1001 Albums Summary

I'm far from a hip hop enthusiast. I've listened to the record many times before, was big with my friends in college. I like this album pretty well, enjoying more than anything else the interesting samples and the sound of the beats. Can see these aspects as a template for many "alt rap" artists that followed. Overall however I didn't resonate much with the "tough guy" lyrics and personas often present here. The interstitials I found especially dumb. "I'm gonna fuck your ass up" "fuck you, ni**a" and all this stuff. I find it kinda silly and basically unpleasant. I like the sounds of ODB's voice but he seems like a real dipshit. Too often I didn't like long stretches of rapping in about half of the individual songs, where the song itself then becomes a throwaway for me. Good but far from essential, and I'd go elsewhere if I'm in the mood for hip hop (which is almost never). "Method Man" was my favorite track.

An album I've heard hundreds of times. Tom Sawyer, YYZ, and Red Barchetta all really kick ass, those three alone make the album worth having. "Limelight" is a really obnoxious track. We used to sing "For those who wish to peeee!" so we wouldn't go crazy at work. As always Geddy's vocals and the shitty lyrics can sink a lot of the high points. Side 2 is slightly weaker because of The Camera Eye with its badly dated synths and bloated length. I think both Witch Hunt and especially Vital Signs are solid but far from essential. It's their best album, but I consider nothing they recorded to be "classic." Four stars it is.

Overrated. Succeeds most when it kinda sounds like Led Zeppelin like in "Dream Brother."

Seems like an important British popular album but I'm not sure there's enough to elevate it to classic status for me.

Overlong but very interesting. They have better records (more concise)

Boring as shit and pretty silly too. So many good alternatives for the era if you're thinking "epic chamber pop" type nonsense

Sounded like generic 90s dance music with Bjork on vocals. Thus worse than generic 90s music

Boring

Mediocre rock music with a too-familiar sound.

She's not as good a singer as she thinks she is. The breathy stylings, faux-husky "Jazz singer" stuff get really annoying after a while. Production-wise it's pleasant enough. The songs and especially the lyrics are pretty weak. A passable singles band, very of their time, who have no business having a full album on this list.

Solid heavy metal with good guitar playing. Low recording quality, loud organ, and wanky, length guitar passages all date the album. Like an inferior Led Zeppelin.

Dullsville. One of those "you had to be there" type records. A Richard Thompson origin story does not a good album make. Richard Thompson himself made a lot of boring albums, come to think of it.