to somehow contend with this existing outside all of that.
It's alright. I mean obviously it sounds like Nirvana, but that's not because I'm subscribing to the conspiracy that Cobain ghostwrote all these songs. He didn't, even though I could easily imagine his voice and guitar work in place of Love's. No, it's because that's just straight-up how grunge sounds sometimes.
And how grunge sounds is...not reeeaally for me. I like it when she screams! I like harsh vocals. And I like the more straightforward punk songs, especially in the last half. Gutless and Olympia are an awesome one-two punch. Funny enough, even though it almost functions like a Bikini Kill diss track, Olympia reminds me more of Sleater-Kinney than anyone. But I'd rather listen to Sleater-Kinney, unfortunately. It sounds pleasant, but I couldn't fall in love with this one.
Okay, so...obviously a lot of people older than me have super pleasant memories with this album. That's awesome. And I do love lots of techno, for example I'm very happy to see a Floating Points album on the user albums list. I enjoy his entire discography. But this is something I just can't get into.
It came out in 1993, and it sounds like it. I love techno that's really aggressive, trunk-knocking, heavy. Unless it's something I'm actively trying to fall asleep to, like anything Gas puts out. I don't think this fits in either category, so I find myself just bored by it. Of course, if you love early 90s techno, you're gonna love this, because it captures that era perfectly. A bit of ambience, tons of repetition across very long tracks, a suite-like presentation...that's all fine. But it is so far removed from the kind of techno that I really enjoy.
hey I'm really tired but I just want y'all to know that Neil Young makes cool music. I liked this album. I feel like if anyone out there hates Bob Dylan, you might like Neil Young, because they accomplish the same things but like from different angles. It's cool. I need to go to bed
I do like it, don't get me wrong. The grooves that are present are great, the production is awesome, makes everything sound tight. But I've been spoiled by Stop Making Sense.
Talking Heads are at their best when they are jamming on a strong groove, and even the best songs here don't get the chance to do that for long enough. I love the song Life During Wartime. But I love the Stop Making Sense version ten times more. Same goes for the song Heaven, unfortunately, I love how it's really able to soar in the live version!
I forgot how much I liked the song Memories Can't Wait. That one kicked ass. Talking Heads have always been in my orbit, but I've never really fallen for them completely. No individual album has enough strength to win me over. But I'm sure I'll get there eventually.
Oh my god. Lighten up y’all. This album is great! So many people, specifically on this site, are writing it off completely for god-knows-what. It probably scares them. This is no raunchier than the classic Led Zeppelin songs, not any more blunt than cuts from Frank by Amy Winehouse. But this can’t be here? A black-led concept album talking explicitly about the agency (or lack thereof) that women have over their own bodies? Shut up.
It’s not perfect, I wish the beats weren’t so minimal. They could have stronger instrumentation. But the vocal performances from everyone are just fantastic. Her singing is great, her chemistry with Lennox and her voice is perfect, I even love Anderson .Paak’s rap verse despite the fact that he is clearly trying to make the song about himself.
Heaux Tales doesn’t overstay its welcome, and it doesn’t compromise its vision in the slightest. As of right now, it’s the most recent addition to the 1001 Album list. The recent additions always get the same treatment. The only difference between this and Microshift is that Microshift actually deserves the criticism. This doesn’t need any more hate from racist, sexist people.
I noticed that this one also has Nile Rodgers credited on it. I think that's funny because the guitar is like the least interesting thing about this album. I liked the vocals, I liked the basslines, I liked the grooves made by the drummer, there might've been a song in here that didn't have guitar. I wouldn't know.
It was fine. I didn't actively dislike it. But I also heard it while playing video games with my friend Molly. So it was the soundtrack to a pleasant time.
Molly is bad at Slay the Spire 2.
When anyone over the age of 45 talks crap about "techno" and how much they hate it, they're talking about a specific song from this album, even if they don't realize it.
The song 'It Doesn't Matter' perfectly embodies everything people think of when they describe "techno" whether it's good or bad. It has a nonsense vocal line, seemingly self-aware in its meaning. It's both hypnotically repetitive, as the bass is just one simple note that sounds atonal when compared to every other element of the song, while the drums remain undanceable as they scatter all over the beat with every measure. There is no melody to speak of, as all the high-end is either skating along the top of the drums or playing with this annoying, incessant "wew" sound. It doesn't make a lick of sense, the bass doesn't do anything, there is little to no progression at all in this song.
But I loooove that song. It's my favorite from Dig Your Own Hole. In fact, I love the entire back half of the album, and the short suite of songs that kicks off with It Doesn't Matter. That first bass hit is just bliss to me. This entire album gives me that same feeling. I'm not a huge big beat fan. My knowledge of it doesn't really go past the greatest hits from The Prodigy and the debut Crystal Method album. But this album has always stood out to me, ever since I heard it for the first time in high school. It's uniform in its presentation, but when you dig deeper, there are so many eccentric nuances that get you hooked. Weird sound design choices, strange drums, near-gibberish vocal samples, not to mention the real psychedelic edge throughout the whole album, especially on the last track.
I know that almost no one on this site enjoys techno, at least not the ones selected for the 1001 books. That's because they hear songs like It Doesn't Matter and are thrown off-balance by its awkwardness. That's fine. I love that shit.
It was great! I had never really heard Pixies before, but looking back, I understand better how they were influencing some of the biggest bands of all time, like Radiohead and Nirvana. The one thing that really surprises me was how Frank's scream sounded. I loved the...the....
I'm gonna be honest guys, I haven't been getting great sleep lately. Work has been really stressing me out. I've been sleeping next to an open window because the weather is getting warmer, and there has been someone cruising every night, and their engine is just SCREAMING down the road. It woke me up at 2 AM last night. It's crazy, and really getting on my nerves.
So I know I liked Surfer Rosa quite a bit, but I don't have the energy to write the kind of review I usually do. I'm more fatigued than normal. And it's funny that I write this as if literally anyone is reading these other than me. Hello future Rylee.
I can feel it when I type. I have no personality. Everything I've done is just a ripoff from somebody else. I can hear it in my head whenever I say anything, I'm just parroting something I've heard or have been told before. It's aggravating. Any speck of self-examination I try to do is shot down by my own brain. I don't know how to fix this. I don't know if therapy has been helping me. I feel like an idiot. I don't know how to do anything. I can read numbers, but I can't read people, or figure out how to accomplish simple tasks. I often embarrass myself. I'm not cut out for my job, I'm not cut out for a relationship, I don't even feel really qualified for existence. I often feel like I may actually take my own life after this 1,001 album journey is over. I don't want to, I definitely don't want to die, but I feel like I have to. My brain doesn't work. I don't know how to fix it.
This album isn't helping. Every song felt like its own individual kind of nothingness. Her vocal chops are great, and I guess she's versatile. But why are so many of these songs covers? The best songs, the beginning and the end, were the only songs across the entire album that she wrote. I wish she had done that more often.
I was so ready to just absolutely dread this album. I'd heard about Morrissey and I thought he was some crazed alt-right nutjob. And I was kiiinda right. But to be honest, I did some reading before listening to this album, and a lot of the quotes I read were very tame. Sometimes he's deliberately obtuse or contrarian, but the vibe I got from him wasn't "crazy Trumpie uncle." It was more "that one kid in my class in high school that said really stupid shit but it made sense to him and he was genuinely confused as to why everyone was laughing at him." Looking at you, Max.
So that's not why I disliked You Are The Quarry. It was mostly because, well, the songs just aren't good. They should've been! All of the instrumentals here are well-produced, they're pretty, they're rockin' and they just sound good. I liked them. I did not like Morrissey's lyrics at all. His voice is fine, but for every single song, it sounds like he wrote the lyrics without ever hearing the accompaniment, and then forced himself to apply his lyrics to the song unchanged. They just don't mesh whatsoever. It sounds very awkward, especially when Morrissey is singing the least subtle lyrics known to man.
And oh my god, why won't be shut up about how single he is? Every other song, he's complaining about how unloved or unloveable he is. Maybe if he stops bitching about it, he'll find someone. He even blames Jesus for it in track 3. He seems to blame everyone except himself. What a loser.
I really didn't like it, but at least the instrumentals were serviceable. I'm giving it 2 stars because I know it can get worse.
I don't know the history of reggae music, but Bob Marley is iconoclast in that field, so this feels like a satisfactory place to start. And I did like the album while it was on. It was...fine. But as it continued, it started to get tougher to differentiate the songs from one another. There's nothing inherently wrong with an album that's just a "vibe" but I was hoping for something more. It's pleasant, but I'm struggling to find more words to write about it...
I love it when an artist carries themselves with swagger. Like hell yeah, express yourself, don't even try to convince me that you're cool, because you already know you are. BDE. Hell yeah. This album has the E but not the BD to back it up.
I wish these songs had more /song/ to them. Most of them are pretty short, revolving around a very simple riff with even simpler lyrics. Even Maps, an obvious standout, is built on super sparse verses and a chorus that happens to be quite catchy. I wanted a fuller mix, though. It's a little too raw for me. That rawness does come with incredible energy throughout its entirety, but there just isn't enough meat on the bones to make it all that satisfying for me.
Might have been influenced by the fact that I listened to this album while absolutely dead tired. I drove five hours with my friend Kylee to see Modest Mouse. They were pretty good.
FOR A VERY LONG TIME FOR A VERY LONG TIME FOR A VERY LONG TIME FOR A VERY LONG TI
I truly was not expecting to love this album whatsoever. I looked at every single one of the genre tags and not a single one appealed to me. So color me fucking surprised, I loved this front to back!
I enjoyed the fast pace of the first track, and how widely critical its message is, even though it's dated. And even though that's the fastest song on the album, I feel like the intensity never slows down. Every song makes me wanna bob my head constantly, every song is super catchy. Even if the lyrics are...weird. I'm still trying to figure out what exactly is going on in Geisha Boys and Temple Girls. But I LOVED this thing. I was really shocked by it!
All the kickass spy movie themes I've ever loved seem to originate from this man! James Bond, The Incredibles which is obviously parodying James Bond, Sly Cooper, Peter Gunn and the two games I can think of which sample that theme, all of it. All of it came from this guy. I loved this. Why is it that I seem to rate things 5/5 twice in a row? Almost every time I give a 5/5, the next album I rate is usually a 5/5 too. Maybe I'm just excited.
FUTURE RYLEE: Next time you play a show and you're feeling antsy, and you're pacing around the room waiting to start performing, ask them to play this over the PA instead of whatever grindcore or noise rock they're playing. This shit kicks ass and it can only ever get you hyped up.
I don't hate it. You might be surprised to hear that, given the abysmal rating I'm giving the album. Admittedly, I'm a little proud of the rating. This is the first album I've come across in this project that 1) I was very familiar with before starting, and 2) I really don't like. My first one-star to a classic, highly--regarded album? Maybe it's a badge of honor.
I respect it more than anything. I know it's a big deal to a lot of people, including other musicians. And that's fine. But I still find it monumentally boring. From the intro track, I always get tricked into thinking that the album will be full of exciting cuts and scratches, chopped-up sentences and the like. It isn't. Well, not entirely. That's about 10% of it. The other 90% is droning beats that go on far too long. Every time a new song starts, I hear the first beat loop, and I realize that this is the beat I am going to get tired of very quickly. I still like the vitality of The Number Song, and the kickass intro to Mutual Slump. That's about it. I cannot, for the life of me, get into the rest of the album.
Everything about Endtroducing makes me want to listen to something else of which it reminds me. The mountain jazz of Eivind Aarset and Nils Petter Molvaer. The SimCity 4 soundtrack. Anything but this.
