Variety of Projects

1001 Albums

I am slowly working my way through The 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die, assisted by 1001AlbumsGenerator.com which picks a random album from the list for me every day. After rating and reviewing the albums over there, I’ll occasionally copy my thoughts over to this page.

A note on ratings: the 1001 Albums Generator site has you rate things on a scale from one to five. No zeros, no half stars. Since I want a bit more granularity in my rating scale, I give things a score on a scale from one to ten as well as a one to five star review. I don’t have hard and fast rules on translating a score out of ten to a star rating out of five. I considered just always dividing by two and rounding up, but I’ve found that I like having the freedom to round up or down as appropriate. It’s pretty vibes based, but music is subjective and this is my blog so I can do what I want.

• Cut by The Slits

  It’s fine, I guess. Not really my thing. Lot of punk influence in how they eschew “normal” sounds for vocals, both in melody and harmony. No songs that really stood out as good, with the possible exception of “I heard it through the Grapevine”, that one was decent. Probably a 4/10 for me. Update two minutes later: checked the artist profile on Spotify and “Grapevine” has 3x the plays of the song in second place. 3/10, 2 stars.

• Brothers in Arms by Dire Straits

  Rather liked this one. Not all amazing but all solid. Favorites were So Far Away, Why Worry? (added to vibes playlist immediately), The Man’s Too Strong (had heard before but didn’t really know), and Brothers in Arms. Only one I knew going into this was Money for Nothing which was definitely good but didn’t stand out as much in the context of the album. 7/10, 4 stars.

• Led Zeppelin IV by Led Zeppelin

  Impossible to not be familiar with most of this album, but never just listened to it straight through. Pretty good, though not as amazing as I hoped. Favorites were When the Levee Breaks and Stairway to Heaven. 8/10, 4 stars.

• And Justice For All by Metallica

  Favorites: harvester of sorrow, frayed edges of sanity. Overall, goes hard. Pretty solid sound, though I was a little surprised how similar it sounded to Death Magnetic given that the albums released like twenty years apart. Still good. 8/10, 4 stars.

• The Number of the Beast by Iron Maiden

  Insanely good. No real notes. Favorites: Hallowed be thy Name, Children of the Damned, and Run to the Hills. 10/10, 5 stars.

• The Man Machine by Kraftwerk

  Not my favorite of theirs but a good album nonetheless, favorites were The Robots and The Man Machine

• Fleet Foxes by Fleet Foxes

  Indie folk overdose. Definitely a sound I can appreciate but this wasn’t my favorite. Still good but not an album I’ll go out of my way to listen to again. Ragged Wood and Your Protector were my favorites but not going on my main playlist soon. 5/10, 3 stars.

• Countdown to Ecstasy by Steely Dan

  Way more fun and jazz than i expected from a rock album, which is awesome. Favorites: Your Gold Teeth and My Old School. 8/10, 4 stars

• Yank Crime by Drive Like Jehu

  Liked it way more than i expected to. Reminds me of Shellac’s 1000 Hurts.
  Felt like something that needs to be played loud to properly appreciate.
  7/10, 4 stars, really liked “Luau”.

• Kind of Blue by Miles Davis

  Very good, though no songs in particular jumped out at me as a standout favorite. I need to learn a lot more about jazz.

• Red Headed Stranger by Willie Nelson

  Fine to good. I like Willie and this era of country music, but this album just didn’t speak to me. I did like Down Yonder and Can I Sleep in Your Arms. 5/10, 3 stars.

• Channel Orange by Frank Ocean

  It was fine. Not really my thing, but I see why people like it. Bad Religion, Pink Matter, and Super Rich Kids were all pretty good, nothing else really jumped out at me. 5/10, going 3 stars instead of 2 just because it wasn’t, like, bad, just kinda not for me.

• Truth and Soul by Fishbone

  Had no idea what to expect, was super funky and fun. Really enjoyed Change, Bonin’ in the Boneyard, One Day, and …Freddie’s Dead. 8/10, 4 stars.

• Bizarre Ride II The Pharcyde by The Pharcyde

  Pretty great. Clearly an important stepping stone in the history of rap. Really liked 4 Better or 4 Worse and Soul Flower. 7/10, 4 stars.

• The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway by Genesis

  It’s good. Could definitely hear some of the influences this had on the evolution of rock. Felt like it ran a bit long to me, there weren’t any bad tracks but a lot just kinda blended together. A few standouts, including In The Cage, Carpet Crawlers, and Silent Sorrows in Empty Boats. 6/10, 3 stars.

• Wish You Were Here by Pink Floyd

  Probably my favorite album of all time. It’s perfect. Every note, every line, every variation of every theme. 10/10, 5 stars. All favorites, but both parts of Shine on You Crazy Diamond + Wish You Were Here top the list.
  Rest in peace Syd.

• From Elvis in Memphis by Elvis Presley

  You know what, this was a lot better than I expected. All I really knew of Elvis is that my late gen-x band director loved him and he built his career on imitating black artists while playing to white audiences. I figured this was gonna be pretty lame but honestly it’s really good. Pretty decent range and quite a few that I saved to my playlist. Favorites were Long Black Limousine, Power of my Love, True Love Travels on a Gravel Road, and Kentucky Rain. 7/10, 4 stars.

• Trans Europe Express by Kraftwerk

  This was already my favorite Kraftwerk album, love it. Songs that stood out on this listen were Trans-Europe Express (as usual) and Franz Schubert. Hard to overstate how important this album was for the evolution of electronic music, and I’m so thankful I got to see parts of it performed live a while back. 9/10, 4 stars

• Third by Portishead

  Neat sound, but not the kinda thing I want to listen to everyday. Unapologetically putting basically the entire album on my “vibes” playlist, but only Silence, Plastic, and We Carry On will go anywhere near my main playlist. 6/10, 3 stars.

• Henry’s Dream by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds

  Somewhere between fine and good. I like southern gothic sounds but aside from “John Finn’s Wife” and “Papa Won’t Leave You, Henry” this one was kinda forgettable, though I might like it more if I were in a different mood.
  5/10, 3 stars.

• Disraeli Gears by Cream

  Oh hey that’s the album that one song is from. Somehow never intentionally listened to Cream before but this was good. Sunshine of Your Love, Strange Brew, and Take it Back were both great. The rest was also good, though jumped out at me less. 7/10, 4 stars.

• The Genius of Ray Charles by Ray Charles

  I mean, it’s Ray Charles. Genius is a pretty appropriate label. Two Years of Torture, Come Rain or Come Shine, and Don’t Let the Sun Catch You Crying were the standouts. 7/10, 4 stars.

• Real Life by Magazine

  Really liked this whole thing. Definitely my kind of sound, though not perfect. Favorites were Definitive Gaze, Shot by Both Sides, Burst, and Parade. 9/10, 4 stars.

• Giant Steps by The Boo Radleys

  I really liked this. Fascinating mix of genres, moods, styles, instruments, techniques… they were all over the place, and while I can see how that might get old for some people it just happened to work for me. Favorite tracks: Wish I Was Skinny, Rodney King (Song for Lenny Bruce), and Lazarus. 7/10, 4 stars

• Shaka Zulu by Ladysmith Black Mambazo

  Solid. Not really a huge fan of acappella music, but this was just nice and calm and kinda meditative. Everything kinda blended together, but two that stood out were How Long and Rain, Rain, Beautiful Rain. Probably won’t revisit this one much but I’m glad I checked it out and might throw it on again for the vibes sometime. 6/10, 3 stars.

• The Stranger by Billy Joel

  It’s good. I wasn’t expecting to particularly care for this album, figuring it was just gonna be some commercial radio hits from back in the day that my mom liked, but it’s honestly quite well done. I don’t think it hit me as hard as a lot of other people, most of the songs in here are solid but don’t really resonate with me too much. That said, The Stranger and Only The Good Die Young were both really good. 7/10, 3 stars.

• Blunderbuss by Jack White

  Solid. I don’t think it was as good as some of his work with the White Stripes, but well made and enjoyable throughout, if not mind-blowing. Favorite tracks were Blunderbuss, Weep Themselves to Sleep, and Love is Blindness (Bonus Track). 7/10, 3 stars.