1001 Albums Summary

I'm surprised I never listened to the whole album before. Really solid debut album. Great mixing and sound design, even more so for the time. Love the themes of nature and innocence.

"The present is a gift and I just want to be" "I guess knowin' I'm weak is when I'm really bein' strong" "Be gleeful everyday, for being the best swimmer among 500,000" "Be a brilliant soul, sparkling in the galaxy, while walking on Earth" Really well produced. Loved all the beats. I appreciated the themes in this one too. "Be" is very apt. Common's dad, "Pops", apparently does spoken word poetry at the end of his albums. It was the perfect way to end the album. Beautiful

Very reminiscent of early Beatles work with all the harmonies but a nice change of pace with women vocalists in the mix. California Dreamin’ is definitely the standout but there’s a good mix of originals and covers too.

Absolutely beautiful. Mesmerizing. Jimi makes the guitar sound like an extension of himself. As natural as speaking.

Cool eclectic mix of tracks. Feels like the soundtrack to a cabaret or variety show.

Ok, it’s very possible I’ve never really listened to much of AC/DC lyrics until now but holy moly, this album is horny as hell haha. I feel it gets a little stale after a while but solid licks and solid overall

Need to give it another listen. The first half was good but I was transfixed by the end. The sax solo in the title track *chef’s kiss*

Not quite as grandiose as their later albums but you can see where they were going. I hear a bit a Zep and even some Beatles with the harmonies. No huge standouts but feels like a cohesive whole.

A nice little album. Fairly safe overall

So much funk! I’ve heard this music parodied often in my life but never listened to much of the original. Musically, it holds up fantastically. Great style all around. So many different sounds. Lyrically, it’s extremely on the nose, I almost thought it was supposed to be ironic. Looking up why he wrote it that way, it sort of is. As a counter to the somewhat “positive” portrayal of drugs and drug culture in the movie, it reads a lot more noble.

I wish I liked this one a bit more. I like what they did and it’s not bad but unlike a lot of the other albums I’ve been listening to on this list, I feel it doesn’t quite hold up as well.

Fantastic early electronic effort. Such great use of sampling. High-level production. Consistent and yet still tons of variety.

While some of the lyrics haven’t aged the well, it helps that everything is extremely tongue in cheek. Great sound design and meshing of guitar with beats. Fun back and forth verses.

Whoa, where did this come from? I’m always on the lookout for cool uses of orchestra and it was really effective here. Added to the intense atmosphere without overwhelming. Also, just a solid early industrial album in its own right.

A couple standouts and nothing truly bad on the album, but overly long and a bit repetitive by the end. I enjoyed it but it would be a better album with some trimming.

Ugh. I try to not only seperate the art from the artist in these reviews but also attempt to look at the album in the context of when it was written. Bonus points for standing the test of time. Really hard with someone like Kanye. Sonically, the album is fantastic. The mixing is top notch. Love the sampling. Great electronic vibes. Lyrically, it’s a bit more hit or miss for me. Sometimes it leans just a bit too much in to Yeezus.

Has a couple standout tracks but fairly safe overall