Album Reviews

Not bad - a bit plodding

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Out of all of David Bowie's classic albums, this random one made this list of top 1001 albums?? His voice is still vaguely interesting here, but the instrumentation was pretty boring and too slow-paced for me. "I'd Rather Be High" stood out as being ok, but yeah this was largely a slog.

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This has the occasional super cool idea. Fat lip having a thunder effect at the end of a guitar solo gave me chills. Just think it's mostly super generic tho... above average 3

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Obviously 5 stars

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This was a fun 90s alt rock album. I remember some of the tracks from MTV. There was nothing standout here, but definitely fun to listen to. Hits nostalgia just right.

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The music: Five stars. The man: Zero stars. Result: Three stars.

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Would I ever play this album out in public? No. Would i ever play it for any of my friends? No. Would I ever be caught dead singing any of these lyrics? No. Are the lyrics my style? Absolutely not. Was this album fun to listen to? Absolutely. While this album is not my usual cup of tea, nor has it enticed to me to explore more of this band's discography, it was a fun listen. There's something about the guitar riffs and the band's catchy, but crude, lyrics that kept my head bopping all the way through. But I totally get why this album has a low rating, lol. Favorite track: Rendezvous with Anus

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Legendary.

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It was ok.

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It was alright probably wouldn’t listen again but not a horrible experience

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did not like it

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Has some classic songs but I wish they'd stop with all the live albums.

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Insane gay sex listening to this album

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Good listen. Lots of sing-alongable sections. Sometimes overly repetitive but picturing in a live setting I get this would be very fun to sing along to. Star Child! ✨

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Gone too young. What a marvellous talent. That'll be the day is the standout on the album. 3 for enjoyment, 4 for historical context.

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I knew it was only a matter of time before Ye appeared. Yeezus is a mixed bag for me, personally. His talent is on full display on this album. Between his lyricism and flow, you get an interesting picture into the soul of a deeply flawed man. Love, sex, loss, and regret eke through on every track. Then comes a song where he repeatedly says that he is God. It’s not a surprise where his persona went. But, enough about Kanye and his non-music life. This album is good, but I definitely didn’t find it as great as many others do. The mixing was interesting, and I found his use of 16-bit audio amusing. Some of it was a little annoying, though. Every lyric felt so self serving but dripping with personal disdain; like every song was about how much he hated how much he loved himself. It felt weirdly masturbatory. Maybe I just don’t get it fully, but this was not an album that I think deserves an all time accolade, though it does deserve respect.

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This one is kind of all over the place. The high points are high though.

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Fun & quirky but not something I would listen to over & over.

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Too generic for me. I also am not a fan of repetitive intentionally vulgar language.

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There’s too many 60’s and 70’s rock albums on this list. I fear this album is getting a lower rating purely based on the fact I feel like I’ve heard this album about 20 times already.

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I would like to first say that Afrika Bambaataa is a nasty disgusting human being and I hope he’s paying for his crimes in death. Now judging the music, this was one of the foundations of hip hop, a genre that would go on to change, shape and highly impact the world. So i respect the contributions this album made to a genre that deeply influenced my life and journey through music. But the actual project is just ok, you can hear the infancy of the genre and how they were just catching a vibe with the beat. Nothing really of substance just a new type of music to party to at the time. There are classic records that live on through the many times that they’ve been sampled or redone. So overall this album is probably 2.9 but I bumped it up to a 4 for its impact on music alone.

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Fun, funky, easy

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I think this is my favourite Bob Dylan album so far. Instrumentally I really really love this. The guitar and bass work is great, and I think I’m getting more and more used to his voice. I still have no idea what most of these songs are about to be honest, I’m not sure if I’ll ever ‘understand’ Bob Dylan. The length does bring this down a little. With 51 minutes it’s quite long.

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Intro - 3 Qui seme le vent recolte le tempo - 3 Matiere grasse contre matiere grise - 3 Victime de la mode - 3 L'histoire de l'art - 4 Armand est mort - 3 Quartier nord - 3 Interlude - na A temps partiel - 3 Caroline - 2 Le musique adoucit les moeurs - 3 Bouge de la (part. 1) - 2 Bouge de la (part. 2) - 2 Ragga Jam - 2 La devise - 3 Funky dreamer - 2

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I was hoping this album would be interesting after learning of the backstory, but it really does just sound like the rambling and plonking of an insane person. Not worth a listen.

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At first I wasn’t sure if I liked it, but the album got better and better as it progressed. Very good, some sweet songs.

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Fine, but felt so dated.

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Never heard of this before. I was hoping for more post punk and less new wave cheese.

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didn't earn the cover

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This is an amazing debut album

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Vibey

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Van Halen was a super fun listen. I've only been familiar with one song of this album and that is You Really Got Me Now as that does play on the classic rock radio station i used to listen to but i still thought i wasn't gonna recognize any of these songs since i never recognized the album art. That being said this album was a really fun ride. The songs all had this super energetic, funky, almost swing like feel to them. Eddie Van Halen himself also provides some great guitar riffs and David Roth's vocals combined with those melodies make this an extremely great listen. I would have had an issue with the recording quality since i listened to it on YouTube and listened to some of the music video versions, but that's not how its supposed to sound on the regular album so i won't fault it for that. All and all, It's an amazing album. Best Song: Little Dreamer Worst Song: Eruption

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Repetitive riffs and drum beats? Yup. Sophomoric oversexualized lyrics? Again, yup. Badass and need to be blasted at full volume, absolutely!

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It's hard to review this album, which feels like a greatest soul hits of the 60s playlist. I don't have much more to say than It's great. Otis has a fantastic voice and these songs are great. As a listening experience it's perfect. Will listen to again and again.

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A very high energy album. If you heard one or two of these songs you’d like it, hearing all of them is rougher. That being said, I did enjoy it. The instrumentation and horns were a great touch. It turned it from a generic 90’s punk thing into something more interesting. I don’t know that it belongs on this list, it’s decent, but it’s not exactly a life changing album.

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This was sensational, horrid, bombastic, fluid, funky, spunky, rhythmic, retro, Voltron, laser, hip-hop, drop dat beat but don't drop the boom box. 3

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Classic Dolly.

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Not my type of music tbh wasn’t awful tho I just don’t have much to say about it

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Groovy funky not mind blowing

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Fun listen but don’t feel the need to return

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Never heard of this but I liked

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Yesterday I went into the Cantina at the new Star Wars land at Disneyland and the bartender leans over, sneakily gives me this, and whispers, “It’s not often we get a Resistance General in here. Thank you for your service.” I almost cried.

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Forgive me, generator, for I have sinned. It's been 720 albums since my last Radiohead record. In that time I have lusted after all styles of music, Kraut, Psychedelic, Reggae, Blues, Funk, and have worshipped at the altar of Saint Osbourne. I have strayed from the righteous path of Radiohead and I repent. I will go and say 9 Hail David Bowie and 6 Hail Elvis Costello and try to do better. This would be just about perfect if they dropped Sulk, Yorke gets to fucking whine singing that is so unappealing on their subsequent albums. Call me a heretic but this and Pablo Honey are their only albums that should be on the list.

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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 fuck yeah. Oh hell yeah. As much as I love the Beastie Boys, I don't believe them when they say they were making fun of "frat boys and party bros" when they performed "Fight For Your Right." It's not like they grew up right away on Paul's Boutique...there's still a lot of hilarious shit and braggadocio on that album, too...they just had an ear for immaculate sounds and producing by the Dust Brothers. I don't think they really grew up and out of the immature phase until Check Your Head. But it sounds good for them to distance themselves from Fight For Your Right and Girls as quickly as they possibly could. This album is awesome...always has been, always will be. I keep seeing mentions about how it hasn't aged well, etc...but whatever, fuck that. This past weekend, I read an article on the DMV rap scene that was on Pitchfork...because I'm from the area, I was curious. And then I listened to some of the music from that article. All that shit makes Licensed To Ill look like nursery rhymes. The production here is immaculate. The bass is awesome. Sonically, it's a masterpiece. What a great album. Fun, hilarious, quotable...just great.

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Don't believe these liars.

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Quintessential slop

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Pioneers of the alternative rock sound that would define the following decade, the 1990s. R.E.M. was making the jangling guitar rock that would bear the labels of indie and college rock. When I came of age in the nineties this sound would find its commercial success. This entire album sounded about 5 years later than its 1988 release date suggests. Lower sounds abound and I mean listen to the distortion on “I Remember California” And yet, this sound is still a work in progress. The album is all over the place. In spots we have bouncy pop with “Stand” whereas others slow down for more intimate work, “The Wrong Child” or “Hairshirt.” We’re transitioning into new eras on this album. R.E.M. has a new label and creative freedom and they’ll use it. For me it all works. I appreciated R.E.M. as a radio and MTV friendly act during their time, even if I never owned an album. Still, terrific form from a band that was a staple of my younger years.

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Standard, late 60s English pop. Sounds like a Sgt. Peppers imitation, honestly. "Private Salts' Empty Kidney Association Troupe", I guess? A poor man's Sgt Pepper... Through the listen I couldn't take my mind off of this comparison and how this record arranged itself in a similar way, with each song feeding from the tracks before and informing the later tracks. An obvious concept album, so I see where the critics and write-ups make that comparison. The music is just standard stuff for the era though, with only a few really catching my ear but not for long. I hate to do this to The Kinks, because I like a bunch of their earlier work, but this one didn't take off for me (3/5). Reading the other reviews here, there's an angle I didn't consider -- how very English this **IS**. Numerous other reviewers talked about how it takes them to small, country villages, and (this is hyperbolic) tea times with aunties and crumpets and shit... ALL of that is lost on me. I've got no personal context for that. The music is middle of the road, unlike Sgt. Peppers, so nothing elevated it out of mediocrity and pulled me into that world The Kinks seemed to be trying to create. Here's my attempt to bend future lists out of the event horizon of all the British invasions and frankly insular English music world, with some keywords I keep using.. THE SUPREMES should have been included.. Anglo-centrism is bad.. Hope that helps.

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One of the easiest 5s ever. such an ambitious project, stuffed with a kaleidoscope of references to a state I may never visit, and with such a variety of great songs with fantastic songwriting. He played like 20 different instruments on this which is just mad Casimir Pulaski Day might be my favourite “sad song”, and very funny to think he didn’t come out until like 2023 when you read the lyrics to “Primordial Beast Of The Palisades” Very bold to have a song relating yourself to a pedophilic serial killer and have it not come off in the absolute worst way possible I always run out of steam a bit towards the end, first half is definitely stronger, but it’s all great still

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(1/5) So, would you like some warm ketchup on your lemon sorbet? It was pan seared by our best soux chef who is well known for his waygu beef entree, and it's served on a bed of pea gravel dipped in motor oil. What in the actual fuck is wrong with this list. Anglo-centrism (autocorrect has my number, now that I've thrown it around too much. That word pops up as soon as "Anglo.." is typed in...) strikes again. This assault of mediocrity in the form of lanky, disshelved English wankers and their "interpretations" of other music is borderline offensive. This is garbage music, and doesn't deserve a listen let alone a nod in a list that is supposedly music you **must hear before you die**. The first half was just bleh. A slightly confused effort at some reggae and ska inspired rock. It would have received a '2' if they had stayed the course. Just mediocre. The second half tipped the rest of the album directly into the rubbish bin (take that you bloody queue loving sods! Bite. My. Chips.) as of "Waiting for the Heartaches". Each song got progressively worse after that one. It sounds like they had some ideas, but absolutely no direction and little talent to pull it off. They blended various styles poorly and served it up as if it was worth listening to. Just throw it all on the plate! Someone will eat it. A few thousand English fans might. Not me.. This Britpop bullshit is a hard swallow and I'm dreading more of it, as I know the list is lousy with it. Eyeballing my "skipped this album" pass for the next one. I'm a long distance runner and I'm no stranger to discomfort and pushing myself in spite of it, but this aural assault is trying my patience.

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Another smart, articulate and catchy pop album. I loved 'Royals' when it appeared; it was clearly an instant classic and was one of the best songs of the decade. And I really dug 'Green Light' when it was released, but I mostly listened to pop on the radio and so never delved into the whole album. And it has been a real pleasure to acquaint myself with this record. Lorde works in the intimate public sphere (to use a concept from Lauren Berlant) that assumes women share a bond of communal longing and a "sense of lateral identification". This is a similar operation to Taylor Swift's 1989, a comparable and contemporaneous pop album (with a shared producer in Jack Antonoff). Interesting to compare; Swift feels a little bit more crafted and deliberate in her revelations, Lorde feels a little more unfiltered -- although interviews about her writing process suggest that Lorde is equally careful about what she is putting out there. Lorde and Swift are both smart and effective songwriters and performers, and unafraid of working in the pop genre. There is no shortage of big choruses, infectious beats, or hooks on this record. That's a good thing. The album stood up to multiple listening, and 'Liability' and 'Homemade Dynamite' stand out as particular highlights (alongside 'Green Light' which is an unapologetic banger). Lorde is great, but I am currently a little weary of the Jack Antonoff sound, which became ubiquitous in the past 15 years. I suspect that if I come back to this in ten years' time with fresh ears, it will have stood the test of time.

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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, 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

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.

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

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.”

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.