1001 Albums Summary

Maybe this was cutting edge when it came out (or maybe I don't have enough familiarity with the genre), but this sounds nearly indistinguishable from most other mediocre electronic music I've heard.

It a well-worn cliche to say that heartbreak and grief produce the most incredible art, but 21 is the perfect representation of how a statement can be both cliched and invariably true. If you aren't moved by at least one song on this album it just means you haven't had your heart sufficiently broken, yet.

The beats and backing tracks here are peak 90's hip hop, but that's where my appreciation of this album ends. Most of the lyrics fall on a spectrum from juvenile to problematic, the word play is not half as clever as it thinks it is, and the interludes sampling what I assume is old pornography feel disingenuously edgy.

The songs bleed together in a way that makes it hard to pick any single song out, but that's not necessarily a complaint. It's totally unintrusive soft electronica/rock from start to finish, highlighted by a use of instruments that feels (almost) stereotypically French.

George Harrison's magnum opus is full of really good music. Obviously different from his work with the Beatles, though the comparison is hard to avoid at points. "My Sweet Lord" could be at home on the B-side of a later Beatles record, for instance. It's also clear to see how this album served to inspire the other artists of the time period and vice versa, "Beware of Darkness" is musically similar to Pink Floyd's work in the mid to late 70's. The 2020 remaster is nearly 2 hours long and fatigue set in by the time I made it to "Out of the Blue."

As mercurial as the artist herself. This album is challenging and sometimes discordant, but never unintentionally so.

Broadly speaking, I don't think "supergroups" make good music (boygenius excluded). This album did not change my opinion. Meh at best; entirely unmemorable.

Can you separate art from the artist? If the artist is Kanye West, no.

A testament to the fact that music is a universal language. I didn’t need to understand a word of it to enjoy every moment of it.

The first three songs are enjoyable examples of delta blues, but things quickly go off the rails and into the ravine below (both metaphorically and aurally). The more avant-garde/experimental tracks are mostly lyrically incoherent and hard to listen to.

Neil Young is one of the most prolific songwriters of the 20th and 21st centuries and this album showcases all of the best things about his music: thoughtful, pared down, and moving.

I've read more about this album than any other album I've listened to in recent memory (said derogatorily). It defies any explanation or label (also said derogatorily). It sounds like every musician and their instruments were falling down an up escalator. Though, maybe that was just where old Cap't Beefheart was at in his life because, in a real case of life imitating art, apparently he threw the drummer down a flight of stairs not long after recording this and stripped him of all credits on the album. I couldn't finish it, but laughed hysterically at what I made it through. 1/5 feels generous.

This would be a 3/5 if not for the first three songs. The opening riff on "Where The Streets Have No Name" is so iconic, and a perfect example of why U2 was a mainstay of popular music and culture from the late 80s into the early 2000s. After the first three songs the album gets "meh."

Oh hell yea. I love everything about this album. The muddy guitars, the pared back drumming, and that voice. God damn. It felt like someone was hugging my soul the whole way through.

Ok, listen, this album (and band) are obviously most well known for creating the anthem of every white person ever: Mr. Brightside. BUT! Along with the Strokes the Killers were one of the most influential rock bands of the 2000s and early 2010s. This album is a perfect representation of why. It is loud, more polished than grungy, and makes liberal use of synths to round out the sound. It doesn't reinvent the wheel, but it is very very good.

I don't think it's bad, I just don't think it's particularly good. It's like a lot of other mediocre pop-rock of the 1980s.

I'm admittedly not super familiar with Stevie Wonder's work beyond his most popular songs, but I really enjoyed this album. There are few genres that explore the human experience quite like soul, and this album is a great example of the genre.