Album Reviews

This was perfect to start the morning. Great beats, unique mix. Loved it all.

View Author

Whether it’s a question of attunement or something else, I don’t know, I really don’t catch a lot of what Bruce is singing here at least in terms of words, which should be an issue for a verbose singer-songwriter who loves putting pen to paper. But I do think he’s very very good at pushing the emotion of the piece in his voice, beyond words and just as a feeling, which seemed to click with me a few tracks in suddenly and seems to be really speaking to me right now. The band’s also got some good raw 70s rock, but really it’s all there to support the sort of raw emotional push-through-sound. I’d wager I could probably pick up more words if I kept coming back or listened to more Bruce, and honestly, maybe I even will.

View Author

Its' not bad. Kind of cosy. Will I Iisten to it again? Probably not.

View Author

A few good songs, but an overall mess.

View Author

I'm not much for punk music, but that was not a bad listen.

View Author

80s Music all made by a computer.

View Author

He has a good voice. "Because of the wind" and "West Texas Waltz" were good. Most felt like routine county songs. 3 out of 5.

View Author

Not for me. Skimmed my way through most of this.

View Author

So weird. So fun.

View Author

Cheesy 80’s rock with hints of hair metal and punk….I’m in. If they got room for this, hopefully we get some Poison, but why wait? My copy of Open Up And Say Ahhh is going for a spin next.

View Author

First listen. Fun concept album. There are some deeper themes being displayed as well.

View Author

Better than Nevermind imo. Tho I’m not as much of a fan of Nirvana than I used too when I was younger. Maybe it’s an unpopular opinion, but I feel Kurt Cobain could have been so much more. I think the Nirvana sound and themes could have taken more maturity over time.

View Author

Hard no. I will not be giving any royalties to this abusive piece of shit.

View Author

För repetitivt och långtråkigt.

View Author

I liked it, then I didn’t, then I liked it again. Uneven but interesting.

View Author

A lot of Neil young but I’m a fan.

View Author

Kinda They Might Be Giants-esque

View Author

Let me stop procrastinating, standin' here and narrating Find my emancipator, she's a love educator Cerebral, cerebellum, a medulla oblongata A slave's on a horse every time she explores Just heard a discussion about a racial relationship

View Author

Love this album. Favorite tracks: Soft Shock, Hysteric, Zero

View Author

I love the high drama of Human. I don't know what happens in the back half of the album but the instrumentals really take the wind out of its sails.

View Author

Starts off with a real bang in Paint it Black; arguably the single most influential Stones song. Also has the hit Under My Thumb and Doncha Bother Me which feels like a look behind the curtain of what’s to come. Like this record because they’re not only starting to break out of their Brit Pop era but overall these have more bite to them than the kinks.

View Author

It was okay. Drifty and wispy and makes you want to take a nap.

View Author

1.5

View Author

Solid album by RHCP. It’s got a mix of everything that made them great, the funk the screeching solos, flea on bass and one of the drummers of a generation. Containing some of their best work and maybe even their greatest track Under The Bridge. Not even a huge Chilli Peppers fan but this really was and is a great album.

View Author

Another reviewer said that listening to the white stripes is like painting with primary colours. I quite like that analogy as they don’t make any excuses that it is simplistic, but with very little room to hide as a consequence. Meg’s drumming gets a bad rap but it’s extremely effective and punches through particularly when Jack’s guitar is heavily overdriven. There are some decent songs on this particular album (‘I just don’t know what to do with myself’, ‘the hardest button to button’, and I have a particular fondness for ‘it’s true that we love one another’) but that’s contrasted with my dislike of seven nation army (mostly because it’s been co-oped many a mass drunken gathering since) and ‘there’s no home for you here’ (it’s just ‘dead leaves on the dirty ground’ recycled). There are better white stripes albums than this though.

View Author

I stand by previous assessments: fuck u2.

View Author

Epic bore 2.5/5

View Author

aconchegante.

View Author

I love this album. I didn't listen to it yesterday, though, because of Dolly.

View Author

Scott Walker is the fucking man, man.

View Author

Прогресів хауз - це ніби взяли мій улюблений жанр танцювальної музики та забрали з нього практично все, що мені в ньому подобається. Не зацінив альбом.

View Author

I never had this record despite having been very enthusiastic about Led Zeppelin when I was a teen. There's good stuff throughout. Some of it feels rougher and more like straight-up blues (of course with weird effects) than their later stuff, which I might not have liked when I was 14 years old but can appreciate now. "Dazed and Confused" is of course pretty great, with all the spacey weirdness in the middle, and then the drums kick in. And "Black Mountain Side," with the trad-sounding guitar, and wait, is that a tabla? Robert Plant will of course always be Robert Plant, so we have our share of bay-bay! aaaaaa-haah WO-MAAAAAN here like on all of their other records. I had to skip past the end of "You Shook Me" when he went a little too far with it for my patience. Summary: Yep, this is Led Zeppelin all right. I enjoyed a lot of it, but don’t intend to dig back into it again anytime soon.

View Author

This album really surprised me! It was actually pretty good and felt relatively modern.

View Author

real good no skip album

View Author

Pour moi quasiment tous les albums de Sonic Youth méritent 10/5. Estifi qu'on les aime.

View Author

At times enjoyable, at times exhausting. Favourite song was Rent but ofc It's A Sin is a banger as well

View Author

There were some bright spots, but most of it was same-tempo satisfactory.

View Author

Definitely sounds like the 90’s but man oh man was that horrible.

View Author

Fatigue

View Author

Hot take I guess, but pop is way overrated, unless it's truly phenomenal in composition and execution. Forgot this the moment I listened to it, and before that it was mildly annoying. Really, just, like... Whatever. Give me dadrock or buttrock any day over this.

View Author

The soundtrack that is playing in the robot factory whilst robots are making new robots (whilst humans starve and burn in wildfires outside the factory). After their week-long shift (without breaks), the robots take their Royksopp CDs home and place them carefully upon their coffee tables next to Moby and the Buena Vista Social Club, dusting and polishing the plastic cases so that when their robot friends come for dinner, they can admire their impeccable taste in music. A heartwarming view of the future - and possibly the only realistic scenario in which the world hasn't actually been destroyed by rogue AI by 2030.

View Author

In the early 90s I was in a short-lived band called 'Stuttgart Factory'. We had intended to play in the Sydney Uni band competition but never made it out of the rehearsal room. We had some old keyboards and a crappy drum machine and produced a few songs somewhere between homage and parody of The Man Machine-era Kraftwerk. The only songs I remember were 'Gimme Gimme Valium' and 'Deutsche Auto'. The lyrics were something like: "Ist das ein Deutsche Auto? Nein, das ist ein Amerikanishe Auto. Ist _das_ ein Deutsche Auto? Nein, das ist ein Japanische Auto. Deutsche Auto (breathy whisper voice) Deutsch-aaahh." Heady stuff. I wish I still had a tape somewhere... All synthpop is, in some way, a response to Kraftwerk; either embracing the cold "we are all robots" vibe (Gary Numan, for example) or reacting against with hyper-emotionalism (eg. Soft Cell or Depeche Mode). Kratfwerk's move from the ambient, musique concrete approach typical of synth bands of the 70s (Tangerine Dream, et al.) towards an embrace of pop forms was unexpected but genius. There are catchy tunes and jaunty beats and plenty of hooks here. You certainly couldn't accuse Tangerine Dream of those features. The influence was surprisingly widespread and deep. I mean, who would have predicted Kraftwerk would be so central to early 80s hip hop? You can find elements of Kraftwerk in almost all popular music these days. The Man Machine and Computer World are Kraftwerk at the height of their pop powers. Electric Cafe (an album I secretly quite like) "flopped", and they have basically rested on their well-deserved laurels ever since. But this is absolutely seminal, and a great listen.

View Author

I am only a few weeks from finishing this project. The end is in sight, and it can't come fast enough. I found this album absolutely exhausting. It's like a cross between Daft Punk and the Chemical Brothers (both of whom I really dig), so I can't explain why I find this so wearying. It's shiny and loud and funky and a bit noisy and energetic, but I just want to put my fingers in my ears and gently beat my forehead against the tabletop. Please make it stop.

View Author

Mind blowing

View Author

Now THIS is how your rebound from a bad record! Bringing the funk, the soul, and a marvelously extended version of Papa Was A Rolling Stone (over a third of its overall run time), this one was a breathe of fresh air that didn't overstay its welcome and left plenty of time for a repeat performance. I'm going out on a strong limb saying that the mentioned track alone earns this one three stars, but the remainder (while groovy and eminently listenable) doesn't quite garner it two more. Still manages a very respectable 4.5/5 that I'm hesitant to round up without a good deal of revisiting and an improved estimation of its other tracks.

View Author

(4/5) I've always had mixed feelings about 'glam'/'hair metal'. I was a child when it was at its peak and was a teenager in the 90s, so its inglorious exit was fine by me. If a guitar didn't have a distortion effect on it I wouldn't give it the time of day. My flannels all had holes in them. That's how '90s' I was. Time has passed however and so much of that which I dismissed out of hand, like Bon Jovi, has all come back to haunt me. I got really, really tired (with a few exceptions) of pretentious, self-serious music. Some bands stuck with me but a lot was sloughed off like a skin rash. On the other side of that I re-discovered that this big, dumb music from the 80s was really.. *FUN*. I slowly realized not all of my music needed to be some deep, introspection into the mysteries of the human psyche and nature. I wasn't sad all the time, so why did my music have to be? It was OK to chant along with a power chord chorus. I am allowed to smile at a song and bang my head to a catchy tune. This album is a good encapsulation of some of those feelings. Teenage me would be really disappointed in middle-aged me, but I don't give a shit. I want to have fun now and I could do worse than put on this album.

View Author

I am a record fiend from way back and I spend a lot of time trawling for bargains in dusty record stores. I have a special place in my heart for classic records that you commonly see for $1. Willie Nelson's Stardust is one of those records. It sold a bazillion copies back in the day but has fallen a bit out of favour, so it is common to find vinyl copies languishing in the bargain bins. It is an under-appreciated gem. Willie Nelson might dress like a country outlaw, but secretly he is a jazzbo -- he always liked a clever chord, a surprisingly complex solo, and 'jazz' cigarettes. Especially the 'jazz' cigarettes. Willie obviously loves American popular song, and so do I. These are some of the greatest songs of all time. Willie knows and loves these songs and he deeply understands them. I love the modest and tasteful arrangements from Booker T. Jones, thankfully avoiding over-egging the pudding with strings or backing choirs. Willie's regular band plays with sympathetic and understated restraint. I like the road-weariness in Willie's voice -- it makes everything seem heartful and honest. It is a welcome opportunity to hear these classic songs with fresh ears. Many artists have copied this concept with a late-career tribute to the American songbook, but few attempts approach the sincere beauty and warmth of this album. This is an evergreen album I can happily listen to any day.

View Author

I was interested in what you said yesterday about Bitches Brew being treated and effected in the studio, making it more of a rock record than a jazz document. It did more than just capture the performance in the room. There is certainly a little of that going on here, but, still, I don't think that Kollaps is a record in that sense. Up until this point, Einstürzende Neubauten had been a notorious performance art group, banging sheet metal and miking up industrial tools. It was a ritual of extremity and, at one early London gig, they dangerously undermined the foundations of the venue. There is nothing in that musical approach that really belongs on a record and nothing much about it that needs to be recorded. Kollaps suggests that the estranging, shamanic nature of the performance cannot be replicated in a studio and that, while the group may add a few effects here and there, or bewilder the listener with a meandering tracklist, to simulate the psychodrama of the live experience, this is not the real deal. It is, in fact, quite a soft, spare, gentle record for the most part. Most of the tracks have a clear 4/4 pulse, so, unlike Bitches Brew, you can follow along and you could quite easily dance. It would be a primitive, animalistic form of dance, but that's appropriate. With the record, you can set the volume yourself, so it won't be overwhelming. It is genuinely the safer option than seeing the group live. But the recording is hardly the point. Making records is just what groups did back then. Like many great live acts (I use the work great advisedly, as I've never seen Neubauten live), the record is just a byproduct, another form of merc that supports the group in their actual goal. Who really listens to albums by Crass or Boredoms or Acid Mothers Temple? No one. Who went to see Crass and Boredoms or Acid Mothers Temples? Loads of people. Well, I've never seen Crass, but I've seen the other two and they were great experiences. Their records cannot replicate that greatness, but the records are a necessity of the business. They are a token by which listeners can demonstrate support of the band's artistic vision and mission. Ownership of a Crass record communicates your endorsement of the band's ethic. Ownership of Kollaps communicates your comfort with their live extremity, your hardiness, your wearwithal. No one expects you to listen to any of these things often. Indeed, the neutered, conservative quality of Kollaps might kill the whole thing for you. Without this context, it is unfair to present Kollaps for assessment by randomers. The one star and five star reviews are equally hyperbolic, barely grappling with the flickering ghost content of this partial field recording. This is a solid three star record, whether or not I'm listening to it, because it has to be. Good for Neubauten. Keep it up! 3 “All music after Mahler sounds exactly like that.” Captain Raymond Holt The most striking thing about this (almost) most-despised of albums on this list of over a thousand, is how conservative it is. 4/4 dominates. Beats repeat in loop. The singer sings the title of the songs with rhythmic regularity. Most of the tracks are 2-3 minutes long. ‘Found Instruments’? John Cage was doing this on television in the 1950s. Stockhausen is on the cover of Sgt Pepper’s. I don’t mean to put down Einstürzende Neubauten by any of those observations - I credit them for folding their interest in sound experiment into the pop format with as much discipline as they do. I don’t know that the results are all that worthy of celebration - although I did quite like some of this, particularly the title track. I am puzzled that listeners are so intolerant of it however. What do you people want? More Neil Young probably. So I’m giving a wee extra half mark to poor Einstürzende Neubauten in reparations. 2.5/5

View Author

Surprised to see this on here. I say this as someone who bought this as soon as it came out and probably listened to it 1500 times. But Nonsuch is the late period XTC album that should be on this list. Go listen to that. A lot. That record deserves A LOT more attention. The world would be a better place if everyone spent more time with it. Go. Now! The musical craftsmanship here is stunning. Truly. Rewards a close listen. Listening to it again today on headphones, my mouth is agape. And Colin Moulding's musicianship particularly should be claimed by UNESCO as a world cultural heritage site. But the content here was not worth breaking up the band to bring it to life, as was the case here, with much budget induced stress. Fuck capitalism and the horrible forces of reality! But real they are, and if your art requires a big budget, you are making a choice to prioritize that and I'm not sure I agree with the decision here. This gets four stars from me because it is in the top 40% of albums, but it isn't in the top 60% of XTC. My friends and I used to jokingly, and lovingly, spread a rumor that Dave Gregory is living above a laundromat in our hometown. I will still get the occasional text. "I think I just saw Dave G at the Big Y deli counter." I pray those messages outlive me, and I pray XTC's music outlives its makers.

View Author

(sigh) This album confirms to me that Dimery knows NOTHING about non-Western music. Yeah, it's a got a sitar in it, but this isn't a meaningful fusion of Indian and Western music; it's a fucking joke. It cheapens and demeans traditional Indian music. It's a novelty record, akin to Moog Plays Bacharach or the Beatle Barkers. And it wasn't even the first to try this concept; Harihar Rao's Raga Rock (an equally terrible record) predates this by 4 years. I wonder about Dimery's 'world music' inclusions on this list. They often seem to be the examples most geared towards Western audiences, often to the point of pandering. The most extreme examples are a world music mélange, whipping a random combination of disparate influences together over some canned beats into an indistinctly tasteful 'international blend' suitable for a dinner party or an afternoon set at a Womad festival. I can only see this record on this list as an example of an 'exotic' novelty album, a genre commonly found in bargain bins, charity stores, and your grandparents' record collections. As an example of shit novelty records that you will commonly see in your travels as a vinyl collector, this rates two stars for being vaguely listenable (the covers, at least, which are kind of funny). But as serious music? Get real, what would be next? James Last? Klaus Wunderlich? Hammond A Go Go? The Baja Marimba Band? Fuck off! 1.5 stars, rounding down.

View Author

Meh. Add in the pedo shot and I'm gonna go ahead and give this zero stars.

View Author

Ladysmith Black Mambazo had 25 years performing and more than a dozen albums under their belt by the time they cameoed on the Graceland album. I have strong feelings about Paul Simon's relationship with collaborators (*cough cough * serial plagiarist and musical colonialist *cough cough*) but will concede that he did strong-arm Warners into giving wide release to a full album that he produced. Simon had the good sense to keep himself relatively out of the spotlight -- no cameos, don't muck around with the formula -- although the liberal application of reverb and delay in the mix have dated the production a bit. And Ladysmith won Grammys, sold a bunch of records and have built a career touring the world ever since, even if Warners couldn't be bothered sustaining their interest for more than a couple of records. There are some concessions to Western audiences here - four songs in English, a translated lyrics sheet, the aforementioned mix -- but Joseph Shabalala and his well-honed choir did what they had always done. You could potentially accuse them of being a one-trick pony, but it is a really good trick. Frankly, you could happily swap this out for almost any one of their many albums and get a great representation of what is wonderful about the group.

View Author

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".

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.

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

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

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??!!?

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.

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.

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