1001 Albums Summary

7/10 - stronger first 2/3s

I’ve known a lot of the songs forever. Great album

Pretty cool, but not my tempo. I’m not a big live album person.

Great album!

3/5. I enjoyed the first 2/3 or so, but felt like it droned on

3.5-4/5. I’ve heard Maps quite a few times. I enjoyed Date with the Night and No No No and Modern Romance. The combo of the shrieking vocals with the punchier guitar and drums is chaotic and cool at times, but I like the softer songs towards the end.

4.5/5. Very enjoyable especially when you’re driving and want to vibe out instead of thinking of the horrors of the world.

4. I’ve heard Jesus Etc. and Heavy Metal Drummer quite a bit in the past. I enjoyed War on War quite a bit. I Am Trying to Break Your Heart kinda threw me for a loop at first between its almost discord and odd lyrics. I had this album pegged as a 3 but kept coming back to it.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ So many recognizable songs and the flow and energy is amazing. It’s got the ragers and the slow-ers. A totally different vibe than say Getz/Gilberto, which is a great album in its own right (certainly not a 2).

⭐️⭐️⭐️ I can imagine this was a bigger deal when it came out. Some of the beats sound a lot more fresh than I’d expect for 1989. Without knowing much about these guys, there’s seems to be a lot of passion in the album. I bet they had a blast in the recording studio. I digged a lot of the production, but I don’t love skit-heavy hip hop albums and this leans heavily into that. The skits are sometimes weaved into the progressions of the songs well enough, but they still halfway took me out. There are some highlights like Eye Know, Buddy, Me Myself and I, and Ghetto Thang, but some lowlights like the skits and De La Orgee (I don’t wanna listen to that shit ever again). Without the skits this might be a 4/5 for me.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I had a review typed up but it was somehow lost. I’ve listened to various Talking Heads songs over the years but never a full album. What a weird ass experience bolstered by the unconventional vocals. I loved it though. Standouts: The Good Thing, Take Me to the River

⭐️⭐️1/2 Never heard of this dude before. I loved the ambience and some of the bass-heavy tracks, but thought it could’ve used some judicious trimming and fleshing out of some half-baked songs - I’m not generally the biggest fan of shorter form songs in general though. Loved the sequence from Day & Night to Show You The Way (Michael McDonald with that weirdo voice filter or whatever was a trip) to Walk on By with Kendrick. Absolutely did not expect that feature.

Not the best sound quality, but it doesn’t matter. This is Jimi at his best - sometimes raw, maybe a bit unbridled -and teetering on chaos. Some of the lack of polish adds to the feel of the record in my eyes (or ears?). I always wondered what he would’ve done musically if he was still around. The album opens with 3 classics and has a few more peppered in as it progresses, but everything else is solid as well and not too off the rails (like his Star Spangled Banner).

⭐️⭐️1/2 I was vibing with the chill sound and then Bad Liquor came out of nowhere and changed everything - that experience was not unlike my 20s. It was hard for me to rally (I’m talking about the album here, not my 20s) and take the rest of the album as seriously. I felt like the lyrics didn’t necessarily match the level of melancholy / somber the songs were portraying, they almost seemed too shallow. Maybe I need to give this another listen, but I wouldn’t say I’m itching to do so.

⭐️⭐️⭐️ Don’t have a lot to add on this one. I love the ambience of the album and especially like the points when the vocals accompany the tracks. I get this is intentionally more of a jammy vibe with political tones (looking at Wiki), but it didn’t jive with me as much as I’d have thought. I’ll have to revisit this when I’m not zoning out / dissociating.

Feeling a strong ⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2 on this one, maybe a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ if I revisit it. I listened through a couple times. The title track is a bit too drugged out and weird for me, but the back half of the album is full of some good songs. I don’t know if I knew really any of these and I’ve listened to a decent amount of Bowie.

Ok shit this is great album. I’m trying not to dole out too many 5s but I suppose this list is generally a list of amazing albums. I am trying to find reasons not to list it a 5, but I’m coming up short. I could see myself in the future playing this front to back with no skips. I’m a big rap guy and have never heard of this dude. I read that east coast rap was getting its ass kicked around by the west around the time this was released. Pretty sick beats and the rapping and lyrics are solid. The whole album is tight at 39 min. It’s got a slight bit of goofiness to it (like in You Can’t Stop the Prophet) but still goes hard.

⭐️⭐️1/2 Some songs insist upon themselves but there’s a lot I like, too. Could grow on me over time. I kept thinking that I was loving the instrumental portions of the tracks despite his voice. Man his voice is grating when he’s going on and on with the same lyric. It crescendos nicely with the instrumental often, though. The back half of the album is not as grating, but maybe the Stockholm Syndrome has fully kicked in at that point.

I don’t have much to say here. Listened to it once. I was ashamed that I thought some songs were bangers. Some of it lasted too long, though. I am not an Aguilera fan, but might have a slight bit more respect for her after this record.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2 Some amazing songs in this one. The atmosphere of the album is solid and it is short. I’m digging it.

⭐️⭐️⭐️ maybe ⭐️⭐️1/2 I actually didn’t mind this record, but didn’t find too much that I think I’ll come back to or that’ll get stuck in my head. I’d have guessed this was newer than 1993 as well. Maybe I’ll revisit it with time, but that just means I’ll have less time to revisit others like Getz / Gilberto.

I know there’s redeeming stuff about this one, but I can’t say I’d ever be excited to listen to again. Lexicon Devil is maybe my favorite of the bunch.

Great vibes. I had no idea what I was getting into with the opening track. This is a very atmospheric record. I feel like I could easily zone out listening to it or dig deep and listen to the layered sounds more intently.

This one is inseparable from my core memories. I grew up on these guys and have heard some of these songs hundreds and hundreds of times.

I was totally thrown off by this one. I made it a couple songs in and recognized what my untrained ears thought were a jazzy architecture. I was confused by Willie’s direction. I’m used to the hippie outlaw country badass, and that’s what I was looking for here. I had to look it up. I try not to look up albums before I finish my listening sessions as I think it may influence my rating decision to know the background behind a piece. A lot is lost by not having that context, but I try to have my rating schema be founded upon the work itself and not any geopolitical, cultural, or interpersonal issues that may have been the proverbial kiln in which the piece was baked. It turns out that this album was composed of old pop songs from decades prior and its direction was a source of contention with Willie’s record company. He was established as a pillar of outlaw country at this point and this was a departure. Knowing this shook me to my core. I questioned everything about Willie and my rating schema. I started thinking about Willie back in the late 70s and how he has always shirked the direction that the greats of country music paved the way for. Shirking responsibility and finding your own way is in itself one of the tenets of outlaw country. But why am I considering this in my review? According to how I’m undertaking this 1,001+ album challenge, this context shouldn’t matter. As I progressed further in, I started thinking about what I should rate this record, trying to separate out my sullied knowledge of the background. I was thinking that there was no way I can rate this a 5 given it’s a collection of songs he didn’t write. It’s a bit of a cheat code making an album of pre-written songs, in my mind. But in true Willie fashion, he made them his own with his almost poetic, unconventional delivery over the dreamy ambience set by the accompaniments… I need to stop blathering on and acting high-and-mighty about a few hundred words that maybe 2 or 3 people will read. But what is the point of publicly reviewing anything at all? What is a 5 to me? Does it matter? I don’t want to be handing these out Willie-nilly, but this is a 5.

⭐️⭐️ I ain’t much of a live album guy. I like Deep Purple and the guitar solos are interesting, but seeing disc 2 and its run-time for the same songs just took the wind out of my sails.

Not much to say. Kinda ethereal. Will revisit the text here someday.

I gotta give this another listen. It may be a 4 for me!