1001 Albums Summary

I’d never heard John Grant before but his music has great vocals and lyrics with a sense of humor as well as a very distinct identity. The songs practically beg to be sung along with… mostly. This isn’t the type of album I’m likely to seek out unless I’m in a quite specific mood, but I’m very glad I heard it now. “Jesus Hates Faggots” is BRUTAL. Happy last day of pride to this guy, goddamn.

This is an important album in Radiohead’s history, but it’s not my favorite. In any case it’s a solid showing that carries its mood through quite successfully, and the result is beautiful. I will be a Radiohead defender until I die.

Not their best, but there’s a few good ones in here. It’s not exactly bad as an album, but there are moments that just kind of washed over me.

I really hate this guy. Another 5/5.

This should be on the list but I wouldn’t exactly call this enjoyable all the way through. They aren’t the most technically varied band of the time and when you string a bunch of their music together as studio recordings it passes by as a wall of sound, and not in the deliberate Phil Spector (RIP bozo) way. I think I just like their music better in isolation, alongside others in the genre. I do have to hand it to them though, this album is blissfully short.

I’ve never heard this band before or any of the lead singer’s projects to my knowledge, but both vocals and often the instrumentals feel very familiar. Despite that there was a lot of interest in this album. I lost about half the lyrics to the sections where the singer mumbles a bit but that’s more of a me problem. “Temptation of Egg”, “Wolfy”, “No Reply” and “Satellite” were particularly interesting to me. I’m not sure I’d come back to the full album but it was a pretty good listen.

This probably isn’t their best, but the hits hit. It’s a pleasant listen, although I don’t think Silverfuck needed to be 8 minutes long. Listening through the thing also really reveals their patterns, but I don’t mind that so much when there’s production all around it to add variety and carry the intended vibe.

This album does exactly what it set out to do, and that is something that I struggle with for my own reasons. The conservative and inhuman sound is very evocative and interesting, especially for the time and place, but unfortunately for me there’s a necessary amount of very sensory-unfriendly tones. It’s apparent that it’s on purpose and I do think it’s very fitting, but I’m too sensitive to enjoy it. The repetition also gets to be a bit much as each song stretches on. I am still going to give it a 5 because personal sensibilities aside, there’s no denying that it’s a great album that belongs on the list.

Banger, obviously.

No thank you.

Clapton is kind of frustrating to me because he had potential and just never really pushed the envelope enough to develop a truly distinct style. You maybe can’t map this 1:1 to his worldview, but I do think the two are related. As for this album, there are some odd choices- the hand jive being one of them- but that’s where like 90% of what’s interesting here comes from. Also you can’t be talking like that white baby.

This sure is a metal album from 2008. At that time I was in 8th or 9th grade and I remember Dead Memories getting a lot of play on the local rock station, but they definitely weren’t one of the most frequently played nu metal acts in general and I think that’s because their best music isn’t for the radio. Certainly very few small town stations at the time would have dared to play something like Gematria… Not at all bad, but not a lot stands out in this particular album. Lots of very technical drums though, that’s fun. I’d like to hear some of their earlier work at some point.

For many reasons I wish Bowie hadn’t been such a bastard, but the second foremost in my mind after listening to this album is that I would feel a lot more comfortable praising him for his lifetime achievement as an artist. While strange, experimental, and possibly a little too busy, this is a really fascinating final work. His voice really stood the test of time but you can still hear his age and state, and it really works for most of the album (I did not like the second track at all). The other aspect of this I find most interesting is that he did an excellent job marrying his sensibilities with contemporary influences. It’s rare for someone with the kind of success and influence he had to genuinely continue to pursue development as an artist right up until the end, much less to truly respect the work of significantly younger people enough to learn from it (and cite them). There are many things you can (and should) accuse Bowie of, but stagnation is not one of them. I wouldn’t personally call this a 5 star album but it’s essential listening for anyone who wants a full picture of his work. Special shout-out to the saxophonist, Donny McCaslin, who really played like there would be no second chance.

Jay Z couldn’t possibly have foreseen that he’d be releasing this on 9/11 but there is a certain ineffable quality to the act of releasing an album that day that isn’t even all that good. Not bad enough to be outright dismissed, not good enough to be “justified” in hindsight. Thoroughly mid.

A delight! There’s some pretty iconic songs on this one. I really liked the interludes where the kids talked about love.

Outkast can demand 2 hours of my time because I know it's going to be worth it. I was actually a little surprised that I enjoyed Speakerboxxx more than The Love Below, even with the one-two punch of Hey Ya and Roses as an advantage. Regardless, both halves had strong concepts and plenty of interesting and fun beat construction (although I think Speakerboxxx really had the most interesting elements). I'll absolutely come back to this album.

Not every song is a winner to me, but still a good time overall. I think the standout for me was All The Critics Love U in New York because of the bass and the constant forward momentum that the whole track embodied.

A fascinating album full of sounds I didn't know you could make with a horn. This is some jazz-ass jazz but never alienating even for someone like me who tends to prefer the easier-listening end of the spectrum. The momentum of the whole album builds from track to track, and the motif of an increasing number of dancers really works with that. I'm really glad this was on the list.

I really appreciate what they’re doing here. It’s just too bad I listened to this while deeply irritated. I should come back to it ready to relax into it. Even in this state though, I can’t help but appreciate the layers.

I can’t listen to this album. Not once have I made it all the way through in a sitting. It completely consumes my entire day every time I try. I can emotionally recover from one or two songs, but many more than that and I simply won’t. That’s the highest compliment I can give it, even if that really says more about me than anything else. It’s funny that this came up fairly recently after Blackstar. Both artists knew this was going to be their last work and passed not long after releasing, but as much as I appreciated Blackstar it doesn’t have the same devastating effect on me that American IV has. Blackstar is just more bittersweet, while this album leaves no survivors.