1001 Albums Summary

6.8/10 Released in 1957, Here’s Little Richard stands as a pioneering piece for Rock and Roll, influencing the music of Elvis, Bob Dylan, and The Beatles. Little Richard had a flashiness and intensity that penetrated through the music culture at the time, hitting American radiowaves and causing a cultural revolution. It's important to note the influence this record had on breaking down racial barriers, as radio was still very segregated and sanitized. Though an important piece of music history that would overturn the status quo, "Here's Little Richard", at least to my ear, would be outdone by the greats that followed him. While it doesn't undermine the raw energy from the performances that still can be felt from these recordings, nowadays the bluesy tropes littered throughout the record combined with the shortness of each track make this album sound very stylistically samey to other artists that would be influenced from this record. Lyrically, the best tracks stay pretty lighthearted and fun but a lot of the times the repetitive nature of certain songs get quite annoying, like "Jenny, Jenny," and certain raunchy undertones of the album are made more complicated when taking into account Little Richard's history of sexual misconduct around this period of his life. Pre-censorship, the lyrics were notably supposed to be a lot more raunchy, specifically "Tutti Frutti," which was a lot more explicit in nature. While other artists will go on to do more interesting things with Rock music both stylistically and lyrically, this album is a fun journey, it is short enough as to not overstay its welcome, and everybody owes it to themselves to honor it with a listen. Tutti Frutti - 8 True, Fine Mama - 7 Can't Believe You Wanna Leave - 7 Ready Teddy - 7 Baby - 6 Slippin' and Sliding' (Peepin' And Hidin') - 7 Long Tall Sally (The Thing) - 8 Miss Ann - 6 Oh Why? - 7 Rip It Up - 7 Jenny, Jenny - 4 She's Got It - 7

7.8/10 A very influential record on the hard rock scene, Led Zeppelin I proved to be an electrifying debut for the legendary group. While a lot of this album is made of covers of old blues songs, differentiating this album from their later works, the band never fails to bring their own style and structure to these projects. I've always appreciated how dynamic the best Led Zeppelin tracks are, in addition to absolutely timeless riffs and arrangements. However, while the original tracks written by the band are consistently good, some of the cover songs suffer depending on how flexible the originals were to adapt into this heavier style. While I'm confident in saying tracks like "Babe I'm Gonna Leave You" and "Dazed and Confused" are among some of the best covers/rearrangements in history, others like "You Shook Me" and "Black Mountain Side" sound like wading through molasses and undercut the energy and flow of the rest of the album. Nevertheless, the rawness of the album, its theatrical and dramatic nature, and its versatility in tackling subjects like destruction and devastation, but also love and sex make this more than just a transitional piece, it turns it into a beloved classic. Good Times Bad Time - 9 Babe I'm Gonna Leave You - 9 You Shook Me - 6 Dazed and Confused - 8 Your Time Is Gonna Come - 7 Black Mountain Side - 6 Communication Breakdown - 8 I Can't Quit You Baby - 7 How Many More Times - 8