1001 Albums Summary

Look, there are some rap albums that stand out as excellent critiques of the state of society of the day over masterful flow; aka great rap albums. This isn't that. It's frequently misogynistic and violent braggadocio delivered with admittedly masterful flow and excellent sampling. And excellent musical bones do not a great rap album make, especially when the lyrics are this gross. I mean, the literal interlude of moaning in the middle of the album kind of gives away that it's not very good. Also, in what world is an 80-minute album really going to hold my interest when its content is this lacking. So in the end, this album did not age well at all despite its reputation among rap fans. It's worth listening to once, but I will never listen to it again.

This is the only album he made before dying... It came out in 1994... Is it Ready to Die all over again? No, it's not, because it's not a rap album. Instead, it sounds incredibly reminiscent of early Radiohead, but worse. Yes, Buckley is a good singer, but these songs are not that good. The guitar playing is alright, but I find these songs rather boring. Many of the songs run on way longer than they should, attempting to interest the listener with dramatic swells but not quite managing it. So, basically, this is a mediocre album that became insanely overrated because the artist died after its release. Yes, Hallelujah is great, but to me that says more about Leonard Cohen's greatness as a folk songwriter than it does about Buckley. Most of the rest of the album is mediocre alt-rock that is glazed to an insane degree by music people. I want this album to be good, but it consistently disappoints me.