1001 Albums Summary

Insufficient feel / funkiness to justify the monotony. Poor production quality.

“Ooooh, a Gary Larson calendar. [flips through calendar] I don’t get it I don’t get it I…don’t…get it.”

Obviously, it is no controversial statement to say this album is among the greats. It brings blues into the metal era…with magnificent style. But its schizophrenia is where it falls short for me. It is trying to be both a leather jacket-donning badass on a black motorcycle and a psychedelic long hair with a macrome belt on a California beach. However, the psychedelic concept of wizards and warlocks that runs through the Zep never resonated with me. Psychedelia in the form of magical wonderment in awe of the cosmos - like what the Dead brought - just feels more…sincere, meaningful, sublime.

Sucked

This album came out the summer before my freshman year at college. Its melancholic adventurousness made it just what I needed at that moment in my life. All my friends in the dorm were obsessed with it. It represents the best of 00s indie - compelling melodies, evocative, unusual chords, simple yet multilayered production, beautifully broken. All with a blogosphere friendly backstory (I think he wrote or maybe even recorded some of it while traveling across the country, living out of a van). This one will always take me back to my college days.

Didn’t realize tom waits is part Dylan, part Bruce, part Tim Burton movie character. Surprised at how much I was pulled in and mesmerized by this album.

Tonia is a big Elliot Smith fan, so I've gone to great lengths to like his music. I've listened to a few of his albums multiple times. I got high and did a candle-lit deep listening session with his self titled album. I even watched the documentary. I think the genius of Elliot Smith is lost on me not because he lacks talent, but because we just have something very different in our life experiences. I can tell his lyrics are poetry, but I've never had a line jump out at me. I can tell he's doing something totally unique with his sound and with the production, but it just doesn't resonate with me. The hazy, lo-fi tint on everything is cool, but to me, it makes his work all sound kinda beige and homogenous. One thing I'll say to his credit - it's the kind of music that can be great for a particular moment in time. For example, "Needle in the Hay," is the perfect song for the cutting scene in Royal Tenenbaums. But outside its place in a movie soundtrack, it just isn't my cup of tea.

This band perfected shoegaze

Pretty good, but a far cry from Marley, jimmy cliff, Peter tosh, burning spear, etc. If I want white reggae, I think there’s better places to look.

Excellent version of the breed