1001 Albums Summary

The best songs--America, Fakin' It, A Hazy Shade of Winter, Mrs. Robinson--are classics for a reason. But to me, there's a big dropoff to the second tier songs. Save the Life of My Child's attempts at light psychedelia just sound mushy; Overs, Old Friends, and Punky's Dilemma sound gushy; The attempts at a conceptual suite with the Bookends theme and Voices of Old People sound pretentious. But man, the highs are very high!

Urban Hymns has long been one of my favorite albums of the 90s. Listening again, the whole albums flows as a whole. The jams jam and the bangers bang. I should be sick of Bittersweet Symphony, but I'm not.

The first time I heard this band I had a visceral dislike of the shouted lyrics and mashed together noise. Very melody and very little complexity. I still can’t stand this.

I mean, this is a no-brainer 5 star album, obviously. But it's long been a bit of a frustrating listen for me. The best tracks are some of the best of all-time from anyone anywhere-Visons of Johanna, One of Us Must Know, Stuck Inside of Memphis, etc. But the album also grinds to a halt when the boring bluesy numbers pop up--Pledging My Time, Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat, Temporary Like Achilles. But between the iconic cover and the majority of the fabulous songs, this one is undeniable.

Thoroughly enjoyable from start to finish. Still rocks!

Oh boy. I went through a Doors phase in junior high, obsessed with every album. I'm no longer in junior high. The Doors have not aged well for me. Twentieth Century Fox is still a good tune though.