1001 Albums Summary

1. even though it's jazz, it's quite amusing to hear, at least for now... 2. can't really hear a difference to the first track 3-6. it all more or less sounds the same -> not really my type of music, not too bad but nothing really special. can be good background music, although its sometimes to annyoing for that. TOTAL: 3.5/10

1. starts off with a great bass & guitar tone 2. nice 3. bit slow... 4. again, a bit slow 6. got more energy at least 7. all in all, very funky, but it could have a little more vairance between the tracks, if not in the tracks themselves (very plain dynamic, chords etc...) 3/5

At least it got some more variance than the last album I listened to, and a little bit more energy, though not really more. The songs are kind of similar, but not that it could be perceived as a coherent entirity. 3/5

A solid 80s rock album, no doubt. The drums are a delight, mixing the typical 80s sound with complex rythms, shining through the mix. New Year's Day has to be the standout track from this album, it is truly amazing. The guitar work on this album is excellent. The guitar tone itself is amazing, the stereo effects and its changing role from being very prominent and very reserved, as well as other effects are great, too!

What a delightful album! The soothing and increadibly beautiful vocal harmonies by Simon and Garfunkel are outstanding - that's what I've always known them for. But what I wasn't prepared for was the more experimental sounding bits and pieces ("Voices of old people" ...) and the quite powerful sound of "Safe the Life of my Child". All in all, a very interesting album showing more aspects of two musicians I've known for a while, although I never checked out most of their material...

I am still looking for what makes this album special... so far, I haven't found anything. It is neither horrific nor a captivating, impressive record. It just is something, mediocre and not very detailed. After listening for the first half of the halbum, I was a bit suprised when "Basic Space" featured drums that were remarkable for the first time on the album, at least it was the first time I actually noticed it. I guess you can put it on as background music, but for me, it isn't anything more. 2/5

And yet again, an album with little variation in between the tracks, and nothing really stands out. Yet not terrible. 2/5

It neither seems coherent, nor particularly structured to me, more of a chaos with non-descriptive and almost meaningless lyrics. Some of the musical ideas are interesting, but could have been better executed (i.e. the melody on the last track). Nothing really stands out from this album.

An amazing record! From the marvellous guitar work to the incredible keyboards by Ray Manzarek and the catchy song writing and lyrics - a true classic album. A few standouts include "Riders on the Storm", "Love her Madly" and "The WASP" - all are absolute bangers and deserve five stars on their own!

A truly remarkable debut record for what was going to be one of Britains most successful rock bands. Already on this record, the first glimpse of Mark Knopflers incredible guitar playing can be heard, although it is on the following albums that he shows what he can really do. Solid album, no doubt.

A decent crossover between ambient, indie, psychedelic and maybe some pop as well. Nothing really stands out, though there are a few good moments across the album.

An incredibly uneventful album, with a surprisingly fitting title, as it really sounds "dark". Whilst the first few tracks feature interesting guitar playing, the later half seems to lack any guitar playing completely and focuses on a more orchestral sound. The vocals are what makes this album soud "dark" and feel like the last breath of a dying person (no wonder). Still, it could have been more musically complex.

I immediately recognized the drums opening the first track, and my thought was "this is going to be interesting". The songs themselves are mostly repetetive, though they have great potential to stick in, it isn't my particular style.

A truly interesting live album. Offering a number of long tracks - the first one being 23 minues long! - it shows what the band can do live on stage. And whilst there are plenty of amazing passages, I think some lack any musically interesting ideas. Especially on the first track, where the music seems to "zone out". I don't think that is a bad thing in general, but here, it seems to happen too often for my taste. And while I do like experimental rock, "Feedback" is still a bit much for me. So, in total a musically intersting album with a high quality (regarding the date of recording), but not the best live album I've heared.

While this is not my usual music style, I really liked this album. For me, it certainly has some Led Zeppelin vibes, especially on "Almost Cut My Hair", one of the tracks that really stood out to me. All in all a very interesting album with amazing sound!

Each track more or less sounds the same as all the others from the album. I am still (patiently) waiting to hear some musically interesting ideas. Very little variance. I think there are worse records, but this has to be one of the least appealing and interesing releases I listened to.

While this album features sometimes interesting guitar work, it still lacks a certain musical variance and musically interesting ideas. Every track almost sounds the same. While there are certainly worse albums, it is nothing I would consider "special" or "good", more so "average".

A solid (punk-)rock album! At least not every track sound exactly the same (as it was the case with the last two punk rock albums), and they are decently complex musically. The guitar is very prominent throughout the album, and is pretty good. Also, the drums - especially on the first track - are amazing. All in all a album worth listening with good production and interesting songs.

A very powerful blues rock album, indeed. There are several good tracks on this record, my favourite being "Piece of my Heart". The guitar work is really good, as is the drumming and of course, the vocals by Janis Joplin. The guitar tone is very powerful, rich and colourful (note the beginning of "Ball and Chain"). I really enjoyed listning to this album.

This albums definitely is a lighter listening experience than other albums - musically not as complex as others, but yet not bad. More or less what you'd expect from a glam-rock band. The keyboards on the album are very prominent (cf. "Mary") and the vocals are sometimes "Bee-Gee-like" (not nessecarily a bad thing). In general I find this album quite good with some really good tracks ("Mary", "It Can't Come Quickly Enough"). Another nice touch was the more acoustic final track "The Return to Oz", which shows that the group is not solely restricted to a more electric sound. The one thing that bothered me the most was the cover of "Comfortably Numb" - and while there are songs, where the cover version can hold up or even superceeds the original, I didn't like this cover version at all.

While the first track kind of suprised me after I read who the band was, the album became pretty boring soon after. Neither the music nor the vocals are somewhat interesting, it just seems bland without much depth. It may be a decent album for background music, but for anything more, it just lacks substance.

The album is very loud, and it just seem that it is loud, well, dor loudness' sake. There are some good moments here and there, where the guitar really shines and shows what it can do, but most of the music is more or less the same. Too many songs are too similar, and musically interesting ideas remain brief and undeveloped. And even the loud parts would be better, if there was, let's say, interesting drumming or vocals, but no, not here. It's not the worst, but certainly not the best album. Side note: No song here can hold up to Cementary Gates by the same group, which is a lot better than this whole album.

'Aqualung' is a truly remarkable album! I vaguely remember listening to it for the first time and thinking something like "I can hardly see what all the fuss is about". But then I listened to it again, and it soon became one of my favourite prog-rock records. Ian Anderson has an incredible voice and his flute playing is top-notch! Not to mention Barre's guitar work, which is amazing. The album features a lot of contrasts - quiet moments, such as on My God, or Wind Up but also thunderous passages such as n the title track. Or the soft flute sounds that sometimes contrast the electric guitar sound, sometimes blend with the full rock band. Besides "Thick as a Brick", this is one of Jethro Tull's greatest works. Even today, songs from this album are played on concerts. A true masterpiece!

Yet another live album! And while I usually prefer studio albums due to them being more polished and "complete", a good live album certainly proves a band's ability to perform their music outside of the comfort of a studio. This alpplies to this album too, especially since it's unplugged. The music sounds not as unobtrusive as it does on the studio records, as there are no heavily distorted guitars, and everything justs seems lighter. But at the same time, Kurt Cobain sings (almost) the same way - powerful, yet sometimes reluctant and more reserved - giving this performance it's own power. I enjoyed listening to this record and hearing some songs I know in a slightly different way (them covering David Bowie kind of surprised me, didn't know that Cobain liked him).

Deep Purple are considered to be one of the classic rock bands. And of course, with songs like "Smoke on the Water" they established their name in rock music. This album however, is, apart from some moments, nothing exceptional. Certainly, it has a very heavy and hard sound for an album from the early 70s, but little stands out and makes it special. The vocals are good, guitars and bass, drumming and keyboards too. It's not that they lack talent, but I feel like they haven't really figured out how they can use it most effectively. I can't say anything bad about the production either. The drum sound (especially during the outro of "Living Wreck") is faboulus. But somehow, there is nothing on the album I can or could remember, nothing that really stands out, nothing that makes this album special. All in all more an avarage rock album, that is decent to listen to, but nothing more.

Gary Numan's debut album is probably one of the most 80s sounding albums released before the 1980s and is alongside Tubeway Army's discography probably one of the most improtant releases for synth-pop. And there is good music on it, too: personal highlights include "Airlane", "M.E.". I want to point out the cover, too: inspired by surrealist painter Rene Magritte, it creates a kind of emotionless, clean feeling, clearly fitting the music. But once you've listened to the first two or three tracks, you'll know how the rest of the albums going to be. There is very little variation between the tracks, nothing that really stands out. And while I like the sound, I miss a certain variation in music. It's not a bad album and I recommend listening to it if you like 80s synth-pop, but I would not consider it to be a masterpiece.

Where do I even start on this one? I guess this album cannot be rated not only as a whole, but also deserves a more detailed rating, since it is so incredibly complex. The album starts with "Come Together", an incredibly groovy track with a prominent bass and delightful guitar playing! It makes you groove along with the song right from the beginning. The next track, "Something", starts off as a soft ballad with soothing vocals and delicacte guitar accents, but then takes a turn to a more powerful middle section (with an exceptionally smooth transition). "Maxwell's Silver Hammer" is probably one of the quirkiest Beatles-tracks I know. The happy feeling combined with the dark lyrics and the almost comical hammer sound makes it incredibly funny (even Paul laughes a little during the second verse). "Oh! Darling" sounds probably the closest to blues-rock as The Beatles can get. The powerful vocals by Paul are amazing and so rich and colourful! "Octopus's Garden", being one of the rare tracks where Ringo has the lead vocals, is a happy song, that just makes me feel good. The duett between the electric lead guitar and the vocals is just beautiful! "I Wan't You (She's so Heavy)" is the final track on the first side and one of the longest tracks the Beatles ever recorded and yet another blues-rock-ish sounding song on the album. The way Lennon sings in harmony with the lead guitar is incredible. Billy Preston's work on the Hammond is astonishing and contributes to the feeling of the song as much as the rest of the band altogether. The ostinato-like outro section, which never seems to go anywhere although it's almost screaming that it will, before abruptly ending is utter genius! It maintains suspense (in a musical way), which remains unresolved as the song abruptly ends, and when listening on vinyl, it would be the last thing you'd hear before you'd have to flip the vinyl, only to hear the rather contrastinly light "Here Comes the Sun". This song is also the last song all four Beatles made together, and the ending hits different whith that in mind. "Here Comes the Sun" is a highly complex song, and one of Harrison's most beautiful tracks. He clearly shows off his incredible song-writing-talent here. The vocals in harmony with the Moog singing in the background are otherworldly! Personal story: the first day the sun really shined this year I listened to it outside, and it made me smile and really feel happy. I just love this track. "Because" ultimately preceeds the medley, which takes up most of the second side. "Because" has an interesting harmony structure, supposedly influenced by Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata (but backwards) and remains unsolved (not returning to the root) before leading into "You Never Give Me Your Money", the first track of the medley, featuring guitar solos by both Lennon and Harrison, and arpeggiated guitars reminiscend of "I Want You". "Sun King" is yet another track with complex vocal and musical harmony structures, and is a rather big contrast to the rest of the medley. "Mean Mr Mustard" then picks up quite some speed and provides some story for the medley. "Polythene Pam" and "She Came in Through The Bathroom Window" are both fun little tracks, in which we can find musical detail and even guitar solos albeit that they're very short. Harrison yet again proves his talent by providing small guitar interludes, that never seem to want too much attention, and yet are an esscential part of the songs. "Golden Slumbers" is outright beautiful. Paul's quiet vocals at the beginning, underlined by the strings and the piano, then followed by the loud and once again colorful and rich "screaming" vocals in the middle are amazing on this track. "Carry That Weight" picks up musical themes from earlier tracks (notably from "You Never Give Me Your Money", here reprised by the brass section) with a grand sound (due to the orchestra), before leading to "The End", the last (official) track on the last album the Beatles ever made. After a short vocal introduction and a drum solo in stereo, there are guitar solos by McCartney, Lennon and Harrison, before the song comes to an incredibly satisfiying end. "Her Majesty" is funny. But apart from all of the above mentioned details of the individual tracks, there is more to point out. Every track seems finished, there's nothing "bumpy", nothing that seems out of place, but yet the album is not over-enginnered in any kind of way. There are subtle detailes all over the album here and there, making every second interesting. For me, the album sounds incredibly timeless, and most certainly not like 1969. Part of it sounds like the 60s, part of it like the 70s and another part could have been from anytime until now. This album is a masterpiece and one of the best albums of all time. Period.

Even though I do like ambient and electronic music, I find this album incredibly boring, even for ambient. And for techno, it just lacks energy. There are a few okay-ish moments on this album, like on „Sad but True“ or „Crash and Carry“ But overall, this album does not seem convincing at all to me. It doesn't make me feel anything at all, really. Yet I would not consider it outright bad, as it is at least sufficient background music and the production is decent. Rating this album is kinda hard, as I'd give it 1.5 stars – not good enough for two stars, but also not bad enough to deserve only one star. I really felt torn between 1 and 2 stars whilst listening to the album. I think the 15 minutes of „Are we Here?“ were the final nail in the coffin. Don't get me wrong, I like long tracks, but something has to happen at least, not the same 2 to 4 bars repeating all the time. I couldn't even be bothered to listen to „Attached“.