All by Myself was a exciting and surprising end to this album... It was a bit meh. Felt like sanitized punk music.
Feels like it is aping a lot of styles but worse.
But in fairness, their best songs seemed a bit familiar so they didn't make as much of an impact.
Feels like an album that probably really suffers from comparing it to future artists that were inspired by it. I trust a lot of these songs are beautiful lyrically but I didn't really appreciate it.
The first five songs are a real snore... Makes Beginning to See the Light, a pretty meh song, really seem quite exciting.
Fun, a bit sanctimonious.
Just a real treat.
Incredible intro. Amazing album.
This is the first album I've gotten doing this project that I knew from childhood.
Probably from coming right after a funk album (Parliament's Mothership Connection) I never noticed before how short Simon and Garfunkel songs are. They really get in there, make their point and don't overstay their welcome (with the possible exception of A Simple Desultory Philippic which gets tired extremely quickly). It's wild to follow that with an absolutely beautiful love song. What a great album order.
Compared to my perceptions of this album as a kid, the lyrics definitely seem a little less brilliant (is it because I grew up or because I listened to Paul Simon's incredibly inane "Wristband"? Who is to say?)
But those minor jabs aside, this is just an amazing album. The range, the talent, thinking about the growing resentment behind the scenes, it's all such a treat.
What a fun introduction to samba music.
So many great songs on this incredible album. I was originally familiar with the Phoebe Snow version of Do Right Woman so it was exciting to hear this one.
I love Joni Mitchell though I don't know her work very well. I do think her song writing isn't best exhibited with a project that pushes you from album to album to album each day. I need to sit with this one longer, I think (and probably look up some lyrics so I can understand what I'm hearing better). Anyway it's really lovely.
This band really deserves to have their album art co-opted by Homestuck fans.
Incredibly fun and incredibly corny. Of course there's a didgeridoo.
Some lyrically interesting songs mixed in with some incredibly facile ones.
I liked it though, despite how embarrassing Black Hair was.
I'm interested to hear more from Nick Cave, even though this album wasn't my cup of tea.
Stevie Wonder shows off incredible range on this delightful album.
I really like this album!
I'm pretty new on the 1001 Albums journey (this is number 14) and this is the first one I've gotten that really made me want to dive into seeing what else the band can do.
Fishbone's range and virtuosity on display here is really impressive, and that's not even speaking to the fact that apparently the band also had a ridiculously high energy performance style that you had to see to believe.
I've learned a lot about the evolution of funk and I'm looking forward to continuing to do so.
I gave this album a 4 because a lot of the songs weren't quite my cup of tea, even if I really appreciated what they were getting up to. But the highs were real high.
Neat, but quite a few of the tracks felt a little uninspired (though I recognize that some of that might be because I've heard a bunch of acts inspired by them).
Underwhelming. I was excited for this one and it really was pretty bleh. A bit better on repeat.
Really interesting album! I loved its range and I can definitely see how this band could be so influential.
Perfectly pleasant.
I enjoyed this introduction to Malian Blues. I'm grateful that there are a few tiny tastes of how much bigger music is than what is going on in the United States and Britain on the list, even if they aren't representative.
So fun! It was exciting to find out where some of these songs that I knew well from radio play (or however they got in my head) were from.
The other tracks were nice treats as well.
I feel very lucky I got assigned this album on a day where I had plenty of time to take it in. It's been a good day.
I grew up enchanted by the Wu-Tang Clan without listening to much of their music. I'm happy that this project has gotten me to sit down and listen to this album all the way through.
The energy is incredible. The lyrics are so clever. There are certainly some tracks that didn't land as well, and certainly some lines that didn't age well, but as a whole, this album is a treat.
Good, but a bit samey. I wonder if I would have liked it more is it hadn't been immediately preceded by Raekwon.
Every album, I've been picking one song from the album to make a playlist which I assume is going to ultimately be an unlistenable morass but for now is a pretty nice way to look back on what I've listened to.
I've had such a tough time figuring out what to pick for this album. I bounced between The Anchor Song to Venus as a Boy to Like Someone In Love. And the difficulty I had really speaks to Björk's range on this album and how many different fun directions were explored.
It was great having the time to really take this album in.
What a treat. Loved looking up the all-star cast of composers who contributed to this album.
I feel jealous of the people rating this one star because at least they had a meaningful experience listening to this album.
A bit samey but nice.
Meandering on first listen but not unpleasant.
I loved the Nina Simone inspired cover. Good taste, David Bowie.
This definitely felt like it meandered a bit but I loved the general feel of it.
It's really hard to enjoy these songs when:
1) they can be a bit inscrutable musically
2) they seem to keep referring to the musician's real life predation of young girls.
What an album. Great start and just interesting song after interesting song. Glad to be introduced to this.
I hadn't listened to Radiohead before and this album was simultaneously surprising and dull. Because this really was not what I was expecting from their reputation. But also it just kinda wasn't that interesting.
I am a teacher and while this wasn't my favorite listen I am grateful I now have more insight into the music my edgiest students are into. I enjoyed Children of the Korn.
The album art is really charming.
Is it embarrassing that grown adults made this album? Sure. Of course it is. But I'm rating this a bit higher because I had a good time.
I do love a concept album. I really enjoyed how the context of the story being told recontextualized the covers.
The main character killing three people, one of them over essentially nothing adds an interesting, sinister twist over everything. Can I Sleep In Your Arms certainly lands differently when the promise to "do you no wrong" sounds like protesting too much.
This album really surprised me. I was expecting something dull and instead got some really interesting ideas sprinkled all throughout.
Highlights for me were the fascinating Do Right Woman cover and the bass blast on Wheels.
Bwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa.
(That's the bass blast on Wheels. Isn't it great?)
Just fine. Reminded me of a good high school choir.
Nice to know this exists.
It was exciting to hear the seeds of Janelle Monae in 1983.
Natural Woman is transcendent.
It really didn't grab me. I like punk quite a bit and I've gotten some really dull recommendations from this list. Do I not like "post punk"?
I really enjoyed the novel The Bell Jar. It's a poignant dark comedy that, unfortunately, the most distinctive things about it is its inability to get out of the shadow of the author's actual death shortly after writing it.
It's similarly a shame how hard it is to experience this album as Jeff Buckley intended. Every song has these echoes of being a meditation on death that works hauntingly sometimes (Hallelujah, Lover, You Should’ve Come Over) and is entirely distracting at others (Eternal Life).
1001 Albums You Must Hear Before *You Die* may invoke death in the title does not usually so sharply serve as a memento mori as this. I've repeatedly read participants of this project voice two claims:
1) they did not need to hear some particular album before they died, in fact (typically one they disliked)
2) There is no such album, that one MUST listen to before you die, regardless of its quality.
But what is true is that we must do something with our brief time on this planet. And enriching my life with an album a day is certainly time well spent. Today more than most.
A real joy to experience this stripped away Dylan. Definitely more rough around the edges but that's also an exciting thing.
I don't think "post punk" means anything.
Loved the variety.
I enjoyed the weirdness but it felt like every song overstayed its welcome by about 2 minutes.
This is fantastic! How have I never heard of Joan Armatrading before? I loved this album and also discovered that she's still active... Last album came out in 2024.
I think I need to spend more time with this album to truly appreciate it but I liked what it was doing.
And if Elvis Costello says this guy is alright, that's good enough for me.
Hard to feel much passion about. Fine.
I really wanted to be wowed and I just wasn't.
That was the worst version of Bring It On Home To Me I've ever heard. The rest of the songs seemed fine but I didn't really know them from anything else. Maybe they were made much much worse than their original versions too?
I listen to the whole album and it's fine. Just fine. It's hard to make an impression. I have A sub project where I'm trying to pick out my favorite song from the album and my undiscerning ear cannot pick out differences.
I want to broaden my musical horizons but this is my second Radiohead album and both of them had the effect of elevator music: pleasant but making no impression.
I'll keep trying, I guess.
This was fine but mostly I'm mad that this has 10x the personality and character than the last two Radiohead albums and everyone seems to be calling those the best albums of all time and this a featureless drone.
Sounds like a fun time. These people don't seem to know what a medley is.
