1001 Albums Summary

A great and reliable way to start my 1001 journey. Knowing a few of these tracks going in, I knew I was in for a fun ride. ‘Timeless’ is the word that comes to mind. It doesn’t overstay its welcome and provides lovely melody and harmony along the way. I know it’s overplayed, but come on, that title track is perfection.

Absolutely mesmerising. To think that this guy didn’t have much of a following while he was alive; thank the Lord he continued to make music. His soft voice in conjunction with insane compositions, such interesting chord progressions and melodies. I’m so excited to listen to his other two albums. Lyrically, he puts you in such an introspective place. I’m a fan ❤️

This music is by no means bad, but it left no mark on me whatsoever. It had semi-interesting moments; but I felt the songwriting was largely milquetoast. It draws inspiration from really interesting places and the musicianship is really quite good - I can really tell this album brought a lot of talent together in the studio; but the impact this album left on me was minimal to say the least, and the general rock/soul presentation felt very much like already-trodden territory. I respect the musicianship and the instrumentation, but I found Michael’s vocal delivery and songwriting to be quite emotionally unimpactful, boring and lacking in dynamics. On that basis, I can’t give it more than a 2.5. It wasn’t without its meritable moments, but it wasn’t for me unfortunately. ❤️

What a fun little ride that was. I knew ‘That Lady’ going into it so very much enjoyed that being track 1. The pentatonic blues does get a touch old by the time this album is through, but for the most part it’s lush and tasteful throughout; that’s no exception on this track, even though the guitar solo overstayed its welcome a tad. I was then a little worried after track 2 and 3, because they didn’t massively grab me. Everything else from that point onwards was a winner. ‘You Walk Your Way’ was a beautiful song about two individuals parting, and that maybe not being such a bad thing? ‘Sunshine’ was another standout track for me, with that Phrygian feeling chord progression at the beginning. ‘Summer Breeze’ might be the best, coolest song on the album, and then we finish with the reflective ‘Highways of My Life’ to bring it all to a close. Very fun, 4/5.

Another great continuation to my 1001 journey. This is such an all round solid experience. It’s extremely coherent sonically and thematically, and honestly I like some of these songs more within the context of the album than I do individually. As a kid of the 2000s, I of course knew a good few of these songs going in, but had never listened to the album in full, and I’m far more impressed than I thought I would be. Thinking Bout You is obviously a strong start, but because of how familiar it is it didn’t blow me away on this listen. Sierra Leone piqued my interest a tad more, and then from Sweet Life onwards the album feels pretty flawless give or take a few moments. Sweet Life I’ve known for years and that’s a great song in every way. Super Rich Kids and Crack Rock were big surprises for me because I’d never heard them before, but wow they were great. Honestly as I write this I’m realising I liked it more than I even thought. I’d give it a 4.5/5 but there’s no .5s on here so it can have a 5 haha.

As Anthony Fantano would say, classic/10