1001 Albums Summary

8/10. A powerful album, it combines rock and melancholy very well, elliciting strong emotions upon listening. Every song feels like it could be the closing track, which shows the power of the album as a whole. Excellent work, it's disappointing he didn't survive long enough to see how beloved his work would become.

7/10. An album not like anything I've ever listened to before, it explores the dream pop and ethereal sound spaces very well, bringing together ambient music and seemingly far-away vocals difficult to make out, but easy to understand the emotion in the voice. It stands as the pinnacle of dream pop, combining what they and other had done before with their own spin to make it truly unique, and you definitely won't find anything today that sounds like it and wasn't inspired by it in a way. It did away with the gothic tones of earlier works of the genre, but truly made it into a dreamscape that takes you with it.

6/10. Their second album, it has a completely different feeling from their debut. It brought a much darker, haunting feel to it, but this was by design by Robert Smith, wanting a more introspecctive and atmospheric style, which he said was his true vision for the band, much unlike their first album. The album is decent, if not a little boring at times, but all the songs togetether create a unique sound that influenced theirs and others music for decades, spawning into the massive band we know today.

6/10. Despite having one of their biggest songs on this album, many of the other songs have a much slower, darker feel to them, used to encapsulate the entire feel around the political climate of the U.S. at the time, even going to historical parts like on "Exhuming McCarthy". It's a decent rock album, but I don't think it's their best work, it's too slow for my taste.

6.8/10. This album sounds remarkably similar to a Beatles album, and after some research, it's obvious why. It was heavily inspired by the group, features Ringo Starr on drums, and has McCartney and Lennon backing it. The project is very theatrical in its production, created utilizing a vast amount of instruments and has a very personality-driven sound to it. I enjoyed it, but it did slow down and get weaker at points, so I don't know if I would listen to the album in full again.

6.0/10. A classic example of synth-pop, it makes full use of the instrument. Bringing some catchy sounds, the lyrics don't quite do it justice unfortunately. It gets really weird at points, but it still a decent album overall, there wasn't any particularly bad songs. I could totally see these songs being played at a German nightclub today.

6.1/10. A more groovy, jazz and R&B inspired rap album, it definitely went against traditional anger that often arose, trading it for a more mellow sound that just produced a softer feel. It wasn't bad in any regard, but the topics combined with the length made it a bit of a difficcult listen. I don't know that I would put any of the songs on again.

5.6/10. An album with both sides of grandeur and softness, it does a great job of making you feel like you were actually there. It utilizes an array of instruments, and the album feel like they were built as a theatrical mixing pot, including influences from traditional French chanson, waltz & folk dance rythyms, grand orchestration, and stripped-down music (solitary instruments make up the entire instrumentation). Brel does well with the live performance, but I personally am not that big a fan of French lyricism, the language just doesn't have the emotion due to complex pronunciations.

6.3/10. I don't really listen to live albums, I prefer the perfection that studio production creates. But this album was solid, it brought a lot of personality beyond the music, including the banter with the band and the crowd, missed notes, off vocals, etc. Still enjoyable, but it is clear that this was before their biggest works, as it included some songs that weren't theirs, and had that raw sound.

5.2/10. A certainly obvious indie album, I couldn't help but continuously think of the scene from "Community" where the hitchhiker sings "Jesus Loves Marijuana"; it all sounded like a depressing version of that. The instrumentation was curious, but not exciting enough to make me listen to it again at all. Indie rock like this just isn't my thing.

7.2/10. A peaceful album that didn't have much going on, but its simplicity added to its charm. The composer changed vibes between and during songs with his use of major and minor keys, and it always meshed well with what came before and after it. I enjoyed it, it was great for a rainy Sunday morning.