1001 Albums Summary

1. Where Do the Children Play - a very interesting song with a dichotomy between a nice, easy-listening acoustic duet that feels sweet and bouncy, and lyrics condemning the negative impacts of big machines, development, and industry on our surroundings. An interesting critique on modern development. 2. Hard Headed Woman - seems like someone who is sick of vapid, transactional relationships and wants somebody who is interested in who a person truly is, without conditions attached. Building crescendo at the end. 3. Wild World - This one is a classic. Awesome music and melody. Catchy, and pretty energetic for the vibe of the album so far. Seems like a good-bye song, but a cheery one? 4. Sad Lisa - Pretty piano intro, melancholy vibes. Gives me much less orchestral Eleanor Rigby vibes? Cool piano part, strange, short chorus. Is this Cat Stevens' version of Brick by Ben Folds or something? *Spotify ad break thoughts: Yeah, this sounds pretty much like what I assumed a Cat Stevens album would sound like. Chill guitar vibes, meaningful lyrics (though idk what's going on in Lisa's life). 5. Miles From Nowhere - Ohhhh a little vocal range. The build in the beginning is really cool. This song is really dynamic and is a fun listen. 6. But I Might Die Tonight - The music is fine, lyrics/message feel a bit cliche. Not a bad song, but not my favorite on the album. Short. Feels like "I don't want to grow up to be like you, working a job you hate and wasting my life away" and the promise of a "good job" feels like a death sentence? 7. Longer Boats - This song seems super familiar. Super catchy, sounds like an old spiritual. This song rocks. 8. Into White - Super folky. Not usually my style but I bet this would sound great on vinyl. This reminds me of Simon and Garfunkle. Feels long, and kind of keeps the same form the whole time. 9. On the Road to Find Out - Builds up a bit by the end. Fine, not a highlight, not a lowlight for me. Cool little high guitar part near the end. 10. Father and Son - By far the best song on the album, which is saying a lot! Incredible perspective on the relationship between a father and son, and the different perspectives age brings. Beautiful song, amazing build up. Obvious classic. 11. Tea for the Tillerman - Short, kind of pointless? Why not end on a certified BANGER with Father and Son? Album Highs: Father and Son Wild World Long Boats Miles from Nowhere Where Do the Children Play Album Lows: Into White But I Might Die Tonight Tea for the Tillerman Final Thoughts: Easy to see why this was included, especially for how amazing it probably was at the time. A few timeless classics on it. I'm not a HUGE fan of overly-folky tunes and this album dips into that world a few times, but I do think some of the lyrics are really poignant, and the payoff of Cat's voice turning into a loud, almost scream when singing is a fun treat throughout the album.

1. Battery – Cool acoustic intro, almost flamenco-like. Awesome introduction of the electric guitars. This sounds pretty fun to learn on guitar. So far sounds like a standard Metallica song – high school weight room jamz. It’s clear how obviously they influenced so many bands that came after them musically. No clue what the lead singer is saying other than ‘Battery.’ Spotify Ad Break Thoughts: Damn, this probably hurts your wrists a lot. This style of guitar seems super taxing. Would also love to learn some of these solos to gain a little speed. An hour of this seems absolutely exhausting to play. 2. Master of Puppets – Awwwww helllll yeah. Sick intro riffs. Is this the song from Stranger Things? I think it’s the song from Stranger Things. Sick chuggy vibes and riffs, then opens up into a completely different vibe with either dueling guitars or octaver pedal. There are so many cool riffs in this song. NOTE: COME BACK AND LEARN THE THEORY ON THIS SONG. There are so many distinct parts of this song, it reminds me of Bohemian Rhapsody or Paranoid Android kind of. 3. The Thing That Should Not Be – What kind of name is this haha. Riff feels pretty standard Metallica. The lyrics sound like a campfire story. This song feels like the cliché of a Metallica song, formulaic. This one kind of bored me. 4. Welcome Home (Sanitarium) – Opens up with a nice guitar solo, feels a bit slower and more dramatic than the last 3 songs. The cadence of ‘Sanitarium’ in the chorus is like exactly like how they use ‘Battery’ and ‘Obey your Master’ haha. The guitar parts are kind of neat, I like the reverby-tremolo/chorus arpeggio thing that carries the verses. I like this song! 5. Disposable Heroes – Yes, this is Metallica. Lyrics are a commentary against the war machine. A heavy metal Born in the USA. This one goes on a bit long. Some parts feel like an angrier Flight of the Bumblebee. Spotify Ad Break Thoughts: I don’t think all of these songs need to be 6+ minutes, and follow pretty similar formulas. Some of the guitar solos and lead parts are really neat. The lyrics don’t do much for me, and there’s a ton of guitar chugging. Good album so far, for what it is. 6. Leper Messiah – This feels kind of like the same song as Disposable Heroes except regarding the corrupting influence of religion rather than a warhawk-ish government. These two songs feel like filler. Still probably super fun to play on guitar. 7. Orion – Long, awesome instrumental intro. Is this whole thing instrumental? The dueling guitar part (or just octave pedal?) halfway through when it slows down is really interesting and fun. This might be my favorite on the album so far. 8. Damage Inc. – Cool reverse delay at the beginning. Back to marchy-chugging. Pretty standard Metallica track here. Album Highs: Orion Master of Puppets Welcome Home (Sanitarium) Album Lows: Disposable Heroes Leper Messiah Final Thoughts: This album is tough to rank because it’s only the second one of the challenge and comes after Cat Stevens…kind of the polar opposite. Some of the instrumentals are amazing, but there’s also very little musical diversity. The songs all kind of sound similar and follow a similar formula, which, if you want nothing but metal, you got it! I’m less of a metal guy, so this probably ranks below Cat Stevens for the sole reason that there would be fewer times I’d throw this on, but it’s kind of a similar record to me in that there are a few notable highs, notable lows, and some boring stuff in the middle. I think the highs of Tea for the Tillerman, for me, are higher. That all being said, there’s some rad stuff on this record and I get why it’s highly ranked by a lot of people, especially guitar players. I’d love to learn some of these riffs.

This one is like, 2 hours long, so probably won't be doing a song-by-song review like on other albums. Initial thoughts are that this sounds like tons of different background music. Great background music! But background music nonetheless. There's neat, badass 'heist' vibe background music, high flying ambient chill stuff, hipper 'street' beats, kind of everything. I don't know how to rank this against other albums, especially when the only two I've done before this were Tea for the Tillerman by Cat Stevens and Master of Puppets by Metallica, lol. It's weird, the bops are pretty awesome, but they're kind of a single sample with layered instrumentals behind it. The ok songs sound like the menu screens from mid-2000s action movie DVDs. I genuinely dislike hearing Moby do his weird quiet whispery poetry stuff over ambient tracks, these are probably the first tracks in this journey I've been like 'turn this shit off.' Album Highs: Find My Baby, Porcelain, South Side, Run On, Everloving, Flower (B Side), Sunday (B Side) Album Lows: If Things Were Perfect, The Sky is Broken (wow I dislike this one) How do I rank this against like, actual classics? It feels wrong to give it a 2/5 because I do enjoy a lot of the music, and saved many tracks to relisten to! But if a 3/5 is like a (good, has some bangers, has some downsides) like Cat Stevens and Metallica, is it fair to put like, ambient background music in that category? Did I rank this too low? Did I rank the others too low? Shit. I guess I'll give this like a 2, but I don't 'dislike' it. I wish the ratings had decimals because this feels a bit harsh. It's probably like a 5/5 for ambient DJ stuff. This is a conflicting album to get so early while I'm still trying to figure out a reasonable ranking framework. For future reference: 1 - I Actively Dislike This 2 - Good 3 - Good, some bangers 4 - Great 5 - Masterpiece

1. Monday, Monday - Heck yeah, this is a classic. Weird though, like, is this sarcastic? Mondays are terrible. Or was everything bright and amazing in the 60s? Love the use of background vocals as an instrument. This is a BOP. Oh, this isn't cheery, this is about the singer's partner leaving him. My bad. Good song. 2. Straight Shooter - This is a fun 60s bop, bouncy little guitar part and great harmonies. 3. Got a Feelin' - This one is a bit slow, doesn't do much for me. 4. I Call Your Name - Fun westerny or country-ish piano part, and vocals sound older than the 1960s. The vocals harmonies at the end are pretty great. 5. Do You Wanna Dance - This feels like the slow dance at an old timey sock hop, in a good way. Reminds me of like, Earth Angel. 6. Go Where You Wanna Go - Fun, bouncy. I like the background music in this one, feels hippy summer-of-lovey. 7. California Dreamin' - Classic, I love this song. It's haunting, spooky, but also super pretty. Kind of trippy? 8. Spanish Harlem - From the jump this one is interesting. A doo-woppy beginning, something that sounds like island drums or percussion, and an old lounge-style lead vocals part. I like this one. This feels like it could be a cover of an older song? *POST-LISTEN NOTE: This was in fact a cover of a Ben E. King song.* 9. Somebody Groovy - Fine, not super interesting. 10. Hey Girl - Funny to hear lingo from 60 years ago that's similar to today "he's only trying to score." This song is fine, again, not super interesting but not a bad song. I think their harmonies add a lot of positives to otherwise kind of boring songs. 11. You Baby - Another decent song with fun vocals. 12. The "In" Crowd - A little more soulful, kind of makes me think of more of the Motown vibe? Album Highs: Monday, Monday I Call Your Name Spanish Harlem Album Lows: Got a Feelin' This is the first album of the 4 I've done so far that feels like I have a reference to compare it to (Cat Stevens - Tea for the Tillerman). I think I'd rank this similarly, a few absolute bops, no major lows on the album, and a bunch of decent stuff in between. The high's on Cat Stevens' album are much more high to me, but this is a bit more of a listenable background album. I think I'd still rate Tea for the Tillerman higher, but I'd give this a similar score. I totally get why this album is on a must listen list. It's a fun jam with exceptional use of vocals and a few classic songs. I dug it and would be a fun album to have on Vinyl to play in the background. *POST LISTEN NOTES: Holy cow these folks were messy. It's so funny to me to hear songs this cute and boppy and then read about the dark, gritty life of the actual band members. Maybe funny isn't the best word, but it's kind of surreal.

This is the first album that feels at least comfortably like a 4/5 or higher. The songs flow together really well, and the music is, sonically, super interesting. The guitar parts are really fun, the bass parts are as well. There's some serious cold war vibes in the lyrics throughout the album. *I did not do research before listening* Is this a rock opera? Did Pink Floyd do one of those? *EDIT* Yes they did. Comfortably Numb and Run Like Hell are definitely the highlights of the second half. This album is weird, sonically coherent, pretty good, exhausting, clever, and up it's own ass all at the same time. It flows very well, and has some very high highs! This is like an hour and a half and gets a bit tedious and repetitive, though. By the time I got to the Trial and it's attempt at being an explanatory song from a play I was pretty much done. This is such a strange album. Musically, it's pretty amazing, lyrically and conceptually it's a bit annoying. I'd still give it a 4/5. It's better than an album with just a few bops, but there's enough on here keeping it from being a 5/5. This thing is pretty good, but good lord does it know it. Album Highs: Another Brick in the Wall pt 1 Another Brick in the Wall pt 2 Goodbye Blue Sky Young Lust Comfortably Numb Run Like Hell Album Lows: Mother The Trial

She Has Funny Cars - kind of boring, not doing much for me. Somebody to Love - classic song, interesting guitar parts that feel somewhere in between surf rock and psychedelic music. It’s a fine enough song, i know it’s famous, but out of big classic famous songs so far it doesn’t do a ton for me. My Best Friend - is this like a cowboy clomp rhythm? Picks up midway with a fun beat. Today - i like the guitar parts on this one. Comin' Back to Me - fine little folk song, kind of boring. 3/4 of a Mile in 10 Seconds - This song probably went pretty hard in the '60s. *Random break thought: I'm not really into this album, but I think it's probably kind of unfair because the music is fine enough, it's just pretty old. I'm sure that at the time this was pretty great stuff, it just doesn't resonate as hard right now. You can hear the beginnings of psychedelic music here, and the influence of some of the bouncy surf rock guitar stuff. There's some real musical talent here, the guitar parts seem pretty solid and the songwriting seems well thought out. I think it's probably a pretty solid album for its time, so I don't want to rank it lowly, it's just an older style of music I'm less interested in personally. Also why in the world is this album an hour long? Also this album is later than I realized, it's 1967 so kind of right during the Summer of Love which makes a lot of sense. This feels like hippie music. DCBA - 25 - Dreamy, hippy. How Do You Feel - Yeah, this sounds about like 1967. It's folky, hippie, dreamy. Again, not my favorite personally but this is kind of the quintessential sound of the summer of love in my mind. Embryonic Journey - Okay well first of all, this name sucks. Holy cow this is a fingerpicking masterclass though. It's so annoying that this is my favorite song on the album so far and it's got the worst name imaginable. White Rabbit - Obviously one of the most famous Jefferson Airplane songs. The intro is trippy and vibey, definitely more interesting than most of the songs so far. Definitely thought this was going to be White Room by Cream and got all excited and realized my mixup, which was kind of a bummer. Plastic Fantastic Lover - This one is kind of cool, more of a jam than the others. In the Morning - Very bluesy, which is odd because it doesn't really mesh with the rest of the album? Just a complete vibe change. What is going on here? This is like a completely different band? I like it though, it's a decent little blues track. I prefer the bluesy stuff to the hippie stuff. *Note: This album is all over the place, and I don't think in a very good way. JPPMC Step B Blues - This is NOT a blues song what are we doing here. 'In the morning,' a blues song in the middle of the album followed up with a NOT blues song called 'JPPMC Step B Blues,' why is this album so famous? Go to Her - Guitar on this one is pretty sick. The vocals are not my favorite but this one kind of bops. Come Back Baby - Back to the bluesy thing. Cool little solo with some fuzz/crunch tones. Album Highs: Somebody to Love Embryonic Journey White Rabbit Come Back Baby Album Lows: How Do You Feel Comin' Back to Me 3/4 of a Mile in 10 Seconds I think this is a 2/5. I don't hate the album, but I don't really like it. It has a few highs but doesn't fit the 3/5 criteria. There are some cool guitar parts, some interesting trippy/vibey songs on here. I don't know that I love any of the songs enough to put this one as a 3/5, but there's some musical talent in here.

Dude what are we even doing here? This first song is TWENTY MINUTES LONG and sounds like the background of a game boy Pokemon game. This album pissed me off so many times. The devolution of the first song into duck-sounding wah on the keyboard/organ, the absurd "hymn," the dumb ass Jeremy Bender song? I hate this.

I don't know a ton about the beatles, and I've never really explored their catalogue, so I admittedly don't know the context around this album. Where is this album placed in their discography, was this when they started doing a ton of drugs? Definitely some Indian influence in here with like sitars and other eastern instruments. Album Highs: Eleanor Rigby Here There and Everywhere And Your Bird Can Sing For No One Album Lows: Maybe Yellow Submarine? There aren't a lot of lows. Hard to place this one, it's like in the high 3's or low 4's? Not a ton of bangers but pretty listenable overall.

This album is, fine. I bet it's a fun one to have on vinyl. None of the songs have really 'grabbed' me, but nothing on it is bad.

I don't have the eastern music knowledge or vocabulary to understand or explain what I'm hearing. This could be the most amazing Eastern music on the planet, or it could be the background music in an Indian restaurant. Baffled by its inclusion and is pretty much wasted on me.

Hey Neil, what the fuck are you talking about? "I wish I was a trapper, I would give a thousand pelts to sleep with Pocahontas and to find out how she felt in the morning on the fields of green, in the homeland we've never seen. And maybe Marlon Brando will be there by the fire. We'll sit and talk of Hollywood and all the good things there for hire. And the Astrodome, and the first teepee. Marlon Brando, Pocahontas, and me." "Welfare mother make better lovers. People, pick up on what I'm puttin' down now. Welfare mothers make better lovers. Down at every laundromat in town. Welfare mothers make better lovers when they're washin you can here this sound now. Welfare mothers make better lovers. Divorcee!" "I met a man from Mars, he picked up all my guitars and played me travelling songs. And when we got on ship, he brough out something for the trip. He said 'it's old but it's good,' like any other primative would. I'm gonna ride my llama from Peru to Texarkana. I wanna ride him good." "Sedan delivery is a job I know I'll keep. It sure was hard to find." Can someone check on ole Neil?

Pretty solid