Album Reviews

Canon early hip hop. Good memories of replaying “Around the Way Girl” ad nauseam at Henry Warren’s house when he got the cassingle. I was raised on this stuff. Love it.

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Yikes. If I would have stolen this from a record store back in the day I would demand my money back.

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6/10 Me gusto pero es muy largo, medio que me canso al final, no es malo pero algunos temas bastantes pj

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uff, hat mir nicht zugesagt. Glaube wir hatten schonmal n Krautrock Album was ganz gut war, dieses hier klang einfach wild zusammengewürfelt mit ein paar verrückten Einspielern >.>

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Had a good time with this one. Very chill, super nice sound and rhythm.

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That was an exciting ride

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I like Kate Bush and I love when she plays silly buggers which she does a lot but there’s something about her. I’d rather listen to someone else sometimes? Where’s Sinead O’Connor? Will she be on this list?

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Well executed but this still can’t be more than background music for me. High 3.

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Fine

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I gravitated to the track where the Soulquarians sound the most like a real band in a room — warm, spiritual, groove‑first. If the whole album lived in that pocket, it’d probably be a top‑tier listen for me.

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Listening to this on my computer through headphones and it is definitely the wrong choice. I know very little of Fleetwood Mac beyond Rumours and that is probably a shame. One almost perfect album shouldn't be a way to decide about a band and a legacy. This is the album after. Another double album in a row. Just finished Exile on Main Street where it is the last gasp of rock for a band who is done and then this double of a band falling apart and trying to distance themselves. Heroin for the Stones and cocaine for Fleetwood Mac. I don't have any context for this album other than against Rumours. So, here we go. Mostly thoughts as I listen. I have heard The Hedge before. Something about it reminds me of Mumford and Son. There is a brightness and trebly quality to the sound here. Definitely some production tricks with the whispers. So far not as experimental as I have been lead to believe. Might also be due to so much music that I have heard over the years. Way brighter than Exile that I just finished yesterday. This is like too much light off the water on a summer's day rather than the muffle under water. I really wished I wasn't using Spotify for this. I wish I had Tidal on my work computer. I may end up using my phone for the remainder of the time that I listen away from my home. I just found out that Camper Van Beethoven did a whole cover album of this. I will be listening to that as I really dig David Lowery. I can imagine that it will be more experimental than what I have heard so far. Sometimes these songs sound like they belong to another album. They share some similar DNA of sounds but from somewhere else. This is Storms that makes me wonder about this. I like this song. Very much jingly jangly. That's all for everyone seems like a half a song. Maybe something that Andy Patridge was working on for XTC. Something that didn't make the Beatles influenced Skylarking. Sometimes this feels like the Travelling Wilburys with more treble. This feels like a coke bender between frantic come ups and mellow comedowns, never spending enough time to fully follow an idea to an end. Either getting bored or sliding into a more mellow tune. Sisters of the Moon. Solo at the end was not as wanky as I expected. Self indulgent but only going so far. Angel feels Proud Mary like to me. That's Enough for Me reminds me that I should re-listen to T-Rex. Something Bolanesque about this one. Brown Eyes the first song that feels really experimental to me probably due to the weirdos I listen to. This song seems to be perpetually ending on the next beat; like falling forward walking upstairs. Never Make Me Cry feels like a full song. Probably the first fully formed one. I'm starting to think it isn't that bad of thing to be like this. This becomes apparent on Honey Hi which sounds like a Rumours reject. It also sounds like a rock/pop version of minimal techno with repeating phrases over simple melodies and beats. Maybe just a pop version of experimental techno? I hate the piano in Beautiful Child. I can't say why. The first song I want to skip but I hold out. Tusk - Another one that feels like an experiment. T-Rex, Tom Waits or a demo. All feel at home here. This is a wandering, meandering time of someone lost and trying to find a way. Some great production and some bad decisions. I would lean to a 3.75 for the shining moments. --- I have read a number of the reviews and while it looks as if I have been leaning towards some themes. I like to listen to records as if they are intended to be heard together and have some sort of cohesion. It doesn't have to be sonically. It could be thematic. This just seems to be a whiplash mood and wanting to do something different. I don't find it as trashy, disconnected or experimental as others. There are some cool production tricks and a definite impact of substances on the recording. I will give it a 4. I will probably dip in sometime in the future when I listen to some alt country, 80/90s prog rock or some more organic techno. --- I finished listening to the Camper Van Beethoven cover. It is a great companion piece to this. I will definitely be listening to that again.

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A bit too long and no tracks particularly stand out

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This should just be billed as a Janis Joplin album. The music behind her was well produced, but she is all I heard while listening. Decent, basic rock music when it’s all said and done.

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This was great! I’d like to listen to it again great vibes great sounds didn’t necessarily stop me in my tracks but not everything has to.

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3.6/5

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Back then it was always sandals, bottom half of a flower-print bikini, faded Country Joe & the Fish t-shirt. Tonight she was all in flatland gear... Det er mitt eneste referansepunkt for Country Joe & the Fish -- et band alle untatt Thomas Pynchon har glemt. Først og fremst: stereo-mixen er grusom; aktivt irriterende. Jeg byttet til mono etter 2 låter, og det løste problemet. Dette er egentlig bare en litt mindre poppa the Doors eller? På B-siden føler jeg at de bytter litt spor -- mindre blues, mer psychedelic noodling med et par avstikkere inn i Beatles-land. Koste meg med dette, jeg; har potensiale til å bli en fremtidig favoritt.

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One of the worst things I’ve heard on this list so far. This is documented evidence of the worst things you can do with a guitar. I had the unfortunate experience of riding on the Aerosmith rollercoaster as Disneyland and I’ve never quite got over it.

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Conor Clapton Committed Suicide Because His Father Sucks Eric Clapton sucks Eric Clapton sucks Eric Clapton's gay And he's fucking gay Your father is the 4th worst singer After Springsteen, Seger and Petty You were sick of his gay fucking songs So you jumped out a really high up window Eric Clapton sucks Eric Clapton sucks Eric Clapton's gay And he's fucking gay Your father sucks so fucking bad You knew you'd get beaten up at school You were sick of hearing "You Look Wonderful Tonight" So you jumped out a really high up window Sometimes I wish you didn't die Because I hate the song "Tears in Heaven" I was glad you died, until I heard that song

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Manure

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Wife: what are you listening to? Me: it's my album of the day. Wife: why are you still listening? I would've turned this off after 7 seconds. Me: I'm listening to every album. You know, in for a penny, in for a pound. Wife: why are you doing this to yourself? I wouldn't want to start my day listening to this. Me: ok I'll turn it off. Thank you, thank you, this is the next single from my new album, 20 Years of Marriage Don't Come For Free. This album is completely unique to the entire list. Dude's rap game is way out in left field. It took a few listens to grasp but this is pure genius. The end of the something I did not want to end Beginning of hard times to come But something that was not meant to be is done And this is the start of what was

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Her voice is the instrument on display here, and it shines, but there's some incredible songwriting on display as well. Lots of politically charged lyrics. But of course -- this list disappoints me, again.. this is the **only** Nina Simone album on this list. She's a woman of color, so her discography and 20+ year career barely gets a mention.. I should probably be surprised she's even on the list. Sure, this might be her most popular (arguably) album, but there is SO much left off the table. Her album "Pastel Blues" has her iconic and haunting cover of "Strange Fruit" and famous protest song, "Sinnerman", for instance. I recall enjoying her first album, "Little Girl Blue", long ago. To be crystal clear, I'm not complaining on this album, however, as "Four Women" (wow, this one is charged up!!), "Wild is the Wind", "Black is the Color..",."Either Way I Lose", & "If I Should Lose You" (that crescendo at the end is so good off of her sustained and pained voice...) are legends. But, why JUST this one record?? Normally, this would be a high '4' from me (a very high 4), as it's not everyday listening, but in protest of the lack of breadth of this list (how much electronica/dance do we **really** need to hear before we die?) this gets a (5/5) in the hopes that future lists will include more of this (and the god-damned SUPREMES!!), rather than some more lanky, disshelved English dudes who want to bang on a guitar or a synth for an afternoon...

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Putrid and rancid turds.

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Nope. Didn't like this at all. Who told them they could 'rock' out the organ? (1/5) I thought **I** was a nerd, but nooo... Emerson & Co. come along and make the dorkiest, dork-fest of an organ album they could imagine with tracks like "The Curse of Baba Yaga". Alright, guys. You failed your saving throws and it's time to leave the church. Get off the organ/synths... Step away from the keyboard, please...

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Nope. Fuck this dude. Didn't understand the hype then, and not about to give him a penny of streaming revenue to find out if I missed anything.

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Younger work colleagues have (teasingly) asked me what my favourite Taylor Era is, expecting the middle-aged male to fumble for a relevant answer. But I do have a favourite Taylor Era which is her Pop Era. I was aware of but did not relate to her country ingenue records -- they just didn't speak to me, not that they needed to, nothing wrong with that -- but 'We Are Never Getting Together' and 'I Knew You Were Trouble' really caught my ear. I love pop music, and this was really great pop music. Cleverly crafted, upbeat and catchy as hell. I was really pleased when her next record, 1989, leaned fully and explicitly into pop. Ironically, the pop genre allows Swift to be more authentic. She can be a young woman (as opposed to her previous slightly naive ingenue persona, which was starting to wear thin); sexier (without going full Britney or Christina) and more urbane (welcome to New York indeed) and also more ambitious and no longer willing to be underestimated: “I never miss a beat/ I’m lightning on my feet/ and that’s what they don’t see.” Pop music is by nature artificial, but to be really great, it needs to _feel_ real. You have to _believe_ the singer. I would argue that this is the genius paradox of Madonna; I believe every word she sings (her credibility makes her a surprisingly great ballad singer), but almost nothing she says in interviews. Similarly, I believe Taylor Swift on this record. Not necessarily the literal autobiographical truth of every word -- this is a (melo)dramatic narrative containing fragments harvested from her life, but hardly a roman a clef -- but the sentiment is real. She presents here as an ambitious young woman hitting the town, and it rings true. And sounds like enormous fun. She has moved on to explore other directions since this album, which is her artistic right. I'm just glad she made this one complete, genuine, unapologetic, outstanding pop album that I could listen to any day of the week.

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Oh, boy.. more electronic euro-pop.. 🙄🙄 This sounds *VERY* dated and they turned the treble all the way up. So much that I can barely understand the singer. I hope she wasn't key to the music, because if so, big miss by the production team on that one. Otherwise, a bunch of dreamy, ethereal-light stuff that I would never purposely put on. (2/5). This isn't offensive, it's just definitely not my style. At all. I feel like I've hit a lot of '2's recently. This continues that trend.

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Heard of them but never been exposed to anything they'd done. This one has a dreamy, atmospheric sound that I could really get into, but the vocals initially distracted from the experience. I get using the voice as a musical instrument, and I've listened to and enjoyed non-English speaking music in the past, so it really helped to stop trying to understand it and assume she's speaking Gaelic, instead. The layers of synth and overall relaxing vibe of the album were refreshing, and there was just enough tonal variety to keep things interesting while pretty seamlessly flowing together. An overall ethereal album that I'm still not sure that I'd revisit, so it bumps its head on a 3/5 ceiling.

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Boring. So, so boring. Far too melancholy for me. I've been consistent in that my '3' ratings are something I'd try and come back to, or had a few tracks I like. '2' isn't offensive or irritating, but rather it's a single listen and for a variety of reasons I won't come back to any of it. Smith is a perfectly fine musician, but boy is he lacking any energy. (2/5)

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"The imitation picks you up like a habit." This is a new listen for me. I’ve never heard of this guy even though the 2000 release date puts it right in my college years when I was the most connected to popular and new music in my life. I can "hear" in this an album a younger version of myself would've enjoyed a lot. Its full of angst and guitar strumming, even if it falls on the emo side of what I usually prefer. Which is why I'm surprised I'd never encountered it back in the day. On the other hand, bleak and/or gloomy music for disaffected youth is a crowded space. The Cure, Nirvana, and Wilco are all acts I've already encountered in just the first 80 albums of this project. Looking through the reviews of this album, though, shows that it landed with many people, but it is understandable if for some it landed outside of their radar. That is where it landed for me. And I'm finding its not an easy album to latch onto in my forties. With Wilco I found I wanted to fabricate long years of nostalgia upon hearing it for the first time. Mr. Smith is not working the same kind of magic. Very little of it is sticking. Another album in the collection of those that found me at the wrong time in my life. Highlight tracks Junk Bond Trader.

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Long before CSI had a series in every major city in America, the Who were revolutionizing and framing what future generations would define as rock & roll. This is them at their absolute peak, and even if the album does lose a little steam in the middle, that mediocrity is sandwiched between five of their greatest tracks ever. Baba O'Riley, Behind Blue Eyes, and Won't Get Fooled Again are nearly enough on their own to elicit a 5/5, but the added bonus of Bargain and Going Mobile really seal the deal.

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People remember how you start and how you finish. This album starts with a Best “Side 1, Track 1” of All Time Contender and finishes with an even better track. And beyond that the songs themselves start and end so memorably. The little coda parts on each of these tracks are mini-victory laps. The album was a gem to listen to. It sags ever so slightly in the middle (the tracks “My Wife” and “The Song is Over” are the two weakest IMO) but never enough to drag. Man, the landscape of 1970s rock is quite something to behold. 1971 is up there with 1991 as such an outstanding year for music releases. What The Who achieved here is stunning, one of those landmarks of rock that will forever be referenced. Seriously, some bands are lucky if within their entire career they add one phrase or idea to the long lexicon of music and culture. The Who gave us three or four on this one album. And to think it is the by product of a failed rock opera idea. On this listen I really got into “Bargain”. “Behind Blue Eyes” remains my favorite track. I still find it haunting in a way. And “We Won’t Get Fooled Again” will still be played in 100 years. Meet the new 5-star. Same as the old 5-star.

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Nina Simone is one of those names that looms large. She is a name I have often heard but have never spent much time with listening to her music. Once again I’m in need of some schoolin’. Her’s is one of those legacy voices that truthfully you need to experience yourself. Well her command and presence came through my ear buds as masterful as anything this list has offered so far this morning. I've been thinking about this album all day. There is such life in these vocals. She refuses to sand down the rough textures that appear. This woman has capital “P” - Power in her voice. The opening track “I Love Your Lovin’ Ways” is a bluesy rocking start to the album. The good times are early and short though because after that there much heartbreak to ponder on this album. “Four Women” knocked me on my ass. “Lilac Wine”, “Breakdown and Let it All Out”, “Wild is the Wind”. She’s singing about harder shit than any metal band out there and complaining less. There is an abundance of heartbreak to ponder on this one but it refuses to fall into mopey-ness. It’s vulnerable and defiant. What a shame this is the only entry we get from Nina Simone.

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This one is far from my favorite of theirs, and frankly ranges from laughably pretentious to downright annoying. There's some decent substance between all of that, and there's obvious proficiency on display, but the tone of the synthesizer lends a cartoonish quality that undermines the overall effect. It's a 2/5 that made me spin Lucky Man just to get the taste out of my mouth.

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This was a progressive rock band going full progressive rock band. And me, well, I am a sucker for classical music done by rock bands. I enjoyed this. That acoustic guitar on “The Sage” was a nice piece. The “Live” nature of the recording also added a layer of fun to the whole album too.

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I can’t believe the top review for this record (as of Dec 2023) is from someone trying to use their PhD in Mathematics as justification for not liking hip-hop. Weak.

Oh fuck yeah, now we're talking. Wait no, I swear I'm not being pretentious. This is the lowest rated album on this site because I guess mostly people aren't very fond of German people smashing metal plates together - who would have guessed. But halle-fucking-lujah, this is something this list needs more of. Albums that make you go "well, that was an experience and now I'm a changed man". Nobody is lying on their deathbed wishing they heard more crappy 80s post-punk or late 60s psychedelic rock. THIS is what we all deserve to be listening to as we embrace eternal oblivion. I'm giving this a high rating not only because I genuinely really love it, but also to help Kid Rock move to his rightful place as the actual worst album on this list. Together we can make a difference. Save the turtles.

Brings back vivid memories of when me and my mate Ray went on a trip to Dresden. We met this rotund goth in a bar, head to toe with tattoos and piercings, real filth and after a while took her into the disabled bogs for a spit roast. We were both pumping away in her with Napalm Death on in the background and her wailing "MEIN GOTT" at the top of her lungs. I remember spaffing all over her back just as Siege of Power kicked in. As i shoot over her, she takes Ray's cock out of her gob and says "do you want fries with that?" in a faux American accent. Anyway, we go outside and there's this gammy little geezer in a wheelchair sitting there furious, giving me daggers, because he's had to wait so long, so I lean into him and I go "I hope you have as much fun in there as we just did you little cunt".

Back when I was in college I used to go to a bar and listen to Neil tunes and do magic tricks for women. There was a bartender there, he was the best. I loved that guy. Some of the best years of my life.

Back when I was in college, there was this dude who would come into the bar I worked at on a Friday night and play fucking 10 Neil Young songs in a row. He would also hit on girls by doing magic tricks. I remember how angry I got every time he made me listen to an hour of Neil Young because I was just trying to have a good time, and he fucking made me listen to this sad, soppy fuck who writes nothing but songs that sound indistinguishable from each other and never seemed to enjoy a happy moment in his entire like. Fuck that guy, and fuck Neil Young. 2/5

Shit like this on the list is both refreshing and infuriating. Refreshing because it is good, fun, interesting, and also not something I would regularly be exposed to! It's why I started this project and keeps me coming back. It's infuriating because the fact that it is included here means that Robert Dimery, the original author of the 1001 albums list is aware that music like this exists. He's clearly aware that there is an entire world of music out there. SO WHY HAVE I LISTENED TO 200 80s BRITISH NEW WAVE ALBUMS AND 200 SCOTTISH ROCK ALBUMS FROM THE 90S??!!?

Rap isn't my preferred genre of music. But I'm a shitty mathematician so I enjoyed this.

I really don't get rap, and I am completely aware of why. I'm a STEM guy, specifically a Ph.D. student in mathematics. Although my verbal intelligence is quite high, it's still about a standard deviation below my quantitative intelligence. Therefore, it should not be too surprising that I prefer melodies to lyricism, and that a genre based on the latter doesn't wow me. I know I'm pretty far out of step with public opinion on this one, but that can easily be attributed to the fact that hipsters with humanities degrees (i.e. extremely verbal-dominant people) are considered the ultimate arbiters of taste for some reason. (Side note: this also explains why prog rock is seen as being for losers.) Best song: Be (Intro), which had a decent instrumental part at the beginning. Everything else just sort of ran together.

Rage In Favor Of The Machine.

Music for incels to wank furiously by

Sorry Boomers/Gen X, I was like 20 when this came out so it's one of the best things to ever happen to me. Sorry it's not King Crimson or whatever.

i ain’t listening to all that i’m happy for u tho or sorry that happened

The beauty of music is that it is subjective. It’s typically great for a certain group of people, though it’s never right for everyone. Some for the masses, some more niche, but it all has its place. Meanwhile, with lists like this, there’s always artists or records that anyone would have put on in place of what actually made it. Personally, I would have included Queensryche’s Operation Mindcrime, Live’s Throwing Copper, Joe Satriani’s The Extremist, Sara Bareilles’ Little Voice, or John Mellencamp’s Scarecrow album on a list of must hear records. Others would put totally different albums on and that's awesome. What someone likes vs. dislikes is truly subjective. Again, that's the beauty. With that said, this album objectively sucks. I mean truly horrible. Something had to be the lowest rated album on the list, and this was a place well earned. There is nothing redeemable about this record. To quote my wife, “they should have stopped at 1,000.”

The only enjoyment I got from this was reading the review about the brothers in Dresden and their lovely and talented tattooed friend.

I am definitely not the target demographic for this album, but I still thought it was very good. There's a lot of skill and artistry put into these tracks, so much so that it is almost invisible. 4 stars for me, plus an extra star just to spite the mathematics PHD guy.