1001 Albums Summary

Hendrix. Of course we would begin with Hendrix. We all know about the guitar virtuosity, and it's on display here. Vocals are mid. What gets me about this album is how anti- and in-your-face it is, not just the lyrics (cf Hey Joe) but also the driving staccato drum beat that pounds out a military rhythm in almost every song. This album *is* the 60s - or, at least, a certain part of the 60s.

By the end of this album I actually hated it. I was willing to give it a pass even with flat vocals and songs that went nowhere, and there's even a decent track in 'Run Run Run' but I don't know what Gibson saw in All Tomorrow's Parties (the only Gibson book I never bothered to finish) and by the end of the album it's clear that it was people without a lot of talent improvising just to make noise.

This album was... nice. At times it rocks, at times it eases back. We feel the echo of Leonard Cohen on Hallelujah, and of Rush on Eternal life. It feels like Christian rock but it's not really; the sentiments are much more broad. "I want to love everyone." I wouldn't listen to it a lot, but it would be OK as driving music.

This album is deservedly a classic. It's Willie Nelson's silky sweet vocals against a gentle country background filled with genuine emotions and metaphor. "Now my hand is on the wheel of something that's real and I feel like I'm going home." It just flows, naturally, link a creek through a cornfield.