1001 Albums Summary

So good - he's very unique in the folk world where he can be unsentimental (no like flowers and sunshine bullshit) and also mostly concrete (no bob dylan mysticism bullshit). Every verse is like a nice contained story with some logic between lines it's not just a bunch of stuff that sounds good. Do I always know what he's talking about? No basically never. But by like the 10th time I listen to a song I'm like "ooooh he's saying he's sad". Stranger song and one of us cannot be wrong are just so good. He's really at his best when he's incredibly bitter and we get a taste of that but not quite enough - the 60s could tolerate only so much hate he could really only soar post-Manson. The music is obviously not why youre here for but it's pretty good? Like fits the vibe of the lyrics. No drums but he gets so much rhythm and energy from the guitar. The recording quality is pretty rough - feels like they recorded the parts one at a time onto the same tape or something? Like very copy of a copy of a VHS tape feeling. Awesome that it ends with him randomly moaning in a way that sounds like he's in the next room.

It's a great Dust Brothers album and an ok Beastie Boys album. Their vocals are mixed so low you can barely tell anything they're saying - it's pretty fun when you can though? I think the Beastie Boys are fundamentally very silly and this album is very cool which kinda means you lose some silliness. Like you could actually put a lot of these tracks on as background in a bar or something and it wouldn't be that distracting, but there are a lot of other artists better suited to be played in the background at a bar. Shake your rump is truly great though super energetic and chaotic and disjointed I wish the whole album was more like that. Production is really great throughout though 5 stars for them.

Wanted to be a hater but unfortunately it’s very good. Great energy - so much work being done by the percussion and organ but Santana is also good at guitar I guess. Vocals were ok - I think they would blend really well with a Rob Thomas type.

Why is it that the Eagles suck? It all sounds good and the songs are pretty solid. Like if they weren’t the Eagles and they were just a country band I might like them. And yet. Take it Easy is so so good. Earlybird’s birdsong opening is so grating I almost quit the album. The rest did not penetrate my memory.

Another Neil Young album where he's a sloppy rocker but never changes the way the guitar sounds or exactly hits the right notes. Maybe I just don't like live albums. I like Neil Young I promise! They should just cut all the songs that aren't My My Hey Hey and I would love it.

On first listen I thought this was a really witty band and all the jokes went over my head and then I realized they were Australian not British and suddenly they didn't seem so smart anymore. What does that say about me? Super fun and catchy - he's got such a good voice and their harmonies are really simple but really good. It feels very much like it's ripping off Squeeze and Elvis Costello but I don't mind it. The production is super dated of course but kinda fun. I get the feeling that this was seen as disposable trash when it came out, but it's pretty fun trash.

Damn I was hating on this album in my in utero review but it’s so good. Just way more of a pop album than its reputation. Full of hits tho. Giving it 4 to be interesting.

The Rolling Stones got so much better in the 70s - I think 60s blues just sounds so thin and they really loved only playing covers of like howling wolf. I don’t think I endorse all of the ideas and attitudes in this album but it’s really good.

Cool vibe and I LOVED Bananeira. Most of the songs did nothing for me though. There’s something so eerie about a singer singing in Portuguese and then suddenly switching to English for a minute. It’s like if you were watching a movie and suddenly the character looked straight at you and said your name.

Really good energy super exciting - unfortunately I kinda don’t care about half the songs. But hungry like a wolf is so good and even the forgettable songs are high energy.

It’s really unfortunate for Common that I now see him as a minor character on the not very good Apple TV show Silo so I cannot take him seriously as a musician. I think he’s in the zone of conscious rap where he’s absolutely humorless but also not like coming off as having a deep political understanding or being able to tell emotional stories - it’s very in the “where is the love” vein (pejorative). I definitely get the Marvin Gaye thing they’re going for like just a smooth sincere guy saying there are problems - but Marvin Gaye is Marvin Gaye so he doesn’t have to say much to be powerful. The production is really great - of course it was Kanye. Especially liked the first and last song - more jazzy backing like a tribe called quest or something. The rest was classic 2000s Kanye which is fun but I’d rather hear it with a funner higher energy rapper. The only moment I really tuned in and was loving it was the very end of the last song which was Common’s dad?? So 5 stars for Common’s dad that was great.

I had trouble understanding what he was saying the first time around, then I had a drink and understood every word perfectly. Really good - I have some trouble with traditional Irish music and with the 80s reverb drum sound but his voice is so good - punk and Irish music kinda make a lot of sense together but I would never have guessed. Fairytale of New York is really incredible and there were other very good songs but nothing nearly as good as that.

Obviously the singles are 5 star classics. I can't get into their album tracks on this one though too "psychadelic" and meandering when their best songs are so hooky. Great voice though. Idk why it's mixed like the drums are 1 mile away in the grand canyon.

About 10 seconds in I was convinced I would hate it, but it was just so dense it pulled me in. Structured in the microstructure but not in the macrostructure. Lyrics were a little annoying at times but never lazy. I don't think I would ever listen to the whole album again for fun though so that loses it a star sadly.

Such a beautiful voice and Everybody's Talking is a great song - but I like the Harry Nilsson version better and I like the covers on this album better than the originals. I think he is cool and this album is not that great.

I don’t know why I’ve never connected with this album since it’s surrounded by albums I love. Heroes the song is incredible and all the instrumental songs are great, but other vocal songs are like cacophonous and have that 80s drum production style but without any good hooks so it somehow feels like empty pop music without any fun.

Pretty incredible. So much energy and so much complexity. Such a shock when the vocals come in like 10 minutes into the song - but they have their own rhythm that slots into the instrumental groove. I don’t know enough Fela to know if this is the best of his albums so I kinda feel like I’m just rating the style. But he invented the style and the whole genre so feels valid.

Unfortunate to listen to this right after Fela Kuti - feels like a pale imitation. But still very good - I Zimbra and Animals especially. Definitely not my favorite talking heads album though - no song is all that incredible.

Classic Rolling Stones album where there are like 2 incredible all time classics and then the rest of the album sounds like they looked up the chords to a blues standard and they're playing it through for the first time. Of the crap - Dear Doctor and Stray Cat Blues are pretty good. Sympathy for the Devil is so great - hard to be so spare and sound so complex.

Love that this starts with a one-take off-the-cuff spoken word section with a few "uhhh"s in which she says we should all be less petty just like Donald Trump who is above the fray. Weird how little Missy there is on the album? It's like she's a feature on her own album. I guess this was just pop-hip-hop at this time - basically just Timbaland making pretty good beats and a lot of features (which are all just like "me and missy are friends I like her but actually I'm the greatest but she's good too" and have no relation to the rest of the song) and melodic hooks that are played like 5 times. But whenever she's actually rapping (for like 8 bars at a time) it's so good. She has such good rhythm and a great voice and like fully doesn't care about saying real words. It's like scatting or something. Then when she does say real words sometimes it's "can I put my booty-booty up in your spaghetti, daddy?" - a question we've all asked. Work It is obviously an all time classic and when they reverse it I am cheering and clapping.

While pop and hip hop in the early 90s were using sampling and fart-y synths for Good - NIN were using them for Evil. Really edgy and modern even today - I was shocked this was from 1994. The secret of NIN is that his voice (and lyrics) are super whiny and annoying so you really need them to be either instrumental or have his voice so distorted and low in the mix that it just sounds like background wailing - they got the balance right here. But overall just a nice good vibes morning album. Gotta visit the studio they recorded this in must be the happiest place on earth.

LOVE to see a 45 minute album with 4 songs. All of these were pretty consistent with what I expected from Theme from Shaft generally in a good way - lots of instrumental build up and lots of repetition with an exciting ending. First half was really fun just good instrumentation with a fun groove and he’s got a great song. Second half really fell off a cliff. Usually he’s got a slow repetitive start but By the Time I Get to Phoenix was just unbearably boring for the first 10 minutes - boring low content story with literally one note repeated by both the keys and the bass could not stand it. The ending was very very good but I’d already quit the album in my heart by then.

To disclose my biases - yes, James Murphy did go to my high school so I may be inclined to overrate him (out of hometown pride). But also yes, James Murphy did say that he wanted to blow up my hometown with a bomb so I may be inclined to underrate him (out of fear for the lives of my family). I think this is the best LCD Soundsystem album - it's super dancy and fun with great instrumental buildup but it's also where they first figured out how to express some emotions (other than anger). But it's still got the classic LCD thing where it seems a little detached and superior so the listener gets to have fun and dance but also feel smart and look down on other more sincere dance music. The drums are a real drum kit on most songs and mixed super loud which gives the whole thing some edge (same with a little bit of real bass). 5 stars. You can explode my family James Murphy.

You may not notice it the first few times you listen, but hidden within the lyrics is just the subtlest, most tasteful hint of sexuality. "Giving the Dog a Bone" and "Let Me Put My Love into You" are - in addition to common phrases which we all use every day - evocative of the actions which one must undertake in order to have sexual intercourse. But even beyond that this sensuality pervades the album. "You Shook Me All Night Long" doesn't sound like anything at first - there's nothing sexual about shaking. But then when you go a step further and consider what could be causing that shaking... the mind reels. They also seem very interested in this "rock and roll" concept which I assume is some kind of Australian sex act. Not sure what to think about AC/DC they're somewhere between respected classic rock like Led Zeppelin and disrespected crap like Aerosmith or Kiss. They never sing about lord of the rings or anything so maybe that's why they're not as respected as zeppelin. But they're much better than Aerosmith. Definitely going for "rock + roll" not like blues or prog, but they get a little more expansive than just pure guitar solos (I guess just the bell in Hell's Bells). They do great with arrangement and dynamics - it's all about the interplay between the drum kit and the lead guitar so when either drops out for a second it's really effective.

These alcoholics can really sing a song! I think I love this album and I am a big supporter of the replacements as the beginnings of indie rock. But it's sad to listen to them right after AC/DC - AC/DC is so much dumber lyrically but they do so much more with the same basic guitar bass drums lineup. Lots of great songs - Favorite Thing and Answering Machine are great "vulnerable tough guy" love songs. Androgynous aged incredibly well considering. Black Diamond is just funny because it's a Kiss song but still very good. Gary's Got a Boner is obviously unforgivable. Gary's boner cost you a star, The Replacements.

I've tried a couple times to get into these guys and I am not capable. I respect the refusal to make something listenable or melodic. If this was like a Pavement album with one weird spoken word piece I might be in. But can't do a full album.

Of course it's good - it's Miles Davis. But the whole time I'm listening I just wish I was listening to Bitches Brew instead - it's so similar but not quite as hard-edged. So I don't know if I would ever go out of my way to listen to this.

Love how maximalist and ambitious this is, but it feels a little bloated too. Starting with an instrumental intro called "Suite II Overture" is so crazy - never want an album to feel like a sequel. And it's so long I was checking the time a lot while listening to this album which is not a great sign. She's obviously very talented - great singer and really strong rapper, backing tracks are very interesting and prince-y. There's something about that 2010s production though it's so smooth and put-together that it never really feels very emotional or expressive even though she's wailing and hitting great high notes. Maybe that's the android part. Tightrope is a great song though.

So good considering how limited rock was back then - he can really capture some specific feelings in a 3 minute song with no multi-track recording and no guitars. Blueberry Hill is so good. So much energy to it without just being a "rock around the clock" style party song.

Got a little nervous when the mandolins and slide guitar came in but damn those harmonies are good. I guess they kinda invented close harmony? They sound great together and even pretty good when they're singing solo. Tragic Songs of Life is such a good title they're so goth.

They have such a specific sound and they just do it over and over again: Iron Maiden guitar sound playing power chords, Nirvana drums and double-tracked weird voice guy. When it works it really works though. Self Esteem and Come Out and Play are both so fun. Just got a little samey by the end. Of course this guy has a PhD in Molecular Biology you can hear it in his voice.

One of my favorite Led Zeppelin albums - not too obsessed with pretending to be Bluesmen, not fully in Lord of the Rings mode. Super heavy at times but not afraid to go light and acoustic. Since I've Been Loving you is probably my favorite of their songs. Must admit there is a lot more filler than some other Zeppelin albums but it's pretty fun filler.

Surprised by how boring this was. I think I expected Swedish electronic music to be high energy and crazy but this was pretty vibey. Whenever they used the low voice effect I felt like I was listening to Bon Iver and I was bored out of my mind. I hope that's not transphobic of me. But when they used their natural voice it was very fun and I got to think about Bjork and be happy.

Such a great sound - they clearly listened to a lot of Velvet Underground and a lot of Be My Baby and just mashed them together over and over and I love it. One of the only 80s bands who used reverb in a way that feels romantic and emotional rather than cheap shitty 80s poppy. And when they're going for guitar noise it's really noise - felt like they made this album extra loud on spotify somehow. Just Like Honey is so great and most of the other songs feel like they wrote half a song and then spent the rest of their time fiddling with guitar pedal knobs. Worth it though such great guitar sounds.

Morrissey is a very problematic figure - worst of all his disrespect for the album as a medium. I didn't know until today that Bona Drag is a compilation not a real album - but it has the 2 best songs from Viva Hate and then way more fun songs which are better than most of the songs on this (technically real) album. But this one is still good I suppose. I am on record saying that Suedehead is one of the best songs of all time. Everyday is Like Sunday is not too far behind - "In the seaside town/That they forgot to bomb/Come, come, come, nuclear bomb" is so good and so Morrissey. I Don't Mind If You Forget Me also really fun. I think the poppy backing works better for him than the smiths - makes his depressing outlook feel cheeky and clever rather than the Smiths which force you to take his annoying feelings too seriously. Bengali in Platforms - if it were any other artist "life is hard enough when you belong here" would feel very backhanded and hateful, but given what we know about Morrissey it's touching that he's not technically saying anything directly hurtful about a Bengali man.

This album hit the UC Berkeley campus so hard in 2012 I am unable to be objective. It's great? Every song is a hit. A lot more structured than Blond(e) - really keeps moving and has good hooks. Impressive how seamlessly and can switch between beauty and ugliness - love songs next to songs about crack addicts + rich pill addicts and always some nice electric piano and beautiful vocals. I also really love the Earl Sweatshirt + Andre 3000 verses but I might have just heard them so many times that they sound like classics. Bad Religion is so good it should have more streams.

Something so weird and sloppy about Cream considering they have this reputation as greatest supergroup ever. I guess they just want to be a delta blues band and Led Zeppelin hasn't shown up yet so they can get away with this. Also the power trio thing is just a thin sound by nature but they're trying to do like harmonies and sing about ulysses so it doesn't feel powerful and stupid like a fun garage band. Clapton obviously great and a few definite hits. They should include a bonus track that's just the band drunk and screaming at each other.

Really good jazzy 60s pop - definitely not lazy hippie shit. Some great spanish guitar. I don't think I will actually listen to this album again but it was definitely quality and I might listen to some songs.

There are 3 Bjorks - Fun poppy Bjork, crazy scary Bjork and cool vibey Bjork. This is cool vibey Bjork - the worst Bjork of all. Mostly rating low because I know she can do better. I love you Bjork.

Live Bob Dylan is a really specific experience and he is not for everyone. Live Bob Dylan is not for me. I love all these songs so it was kinda like a fun greatest hits album, but they were all just much sloppier with more sour notes and less melody than the album version. For the first acoustic half I was like "oh well he needs the band that's the problem" then the band comes out and I had moments of "this is awesome Bob Dylan is a rock star" and then he started doing his like donkey bray singing and I was out again. I think there's something admirable about his refusal to sing any song with the same melody as the albums, but I think he kinda just winds up singing random notes.

Am I the only one who feels like The Beatles are calling me to action here? Something about Piggies and Helter Skelter is just really making me want to take on a divine mission. Honestly I'm swamped right now with 1001albumsgenerator so I can't do it but I hope somebody's been able to answer the call. This is certainly not the best Beatles album but it's my personal favorite. So shaggy and all over the place and almost no bad songs (fuck Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da). It has so much replay value since it's basically 4 dramatically different albums in one - I can't hold it all in my head at once I'm surprised every time I listen. The big Beatles songs all get played to death so the most classic ones (Blackbird, While My Guitar Gently Weeps) lose their power over time. The funny songs (Piggies, Back in the U.S.S.R., Rocky Raccoon) I liked when I was 6 and now I get more of the jokes (Gideon's Bible is such a funny name for a gang). And the slow emotional songs (Dear Prudence, Julia) were boring to me as a kid but now they're some of my favorite Beatles songs. I'm So Tired is an underrated classic too. I recently learned that Sexy Sadie was originally "Maharishi" and was changed to be polite to the Maharishi?? Anyway just a great time - the Beatles getting more eccentric and independent and maybe the only Beatles album you could possibly call "underrated".

I'm such a sucker for a jazz album which presents as a concept album. At worst jazz can feel like a bunch of random notes, but this adds a lot of structure by presenting this as a single unified work driven by simple saxaphone riffs. Really fun when the piano comes in playing in... a different key or something? I don't know jazz. And great bass and drum moments too. I am so hyped when he starts singing though.

It's funny how much this just sounds like hair metal - it's just another LA metal band that could be Motely Crue, but instead of singing about fucking they're singing about like skeletons. Really liked the first and last tracks, but mostly I think I just don't like thrash metal (or most metal really). I guess unfair to these guys because they probably invented the sound, but when I listen I just hear every other metal band and every parody of a metal band. Feels like a commodity good.

This is the very end of the Neil Young golden age - he hasn't yet left the world of "melody" and "being in tune". Some really good songs - Walk On is super catchy, For the Turnstiles is really pretty, Revolution Blues and Ambulance Blues sound like they're aiming for Dylan but Neil Young's a little too kindhearted to really pull it off. "Well I hear that Laurel Canyon is full of famous stars / But I hate them worse than lepers and I'll kill them in their cars" is such a good way to end a song about his good friend Charles Manson. All that said it's starting to get a little meandering and most of the songs didn't stick with me after a couple listens.

Whenever I think of Jane’s Addiction I imagine the Jared Leto joker made it and then it all makes sense

Great album - might work better as a T-shirt though. So good and new (at the time). They really figured out the high-end / low-end sound. One of the best voices obviously. Disorder is awesome with the chaotic bass. There are a couple 5 star songs but I'd basically always rather listen to a selection of Joy Division songs rather than a full album.

This was a great moment where popstars just made more fun rock music. She's got such a good voice and the backing is so good sounds like The Cars or something. I feel like she was the 80s posterchild for vacuous pop but she's great (maybe vacuous but not more than any other 80s band). Do I like that she goes betty boop mode at the end? Of course I do!

A concept album is so much greater than the songs it's made up of. In this case, the concept is not very great and the songs are even less great. Like all concept albums it constantly diverts from its central concept and any time it adheres to the concept you wish they were singing about like having sex and doing drugs instead (they later solved that one in Tommy though). I think the concept is very funny but didn't love the execution. A couple good songs though.

This was forgettable. If they wanted to be remembered they should have told me not to forget about them.

This is the coolest thing to happen in England between 1990 and today. So many imitators but no one can really even reference trip-hop without looking like a bad Portishead. She's got such a perfect voice for this production style - such a good specific vibe.

Very good - thought I didn't like reggae but I liked this. I don't know if there are just a bunch of bands doing weak Bob Marley impressions or if I'm mostly hearing the royalty-free version of it in pop culture. A lot more sparse than I expected but still a lot of instrumentation - great bass and drums of course and some really fun horns. Makes sense that it starts in the late 70s - definitely shares some DNA with funk and afrobeat but slowed down by an enormous amount of weed. I feel like there's a Bruce Springsteen thing going on where the reputation is like fun and good vibes but the songs are mostly very dark. Also a lot more jesus-y than I expected but I'm not mad about it.

There's not really anything else like this album - so different from every other Pixies album. Kind of the slickest and most produced they ever got and it never slows down, but they'll still throw in some bum notes and feedback and they open with an instrumental song followed by a song where you can't understand a single word he says. So funny that this is 1990 Pixies it's like they went through grunge and transcended into surf rock by the time Nevermind came out.

Why is every mediocre folk singer obsessed with kings and queens and clowns? So upsetting he's American if he was British he would have an excuse for sounding like that. Goodbye and Hello the song goes pretty hard though.

Terrible. Is 1967 the worst year for music? Music lazy lyrics lazy this was such a slog.

She's so cool. I would like to be Mr. Harry Harvey. Crazy amount of texture from the sparse arrangements and so much energy. Love the vocal mixing - super low mixed basically no processing very little double tracking - super dry in a way that's really grating and awesome. Such good dynamics too songs really build and she's such a good screamer.

She's so cool. I would like to be Mr. Harry Sade. This album gets 5 stars for the way she says "no need to ask" in Smooth Operator and another 5 stars for when she says "Coast to Coast, LA to Chicago". Such an awesome unique voice and some pretty legit jazz musicians going crazy in the background.

"Everybody Screamed when I kissed the teacher" - it's hard to imagine a more perfect way to open an album. Follow that up with a song about a 17 year old and you got yourself a classic! 5 stars for that one piano riff at the end of the Dancing Queen chorus. And minus 1 star for Happy Hawaii and generally reckless levels of swedishness.

I can't believe he was a complete unknown when he wrote this

So good - I only knew their 1979 album this is a lot more refined and clean but they kept the energy and add some dissonant guitar and kinda nasty edgy synths. Feels like they're going full Bowie - like very committed to pop plus very committed to noise rock. Really like the transitions between songs I'm such a sucker for a suite. Not a lot of like slam dunk hits though - Drums and Wires belongs on this list!

The production is so good that the album feels timeless even with lines like "Mr. Dinkins will you please be my mayor?". Not enough people sample jazz albums it just instantly gives such a cool vibe - but you lose a lot of the energy you get from sampling funk I guess. That said kinda hate like half the songs on this album - the lyrics are so far behind the production - all these comedy songs and like talking about food it feels very Rapper's Delight.

I think of Alice Cooper as mostly a stage show but there are some pretty good early metal songs here - Hello Hooray is great. Elected is fun especially for pre-Watergate. On average pretty forgettable tho. I don't know what Billion Dollar Babies is about and I googled it and looked it up on Genius - this knowledge is lost to time.

This is the era where all guitar music was just a bunch of plinks and plonks and I hate it. It's like Led Zeppelin if Led Zeppelin took a pill that made Led Zeppelin suck.

3 stars for all the songs where she gets cheated on, 5 stars for all the songs where she cheats on him.

Awesome album - so much energy and rhythm without sacrificing melody. Very few bands play this fast and still go for harmony. And of course I like his weird voice who wouldn't.

I'm on record as hating blues and live albums but I didn't hate this. He's a really good performer - solos are so melodic and his voice is great. Also love the horns and the screaming crowds - nice to hear blues in a moment when it was still current and not striving for "authenticity". That said hate most of the songs - half of them just repeat the same line over and over ("everyday, everyday I've got the blues"). The 12 bar blues thing is so repetitive that he transitions from one song into another by playing the same chords and doesn't stop in between.

First song was rough - his singing voice sounds like if Larry the Cable Guy started a country career. When he said "Hot Dog Bun" I was really out on it. Once I was acclimated to the voice I started loving the album - some very funny lines ("your flag decal won't get you into heaven anymore"). Feels like Dylan or Cohen but run through an Aw Shucks filter instead of a look-how-smart-I-am filter (again, very Larry the Cable Guy). He's best when he's doing his rye irreverent thing on a sad song like in Sam Stone.

Feels like a transition between 80s pop and trip-hop - they definitely figured out how to turn the fun knob down here, but in the future they would realize the fun knob can go so much lower. Good bass throughout and pretty fun when they're rapping, but mostly a slog.

He's got a great voice - really works well with the limited recording quality, so good whenever he spikes the mic. After the first song I was basically just waiting for it to end though. I wish they would take off that dumb electric jug sound it ruins every song - we can just call it "The Sounds of the 13th Floor Elevators".

I think it's really good? High energy, great vocals and melodies. But also hard to see it as anything other than an anonymous knockoff of New Wave + Bowie. The lounge version of Poison Arrow is so good though so maybe the songwriting is actually good and it's just the production that's dated.

Why can't I find any pictures of him with a man-bun? I can hear the man-bun on the record. Why are they covering this up?

Way tighter than their live album - loved how riffy it was in every song and even in the solos - everything was just like perfectly repeated staccato notes played fast. When they were all playing the riff in unison it was pretty awesome. But the sound overall was weirdly thin for a 5 piece band? Idk if it was just bad mixing/1970 recording quality. Couldn't help but compare it to the first Led Zeppelin album from a year earlier - less energy, less structure, worse solos, worse singer, less melodies. They've definitely got a distinct sound from Led Zeppelin though. Basically no songs I would actually wanna listen to again - especially not the full song since they all kinda dragged on.

Really fun good energy throughout. Loved the P-Funk samples and that everyone had a funny voice. When he started doing a Blowfish voice during Underwater Rimes it was so awesome. The pace was generally so slow though it got a little annoying when they were just listing different countries that like the way they swing. Also so funny that they have this like elaborate multisong swing that's just a sexual fantasy where there are no women involved. We need more concept albums about jerking off.

It's like if Jonathan Richman was an incredible bass guitarist. Best part is when there are features - most of the lyrics are so low effort that it feels like he's just killing time.

Mostly an anonymous Buzzcocks ripoff, but his crazy warbly voice is so good. It's like Rod Stewart + Jello Biafra. Teenage Kicks is great. Also great that this is a punk band in Ireland in the 70s with basically no political message whatsoever.

Title track is crazy good - sounds like nothing else. So fast and short and takes so many twists and turns. Rest of the album gets a little too Van Halen-y. But pretty cool the guitarist can do Van Halen's style about as good as Van Halen. The super 80s production mostly just makes me sad and angry that the best Bad Brains album of all isn't on this list: my playlist "Bad Brains with all the reggae songs removed".

Obviously listening to this in 2026 I feel a little conflicted (I love cops + hate women), but it's just so good. Still feels edgy today. Ice Cube has such a great voice and Eazy-E has such a funny voice - a perfect balance.

Very very good - feels like her Blue. Love her commitment to being legitimately mean-spirited throughout. Loveless is a highlight wish it was its own track, Writer in the Dark also great. Not rating it a 5 out of protest for Pure Heroine not being on this list.

Now I may be just a simple country boy, but these boys out of Southern California sure can pick out a helluva tune! 5 stars for the side with featured singers 3 stars for the instrumental side. Never thought I would like this Grand Ole Opry shit but it was so fun.

As an Elvis Costello stan this is supposed to be like my favorite album ever. I do love it! So many incredible songs and basically no bad ones. I think it has to be on the second tier of Costello for me though since it doesn't have that crazy 100% on pop energy. He is being the Beatles and he's great at it but I want him to be Elvis Costello.

I think I'm the only one in the world who thinks Flava Flav is better than Chuck D. I missed him whenever he wasn't saying dumb shit. Very weird album - super fun driving drums for the entire album and lots of like repetition of lyrics and samples from old Public Enemy songs. Feels kinda avant garde.

This is the most 2009 album of all time. The falsetto was funny enough that it's not a 1 star but the instrumental backing was kinda tired.

Kinda fun at times? I guess post sublime and Beck some sort of laid back rap-rock seemed like it might make sense. Loved King of New York - rappers never talk about how another guy is the king they're usually so selfish. And did anyone think John Gotti was innocent? I didn't know.

Dinosaur jr jr. Modestest Mouse. Stephen Malkmus and no Jicks.

The year is 1997. The market can tolerate an infinite number of Oasises. Enter The Charlatans with their OK album Tellin' Stories. The nation of England crumbles into the sea under the sheer weight of Oases. The world watches silently - not a tear is shed. For although the world would not have wished for this fate, they knew that it must be so.

If I made music this bad I would be ashamed to show my face in public

Awesome album - super textured and edgy but very energetic. Kinda Wire + Garbage. Not as many catchy hooks as I'd like but great energy.

Can't even be a stinker about this one it's too good. First 3 tracks all-time classics and 5-9 are maybe even better but less fun. Last 2 are boring but go off Brian Eno I guess. Fuck Bullet The Blue Sky. I think I could hang out with Bono and I think he would like me.

Ok this is all about Bitter Sweet Symphony obviously - everything else is just like "la la la I am addicted to pills" while a guitar plays with a wahwah pedal in the background. Bitter Sweet Symphony so good. In my memory it was kinda bloated and overproduced but it was really working for me today. It's so crucial that his voice sounds like he's too cool to try and he doesn't give a shit while the music is off doing some nerd shit. This creates a dialectic by which the cool dude (the singer) and the nerd (the writer, who happens to also be the singer) fight it out and arrive at a really good song on an otherwise boring as fuck album.

Is 3 albums on this list too many for the Pet Shop Boys? I like their thing and they did it 12 more times here. Good for them. Go West is awesome.

Can is so cool. I wish there was like a melody or perhaps a structure. I was a little waiting for it to end by the end. But very cool and some great moments.

Why is it that a breakup album feels romantic and a divorce album doesn't? I guess because of song titles like "You Can Leave, But It's Going To Cost You". He's got a beautiful voice and the backing is always pretty good but nothing really catchy here. I would like if he was hearing something through a grapevine or asking me what is going on.

Rare one-hit-wonder where the other songs are also fun. Nothing nearly as good obviously but that's a 6 star song. He's got such a great voice and the traditional instruments mean that this mercifully does not sound like it's from 1982.

I heard that when the lady from Elastica left this band she took the treble knob with her so now Elastica has 2 treble knobs and Suede has 0 treble knobs and that's why they both sound like that

The first era of Fiona Apple where she like has a producer and seems to be in a real studio is not the true Fiona Apple. It should feel like she's recorded the whole album locked in a closet having an active breakdown while the producer tries to get in to help her. Her thing is fully figured out here though - very skillful jazz vocals with some 90s production and beautiful lyrics. She just hasn't unlocked the lo-fi mania and I miss it. Can't go lower than 4 though I love her too much. I would like to be Mr. Harry Apple.

People who say that Music From Big Pink is the better album haven't considered that I heard this one first. I like them sounding like a real band rather than Bob Dylan's basement freaks.

What if EDM sounded like my alarm clock fading in to wake me gently in the morning?

High School Confidential - what is this Jerry Lee’s tinder profile?? 🤣 Very fun overall and the originals are great. Love how much he says his own name. Whenever he did a Little Richard cover you could really dwell on how much he was ripping Little Richard off.

Less dreary and more edgy + textured than Unknown Pleasures. Zero memorable melodies though. It is time for the Joy Division to end. A New Order must rise.

It's full of classics and basically every song is great but it's so dreary. I think Nigel Godrich fucked it up the production is way too slick. And it's overrated. And I love it. But not as much as other Radiohead albums! Subtracting one star in recognition of the recent bad political opinions of certain band members. When you see me giving 5 stars to almost every other Radiohead album please recall the brave stance I took here subtracting one star.

Highway to Hell the song is awesome - the rest are pretty forgettable. In Back in Black they really figured out how to make every song very clearly sexual - here they are playing in the area of sexuality in vague confusing ways. Beating Around the Bush should be such a lay-up and it's weirdly a breakup song? Where is the fucking! Also hate to say it but I think Kiss's album from 3 years earlier did this same style a little better.

I like the Byrds a little more in this weird sci-fi mode - they were a little bland on mr tambourine man here they seem to be embracing their weirdo side. Mr Spaceman is very fun and Eight Miles High is awesome - surprised it came out before Tomorrow Never Knows. Their version of Hey Joe is way worse than another version I also listened to today. Also at one point I was like "why are they doing that annoying Byrds guitar thing" then I remembered they are the Byrds. What a compliment that I forgot though.

Why have I been told all my life that Kiss sucks? The music is as good as any other 70s metal and they have awesome shoes.

The classic Rolling Stones album with two all-time classic songs and then they just left the recorder running until they filled a record. Stupid Girl is kinda amazing - they keep saying "look at this stupid girl" and you're waiting for them to subvert it or be like why do I like her so much and instead they just say "she's the worst thing in this world". Absolute purity of message I respect it.

The guitarist is pretty good on this one

I love the Kinks vibe - every song is fun and always feels like it must be funny but it's going over my head. Nothing on this album was really breaking through beyond "great vibes" though.

So prescient about the current state of the world what with artificial intelligence and other such issues. Also I just love it for some reason.

I love jazz organ and I think this is a good album but I don't think his jazz organ is that good on this album. Larry Young all the way.

Pretty fun - definitely a little more bloated than Straight Outta Compton. So many tracks that are just like some dialogue from an interview with a beat over it. I kinda like him better as the leader of a crew - he was definitely the best part of NWA but it's kinda fun when Eazy-E shows up sometimes. Obviously It Was A Good Day and Check Yo Self are awesome. Love how much his one thing that every song is about is violence. Like not even necessarily as a means to an end it's just like "I'm going to kill you". It's awesome. And so much braver to rap about beating up cops than like beating up some other rapper - there are so many cops and they're everywhere you go.

There's no other album like this - so spooky and hypnotic. Some incredible jazz musicians with a strange Irish man singing about prostitutes and viaducts in the strangest voice you've ever heard. Structure makes no sense. Songs drag on forever. Such an easy 5 stars.

Paul McCartney prog rock. It's so good and so over the top in every way and no one is better at melodies than him. But it also starts to feel a bit like empty fun. Picasso's Last Words really annoys me - the reprise of all the other songs feels forced. Nice that they got the Lumineers to feature and do the Hey Hos though.

What a weird time this was. A group of 20 year olds doing medieval peasant cosplay and making beautiful harmonies where every singer and every instrument has so much reverb that it sounds like they recorded it in someone's dream. It's very good. But why this aesthetic and why did I think this was important at the time.

I loved that the first sentence told me where Oakland is. How do you rate real folk singers who sing real folk songs? Every song I know sounds like a worse version than the famous version I know and the rest never got covered for a reason. I liked his vibe though.

Are they trying to scare me into dancing? It's working! Very fun and scary. I miss the vocals though. Nobody is doing domestic violence on this album missed opportunity.

Usually every forgettable old pop hit is actually an incredible banger when you listen to it today with headphones. I remembered Rehab being great but it sounds so thin and simple now. Was shocked to learn these are live recorded instruments I thought it was some 2006 garageband bullshit. I think they just recorded them into garageband and 2006ed all the life out of them. The horn parts are pretty fun but the recording's got all the edges sanded down. Fuck Mark Ronson. Tears Dry on Their Own is such an awful idea - just fully stealing the backing vocal of an extremely famous song and singing a worse melody over it?? Why invite that comparison. Her voice is great though!

Nothing has convinced me that The Who's greatest album is not The Who's Greatest Hits. Keith Moon going crazy this whole album though and My Generation is still great.

Never expected to like an ambient album but this was so fun.

Shitty Bo Diddly

I don't think I realized this was the same Temptations as the My Girl Temptations they really got around. Papa Was a Rolling Stone is soooo Isaac Hayes but still great. Most of the rest was fun but forgettable.

Insane that she's British. Every song is good and Son of a Preacher Man is better than I expected it goes crazy in the second half.

La Grange is a masterpiece and the rest is just some bullshit.

Shocked how much I liked this - I guess nobody talks about them anymore because they were huge at the time and then just totally washed away by Nirvana? It's basically Motley Crue guitar and drums with stripped down production and some harmonies and the singer's got such a great high-energy voice. She Talks to Angels is crazy too - beautiful guitar + organ and such good dynamics.

Sounds like royalty-free EDM from a movie. Everything way too smooth - the vocals especially, even John Lydon. Maybe this was very inventive when it came out but the deluge of generic shit has devalued it.

Not a top 5 Roxy Music album. Vocals are mixed way too low you're losing your biggest asset. No really catchy songs and no really crazy production. Album cover is very interesting though - raises many questions.

Suuuch a weird album - sounds like 5 men being very crazy in different directions. All the Brian Wilson songs are extremely beautiful and original with the dumbest lyrics you've heard in your life - great foot fetish representation. Disney Girls is so treacly and creepy on its face but honestly I love it. Student Demonstration Time is unforgivably awful. Just the laziest blues ripoff with lyrics that barely rhyme where the message is "man those shitty cops are being so unfair to student protesters! Maybe students should just not protest instead to stay safe :)"

So funny that everything written about this album is like "wow they completely abandoned the modern sound and went back to basically make a jazz album" and then every instrument is the most 80s version of that instrument that has ever been recorded. They didn't use synthesized instruments but they synth-isized the instruments. Also I hate his voice. They seem cool though? I like Life's What You Make It.

I can't explain but this would be a good album if it was "Gray White" by David Ladder. Huge for lovers of weird drums and Bob Dylan impersonators though.

This is the current frontrunner for shortest artist name in 1001albumsgenerator - excited to see if this encourages anyone to go even shorter. I think I like X except I hate their 50s rock'n'roll guitar and I kinda hate her voice and I think all their lyrics are dumb. They seem like they're cool. When she's singing lead and he harmonizes over her in the chorus it's really good.

Was there a thunderstorm going on while this album was recorded? Strange ominous warble every few minutes I thought there was an earthquake. He's got a great voice and it's a pretty clean performance, but it's also 1960 so live wasn't too exciting yet. Lyrics are pretty funny too.

Unlistenable but in a good way. So funny to hear this and then listen to 2020s Nick Cave - this is the primordial ooze that formed him. It's like if Bauhaus was a little more awful to listen to. Absolutely criminal that Release the Bats wasn't on the original release - losing out on some poetry: "Sex horror, sex bat, sex horror, sex vampire Sex bat, horror vampire, sex"

So poppy and fun while still seeming like a secret underground band. Exhuming McCarthy is great - presents as a smart political song but it's also just a fun pop song. A few songs don't do so much for me (King of Birds, Oddfellows Local 151) so not a 5 star album.

My favorite Pet Shop Boys album yet on this list - nice that they evolved out of being insanely 80s later but... if anyone should be 80s it is the Pet Shop Boys. Less "cool" than the later albums but much brighter and more fun and the sillier music contrasts better with the spoken word vocals.

Beck, Elliot Smith and Kurt Vile should just give him a writing credit they're such direct ripoffs. That said - I like all of them better than this. Very innovative but also boring as hell. Some awesome string arrangements on River Man.

I am obligated as a millennial to give this 5 stars. In The Flowers, Also Frightened, Summertime Clothes and Lion In A Coma all classics. It is so funny that in My Girls he's like "listen I don't want anything fancy I hate material things - all I want is to own my own home". Psychadelic synth rock used to be a stable career path.

Morrissey should not have 90s sludgy production he's not an adult contemporary singer he's a catty bitch. The More You Ignore Me is pretty great - "I've made up your mind" is so classic Morrissey. Speedway kinda fun when they play a leafblower for no reason.

Awesome energy and super austere sound. The original incel band. Talk about straight edge. Do you think when Ian MacKaye is singing "I don't fuck" the bassist is like shaking his head so the crowd knows that he does fuck? Cashing In is pretty funny and it's a classic Hardcore statement song where it's like I know you feel strongly that ticket prices are too high but is this really where your political energy needs to be focused.

Not my favorite Eno album but the highs are high - King's Lead Hat is awesome on the coke-ier side and Spider and I is really pretty on the ambient-ier side. Love how much texture he's able to put into every song in unexpected ways and I kinda like the vocal layering he does to make up for not having a great voice. I am sad that he's transitioning into ambient here I want him coked out.

I don't think we're getting Billie Holiday at her best here - it's like a year before her death and her voice isn't so powerful. Or maybe she just sounded better with worse recording technology she like spiked the mic a lot in the past. The orchestra is going absolutely crazy at a few points though and I like the Rogers + Hart songs.

Surprisingly consistent for a one-hit wonder. It's like early Depeche Mode if the singer was trying.

This did nothing for my cold American heart. I think his voice is just too smooth. He gets a bonus star for creating a genre though.

Funny to listen to this right after Band on the Run he and Paul are really each half of a genius. Paul is an incredibly sophisticated and ambitious musician who has no access to his deeper emotions and John is a raw nerve who can barely get out of bed in the morning let alone strum a guitar. But it's kinda fun listening to him bitching emo-ly. How do you sleep is just an awful lazy blues ripoff with incredibly petty lyrics but you believe he really feels wronged and righteous. Imagine is him being a naive baby who thinks he can fix everything. Jealous Guy is a beautiful song about presumably him hitting a woman?

1001 albums generator won't credit the woman. Interesting. Shocked I liked this so much - 70s Neil Young guitar + Medieval bard singer guy + awesome 70s rock singer girl.

The face he's making on the album cover makes me want to beat him up. He looks like he has a secret and he's telling me to guess. I don't think I get Tom Petty's deal half the time he sounds like Elvis half the time he sounds like George Harrison and half the time he sounds like he just doesn't know how to enunciate so he's singing the whole song with his mouth open. Most of the songs are just some rockabilly bullshit while they tune their guitars and then suddenly American Girl the perfect song comes on and you're like OOOOOH SHIIITTTTT. Had no idea it was this early I thought it was from his comeback - just every note is perfect.

I know it's coffee shop music but it's really good. So the way they made it was a British executive and an American guitarist walked around Cuba and recruited random musicians to come into a studio? Is that cool or not? It's cool that the random musicians were good, so I'm gonna say yes.

I think it's beautiful that Boy George looks exactly like Emily Blunt. Other than that I hated the album. This is one of the worst times for pop music they're using synths that are supposed to stand in for real instruments but they're still early so it's kinda uncanny valley, and everything is so reverbed out I hate it. No effort put into the lyrics either the chorus of "It's a Miracle" is "It's a Miracle / It's a Miracle / It's a Miracle / It's a Miracle / It's a Miracle / It's a Miracle / And dreams are made of emotion". Some fun polyrhythms though and Karma Chameleon is so so good - 2 stars for the Chameleon.

I love the aesthetic and particularly the name Handsome Dick Manitoba. Can def see how The Ramones + Beastie Boys got their whole thing from these guys. They also sound a lot like the New York Dolls - may have ripped them off a little bit. It's a little less interesting than the Ramones though and a little less funny than the Beastie Boys and less energetic than the New York Dolls, so idk if I need to listen to it again. Thank you Handsome Dick Manitoba for being so handsome though.

I can't believe there's a Verve album on this list that doesn't even have bittersweet symphony. It was ok - kinda like The Bends backing with Oasis vocals? But not as interesting as radiohead or as catchy as oasis. Got a little bit of the fun string arrangements in History so I'm glad they stuck with that.

Classic - probably the best Nirvana album. Fun high energy songs like serve the servants and then Beatles-y strings on all apologies. Feels like the dark exciting image Nirvana always had even though Nevermind sounds kinda soft and silly today. Def an improvement on the really sludgy Pearl Jam grunge too - it’s pretty structured and focused mostly.

What if Talking Heads was no fun and their singer sounded like he had a ponytail? That said - I love it. When they stop being so cold and abstract and have some fun electric guitar it’s pretty great. I wish I wasn’t rooting against the dirty projectors on principle for being annoying.

The singles are so so good - like some of the best pure pop music. And the album tracks are such lazy filler bullshit I think he improvised the lyrics or something. Cry Me A River is so weirdly complex and operatic for a boy band song and it’s so good it’s like prog rock. And Seniorita is great - very funny that the album starts with The Neptunes talking for like a minute and then Justin asking “should I start now?” it’s really just their album. And of course Timbaland is there doing whatever he does and it’s also great. Obviously can’t give JT 5 stars so I’m giving him 3 which is a 5 star album for JT.

It's so interesting how Neil Young can make such beautiful music and also just awful unlistenable noise. I am not really sure if he knows which one he's doing at a given time. Probably the worst Neil Young album I've ever listened to but it's sweet that he likes his friend and there are like 2 very good songs.

I own this on vinyl and have never listened to it so that’s a pretty good review right there. It’s definitely very good - super catchy and great lyrics. But it’s a little caught between the super pretentious Simon and Garfunkel era and the cynical Graceland era and kinda winds up feeling like weak tea. Like wow these lyrics are so descriptive and the production is so catchy but also you’re not trying to say anything and it kinda feels like it should be on in the background at a Starbucks.

I think I hate her voice and that ruined the album for me. I do love the late 90s British dance vibe but I usually like it because it’s energetic and original and this was so dreary and felt like it was ripping off the original stuff. Really made me want to listen to like Portishead or Sade because this was ripping off both and I have never in my life wanted to listen to portishead and Sade combined into an album that’s neither fun nor beautiful. Kinda cool how minimal it was tho it did kinda have a unique feeling I just hated that feeling.

I believe this album was my profile pic on MySpace in 8th grade. I don’t particularly care for it today? I guess it’s a step between like long bloated suites and the pop songs they started doing on The Wall. But it’s kinda caught in the middle. I mostly enjoyed crazy diamond this time around though it’s so much shorter and more structured than I’d remembered. Also really responding to the guitar solos I feel like in the past I basically thought of Pink Floyd as like clock sounds and wooshes but they’re also a rock band. Excited for all their other better albums.

Really good - I thought these guys were like annoying indie pop for some reason but they’re very minimal and intense. I don’t know if I will listen to it very often because almost none of the songs were catchy but Staring at the Sun is great.

Pretty fun punk album? Singer was great. Whole band is VERY sex pistols like they're stealing so much directly from them. But adding sax was really good and new. Very cool to have a punk band who's specifically anti-hygiene. Prob would not listen again though.

Eternally trying to figure out whether I like the rolling stones at all. Mick Jagger's voice - amazing. Like 10 songs from the first 20 years of their career - amazing. Every single album - lazy bullshit. Can't blame them too much for this one since it's 1964 and albums were just covers, but how can this be a top 1001 album. Insane that the first song starts with a bunch of American geography like you don't even know where that is.

Such an interesting mix of high effort and low effort - just the most incredible harmonies that sound like no one else, but then they’ll like play the wrong bass note for a full bar and just be like eh it’s fine. Also half the time the backing was practically inaudible - I think they just don’t care about instruments they’re an a capella group. The Dylan covers were much much better than the originals but even in the Dylan covers they seemed to figure out a great chorus and then just kinda meander through the verse. Mr Tambourine Man good of course - love that tambourine.

Crazy that Iggy Pop can do the stooges and also do this. He has such a powerful scuzziness which shines through no matter the genre. He's a little classed up here though - they even put him in a shirt for the album cover. Must have been a nightmare getting him to keep it on long enough to get the picture. So good and SO late 70s Bowie/Visconti - very funny that Bowie selflessly decided to be behind the scenes and let Iggy Pop have these songs and then like 2 years later recorded better version of them himself.

Obviously I want to say that the Grateful Dead sucks and this is unlistenable. I hate their aesthetic. I hate their vibe. I hate their voices. I hate the way most of the instruments sound. But sadly my cold cold heart has warmed just enough to appreciate "the groove" they got into eventually in Dark Star and I have to admit I liked it. Time to give away my worldly possessions and get into tie-dye it's all over for me.

I never really got the Syd Barrett thing - I don’t like piper at the gates of dawn I think it’s criminally British and has too many songs about gnomes. Less interesting musically than later Pink Floyd just kinda outsider arty - people just like the story I think. This is kinda fun though? Some really interesting totally off rhythm songs that somehow hold together and a couple songs that are actually good by the standard of “song” - Dark Globe is great. Is the album great? No!

Timeless classic - opens with a dramatic montage about her feud with Limp Bizkit’s Fred Durst. I hate it? Her voice is very good I know, but I hate it. Nothing is lazy or ugly exactly all the backing instrumentation is pretty good, but it does nothing for me. I think it’s the pop-R&B thing that’s off-putting to me and I don’t think I can get over it. Just a little too sappy and all the edges are sanded down. Let this not be taken as a rebuke against girl power. I am a staunch lifelong supporter of girl power. Though I am not a girl myself, I consider myself an ally. And therefore I do support the messages held within the songs and I also support that the lady from Four Non-Blondes wrote most of them. But overall the album really brings me back to being in the backseat of a car in 4th grade wishing I had the power to change the radio station. Now I am 32 wishing I had the power to stop listening to this album. Thank you 1001albumsgenerator for letting me relive the horrors of childhood.

Fantastic documentary fine album. He is so cool and charming here and it is a very exciting album - loved whenever the crowd would boo or cheer it felt really chaotic and dangerous in a fun way. Then he sings a song about how he was arrested for picking flowers… I feel like that was meant for the hippies not the prisoners. Other than that did not feel particularly cynical and calculated though. The music was just ok. Pretty sloppy and it’s so simple to start with. His voice is amazing of course. I would maybe cut out the second time he plays the same song. And maybe most of the songs. Just let me hang out with Johnny Cash and my prison friends.

I really want to like this because I know he’s supposed to be a cool and avant garde kinda guy, but it mostly feels kinda Neil Diamond-y. Definitely a great voice though. Very funny that the opening song is just him describing a movie he saw.

So much better than it needs to be. Basically a novelty act with a singer doing silly falsetto but so many legitimately good songs - they never choose to be funny at the expense of being good.

A little gauche to sample Kanye but maybe I’m just “too woke” 🙄. Somehow I’d never actually listened to this before and it mostly lived up to the hype? 21st century schizoid man and the court of the crimson king are so so good. The rest of it is so poisoned with flute and pan pipes and all the other British prog nonsense, and Moonchild - 12 minutes of noodling that resulted in the tragic loss of 1 star for Mr. Crimson. And obviously perfect album cover.

At 2:29 on Christine’s Tune you can hear a man clearing his throat. Very beautiful other than that. Gram Parsons has such a perfect voice. Hot Burritos #1 and #2 are really special. Some of the songs just feel like stock country music. If I liked slide guitar more this would probably be 5 stars but I have to acknowledge my yankee bias.

I have so much respect for Mark E Smith and The Fall. I love all the bands adjacent to The Fall and I know that people with good taste listen to them. With respect, I found this incredibly difficult to get through. I can get into angular guitar and nonstandard drum parts when there’s some kind of driving hook or riff to latch onto but - respectfully - I had nothing exciting enough to hold onto here. And I can get into an obscure or very abstract political take but (with all due respect) the political message here seemed to be either so specific that 2 years after the album no one would follow it, or so inside and specific to the music industry that it was irrelevant to its listeners. Also his voice is just a John Lydon with less melody (much respect much respect). So thank you to the fall for being very good please don’t make me listen again.

There's something cynical about sitar covers of pop songs - feels gimmicky and the instrument is so out of context when adhering to a pop song structure that it's like why even do this. I'm sure it was more exciting at the time but now there's a whole industry of covers of pop songs in new genres or with new instrumentation so feels manufactured. "Ravi Shankar's nephew" also gives the album a little bit of a crappy aura. The synths were interesting but didn't add much and made the album feel very dated for a 1970 album. I liked the traditional Indian songs with some western instrumentation a lot though - Raghupati with a drum kit and electric bass was pretty awesome.

It’s really amazing how sloppy and dissonant The Band can be while playing really beautiful moving songs. Every vocal line is a little out of tune or they time it wrong and take a breath between words. And there’s always another unexpected guy suddenly also singing with a funny musical theater voice. There always seems to be a very specific story going on but I can never piece out what it is. Every instrument and every voice is so distinct nothing ever quite blends together it always feels like 5 guys playing solo and not realizing there’s other people playing, but then it holds together somehow shockingly. To be clear I love The Band. Cannot give them 5 stars - have to honor their pursuit of imperfection.

You don't get a lot of true goth music these days. The passion of lovers is for death said she. Sadly for Bauhaus all the members are still alive. I think that's a good thing, but then again I'm not a practicing Goth. Really good - high energy and super textured. Basically entirely driven by the bass and drums then the guitar just does weird noises. Love the singer's voice. Genre's all over the place without feeling disjointed - goes a little new wave at times. The 1/2/3/4 song is so funny - starts as a like Madchester pop song then turns pivots into "this is how one makes fishcakes" - they couldn't bear to have a pleasant song that could potentially be a hit.

Definitely the dreariest most boring thing Damon Albarn's made. You can really hear the Danger Mouse too so it sounds incredibly 2007. And how is the album cover so low res? You can do that? Kinda fun when it turns a little ska. Maybe I'd be into it if I were more English.

So of course it's awful - let's get that out of the way. 1998 was a crazy time. I guess it made sense that grunge and hip hop were the coolest new things so they were destined to be combined. Why didn't it work? I guess because of bands like Korn. Whenever he's doing horny cartoon character homina homina voices I absolutely love it. The features are very fun too - love when Fred Durst shows up and they do a weird staged rap battle that starts with "too bad, I got your beans in my bag" and then turns into them using homophobic slurs, I was not necessarily supportive but I was definitely entertained. Very confusing bit though both of them start to turn homoerotic so I was like oh they're actually commenting on it, then they end on a "just kidding wouldn't that be weird if we were gay" note so I think they're cowards. It did contain an early Austin Powers reference though so I liked that. Also bringing in Ice Cube to rap about how parents shouldn't tell us where we can skate - really sums up Korn's ethos.

RIP with love to Dolly Parton and I think Linda Ronstadt has maybe the best voice of any singer. Emmylou Harris I do not think about. Anyway I don't like this album nearly as much as I should. Maybe a little too straightahead country for my tastes. And I think the singers are all trying to be a little less show-offy so there's no really incredible solo performances. Wildflowers is really good though.

Crazy that they made up their own fake language - "Icelandic" they call it. Doesn't sound very realistic to me but I guess that's what the little angel alien fetus on the cover would sound like. So good - really ambitious and has these incredible builds that actually have a payoff. Incredible what they do with guitar feedback as the lead instrument. Of course Svefn-g-englar is great, but Flugufrelsarinn has this ecstatic chorus that could be a big Broadway number. So important to not translate the lyrics it ruins their mystique - "But today, I must save the most flies possible" is not what I feel when I hear the Flugufrelsarinn chorus.

I don’t know why I hate this album. I think too many people are going for a like very acoustic every instrument is kinda plinky and country and indistinct. No energy. And I hate his voice. Reminds me of Creed or one of the other late 90s sincere post grunge bands which are all awful. The backing sounds like REM but it doesn’t feel as smart or edgy or energetic.

This feels like a type of fusion album that should work? Reggae + trip-hop sounds fun. And it sort of was. I liked his voice a lot but didn't love any of the songs too much. Didn't feel like it leaned hard enough towards either side of the fusion and kinda just came out pop with some interesting rhythms. Not a bad thing I guess. But not what I wanted.

They sound like the band is doing an impression of Duran Duran and the singer is doing an impression of Morrissey, but this came out the same year as Rio and directly influenced The Smiths. But spiritually it feels like a knockoff. It also has one of the fakest album covers/band name/album name I've ever seen - maybe it's a fictional band from a movie. Generally very fun though. Rip It Up is an awesome song and A Million Pleading Faces is really good too. There's something really unbearable to me about the type of voice the lead singer has so I'm very grateful when the other singer shows up.

Really good but gets kinda samey by the end. Never gets boring and One Too Many Mornings is great - manages to be ethereal and edgy at once. Hilarious that they just thought they could also be named The Dust Brothers in honor of the existing group The Dust Brothers??

I do love their weird thing - what if a guy whispered with incredible enunciation over some casio keyboards. Definitely solid but I know there's more Pet Shop Boys on this list so not gonna just rate their thing. No incredible songs and not so distinct from their other stuff, but fun.

I love a character song and a over-instrumented pop song but I think I draw the line at doing a funny voice in every song. I know it's a comedy - I don't know if I'd call it divine though! 😂😂😂

Common seems like suuucchhhh a cool nice guy who has only done good for the world. I absolutely hate his music. Fantastic production - love all the electric piano. I even love him when he features on another artist's track. But having to listen to this album knowing that it would be nearly an hour and a half of primarily Common rapping was such a slog. He's just zero percent fun and his voice is so nothing to me. Anytime a feature showed up I was having a great time. Also completely fell for the skit when a girl was just telling him how great he was for women - it fully tricked me when he started hitting a woman. Do I love that he hit a woman as a joke? Not necessarily. But at least it was the tiniest bit of edge.

*high pitched whispery whiney voice* thiiiisssss suckkkksssssss….. in San Diegoooo

Tainted Love is so so good. Other than that these mostly go nowhere. Say Hello, Wave Goodbye is kinda good? And Sex Dwarf gets some points for its title alone (definitely only for the title). They’re clearly not songwriters but pretty great performers. Also kept comparing it to the Depeche Mode album that came out this year - this guy’s voice is a lot more dynamic and the synth voices are more interesting but the arrangement and rhythm are so boring by comparison. Can’t tell if these guys were like inventing new synths or if Depeche Mode was just intentionally using old stilted synths. (It’s probably that.)

Interesting and very Bjorkian. As far as mononyms go I would say Bjork absolutely destroys Goldfrapp. And also in terms of the music I would say Bjork absolutely destroys Goldfrapp. Goldfrapp even ripped off the title Utopia from a 2017 Bjork album 🙄

Is this the best album cover on which a 54 year old man eats a banana? I don't love the synths generally - very casio - but I think his voice almost works better with synth backing than acoustic backing? Also love whenever he's got backup singers. Lyrics are pretty fun too - playing a fascist in a few songs in a way that really works for me and playing with his aging legend status in a way that kinda works for me. Jazz Police must be reckoned with at some point, but I am not prepared for the reckoning today. Let's just call it minus one star.

Deceptacon is a 6 star song - wish the rest of the album was silly like that. It’s definitely all fun and high energy but there’s a lot more like name checking important women and musicians than I would like. I think that’s the point maybe? Like it is political which is cool. But it’s kinda the lame side of punk that’s just very earnest as opposed to the fun stupid part of punk. But whatever I had a good time.

Cornbread Moon is a great title for a parody of this guy's music. I think my main feedback to him would be to use the phrase Cornbread Moon less often if he wants me to take him seriously.

So I hate his voice but I think I mostly liked the album? Considering my anti country bias. Reminded me a lot of the Springsteen country album that came out the year before production wise. Also love the line about having your phone service cut so next time you make a call you have to go out and yell. Makes me sad how much he hides his face on album covers and Spotify. I love his weird face from films such as Panic Room.

There are a few transcendent moments where he sounds like Sam Cooke singing a not very good song. Some really nice guitar towards the end of the album though.

Very fun - Time of the Season is a classic. Some forgettable songs though other than that.

So insane that this is one guy - he’s playing like melodies and countermelodies at the same time or something it’s awesome. Honestly don’t like it when he sings because it distracts from the playing and he can’t go quite so crazy. I think he might be the best guitarist of all time.

Not my favorite Joni but really beautiful. She's so good at jazz but it gets a little too abstract at times.