Music 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die

Rooney in Paris

Gerrard shirt..Anfield? You'll Never Live it Down
Scout
Joined
Mar 11, 2010
Messages
35,508
Location
In an elephant sanctuary
I don't have copies of Britney and Christina laying about.
Yes yes we know you are more of a Taylor Swift guy.
33. Britney - Baby One More Time
How did this turn out to be good? I expected to endure it once then bin it, but ended up enjoying it. It really picked up my mood. Some of those Lauperesque inflections in her vocals are sort of gorgeous. A couple of filler tracks but everything else is a brightly produced pop banger. Not what I expected.
... although it would seem like your Britneyfication has begun.
46. Cream - Disraeli Gears
I can take or leave Eric Clapton but as a band they definitely have a feisty chemistry.

47. Leonard Cohen - You Want It Darker
A comforting final record. You can almost hear the twinkle in his eye. Similar to Bowie's Black Star in its reconciling life with the beyond. I wonder if the Johnny Cash American recordings were the progenitor of the death confronting album.
Absolutely love Disraeli Gears which I discovered quite late (like a couple of years ago), can listen to it over and over.

As for the Cohen one - have you listened to Rough and Rowdy Ways, Dylan's latest album? Falls into that category somewhat too I think.
 

dumbo

Don't Just Fly…Soar!
Scout
Joined
Jan 6, 2008
Messages
9,362
Location
Thucydides nuts
Oh is he dying now too? The only release I've heard from him in the last 10 years or so was that Christmas jam, pretty good.

Not particularly a Cream fan but the Ginger Baker doc from a few years ago is excellent, and probably more so if you're into them.

And get out of my thread.
 

Rooney in Paris

Gerrard shirt..Anfield? You'll Never Live it Down
Scout
Joined
Mar 11, 2010
Messages
35,508
Location
In an elephant sanctuary
Oh is he dying now too? The only release I've heard from him in the last 10 years or so was that Christmas jam, pretty good.

Not particularly a Cream fan but the Ginger Baker doc from a few years ago is excellent, and probably more so if you're into them.

And get out of my thread.
Well I hope not, but I'm not sure he'll record many other albums (or any at all), and there are a few songs on there that relate to his mortality. It's also a very nice album all around.
 

dumbo

Don't Just Fly…Soar!
Scout
Joined
Jan 6, 2008
Messages
9,362
Location
Thucydides nuts
51. Nina Simone - Wild Is The Wind
All gold moody Nina. Song for song it's her best collection.

52. The B-52s - The B-52s
For all their naff pop decadence, I do like them. This album plus the Best Of should cover it.

53. Patti Smith - Horses
Certified dumbo Top 5 Album

My favourite rock - of any hue - album. Wild, theatrical, dirty soul tearing stuff. I bought a collection of Rimbaud poetry off the back of this album, and never finished it. Keep your Ramones, Your Doors and Stones, just give me Patti Smith. Favourite track: Horses - no not the song, the whole fecking thing.
.
54. Talking Heads - 77
Byrne at his most gawky. It's not the album I'd reach for, and a number of the tracks are quite samey but it has some real high points too. I prefer the live version and the acoustic version of Psycho Killer to the one on this album. I do like how Don't Worry About the Government is apparently entirely sincere, despite it sounding like a cutting indictment of modern convenience. Favourite track: Book I read, early Remain in Light vibes.

55. Fleetwood Mac - Rumours
Dads of dad rock. Stevie Nicks gives them their credibility. She cuts a jagged scar through the otherwise middle of the road bullshitery. Favourite track: Stevie Nicks.

56. Michael Jackson - Off the Wall
Jackson with the full soul-funk genre trappings. In terms of notes played this is his best piece of music but it doesn't have that wacko operatic genius him and Quincy create on Thriller.

57. Iron Maiden - Iron Maiden
I'm not a big metal fan, due to a lack of study rather than an inherent dislike. Iron Maiden and GnR would be the bands I'm most familiar with. It was a fun listen and I really like Phantom of the Opera. Beast is the album I know much more of.

58. Yeah Yeah Yeahs - It's Blitz
Listenable but fairly unmemorable effort. Fever to Tell seems the more natural fit on the list. I prefer the Karen O solo stuff from around the same time.

59. Cat Stevens - Tea For The Tillerman
Compassionate, gentle, beauty. He must be a total monster. I played the original but Yusuf Islam rerecorded the album recently and it sound amazing again.

60. Joni Mitchell - Blue
Certified dumbo Top 5 Album

Nere a wrong note played. I consider Joni Mitchell an incomparable genius and this is her masterpiece. I can't express.
 

BD

technologically challenged barbie doll
Joined
Sep 1, 2011
Messages
23,044
Hmm, seems we have very similar musical tastes. Both Horses and Blue would be in, or close to, my top 5 (sometimes Hejira instead of Blue).
 

dumbo

Don't Just Fly…Soar!
Scout
Joined
Jan 6, 2008
Messages
9,362
Location
Thucydides nuts
Hmm, seems we have very similar musical tastes. Both Horses and Blue would be in, or close to, my top 5 (sometimes Hejira instead of Blue).
Interesting. Clouds and Ladies make up the Holy Trinity for me. I don't feel quite the same way about later Joni, (or Seagull). Court, Hissing and Hejira are loaded for tomorrow though so we'll see how things go.
 

dumbo

Don't Just Fly…Soar!
Scout
Joined
Jan 6, 2008
Messages
9,362
Location
Thucydides nuts
61. 62. 63. Joni Mitchell - Court and Spark/ The Hissing of Summer Lawns/Hejira
The way her style evolved, with a focus on grander production, left me behind somewhat. I find the jazzy shift on Court and Spark quite alienating but Summer Lawns and particularly Hejira have good things to offer, if only I made more of an effort. I might do.

64. David Bowie - Blackstar
Poignant and atmospheric farewell. It contains some of the best late Bowie material.

65. Sparks - Kimono My House
Delightfully glam, art-pop pantomime. They're still creating great music now.

66. Curtis Mayfield - Superfly
Probably the best soundtrack album. It's funny to think that this high class production is hitched to such low brow, trash cinema - albeit one of the better examples of the exploitation genre. It's a testament to it's quality that it works both as an accompaniment to the film and as a stand alone piece of original music.

67. Alanis Morissette - Jagged Little Pill
The writing is ambitious and occasionally falters, but it's got good melodies and hooks. I think it holds up a fine pop-rock record.

68. The Prodigy - The Fat Of The Land
Yep it's great. A thumping dance opera.
 

dumbo

Don't Just Fly…Soar!
Scout
Joined
Jan 6, 2008
Messages
9,362
Location
Thucydides nuts

Oh you thought it was over?

69. 70. Stevie Wonder - Songs in the Key of Life/Innervisions
Key of life has 6 or 7 great songs, though I find it a little saccharin in places for my palette. It's a real slog to get through in a single sitting too; I need it crunched into a single LP. Innervisions is the perfect cut of sweet sounds and gritty slice of life realism, and at a perfect length.

71. 72. 73. PJ Harvey - Dry/Rid of Me/Stories From the City Stories From the Sea
Good/better/best. I like the early grit but love the later music that balances out the harshness with more melodic tones. I originally thought that Let England Shake was the sole PJ Harvey on the list. Its inclusion makes more sense now.

74. The Beach Boys - Surf's up
Nice and all, but I really just want the hits.

75. Medulla
Heaven and Hellish. It contains some beautiful things and some interesting failures, with a couple of bits that are quite ugly. I still think the use of beat boxing was a cheat. This and Utopia lack the accessible pop elements of some of the earlier albums but are perhaps more rewarding experiences.

76. Buena Vista Social Club - Buena Vista Social Club
Lively, soulful Cuban rhythms. Fine documentary, fine album.

77. Echo and the Bunnymen
I don't listen to a lot of new wave era music so I was surprised how much I enjoyed this. Very listenable up to and beyond the hits.

78. Curtis Mayfield - There's No Place Like America Today
Had never heard the album before, I loved it. Put it with the keepers.

79. Jeff Buckley - Grace
An elegant rock hymnal. How many have improved upon a Leonard Cohen recording? Favourite track: Corpus Christi Carol.
 

dumbo

Don't Just Fly…Soar!
Scout
Joined
Jan 6, 2008
Messages
9,362
Location
Thucydides nuts
80. Paul Simon - Graceland
Too tied up in car tape-deck nostalgia for me to make a fair assessment. I think it's amazing musically but if it's not, it brings me great joy regardless.

81. Lauryn Hill - The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill
Great singer, great rapper, too much singing, not enough rapping. She flips words early on so brilliantly that it just makes me want a whole album of that thing. Some of the vocal layering later on is irritating.

82. The Mars Volta - De-Loused in the Comatorium
New to me, certainly has a certain raw energy.

83. Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Fever To Tell
Show Your Bones has melodies but you can't beat Karen O's sublime wailing here.

84. Black Sabbath - Paranoid
Love it. Mixes hard theatrics with more intricate musicianship.

85. Black Sabbath - Vol.4
Again an interesting variety of sounds.

86. Black Sabbath - Black Sabbath

Doesn't catch like the other two.

87. Wilco - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
There's something good about the guitar drum ambience, though a little dreary.

88. David Bowie - The Next Day
Didn't hear it when it came out, played it twice and found it ok. Some decent songs but it's not a Bowie I need in my life.

89. 90. Nick Drake - Pink Moon/Bryter Later
The music has a haunting quality that perhaps owes something to the mythology surrounding Nike Drake. Some very good stuff within the oeuvre though the tone is so solidly sombre throughout that it becomes oppressive. My favourite stuff is on the posthumous Time of No Reply release.

91. Miles Davis - Bitches Brew
Exciting, cool, always intriguing.

92. 93. Belle & Sebastian - Tigermilk/If You're Feeling Sinister
Likeable, and something I think I would get into if I had the time to do so. Sadly I have a thousand other albums to listen to.

94. Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band - Trout Mask Replica
Hadn't heard this in about 10 years. Certainly not instantly catching. Interesting moments, enough to want to return to it.

95. Serge Gainsbourg - Histoire De Melody Nelson
Good but a bit Calvin Klein perfume ady.

96. Ray Charles - Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music
Good fun bopping along to these swinging rhythms and vibrant horns. Nice slower numbers too.

97. The Notorious B.I.G - Ready to Die
Slick flow that carries even the more cheesy production

98. The Incredible String Band - The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter
Quaint, mysterious, lovely.

99. Dizzee Rascal - Boy in Da Corner
A brilliant record. I love the sparse production with its harsh industrial beats and fierce rapping style. Shame he dissapeared into pop stardom because this is a wildly creative work, with sophisticated song structures - even if the lyrical content is heavy on bullshit street brovado.

100. 101. 102. Neil Young - Harvest/On The Beach/After The Gold Rush
A lovely couple of hours revisiting these sweet sounds.

103. King Crimson - In the Court of the Crimson King
Haunted by the album cover peeking out of my mum's record collection* as a babe, haunted by the sounds as a kid. An album that still haunts me now.

*
 

BD

technologically challenged barbie doll
Joined
Sep 1, 2011
Messages
23,044
Jaysus you just reminded me of Trout Mask Replica. What a pile of...weirdness that was. I wanted to call it a pile of shite, but it was at least different, so not so shite I guess?
 

dumbo

Don't Just Fly…Soar!
Scout
Joined
Jan 6, 2008
Messages
9,362
Location
Thucydides nuts
Jaysus you just reminded me of Trout Mask Replica. What a pile of...weirdness that was. I wanted to call it a pile of shite, but it was at least different, so not so shite I guess?
Much of It's very rough but when the instruments stop clashing around for a bit it has some nice ditties. I've played it 3 times (possibly only once straight through) in the last 15 years of owning it though so I can't pretend it's a favourite. Possibly a taste you acquire through many stubborn plays.
 

BD

technologically challenged barbie doll
Joined
Sep 1, 2011
Messages
23,044
Much of It's very rough but when the instruments stop clashing around for a bit it has some nice ditties. I've played it 3 times (possibly only once straight through) in the last 15 years of owning it though so I can't pretend it's a favourite. Possibly a taste you acquire through many stubborn plays.
I reckon you're on to something here - I relistened to the first few songs after you reminded me of it, and it was kinda nice to hear it again in, a very weird way. Not nice enough to play the whole thing through, but maybe in a few years when I'm reminded of it again, I might get through it all.
 

dumbo

Don't Just Fly…Soar!
Scout
Joined
Jan 6, 2008
Messages
9,362
Location
Thucydides nuts
104. Goldfrapp - Felt Mountain
Dirty sexy atmospheric pop. I had a mad crush on Alison as a teen. That aura.

105. Ramones - Ramones
Stripped down, simple catchy music.

106. 107. Kanye West - The College Dropout/My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
Hooky pop production, might be the worst rapper I've ever heard. The flat tone, the way he drags words to fit over rhymes: just painful. He raps like his mate runs a country. I planned to blitz all three albums back to back but I barely made it through College Dropout. No album that poppy should be that long. Even the Kanye production I like (Daytona) begins to grate after a few listens of the cheesy ostentation. As opposed to:

108. Wu Tang Clan - Enter The Wu Tang (36 Chambers)
109. Method Man - Tical
110. Gza - Liquid Sword
111. Raekwon - Only Built 4 Cuban Links

Verbal cats with deliveries so grimy you could play them acapella. The styles became more refined on the later releases but they never produced anything as creatively raw and vibrant as the debut. Maybe 4 of my top 10 rap styles out of this single collective.

112. The Band - Music From Big Pink/The Band
Enjoyable rootsy rock.

113. 114. 115. Peter Gabriel - So/Peter Gabriel/Peter Gabriel
So is the recognisable hit fest, very nice. The first album sounds like he's still finding his feet whereas the middle one (3) has the most interesting and challenging material.

116. The Roots - Phrenology
Not the band's most adventurous record but there are some great funky beds and Black Thought is on something else. Game Theory is my favourite Roots album.

117. Moby Grape - Moby Grape
I remember quite liking this but I lost the note and now I can't remember anything about the album.

118. Fela Kuti & Africa 70 - Zombie
I lost the notes for this one too but I remember it vividly. I totally dug it. My previous experience was off-cuts and soundtracks so this was the first full Fela Kuti. Fresh and timeless, and I've already returned to it.

119. The Rolling Stones - Let It Bleed
Not mad about the Stones but there are some nice bluesy numbers here.

120. Brian Eno - Ambient 1: Music for Airports
Sweet sounding but almost too mellow for the mood I was in.

121. 122. 123. 124. Leonard Cohen - Songs Of Love And Hate/Songs Of Leonard Cohen/I'm Your Man/Songs From a Room
An artist that continually evolved even if the stereotype stuck somewhat. Bleak and miserable, pit of despair Len is really only there on From a Room. Intense, bleak, beautiful, but also joyous and triumphant. I adore this man's music.

125. Charles Mingus - The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady
A pleasant jazz session.

126. Traffic - Traffic
Jolly good blues rock.

127. The sugarcubes - Life's Too Good
I consider them more of a curio for Bjork fans than interesting in their own right. One excellent song and some naff stuff.

128. The Stooges - The Stooges
Rough and rugged, great sounding album. Buy insurance now! urgh.

129. 130. Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here/The Wall
I love the songs on WYWH but some of the guitar faffing between the songs I could lose. The Wall is great conceptually and musically.

-
The listening is going well but piecing the comments together is much more of an ache than I considered. I'm about 50 albums ahead of the comments. All part of the fun and futility though.
 

Salt Bailly

Auburn, not Ginger.
Joined
Apr 23, 2017
Messages
9,312
Location
Valinor
The Kanye takedown... Brutal.

I used to think Dark Twisted Fantasy was universally loved. No longer.
 

Vidyoyo

The bad "V"
Joined
Jun 12, 2014
Messages
21,252
Location
Not into locations = will not dwell
Codswallop. Dark Twisted Fantasy is an amazing album, especially viewed through the prism of 'what makes Kanye such a massive tool'. It's like watching a madman have a breakdown. Sad and fascinating at the same time.

Agree College Dropout isn't all that.
 

sullydnl

Ross Kemp's caf ID
Joined
Sep 13, 2012
Messages
34,063
Never particularly got College Dropout as compared to his later stuff. He got a lot more interesting from 808s on. The maximalist excess and gaudiness of MBDTF is a feature rather than a fault.

Also, The Wall is a very overrated album.
 

Mark Pawelek

New Member
Joined
Apr 9, 2014
Messages
2,598
Location
Kent, near London
Why not 999 albums or 1002? Why is the OP so sure it's exactly 1001?

If each album is about 45 minutes long that's 1001 * 45 / 60 = 751 hours. Listening to 3 albums per day, it will take 250 days to plough through them. With no apparent improvement to one's life! You could've watched 500 footy matches in that time.

The most serious issue I have with the list is it seems to be anonymously authored, by 'ThirdEyeSurfer'! Why? Why wouldn't a person be open and proud of their musical tastes?

Plus: in jazz terms it's an utterly weird list. It has absolutely nothing by Eric Dolphy, Sam Rivers, Sonny Sharrock, Thomas Chapin, ... and many others. Further investigations reveal the website is a list of lists site, and worse: there are other "1001 album" lists there. Calamity upon calamity the lists disagree!! Which list should one go with? Will I first have to read all lists there before picking the 1001 albums I feel obliged to listen to? How much time will I spend reading all their lists? Possibly longer than I'd spend listening to the 1001 albums!
 
Last edited:

onemanarmy

Full Member
Joined
Jul 18, 2013
Messages
4,664
Location
Belgium
Why not 999 albums or 1002? Why is the OP so sure it's exactly 1001?

If each album is about 45 minutes long that's 1001 * 45 / 60 = 751 hours. Listening to 3 albums per day, it will take 250 days to plough through them. With no apparent improvement to one's life! You could've watched 500 footy matches in that time.

The most serious issue I have with the list is it seems to be anonymously authored, by 'ThirdEyeSurfer'! Why? Why wouldn't a person be open and proud of their musical tastes?

Plus: in jazz terms it's an utterly weird list. It has absolutely nothing by Eric Dolphy, Sam Rivers, Sonny Sharrock, Thomas Chapin, ... and many others. Further investigations reveal the website is a list of lists site, and worse: there are other "1001 album" lists there. Calamity upon calamity the lists disagree!! Which list should one go with? Will I first have to read all lists there before picking the 1001 albums I feel obliged to listen to? How much time will I spend reading all their lists? Possibly longer than I'd spend listening to the 1001 albums!
You must be fun at parties.
 

dumbo

Don't Just Fly…Soar!
Scout
Joined
Jan 6, 2008
Messages
9,362
Location
Thucydides nuts
Why not 999 albums or 1002? Why is the OP so sure it's exactly 1001?

If each album is about 45 minutes long that's 1001 * 45 / 60 = 751 hours. Listening to 3 albums per day, it will take 250 days to plough through them. With no apparent improvement to one's life! You could've watched 500 footy matches in that time.

The most serious issue I have with the list is it seems to be anonymously authored, by 'ThirdEyeSurfer'! Why? Why wouldn't a person be open and proud of their musical tastes?

Plus: in jazz terms it's an utterly weird list. It has absolutely nothing by Eric Dolphy, Sam Rivers, Sonny Sharrock, Thomas Chapin, ... and many others. Further investigations reveal the website is a list of lists site, and worse: there are other "1001 album" lists there. Calamity upon calamity the lists disagree!! Which list should one go with? Will I first have to read all lists there before picking the 1001 albums I feel obliged to listen to? How much time will I spend reading all their lists? Possibly longer than I'd spend listening to the 1001 albums!
You've just discredited the next 9 months of my life. How rude.

Also Third Eye Surfer is extremely well placed to have curated such a list, given that he was an extremely influential figure in the shift from modal to cool jazz in the late 50s.
 

HTG

Full Member
Joined
Apr 27, 2011
Messages
5,835
Supports
Bayern
Jaysus you just reminded me of Trout Mask Replica. What a pile of...weirdness that was. I wanted to call it a pile of shite, but it was at least different, so not so shite I guess?
You have to hear it over and over again. It gets better every time.
 

Lay

Correctly predicted Italy to win Euro 2020
Joined
Jan 29, 2013
Messages
19,777
Location
England
Not a fan of Kanye outside his first two albums which probably is the opposite view on here
 

Rooney in Paris

Gerrard shirt..Anfield? You'll Never Live it Down
Scout
Joined
Mar 11, 2010
Messages
35,508
Location
In an elephant sanctuary
Not a fan of Kanye outside his first two albums which probably is the opposite view on here
I think pretty much everyone agrees early Kanye was much better and that it's been downhill since then - people might disagree on the breaking point, for me his last great album is My beautiful dark twisted fantasy, others might say even earlier.
 

Lennon7

nipple flasher and door destroyer
Joined
May 8, 2013
Messages
10,473
Location
M5
I think pretty much everyone agrees early Kanye was much better and that it's been downhill since then - people might disagree on the breaking point, for me his last great album is My beautiful dark twisted fantasy, others might say even earlier.
On Kanye, I’ve been bickering with my flatmate about the genre of music he actually falls in to. He loves him, and is adamant that albums like beautiful dark twisted fantasy are true rap albums. In my eyes they’re just not - they’re more pop music. How can you compare the style to Nas, Tupac even modern rappers like J-Cole and Kendrick? They’re different styles completely. Thoughts?

Anyway, like yourselves I find Kanye so tedious musically and as a person I can’t get in to his new shit at all.
 

Lennon7

nipple flasher and door destroyer
Joined
May 8, 2013
Messages
10,473
Location
M5
For me, A Grand Don’t Come For Free in track order is one of my favourites. Unreal music and storytelling from Mike Skinner. Love The Streets.

Unknown Pleasures is a must listen too, and the Beatles anthology stuff (basically unreleased and stripped down versions) is incredible. Anthology 3 being my favourite with a stripped down Helter Skelter being one of my favourite tracks ever.
 

sullydnl

Ross Kemp's caf ID
Joined
Sep 13, 2012
Messages
34,063
I think pretty much everyone agrees early Kanye was much better and that it's been downhill since then - people might disagree on the breaking point, for me his last great album is My beautiful dark twisted fantasy, others might say even earlier.
Depends what you mean by "early Kanye", I guess. If we're talking College Dropout and Late Registration then I wouldn't say that's the case, later albums have as much or more critical/cultural cachet. If you stretch it into MBDTF/Yeezus territory then yeah, I don't think anyone would argue his work after is better.
 

Rooney in Paris

Gerrard shirt..Anfield? You'll Never Live it Down
Scout
Joined
Mar 11, 2010
Messages
35,508
Location
In an elephant sanctuary
Yeezus is a pile of shit though.

And I was talking about College Dropout and Late Registration, which for people around me who are into rap/hip hop are the ones they enjoy the most. In my view, MBDTF is the only great album of his though, almost exclusively for the production (not so much his rapping, agree with dumbo on this that he's a pretty horrific rapper)
 

Withnail

Full Member
Joined
Jan 5, 2019
Messages
29,252
Location
The Arena of the Unwell
Yeezus is a pile of shit though.

And I was talking about College Dropout and Late Registration, which for people around me who are into rap/hip hop are the ones they enjoy the most. In my view, MBDTF is the only great album of his though, almost exclusively for the production (not so much his rapping, agree with dumbo on this that he's a pretty horrific rapper)
I've never listened to a Kanye album as it as clear he was a bit of a c*ck before I had the opportunity so I'd no interest.

However, how can an album be called great if the rapping is so poor?
 

sullydnl

Ross Kemp's caf ID
Joined
Sep 13, 2012
Messages
34,063
I've never listened to a Kanye album as it as clear he was a bit of a c*ck before I had the opportunity so I'd no interest.

However, how can an album be called great if the rapping is so poor?
As someone mentioned above, you could see it as more of a pop album where production and songwriting is more important than rap ability. Or just think good rapping isn't necessarily a prerequisite for a hip-hop album to be great, just as in other styles of music actual singing ability can be irrelevant.
 

Withnail

Full Member
Joined
Jan 5, 2019
Messages
29,252
Location
The Arena of the Unwell
As someone mentioned above, you could see it as more of a pop album where production and songwriting is more important than rap ability. Or just think good rapping isn't necessarily a prerequisite for a hip-hop album to be great, just as in other styles of music actual singing ability can be irrelevant.
In my view, if your talking a pop album where singing/rapping ability is irrelevant then it can't fall into the category of a great album which is why I asked the question.

I just gave a few of the Kanye's albums mentioned here a perfunctory listen and yeah it's pop and not my cup of tea at all.
 

dumbo

Don't Just Fly…Soar!
Scout
Joined
Jan 6, 2008
Messages
9,362
Location
Thucydides nuts
131. Electric Light Orchestra - Out Of The Blue
Another one passed down by my parents through car journey transmission. Gets a bit sickly after a while but it's some light rock entertainment.

132. Country Joe and the Fish - Music For The Mind And Body
Really enjoyable, some lovely brassy blues here. It's experimentation reminds me of Trout Mask Replica a fair bit, but this is like a palatable version. One of the best discoveries since I started on the list.

133. Astrud Gilberto - Beach Samba
Smooth, laid-back wistfulness.

134. The Shamen - En-Tact
My brother played Boss Drum obsessively for a few years when I was a youngin, this is brand new to me. It was fine but it has nothing as catchy as Take Ecstasy kids. I can imagine its quality is somewhat related to how smashed you are whilst listening.

135. Guns N Roses Appetite for destruction
Good fun metal, lush guitars, Sillier than I remember.

136. Lorde - Melodrama
Listenable pop, much more elaborate production than I had been expecting. Fairly indistinguishable from others in the genre.

137. Michael Jackson - Thriller
Still spectacular in every way. Still one of the greatest albums. Still molested kids.

138. The Flaming Lips - Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots
Dug this out from the back of the cupboard, remembered the hits, had forgotten (or had never really noticed) some of the subtler numbers containing some interestingly weird arrangements. still not sure what it all means.

139. Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band - Safe As Milk
Hmmm, a more conventional roots rock record. Was expecting a rougher time with it after the previous Beefheart. Not bad at all.

140. The Monkees - Headquarters
So these are The Beatles but without the promise of future drug fuelled psychedelia. Some of these lyrics are terrible.

141. The Sonics - Here Are The Sonics
A fascinating album. I can't say I prefer any of the covers here except Have Love Will Travel, yet the sound is so interesting. To my inexperienced ears, the album feels like something of a Rosetta Stone for Punk, garage and their offshoots. Jack White seems to have built an entire act around the album. Strychnine, one of the couple of non-cover songs, is amazing.

142. The Thrills - So Much For The City
Liked it then, like it now. Has never made me want to seek out any more of their work.

143. Love - Da Capo
Very nice warm hippy rock. Love Love.

144. Sza - Ctrl
Inoffensive generic pop (over processed vocals aside). In one ear out the other.
 

Salt Bailly

Auburn, not Ginger.
Joined
Apr 23, 2017
Messages
9,312
Location
Valinor
I've never listened to a Kanye album as it as clear he was a bit of a c*ck before I had the opportunity so I'd no interest.

However, how can an album be called great if the rapping is so poor?
I wouldn't say poor, but average definitely. He's saved by great writing (I'm referring to MDTF here).

Some of his music that came after has moments of greatness (Blood on the Leaves/Real Friends/Wolves), but the drop-off in quality appears to have coincided with his mental health issues. Sad to see on all kinds of levels, really.
 

dumbo

Don't Just Fly…Soar!
Scout
Joined
Jan 6, 2008
Messages
9,362
Location
Thucydides nuts
145. The KLF - The White Room
I didn't expect this to be so tuneful. I was expecting something more uncompromisingly anarchic, to go with their reputation. Was good.

146. Iron Maiden - The Number Of The Beast
Would be my favourite heavy metal album. Melodic, catchy and comprehensible.

147. Sepultura - Arise
Ok so this is the slightly harder stuff. It wasn't horrible, it was quite interesting and I love the artwork. It definitely has a structure to it but I can't see myself ever returning.

148. Gang Starr - Step In The Arena
Rudimentary hip hop but the fundamentals are so strong and the execution so tight that it holds up well even today.

149. Jamiroquai - Emergency On Planet Earth
Was ok. Platitudinous lyrics and the tunes lack flavour.

150. Adele- 25
Can't hate the hustle, can't love the music. Not entirely sure why, perhaps it's the complete absence of subtlety. Not terrible by any means.

151. Ryan Adams - Heartbreaker
Previously dismissed Adams, perhaps because of the clean voice but this is some sweet soulful Americana.

152. Ms Dynamite - A Little Deeper
Some good upbeat tracks and some weak derivative ballads.

153. Killing Joke - Killing Joke
Did not get on with this at all. Noisy.

154. Ray price- Night Life
Tedious, languid ballads.

155. Tori Amos - Little Earthquakes
Precious, over-sharing but frequently spectacular. Little Earthquakes is a decent album but Under the Pink is the masterpiece. Scarlett's Walk and her latest album Native Invader are also brilliant.

156. Remain in light
Such a strange, brilliant album. Hasn't aged a day.

157. Joshua tree
I really like God's Country. The rest is very bland.

158. 159. TV on the radio - Dear Science/Blood Thirsty Babes
Two fine rock albums, moody soundscapes and great songwriting.

160. Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes
Beautiful evocative music with elegant harmonies.

161. Funkadelic - Maggot Brain
Beautiful guitar intro then a fistful of fine funk.

162. Sabu - Palo Congo
Mesmerising rhythms. No idea what was being said but I dug it.

163. Duke Ellington - Ellington at Newport '56
A lively half hour that put pep in me step.

164. Meat Loaf - Bat Out of Hell
Ludicrous melodrama that's quite fun.

165. Outkast - Speakerboxxx/The Love Below
The Love Below is a pretty cool, crass pop album. Speakerboxxx is a disappointment. Certainly nothing on the level of ATLiens/Aquemini.
 

sullydnl

Ross Kemp's caf ID
Joined
Sep 13, 2012
Messages
34,063
So Much For The City is in no way an album you must hear before you die.
 

dumbo

Don't Just Fly…Soar!
Scout
Joined
Jan 6, 2008
Messages
9,362
Location
Thucydides nuts
When I'm about to shout at someone in the Current Events forum I now come here and type up a few more albums. Zen strats.

166. 167. Simon and Garfunkel - Bookends/Bridge Over Troubled Water
Two collections of great songwriting. Thoughtful lyrics and lovely folk guitar. Mrs Robinson is a good song.

168. Lemonheads - It's a Shame About Ray
Quite very boring yank rock. Mrs Robinson is a terrible song.

169. Grant Lee Buffalo - Fuzzy
A voice with character and tunes with variety. Like.

170. Spirit - Twelve Dreams Of Dr. Sardonicus
Interesting instrumentation but nerdy off putting vocals and lyrics.

171. Moby - Play
Soulful electronic ambience with some wiley sampling of great roots music.

172. 173. Radiohead - In Rainbows/Kid A
I'm not a complete convert but the more experimental, dare I say Squarepushery stuff, is pretty darn good. But then you always get at least a little bit of dreary guitar wank on all their albums. I'm not so sold on Kid A, and still think that my prejudice against indie guitar wank bands is well founded. Best song:


174. Aphex Twin - Ambient Works 85-92
Speaking of Squarepusher. A good hour of mellow synth experimentation.

175. Dolly Parton - Coat of Many Colors
Love me some Dolly Parton. Beautiful songwriting. Effortlessly flits from glamour to wholesome to gritty.

176. 177. 178. 179. Led Zeppelin I/II/III/IV
Each album is better than the one that precedes it. It's those intricate melodic riffs that does it for me. Whatever they stole they often improved.

180. 181. Dusty Springfield - Dusty in Memphis/A Girl Called Dusty
Memphis is the sensual blockbuster record and it's great but I prefer the more poppy soul on Girl Called. Perhaps the single blue-eyed soul singer that gets a pass.
 

krautrøck

Full Member
Joined
May 6, 2019
Messages
1,083
Supports
FC Bayer 05 Uerdingen
RE Lemonheads/Simon&Garfunkel: Well played, Sir.
 

dumbo

Don't Just Fly…Soar!
Scout
Joined
Jan 6, 2008
Messages
9,362
Location
Thucydides nuts
Thanks.

Anyhow I've gone and done exactly what I painstakingly strived not to do but knew I was going to do anyway: The numbers in the thread don't tally with what I have in the spreadsheet. I'm missing a review and it will be murder trying to find the missing album, so instead I'm just going to throw my computer out the window.