1001 Albums Summary

Listening statistics & highlights

73
Albums Rated
3.15
Average Rating
7%
Complete
1016 albums remaining

Rating Distribution

Rating Timeline

Taste Profile

2010
Favorite Decade
Soul
Favorite Genre
UK
Top Origin
Wordsmith
Rater Style ?
16
5-Star Albums
8
1-Star Albums

Breakdown

By Genre

Top Styles

By Decade

By Origin

Albums

You Love More Than Most

AlbumYouGlobalDiff
The Grand Tour
George Jones
5 2.79 +2.21
A Walk Across The Rooftops
The Blue Nile
5 2.87 +2.13
New Gold Dream (81/82/83/84)
Simple Minds
5 2.97 +2.03
The Trinity Session
Cowboy Junkies
5 3.08 +1.92
American Pie
Don McLean
5 3.27 +1.73
Rock 'N Soul
Solomon Burke
5 3.36 +1.64
Play
Moby
5 3.45 +1.55
Moon Safari
Air
5 3.57 +1.43
Hounds Of Love
Kate Bush
5 3.63 +1.37
To Pimp A Butterfly
Kendrick Lamar
5 3.64 +1.36

You Love Less Than Most

AlbumYouGlobalDiff
Can't Buy A Thrill
Steely Dan
1 3.73 -2.73
Tom Tom Club
Tom Tom Club
1 3.03 -2.03
Black Monk Time
The Monks
1 2.94 -1.94
In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida
Iron Butterfly
1 2.93 -1.93
(Pronounced 'Leh-'Nérd 'Skin-'Nérd)
Lynyrd Skynyrd
2 3.73 -1.73
Duck Rock
Malcolm McLaren
1 2.62 -1.62
Trafalgar
Bee Gees
1 2.62 -1.62
Enter The Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)
Wu-Tang Clan
2 3.61 -1.61
Straight Outta Compton
N.W.A.
2 3.51 -1.51
On The Beach
Neil Young
2 3.46 -1.46

5-Star Albums (16)

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Popular Reviews

Born To Run by Bruce Springsteen

For an album that very prominently features a guitar on the cover, there is a surprising abundance of saxophone? Like, Madness levels of saxophone. Meatloaf levels of saxophone. I mean, it's good! But this is the saxophone album if ever I did hear it. Springsteen's voice goes from a meaty low register to a very gravelly rasp higher up with almost no preamble, and the album is scattered with this contrast all over the place, lurching from soulful sadness to violent exultation within seconds from each other. This is a calamitous album, without resulting to cacophonous noise and nonsense, which makes a nice change for this list! This album is also the perfect length, it doesn't overstay it's welcome, and every song has something new and poignant to say. The title track is easily the best song, joining the hall of anti-American-Dream with the likes of Ethel Cain's "American Teenager" and Billy Joel's "Scenes From an Italian Restaurant". That is the calibre of this album, for me.

Unfortunately, nothing on this way-too-long album recaptures the infectiousness and energy of "Hey Ya!" - somewhere in this Iliad of a double album, there's the sketch of a pretty good, 40 minute long, modern hip-hop album, but this needed some serious editing to separate the fat from the meat. If I had to pick, The Love Below is the better of the two halves, but not by much, and not enough for me to recommend this album outside of Hey Ya!.

Duck Rock by Malcolm McLaren

I really don't appreciate that the World musicians that performed on this album were left uncredited by McLaren - they are far and away the best parts of this album, and their omission from official credits feels exploitative and racist, especially considering this album seems to steal almost exclusively from musical cultures that are predominantly black. Malcolm McLaren is nowhere to be found on this album; what could have been a really eclectic mix of musical styles ends up being an almost mocking pastiche of "the other". There is no original personality or voice on this album, and with each song, I was increasingly interested in listening to the original songs that were sampled (stolen). 1/5

Station To Station by David Bowie

You can hear the drug-fueled, whirling dirvish stylings all over this album, as if Bowie cant keep his restless self from settling for too long. The music lurches from krautrock to disco to art rock without much care or consideration. The production on this thing is tight as ever, infectiously groovy, if sometimes a little skittish or unsettled. Bowie's voice is particularly agile on standout Golden Years, and the cover of Wild is the Wind is another stellar track.

Skylarking by XTC

Skylarking is seeped in bombastic drums, sparkly piano, and Partridge's vocals are quintessentially 1980s chamber pop. This album reminisces on the small moments of life, like the summer sun, teenage sex, admiration and religious speculation, all set to the backdrop of birds and ozone. The record becomes a sort of texture; pampas grass, mineral, the smell of hydrocortisone, promenade walking, patchwork, cigarettes, and the promise of a forever life.

1-Star Albums (8)

All Ratings

Wordsmith

Reviews written for 95% of albums. Average review length: 453 characters.