1001 Albums Summary

Sounds like a response to Phil Collins at times, and a mess at others. Technically sound, but all over the place. I guess after 20 years of performing, Paul said “idc anymore”. ⭐️⭐️

Actually pretty solid listen. Very reminiscent of Bob Dylan. Nothing I’d add to a playlist, but cohesive and easy to listen to. ⭐️⭐️⭐️

18 straight songs of jig and polka that sound exactly the same. Absolute trash ⭐️

Not sure why this is considered a classic. It’s full of half baked ideas and drunken noodling from the greatest period of sly’s drug and alcohol use that killed the band. Easy to see why. ⭐️⭐️

I see what he’s going for. And I see the influence on trip hop. 1971 is an early period for concept albums, and making it spoken word is a different use of the medium- basically storytelling with a light musical background. It’s creative. Points for that. I don’t think it’s super great or would recommend it, but probably one of those “important” albums with an outsized influence. And, it’s short ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Fair bit to say about this one: Alanis, off a couple of folksier/softer albums took a different path with new production towards an edgier alternative rock/pop sound for Jagged Little Pill. The album title is drenched in irony, as is most of the album: describing both her, and the situation she’s in. She also follows a bit of a journey throughout the tracklist; the first few are very bitter breakup songs, later she sings about finding love again, ending on a happier if perhaps bittersweet note. It’s a well constructed album, not super front loaded, and not a ton of fat either. Maybe 1-2 filler songs. It’s sexual, it’s charged. It’s cathartic, emotive in a way that was a new expression for female singer songwriters of the time. You can draw a line of confessional pop from Joni Mitchell in the 60s to Alanis in the 90s, who then paved the way for your adult contemporary pop singers like Michelle Branch a bit later, and following the line even to the 2010s with Tove Lo- who really brought confessional pop back after the very dance centric 2000s. The album was a smash hit immediately also- universal praise, 17 million sales, 5 Grammies and diamond status cement it in the pop canon, and deservedly so. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

A few decent songs I know from the radio but mostly a slog of 80s synth piano. ⭐️⭐️

Another canonical rock album- the problem is, the first half is this sparse, spacey, occasional burbling synth and guitar noodling. Very backend heavy with the two songs I think are decent- time and money. It was designed to be non commercial- a listening experience from start to finish, and it crossfades each track into the next throughout, which was a novel idea. ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Not bad. Reminds me of music from the skate games. The title track is easily the best on the album ⭐️⭐️⭐️

The John Lennon cover is a wildly arrogant thing to do, but the album itself is fairly listenable, if a bit repetitive, especially on vocals. Guy has one flow, and he stays there. The music itself is fairly varied- everything from reggae to mariachi, to polka and to more soft rock kind of sounds. “El Aadyene” is probably the best song on the album. It’s also oddly backloaded, the flow gets a lot better about halfway through. ⭐️⭐️⭐️

I said yesterday that Khaled only had one flow- Motörhead made a career out of having a very defined, instantly recognizable sound, even if that meant every song sounded a bit like the last. A lot like the last, even. I would go so far even as to say that Slayer stole Motörhead’s formula: make a classic album, then just keep making that same thing over and over. As long as people keep buying it (Motörhead 25m record sales) and keep going to shows (toured until the death of Lemmy in 2015) then you’re doing something right. Ride it to the grave. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Definitely not an album for everyone, but it’s a great blend of what’s basically elevator music, some trance, trip hop, and downtempo. It’s not dancy, but it is easy to listen to, atmospheric, and pleasant. There’s some essence of daft punk and some others in here as well. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Creative, melodic, energetic, and varied- but a bit inaccessible. Some of the songs are 9+ minutes and feature no vocals- not a negative, but hard to say it became a favorite song when the titles mean nothing for recall. There’s elements of jazz, funk, rock, and all kinds of stuff in here. Zappa was definitely on his most avant garde here. Apparently this was also one of the first records recorded with 16 track equipment, allowing for more overdubbing, and eliminating the need for many musicians to be playing at once. Important for that, I suppose. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Bla’s Feels like an REM album but perhaps more aimless and less cohesive. There’s a lot of filler, and it’s propped up by one huge single “there she goes”. I did like “failure” off the back half. ⭐️⭐️

Maybe I like dream pop, or maybe this elevated adult contemporary style just works. Apparently this album, and the Cocteau Twins, ushered in the era of shoegaze and dream pop. If that’s true, you can certainly hear the influence in everything to come later, even elements of things like the Smashing Pumpkins. One element that adds a lot to the dreamy nature of it is the glossolalia- nonsense lyrics. The vocal processing with heavy reverb and delay also generate this trance-like effect that really sells it. If you were into doing some drugz, this would probably sound amazing. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Every song seems like a response to Metallica, bigger, harder, faster. Many start with a little solo, and all of the solos are Dave sounding like he’s got something to prove. This is a hard one to rate. I think it’s still a little raw and unpolished compared to what comes later- but it exists as a gauntlet thrown down at Metallica for kicking Dave out. He had a bone to pick and something to prove, and largely does so. I want to give it a 5 because it’s music I know and love, but when I consider what’s to come later and that it’s kind of a one trick album, it’s hard to do so ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

Produced by Bowie, Lou reed’s second solo album definitely shows the influence. The vocal production is very Bowie with the dreamy overdubbed delay sound, and the mixture of piano and rock is too. “Hangin around”, “perfect day”, and “satellite of love” also particularly sound like Bowie songs from both production and lyrical standpoints. Lou will show up again later I’m sure with the velvet underground, but this is a very accessible 70s pop cut that I hear lots of later influence in. Its funny, clever, weird, and sexual all at the same time, I get why it’s remembered fondly. ⭐️⭐️⭐️

If this 1001 albums journey is about highlighting talented songwriters, it’s hard to be greater than Bobby D. He’s quite prolific (Bob was already on his 15th album here), so the hits are spread across a lot of albums, but thankfully this one starts out with a banger: tangled up in blue. Bob alternates between his usual jangly folk tunes to near-country, to soft pop. Though he’s never hard, he is varied in what he can present. Get acquainted with the harmonica. “Meet me in the morning” was a favorite also. Tangled up in blue feels like the blueprint for 90s alt/ adult contemporary. Your blues traveler or sister hazel types. ⭐️⭐️⭐️

If you don’t love Radiohead and The Fray at their most boring, sad sack worst, you won’t like this. ⭐️

At times it sounds like Bryan Adams, and at others REM. There’s a few decent songs: we’re coming out, black diamond, and Gary’s got a boner, but overall it’s very uneven. ⭐️⭐️.5

It’s jazz. Sax jazz. If that Benny Goodman piano, drum, and woodwind style with occasional vocals isn’t for you, this would be a tough listen. Thankfully, that is for me. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

A lot of this sounds like rip offs of The Cars and BTO instrumentation, but with nonsense lyrics and a slight new wave bent. Definitely backloaded. Artists only and I’m not in love were highlights, definitely more into that new wave area, but now I just want to listen to The Cars. ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Didn’t hate it, didn’t love it. Very frontloaded- first track “New York New York” is definitely the best on the album- very Black Crowes. Some decent adult contemporary pop tunes and a bunch of country fried pop, and some whiny junk too. ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Good alt rock album. “All I know”, “dying days”, and “make my mind” were favorites but pretty listenable top to bottom. Dime Western in particular sounds influential on bands like Godsmack- it’s an interesting sound ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Tough listen. Extremely folksy and mostly just highlit Dylan’s voice, which is an acquired taste at best. Couldn’t finish. Grating.

So, the story goes this guy “Tricky” left Massive Attack to do his own thing, and this is the result. Seems like he wanted to do a lot more hopping than tripping, as this definitely leans reggae/hip hop of the trip hop I’ve ever heard. Decent listen, nothing special.

The elements of what would solidify later are there- silly songs like DDevil, with Tankian’s pitchy and goofy delivery- as well as more serious efforts like “know” or “suggestion”. The blueprint is here, they showed up fully formed, but it’s hard to shake the idea that they didn’t just steal some of Jonathan Davis’ 1995 equipment and play some coal chamber and sepultura knockoffs. Perhaps the lack of self seriousness engendered a new audience to their particular corner of nu metal. I just don’t really get why this is the album on the list.

I always thought of Bjork as kind of a joke to describe some yoko ono avant garde stuff, but I was wrong- she’s a serious artist with a great voice. I use the term varied a lot when describing some of these albums, but this is a truly eclectic mix. Everything from pop you’d hear on the radio to Disney theater type songs to polka to sparse avant garde live performances- truly a weird album.

I didn’t particularly enjoy this album, but I can hear a lot of the influence on indie rock to come. It’s got that chime-y, ringing guitar borrowed from The Edge (U2) and a multi instrumental approach with strings, flutes and woodwinds that give it a twee or ethereal, chorale sound. It’s probably one of those albums that informed a lot of music after it that improved on the formula, but points for being first. ⭐️⭐️

Should have called it “anything but timeless”. Opening your album with a 21 minute song is nothing short of masturbatory, especially when it’s sparse and terribly repetitive drum and bass. And this is coming from someone who likes drum step and DmB normally. Overwrought underwritten self indulgent garbage. Couldn’t finish. ⭐️

Intensely personal and at the same time relatable, Loretta Lynn was a fantastic lyricist and songwriter, able to simultaneously flip the bird to men trying to hold women down and yet still exist within the confines of country music that wasn’t quite ready for this kind of confessional, confrontational music from a lady. Nowadays it seems quaint, but this was nearly transgressive in the scene at the time. Until Loretta comes along, country music is mostly “stand by your man”. Loretta’s blend of humor and deeply personal, lived experience really sells this album, which alternates between bright and sunny, upbeat 60’s Nashville production and the the twangier cry in your beer downbeat stuff. It’s a tightly written album, 12 songs, 28 minutes, and doesn’t waste a moment of your time. The title track, “Get whatcha got and go”, and “the shoe goes on the other foot tonight” were my favorites- upbeat, catchy, clever, and sassy. Five stars for Loretta. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Before Biggie Before Tupac There was BEASTIE three white boys from NYC just fuckin around end up making an all time classic that defies easy classification. It hip hops. It raps. It rocks. It’s all over the place, but never loses that infectious groove that keeps your head bobbing and if you’re ever in a group, you will get people singing song. The beasties also blended comedy lyrics and party tunes while smartly sampling sabbath, zeppelin, and others- it’s a wonderful production. So many hits off this one- fight for your right, brass monkey, girls, Paul revere, and NO SLEEP TIL BROOKLYN. Easy 5. Nostalgia, hits, longevity, and still hop hops, rocks, and raps along. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Sounds like a blend of the Psychedelic Furs, Killing Joke, and the Smiths. Not bad, not necessarily my thing, but didn’t waste my time

I thought that the title was just a ha ha funny sex joke. It was unfortunately literal. I selected the 10 most popular songs from Spotify and listened to those, because no album with 69 songs and a run time of three hours is both: a) any good and or b) respects your time. I was correct on both counts. Self indulgent, masturbatory garbage. This trash should be next to the definition of quality over quantity as what not to do. ⭐️

It’s aight I guess

Not as cultural appropriation-y as other reviewers would have you believe. It’s a pretty pleasant listen, all things considered.

The first 40 minutes or so shuffle along in a jammy krautrock way (a new term for me- psychedelic, electronic influences) and then it gets weird- spacey, dissonant, noise type music. They could have left the weird off. This is a very non commercial album, with multiple songs running 15+ minutes noodling around on an ideas. Not good, not bad. It just is. ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Chicago’s debut is pretty good- they arrived fully loaded, with their signature blend of jazzy rock and kind of soul/funk inspirations. However, someone along the production line should have taught them the meaning of restraint. There are so many songs that are 6-8 minutes long for no reason, including ones with gaps in the middle that pick up with a totally different sound. Just… split the track. Two 4 minute songs is much more palatable than multiple 8 ones back to back. That has to be earned, and in a debut album, they had zero goodwill. A lot of people complain also about “Free Form Guitar” which is in the middle of the album- an unstructured 7 minute duration noise song. I think it should be praised for being ann early example of intentional noise music, EXCEPT that Hendrix did it in Monterrey 2 years earlier. The beginning to wild thing, and then afterwards- the famous “guitar sacrifice” where he rubbed the guitar against the amp creating space laser sounds and dissonant, noisy screeches. They definitely ripped him off here. The album resumes with their funky jazz rock immediately after. This is a hard album to rate. I want to like it, but the runtimes wear me down. It’s up and down in energy, and while I don’t expect an entire album to be banger after banger, this one has some duds, and when your duds are 7 minutes long, it detracts from my enjoyment of the studs. ⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

Unlistenably twangy. It’s like the worst Bob Dylan song mixed with a James blunt song. awful. ⭐️

This album makes me want to be Peggy ⭐️ How many more shit albums in a row am I going to get? Ffs

If you know Dinosaur Jr, you know they have one mode, and that was fully established in 1988 (!!) with this album. Their blend of noisy garage rock even feels like it influenced Nirvana to a degree. The album sounds much newer than it is, maybe because it’s so similar to their 90s output. That nose song at the end is sure to off put some but not enough to detract from the overall product. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

With each David Bowie collaboration, I’m really starting to understand the genius. Some of this is clearly Iggy: Lust for Life, Success, the Passenger (is he doing the doors?) and others are clearly Bowie (tonight, weird sin). Whatever blend of creativity it was though, this is a pretty great album. Very listenable today, a number of different modes, and interesting for most of it. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Featuring Bruce Springsteen as: the annoying ass white guy with an acoustic guitar around a campfire who won’t shut up about his self important nonsense bowel movement he’s minted as “art” Zero stars unlistenably bad.

Imagine loving music so much you’d quit your 9-5. Now imagine writing a whole song about it. That’s “we love the music”. In fact, there’s quite a lot of meta music about loving music and dance, and people. Sister Sledge- OG lover girls. The majority of the album bounces and funks along in typical 70s ballads and disco modes, but it’s super tight instrumentation that compliments the awesome voice of Kathy sledge. She is a really incredible singer with the perfect voice for this kind of music. Easy to see why it resonated with audiences of the day. Every guitar phrase and fat bass line also sound straight out of a daft punk sample too, groovy baby. Really enjoyed this one, even if they make you earn the eternal hit “we are family” by placing it in the middle of the album ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Ton of wasted time with them talking and introducing the people playing the instruments. This is one of those things I think it was probably better to experience live in a music hall with a bar or whatever around a bunch of tables in 1956, not as a live album in 2026. The music is still pretty good though.

Whiny, draggy, and sparse. Intentionally so, but bored me to tears. At least Johnny is decent at being emotionally evocative with his mournful sound. Just not my thing. He did at least do Big Iron, which is a bad cover, but a song I like.

Let’s get funky with it. Let’s get weird with it. Let’s copy the Animals and Rolling Stones! Before iggy pop struck it solo, he wanted to be your dog, and that dog was a two album effort with the Stooges. They’re in that mix with the Animals and Kinks, pushing distorted guitar sounds and making some edgy tunes for the day. We Will Fall is a weird evil chant sounding thing that was all certainly meant to just piss off parents with some sell your soul stuff, then it gets back to fuzzed out 60s rock. ⭐️⭐️⭐️ decent but a slog in the middle when 8.5 minutes of your 30 minute album are a waste of time.

A truly eclectic album- it’s really a work of art how the production team was able to crossfade and fold each track into the next- going from showtunes to psychedelic rock, to pop, to soul, to the… Plain White T’s? The album is all over the place in a good way, and the majority of the tunes are quite enjoyable as it hip hops between genres. It does run a little long in the tooth, but I didn’t feel like I was wasting my time. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Droogs trade in their moody weirdness for saxophone solos in this one, which I think is a vast improvement. The longer jammier songs flow a lot better, even if the 7+ minute runtimes aren’t exactly earned, the instrumentation is an improvement also. It seems like they were copying The Rolling Stones more with this album, while straying true to their proto punk roots. It was an enjoyable listen. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Ohhh Le bangeur Yeah this one rocks. Bowie channels his best rock opera and some Elton John influence and produced an all time record here. Ziggy Stardust was the first Bowie song I ever liked, so it’s nostalgic for that reason, but it’s a well crafted, tight album no matter how you slice it. 11 songs, 38 minutes: strap in for some androgynous rock robot from outer space shit. Favorites: moonage daydream, starman, ziggy stardust, suffragette city ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The concept of outer space has long captured the imagination of artists, writers, astronomers, and even drug users. There’s something incalculably magnetic about the vastness of the celestial bodies. Fewer attention is paid to the great vastness between these great hurtling rocks however, for humanity is relatively dispassionate about the void in which they lay. It is in such consideration that I too learn I am uninterested in the dark, empty space that exists between music and noise. That is to say that this space rock album is boring as hell and there’s one good nugget on it: electricity. ⭐️

I enjoyed this a lot more than more songs about buildings and food- feels more focused, cohesive, and hungry. Favorites: “uh oh love comes to town”, “No compassion🏆”,”psycho killer” ⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

Not sure if it’s creedence’s best album, but it’s certainly a really good one no matter how you slice it. “Ooby Dooby” is kind of a funny filler song, It’s like “I didn’t wanna write lyrics to this so I’m just gonna do a Little Richard impression with two words”- ripping off Good Golly Miss Molly. Favorites: Travelin Band, Run Through the Jungle, Up Around the Bend, Ramble Tamble (at least 4 mins of it or so) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Does this album prove that the Hammond organ IS a rock instrument? Another one of those canonical rock albums. It’s hard not to rate it a 5 based on tradition and influence alone, but it has the hits to back it up too. Highway star, smoke on the water? That alone really cemented it back in 1972. This shit was heavy then and it still sounds good today.

Want to address a couple of things: 1. To the people who can’t stand Corgan’s voice I get it, it’s an acquired taste. But consider for a moment other alt rock singers of the 90s. Cornell, Cobain, Rossdale, Vedder, etc. could you imagine any of these guys singing the songs on Siamese Dream? No, because these are Billy’s songs, and his voice is the one they’re supposed to be heard from. 2. The recording process This is a fantastic story and also very Corgan. It is true that he wrote and performed all of the instrumental parts on SD except the drums and cello. It wasn’t because he didn’t like James and Darcy or that he didn’t trust them to get it right, it was that he had such an artistic vision for the album that it’s nearly a solo project between him and Butch Vig. The famous layering (of allegedly up to 100 guitars on soma) and creation of the wall of sound was a Butch creation, and in interviews he describes the vision and cohesiveness that Billy came in with being very strong and fleshed out, with Butch adding in his signature wall of sound and other production magic to create an insanely polished album. This was not the norm of the day. Alternative rock was in its infancy, but your Nirvanas and Pearl Jams who were leading the way eschewed the success and “commercial” polish in favor of rougher, rawer lofi-esque garage rock. That unpolished, unrefined sound was more “credible” in the rock scene at the time, rather than selling out and sounding all glossy and put together. Letting the ends hang out was part of the appeal in the grunge era. Corgan and the Pumpkins chose a different path- following more in the vein of the Pixies with a harder edge and a killer loud/soft dynamic than your Velvet Underground type of alternative the grunge guys were doing. And it worked. The album sold like hotcakes and propelled them to stardom. If you enjoy this album, you should listen to their 1993 album release concert from the Metro in Chicago on YouTube. When the loud notes of soma first hit, you can see Billy’s transition to being a rock star for the first time. It’s an electric moment when everything is clicking, and the Pumpkins have finally arrived. Easiest 5 stars of my life. An important album, and one of my top 3 all time that never sounds old, and I never get tired of. The back end does get a bit soft and mushy, but I haven’t heard those songs in a while- listening to the entire thing as a singular product really affirmed my love for the album all over again. The album that launched a million big muff pedals. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Another reviewer hit the nail on the head- it’s like a worse version of a lot of different folksy pop music you’ve heard. I think if this influenced anything, it’s Joji, with the dreamy, sad-sack tone throughout. It gets better after the first couple of songs, so it’s not totally irredeemable but it’s navel gazing dream/bedroom pop at low tide. ⭐️⭐️

Given that this album came out in 2013 I gather that it’s one of the 1085 albums, not the original 1001. Is it old enough to be considered for classic status? Is this the Chvrches album I expected to see on here? The answer to both is probably not- but what it does do is really good. I like the band, and I was familiar with this album, though I did expect that alongside the CHVRCHES name would be “Love Is Dead”, their third album, where I feel they really put it all together. We have their debut instead, and it’s a great synthpop cut, chock full of video game esque sounds, dreamy 80s synthwave modes, and even some upbeat dance type numbers. CHVRCHES would go on to improve on this formula, but the bones of it were fully calcified in this album. Lauren Mayberry’s floaty scotch vocals play well against the synth piano and drumbeat driven melodies, and the album is at its best in the quiet moments, something I don’t feel later albums captured as well. “You Caught The Light” might be the best song on the album- it’s dark, moody, and atmospheric, but not without velocity. And it doesn’t even feature Mayberry’s signature vocals. Martin Doherty does the singing on it, to great effect. It’s almost a Sneaker Pimps trip hop kind of feel, and it fits well within the album as a change of pace. Other favorites: Gun, Recover, Lungs, By the Throat, Broken Bones ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Dad rock (or grandpa rock at this point) central. Frampton breaks out his signature Framptone in this one, but doesn’t overdo it at all, which is incredible given the notoriety of his eponymous talk box (which you can still buy today, 50 years later!) It’s a decent live album, though the tracking balance is a bit off for the drums and bass. It flows between some harder riff based rock and easy listening soft rock all the way to some really jammy stuff that definitely was an influence on jam bands to come later like Phish. Modern bands like Goose owe much to Frampton, too. I was familiar with a number of these songs. Show Me The Way, Baby I Love Your Way, I’ll Give You Money especially I’ve heard on the radio plenty in the past. But the crescendo comes at the denouement- Peter makes you wait for the 14 minute finale (after making you suffer through a boring jammy version of Jumpin Jack Flash {how does he drain all the energy out of it and make it 7 minutes long?}) DO YOU FEEL LIKE WE DO- the most famous usage of the Framptone, and a great guitar solo on top of it. He saved the best for last, and clearly it hit with audiences, because this was the best selling album of 1976. No Eagles? No Bob Seger? No Boston?? Long live the Framptone, king of ‘76 I guess. ⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

Beck is all over the place in the best possible way in this one. Phrygian mode industrial music, hip hop, rock, electronica, funk… you name it, he’s on it. And it’s all good. Beck is known as a very talented multi instrumentalist, but that’s only part of the story. It takes artistry to be able to take all those disparate things and make it into something not only cohesive, but listenable and enjoyable. An incredible talent. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Didn’t love. Randy is a pretty good pianist and a decent songwriter- the lyrics are at times funny and sad, and tongue in cheek like a song about the burning cuyahoga river in Cleveland lol. It’s a bit of a slog though, just not really interesting. Sounds like atmospheric BG music from a movie. Something you’d hear on a radio in a movie in a scene with dialogue. ⭐️.5

The best way I can describe this is an egomaniacal schizophrenic shitpost. I liked Hot Rats from Frank Zappa but this was a mess. Another reviewer described this as “that secret track you find at the end of an album that’s just the band talking and messing around and maybe some inside jokes, except a whole album of that” and I find that extremely accurate. There’s zero flow, Zero cohesion, zero melody, and nearly zero music. That was probably the point, as Zappa was into making some kinds of grandiose artistic statements, but this is just a guy thinking he’s above it all making “”music”” that no one else can understand because they’re just not on his God level of layered nuance and political commentary and vibes, man. This is garbage disguised as enlightened commentary or satire disguised as trash. ⭐️.5

It’s really difficult for me to call this “rock n roll” as other reviewers suggest, given the lack of guitar on the album, but this is certainly pretty good for rocked-up jazz. Elvis himself even refers to Fats Domino as the real king of rock and roll, but Elvis himself was virtually a country act, so it would also be difficult for him to name someone king of a genre he didn’t play. Examining that- there are actually a lot of artists who lay claim to that “king of rock n roll” title. Little Richard probably came first, Elvis copied a lot of what he and Fats did, and Chuck Berry comes out a bit later and actually wields the axe like a real rock star. Yet they’re all mentioned at some point with the same moniker. I’d probably give the nod to Chuck Berry myself, given that he started the formula for guitar driven music that gave way to actual rock in the 60s. Anyway, Fats does a nice job in his jump blues shoes. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This is what the 1001 albums project is for- discovery. I’d never heard of Robbie Williams, but now I’m glad I did. The music sounds like a mix of Black Crowes and Oasis, and maybe a dash of the Verve, a very 90s alt pop rock sound that still feels fresh today. The back half of the album drags a bit, but it’s listenable and not overly long. This definitely feels like a pick by a group of British critics though- some virtually unheard of music across the pond or outside the UK being heralded as one of the 1001 greatest albums and only being 9 years old by the writing of the book. It didn’t sell that well or have a greater influence, but it is pretty decent at least. Favorites: “angels” and “south of the border” ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Every song with Grace Slick is good Every other song except the guitar solo is mid. Simple formula here- more Grace, less everything else. This album is a bit of a mixed bag, but the Grace stuff is great. I had no idea that this Somebody to Love is the original and that Queen covered it in 1976- fantastic songwriting. ⭐️⭐️⭐️ Also, I’ve dreamed of the day I could use Grace’s famous quote in a review, so here we go. During a 1998 interview with VH1, the Jefferson Airplane and Starship singer derisively stated, “All rock-and-rollers over the age of 50 look stupid and should retire”. She was right. They are, and do. Grace, of course, was speaking from experience. 15 years after the early successes with Airplane, Jefferson Starship re-recruited Slick back into the group and they had some additional smash hits like We Built This City On Rock N Roll and Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now in 1981/82. These songs are corny and lame as hell, and they knew it. Grace was and is deeply embarrassed by them, and that prompted the famous quote. The old Airplane stuff was real and heartfelt, and this new music just didn’t have the urgency or fire that it did when the band members were in their 20s.

What a waste of time. This music was meant to accompany a visual: the movie. Without that, it’s just background noise, and not very interesting noise at that. If we’re doing movie soundtracks, there’s a whole lot that need to come before this one. ⭐️

There are some ideas and some riffs in here that promise something better than what is delivered. It’s not terrible, but it’s not good. Starting your album off with a song about a lecherous hobo who’s touching himself looking at little girls at the park was a choice, even in 1971.

This is a 90s album of all time. It doesn’t really do anything particularly interesting, or particularly badly. It’s just an hour of music you’d hear in the background of a movie or tv scene from some forgotten movie from 1997. ⭐️⭐️

ZZ Top is a band with exactly one mode. That lane is blues forward riff based 70s arena rock. If that’s not your flavor, nothing on this or any other zz album will be your speed. It’s very nostalgic for me, especially the three big hits, but the rest of it is basically just worse versions of those songs. Sharp dressed man, legs, and gimme all your loving will always be classic rock staples, and nothing on the album makes me die of boredom, so three stars. ⭐️⭐️⭐️

I’m doing my part to fight the inexplicable boomer love for Neil young by giving this a 1. Not because it’s the worst thing I’ve ever heard, but because it’s boring, whiny, and baffling to me why Neil young had a career beyond CSNY. He was all of 27 when this album came out and spends the majority of it talking about being old and decrepit, needs someone to take care of poor pitiful him. Typical boomer mentality, fuck this music

I am Henry Rollins, hear me ROAR! Me angry, RAAAAAHHH!! The government is bad!!! I want to.. watch tv and drink beer? (!!!!) Black Flag is one of those bands where I think two things are true: 1. You Had To Be There, and 2. The influence is outsized compared to the qualify of the actual music. It’s very easy to dismiss punk, and hardcore punk like this in particular for sounding samey. A lot of punk was made by people who could barely play instruments and thus three-chord-punk was born- very basic stuff with the same drum beats and guitar riffs with whatever angry vocal you wanted to throw on top. It didn’t matter if it was good, it just had to have the attitude. Even the Red Hot Chili Peppers once said on “Funky Crime”: “p(f)unk is the attitude.” That said, this album definitely came equipped with the DNA that set hardcore punk into motion: you’ve got everything from micro songs, to anti establishment textures, to chillin with the homies songs, and even some filler! The album does have a fair amount of variety in terms of structure, which is more than you can say for a lot of punk albums, especially early ones. A lot of these guys showed up at the same time, immediately following the Sex Pistols and Ramones- Black Flag, JFA, Adolescents, Minor Threat, which gave way to Suicidal Tendencies, NOFX, and others who expanded on the “skate” side of things and less political. This one is tough to rate though. On influence alone it’s a 5, but personal enjoyment is more like a 3. ⭐️⭐️⭐️.5 it is.

Imagine Mike Myers doing the “Simon” (a grown man acting like a child, complete with goofy cockney accent) bit from SNL for an hour with songs about being horny, his father, drawrings, and going to the pub with his mates. British tomfoolery at its weirdest. That said, this is an inexplicable inclusion into the 1089 albums. Is this a joke? How did this make it in over entire countries of music ? ⭐️⭐️⭐️

It honky tonks, that’s for sure. Not really my flavor of country, but it has that 60s-70s Nashville sunshine country twang that’s fine to listen to once but definitely not over and over. Nothing I’d add to a playlist but far from the worst thing I’ve heard.

I am the iconoclast who wields the blade to pierce the mythos of boomer monocultural music tastes. Somewhere along the way, the eagles were canonized as one of Americas heartland rock icons, an eternal badge, apparently, and that status was probably solidified with this album, heralded as a classic. This album is absolutely mid, propped up by two singles- one each from Don Henley and Joe Walsh. It’s easy to understand why they went solo, the album suffers from a strong whiplash between their two styles- Henley’s soft core poetry and Walsh’s riff focused rock. Beyond that, there’s a history lesson here as to why this is considered such a classic album and held up by boomers as the best ever. In the 70s, and even beyond, your only means of listening to music were twofold: the radio, and vinyl albums you owned. The proliferation (and fragmentation) of music was uncommon and yet to happen- which created these huge monocultures around music. In 1976 or 1977, the eagles would have been utterly inescapable. On top 40 radio and rock channels 24/7, in store PA systems, and on your neighbor’s turntable. This was a universal experience that everyone of the day had. Even if you didn’t like the music, you had heard it. Over and over. It elicited specific and strong memories of a certain time- often for boomers, their youth- and as such planted itself strongly in the minds of America. Unlike today where there’s 70+ years of music available at your fingertips via Spotify, iTunes, YouTube, pandora, or even the radio, satellite or otherwise- you had no choice but to listen to the Eagles or whatever else was on. A lot of people started liking it. And many never stopped. But in 2026- we have choices. We don’t have to listen to the eagles any longer. And I implore you not to.