My 1001 Albums Journey

126

Albums Rated

3.4

Average Rating

12%

Complete

963 albums remaining

Rating Distribution

Rating Timeline

Taste Profile

1970

Favorite Decade

Pop

Favorite Genre

Top Origin

Wordsmith

Rater Style ?

5-Star Albums

1-Star Albums

Breakdown

By Genre

Top Styles

By Decade

By Origin

Albums

You Love More Than Most

Album	You	Global	Diff
Pacific Ocean Blue Dennis Wilson	5	3.08	+1.92
Trio Dolly Parton	5	3.13	+1.87
Live 1966 (The Royal Albert Hall Concert) Bob Dylan	5	3.14	+1.86
Clube Da Esquina Milton Nascimento	5	3.14	+1.86
The Pleasure Principle Gary Numan	5	3.15	+1.85
Risque CHIC	5	3.28	+1.72
Surf's Up The Beach Boys	5	3.3	+1.7
This Year's Model Elvis Costello & The Attractions	5	3.31	+1.69
The Man Machine Kraftwerk	5	3.31	+1.69
Live Through This Hole	5	3.31	+1.69

You Love Less Than Most

Album	You	Global	Diff
Dirt Alice In Chains	1	3.46	-2.46
My Generation The Who	1	3.4	-2.4
Music for the Masses Depeche Mode	1	3.37	-2.37
Tommy The Who	1	3.32	-2.32
Woodface Crowded House	1	3.11	-2.11
The Good, The Bad & The Queen The Good, The Bad & The Queen	1	3.03	-2.03
Introducing The Hardline According To Terence Trent D'Arby Terence Trent D'Arby	1	2.98	-1.98
Foxbase Alpha Saint Etienne	1	2.95	-1.95
Tellin’ Stories The Charlatans	1	2.95	-1.95
Come Find Yourself Fun Lovin' Criminals	1	2.92	-1.92

Artists

Favorites

Artist	Albums	Average
Bob Dylan	3	5
Miles Davis	2	5

Least Favorites

Artist	Albums	Average
The Who	2	1

5-Star Albums (36)

View Album Wall

Live 1966 (The Royal Albert Hall Concert)

Popular Reviews

Dirt

Alice In Chains · 1 likes

1/5

Should have stayed buried

There's No Place Like America Today

Curtis Mayfield · 1 likes

4/5

So in Love 🐐

Green Onions

Booker T. & The MG's · 1 likes

3/5

Please sir can I have some mo’

Foxbase Alpha

Saint Etienne · 1 likes

1/5

This challenge often feels like a time capsule, where you open it and think, how did they possibly think this is worth preserving?

1-Star Albums (13)

Spy Vs. Spy: The Music Of Ornette Coleman

Introducing The Hardline According To Terence Trent D'Arby

All Ratings

Live At The Harlem Square Club

Sam Cooke

3/5

Automatic For The People

R.E.M.

4/5

Superfly

Curtis Mayfield

4/5

9.1. What a groove (though Curtis still clears). Most underrated track: Think

Dirt

Alice In Chains

1/5

Should have stayed buried

Illinois

Sufjan Stevens

5/5

Oh great GOAT, the curse you gave us

Tres Hombres

ZZ Top

3/5

riffs rip but i'm probably not going back to it

Come Find Yourself

Fun Lovin' Criminals

1/5

1001 albums that you should try to forget before you die

Mama Said Knock You Out

LL Cool J

2/5

It still has kitsch charm and some inspired moments, but this hasn’t aged nearly as well as many of is contemporaries

Band On The Run

Paul McCartney and Wings

2/5

I think part of me was always biased against wings because when I was a kid I knew a girl whose main point of conversation was “my dad was in wings with Paul McCartney” but she was annoying as hell so figured her dad and thus wings couldn’t have been very cool either. God was I right

Wild Is The Wind

Nina Simone

5/5

If you don’t like this you don’t like music

Scream, Dracula, Scream

Rocket From The Crypt

1/5

Guy in hospice care finally listening to this album so he can cross it off the list: I could have died without this honestly

The Village Green Preservation Society

The Kinks

5/5

Less nostalgic and more a meditation in nostalgia itself

Songs Of Love And Hate

Leonard Cohen

4/5

Not so sure about the “Love” bit

Searching For The Young Soul Rebels

Dexys Midnight Runners

2/5

Femi Kuti

2/5

Id probably love to hear this live but didn’t need a record of it

Songs In The Key Of Life

Stevie Wonder

5/5

Greatness isn’t perfection — it’s transcendence

My Generation

The Who

1/5

I’m sure this hit hard at the time but does nothing for me now and felt endless. Not sure why Kinks same era same sound don’t evoke the same reaction

There's No Place Like America Today

Curtis Mayfield

4/5

So in Love 🐐

Grace

Jeff Buckley

5/5

This guy’s gonna go far

Woodface

Crowded House

1/5

Bat Out Of Hell

Meat Loaf

5/5

If I found out I was going to die I’d probably listen to bat out of hell again

Red Dirt Girl

Emmylou Harris

3/5

Love her but not her best

Green Onions

Booker T. & The MG's

3/5

Please sir can I have some mo’

In A Silent Way

Miles Davis

5/5

Late night magic

Murder Ballads

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds

2/5

Id rather listen to tom waits

Tommy

The Who

1/5

Zero stars if I ever listen to this again I’ll know I’ve died and gone to hell

Tea for the Tillerman

Cat Stevens

4/5

When you’re this talented even hot nonsense becomes profound

Fragile

Yes

5/5

Yes. A thousand times, yes.

Darklands

The Jesus And Mary Chain

3/5

Music for the Masses

Depeche Mode

1/5

Music for my asses

Live 1966 (The Royal Albert Hall Concert)

Bob Dylan

5/5

Play it fucking loud

Clube Da Esquina

Milton Nascimento

5/5

I’ll never get tired of this

American IV: The Man Comes Around

Johnny Cash

4/5

a mixed bag, but the highs are essential cash

The Wildest!

Louis Prima

4/5

The Good, The Bad & The Queen

1/5

This would have made a great ‘lost album’. The mere idea of it would have been mythical. Sadly, the reality of it far less so.

Happy Trails

Quicksilver Messenger Service

3/5

Great document of the scene but never transcendent for me

Madman Across The Water

Elton John

3/5

Spy Vs. Spy: The Music Of Ornette Coleman

John Zorn

1/5

A 40 minute version of that 30 seconds at the beginning of every Saturday Night Live right before the monologue starts

Foxbase Alpha

Saint Etienne

1/5

This challenge often feels like a time capsule, where you open it and think, how did they possibly think this is worth preserving?

Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea

PJ Harvey

4/5

Drunk

Thundercat

2/5

I’m glad he’s having fun but I’m not really

Bayou Country

Creedence Clearwater Revival

4/5

A rock n roll au sec

The Marshall Mathers LP

Eminem

2/5

I don’t think this will ever resonate with a version of me that’s not 13

Definitely Maybe

Oasis

3/5

I get it and I don't

In Utero

Nirvana

5/5

I hope no one murders this dude

Floodland

Sisters Of Mercy

4/5

Oh hell yeah

The Band

5/5

Another great visit with my friends the band

The Dark Side Of The Moon

Pink Floyd

3/5

I’m too sober for this

The New Tango

Astor Piazzolla

3/5

Vibes are right

The Next Day

David Bowie

3/5

He still had it, but it’s not anything you really need

A Night At The Opera

Queen

4/5

Honestly, I should probably be less of a hater

Haunted Dancehall

The Sabres Of Paradise

2/5

Some good stuff here

White Denim

2/5

I’ll give it another chance later

Zombie

Fela Kuti

4/5

banger

Odessey And Oracle

The Zombies

5/5

Pop music high point

Risque

CHIC

5/5

Hell of a groove

Arise

Sepultura

1/5

I don’t have the death in me

Green

R.E.M.

3/5

I’m probably being too harsh as I like this band

Songs Of Leonard Cohen

Leonard Cohen

5/5

He’s got poetry in him

Rattlesnakes

Lloyd Cole And The Commotions

2/5

Definitely has its charms

London Calling

The Clash

5/5

One of the few double records to reach that white album magic formula where the sum is greater than its parts

In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida

Iron Butterfly

3/5

This sounds like rock and or roll

Pacific Ocean Blue

Dennis Wilson

5/5

Oceanic depths of spirit here

To Pimp A Butterfly

Kendrick Lamar

4/5

“the man gave us billie jean, you say he touched those kids?” Is one of the worst lines I’ve ever heard in my life but the rest is cool

Parsley, Sage, Rosemary And Thyme

Simon & Garfunkel

4/5

Cut a few tracks from this and it's a five. Unfortunately feeling groovy and silent night are such corny misfires that they accentuate the corn of the rest of it. Still, often beautiful, with two next level complementary talents

Homework

Daft Punk

3/5

Da Funk is so well constructed that you wonder why most of the other ones just never seem to go anywhere

Tellin’ Stories

The Charlatans

1/5

If you can’t afford the name brand this basically tastes the same with only a slight chemical after taste

A Rush Of Blood To The Head

Coldplay

4/5

I wish they had kept making music this human and affecting and avoided the path of purposefully universally relatable anthems that corresponded to no actual human emotion within the artist they took from here on out

Get Rich Or Die Tryin'

50 Cent

3/5

Party rap zenith

Blue Lines

Massive Attack

2/5

unquestionably changed it all but still sounds too much like the primordial soup it emerged from

Back To Black

Amy Winehouse

3/5

All Things Must Pass

George Harrison

4/5

Wah Wah Wah …

The Number Of The Beast

Iron Maiden

4/5

A delicious and hearty corn chowder

Surf's Up

The Beach Boys

5/5

A frog in boiling water of brilliance

Queen II

Queen

3/5

Maybe I like Queen now idk

John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band

John Lennon

4/5

Haut de gamme / Koweït, rive gauche

Koffi Olomide

2/5

Introducing The Hardline According To Terence Trent D'Arby

Terence Trent D'Arby

1/5

man this dude must have been super charismatic

Pink Moon

Nick Drake

5/5

The xx

4/5

Very influential album. Before this came out gossip girl originally said “oo gossip girl” but then they added the xx after hearing Intro

Reggatta De Blanc

The Police

3/5

10/10 drummer. Guitarist v good too. Cut Sting out of this and it might get a five.

Lady Soul

Aretha Franklin

5/5

So effortlessly good, such a natural blend of styles and skills, you can easily take it for granted. I’m tempted to rate this lower as a result, but I cant bring myself to

Honky Tonk Heroes

Waylon Jennings

3/5

Wasn’t clicking, I’ll go back to it

Suzanne Vega

2/5

🫶

3 Feet High and Rising

De La Soul

5/5

Postmodern masterpiece

Diamond Life

Sade

5/5

i wore a big fur coat and then dropped it at the “coast to coast, LA to Chicago, western male” part to reveal a beautiful gown and everybody clapped

Heroes

David Bowie

5/5

Lots of interesting noises here

Playing With Fire

Spacemen 3

4/5

Hounds Of Love

Kate Bush

5/5

When asked why they read, literary critics often have described it a search for the sublime — the transcendence of form. Secular theophany. Music rarely reaches those heights, but it’s reached that here.

If I Should Fall From Grace With God

The Pogues

2/5

Too much jig music

Harvest

Neil Young

3/5

An album exploring the disconnect between his desperate need for emotional intimacy and emotional unavailability. Some of his best songs and some throwaways, almost all produced and sequenced in such a way as to make the each track feel disconnected from the next

The Sounds Of India

Ravi Shankar

2/5

Clearly a master, but this particular recording didn’t blow my mind.

Vol. 4

Black Sabbath

4/5

If I Could Only Remember My Name

David Crosby

3/5

Trio

Dolly Parton

5/5

Gorgeous, gorgeous stuff

Parklife

Blur

3/5

This includes a lot of their best stuff and also four or five songs that I can’t stand

The Last Broadcast

Doves

3/5

La Revancha Del Tango

Gotan Project

3/5

My name is Weird Al Yankovic and this is the music I fuck to.

A Seat at the Table

Solange

2/5

This album has had staying power for a lot of people, but I was soft on it then and softer on it now. Her voice is thin to the point of emptiness and becomes grating the more she layers it to cover for that, the production is slick but lacks the impact and spirit of its influences such as Jai Paul, Erykah Badu, D’Angelo etc. This is propped up at least in part by a parasocial cult or Knowles celebrity, I feel.

Hot Buttered Soul

Isaac Hayes

5/5

I’m gonna moan now. mmmmmmmmmmMMMMMMMMM.

The Pleasure Principle

Gary Numan

5/5

Incredibly cool album. Far more than a Bowie/kraftwerk acolyte — the rhythm section adds a propulsive post punk/art punk aesthetic that elevates this from having a floating down the autobahn quality into its own thing. And unlike all the new wave synth albums that followed it, it doesn’t feel tethered to that scene. It would have sounded equally as cool released in 2006 amidst wolf parade and tapes n tapes.

Midnight Ride

Paul Revere & The Raiders

2/5

The Gershwin Songbook

Ella Fitzgerald

3/5

This feels like buying one of those giant bags of jasmine rice at costco but for gershwin

Blood Sugar Sex Magik

Red Hot Chili Peppers

3/5

John Frusciante coming into his own is really what elevates this material, and both Flea and Chad Smith are incredible musicians. But I don't connect with the the Kiedis scat-rap antics, songwriting and early funk dna like I did growing up. That made the majority of this album more grating and skippable than I was expecting upon revisit, so can't give this a great score. But it's not a 3 of mediocrity, it's a 3 of high highs and low lows.

Paul Simon

5/5

It started with S&G, but what I love about Simon you can really start to hear here. Yes, he’s an inspired songwriter and evocative lyricist, but he always seems to feel claustrophobic within his own aesthetic — always pushing the boundaries and pulling from disparate genres and cultures — and it’s that tension within himself and within his music that stopped him from becoming another static singer songwriter type, and often elevates the material, and at the very least provides enough contrast so that he’s never boring. Plus, he’s funny.

Nighthawks At The Diner

Tom Waits

2/5

Shut up and sing, Tom.

The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan

Bob Dylan

5/5

Some of the best songs ever written and also some songs where he imagines calling the president to tell him what European actresses he wants to fuck. Flawless.

The Poet

Bobby Womack

2/5

This Year's Model

Elvis Costello & The Attractions

5/5

If You Can Believe Your Eyes & Ears

The Mamas & The Papas

2/5

One all timer here, the rest throwaway. Also, isn’t it kind of crazy that when Papa John Philips’s daughter wrote in her 2009 memoir that her dad had groomed her into a ten year physical relationship, the media reported it as a tawdry but consensual affair? I guess Monday, Monday is pretty good too, but I prefer Neil Diamond’s cover.

Justified

Justin Timberlake

4/5

Timbaland and the Neptunes do such inspired work here that it made this dude seem cool for like a decade and a half.

The Man Machine

Kraftwerk

5/5

Gesamtkunstwerk

Beach Samba

Astrud Gilberto

4/5

She’s only transcendent at a bossa nova tempo for me but I like her enough to 4 the record where she does marching band music and duets with a small child too I guess

Van Halen

5/5

Too unpretentious to demand respect but deserves more of it than most we give out

Club Classics Vol. One

Soul II Soul

2/5

I was going to give this a 3 because Back to Life is a stellar groove but the proper version isn’t even in the actual album and without it this is fine, unremarkable, the kind of pleasant slightly innovative in context product of its time I’m fine forgetting where we left it

Sex Packets

Digital Underground

4/5

Perverse, reference laden, narratively oblique, full of words that don’t mean nothin, like luptid? Welcome back, James Joyce.

Transformer

Lou Reed

4/5

Lou’s voice is such a powerful thing. He’s a great writer when he wants to be, but even if he’s singing the most mundane pop lyrics his delivery can imbue them with layers of meaning — menace, detachment, ennui — that make them feel profound or affecting. Oft imitated never bested.

A Nod Is As Good As A Wink To A Blind Horse

Faces

3/5

The faces as a band were better than this rating suggests, they just weren’t reflected well through their album output. I really like several of these songs but they’re weaker in this context, but come alive for me on the five guys walk into a bar box set, which sadly didn’t make it to the streaming era.

Common

3/5

For all these inspired Kanye beats, I can’t really get past common himself here, who seems to be trying to make the Bush era To Pimp a Butterfly (derogatory) and the best writing he can do amounts to stuff like: “So many raps about rims I’m surprised fellas ain’t become tyres!”

Blue

Joni Mitchell

5/5

After this dropped everyone had to sell their dulcimers and switch to acoustic guitars because they knew they could never compete

Highway 61 Revisited

Bob Dylan

5/5

After this dropped everyone had to stop going electric and switch to acoustic guitars because they knew they could never compete

Gentlemen

The Afghan Whigs

4/5

A blown vein of emotion, no wonder everyone thinks it's autobiographical

Live Through This

Hole

5/5

Grunge’s greatest fuck you. Its reassessment is a fuck you to the haters, but regardless of where the consensus has now landed, the work itself is a fuck you to a lot of things: a misogynistic culture, to her peers and her riot grrrl feminist contemporaries, to herself and her own failings, to her marriage, to the world itself. Courtney has far more to say than any of her peers, and i think she’s the one that got kurt to be more direct in his own lyrics. But it’s complex and informed without being too pretentious — she’s literate in a way that normal people really aren’t anymore. She’s a hugely flawed person and her own ambition led to her outsized celebrity which led to the backlash, but we more easily recognise the artistry of male artists in that predicament, and it clearly exists in spades here.

Celebrity Skin

Hole

4/5

Birth Of The Cool

Miles Davis

5/5

So influential it’s a struggle to hear this with fresh ears, but if you want to try, focus on how intimate this sounds, even with a nine-piece band, and then you’ll start to hear the unique brilliance that’s still potent in these tracks, and why it still stands on its on feet even compared to where these artists grew from here.

GREY Area

Little Simz

2/5

the thing about being a conscious rapper is you'll get ecstatic five-star reivews from the british press and be shortlisted for every prize and then six years later your biggest contribution to culture is a guest spot on a late-stage koombaya coldplay song