1001 Albums - 101-120
The albums in this list of 1001 continue to be predominantly anglocentric, which is a bit of a disappointment. Anyway, here is another tranche of 20 records. I was pleased to see Suicide's first album show up. I have a vinyl copy of the UK release (which has a slightly different track listing than the original US release), but also a CD copy of the US release. I bought it because I was intrigued by a review in a HiF magazine which rather rudely announced that only a poseur could possibly claim to like the record ("poseur" was something of a standard insult in those days!). I loved the album from the off, and went on to buy many more Suicide albums, and albums by Alan Vega and Martin Rev.
I was pleasantly surprised by Green River by Creedence Clearwater Revival, but many of the selections seemed to me to be rather inconsequential records.
| 120 | The Stranger | Billy Joel | 2 |
3.83
|
| Hmm...I'm not sure how to approach reviewing this record. First off, it's the kind of mainstream music that really leaves me a bit cold, and secondly (as a consequence) I have never really listened to Billy Joel except for a few hit singles that were quite inescapable. That said, as I play through this record, it seems like pretty inoffensive stuff, and there are elements there I quite like and it's pretty skillfully put together. | ||||
| 119 | Untitled (Black Is) | SAULT | 3 |
3.11
|
| I was completely unaware of Sault, and this album. When I saw the brief Wikipedia description, I wasn't expecting a strong album. However...for the most part this is a good album, though I do wonder if it's possible to consider the impact and influence of a 2020 release in 2024. | ||||
| 118 | Public Image: First Issue | Public Image Ltd. | 4 |
2.42
|
| The album where Johnny Rotten stepped beyond the confines of punk, Sex Pistols and his stage name, reverted to his real name and released a stonking post-punk album. Next stop the mighty Metal Box! Lydon, Wobble and Levene on top form. | ||||
| 117 | The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill | Lauryn Hill | 1 |
3.63
|
| I thought the opening Intro quite amusing. The second track (The Lost Ones) is pretty tedious cliched rapping. The vocals on the third track, Ex-Factor are just painful to listen to as is the fourth track, To Zion. This isn't looking good for this album. And it keeps on going. And I kind of lost the desire to listen to more of this. But I did play the whole thing and I frankly cannot see why this made it into this list of albums one must hear. | ||||
| 116 | Snivilisation | Orbital | 4 |
2.73
|
| This music rather passed me by at the time (I was aware of it, but never engaged with it). This is a pretty fine album, though it's really a bit long and rather overstays its welcome!. | ||||
| 115 | Green River | Creedence Clearwater Revival | 4 |
3.79
|
| I'd never played a Creedence Clearwater Revival album before, and I listened the first time with some apprehension that it might be another country-tinged rock album so beloved of this list. I found it quite varied in its apparent influences. Country, yes at times, but rock'n'roll, soul, blues, R'nB and all sorts. It was a very enjoyable LP to listen to. It's quite short, less than 30 minutes in the original release version. The stand out track for me is Bad Moon Rising, largely because it's the only CCR song I was familiar with (it was on the American Werewolf in London soundtrack). But the album as a whole enjoyable. Would I play it a again? Well, maybe. | ||||
| 114 | Ellington at Newport | Duke Ellington | 3 |
3.46
|
| The music's good but not to my taste. But it's not really a live album if Wikipedia's comment that only about 40% is actually live recording is true (how do they measure that?). | ||||
| 113 | Suicide | Suicide | 5 |
2.5
|
| In my opinion this is one of the truly great albums to come out of the New York punk scene. Originally bought a UK version back in the 1970s with slightly different track listing, after reading a ridiculously dismissive review in a HiFi magazine. It's a really fine debut album, and I think every track is great, but particularly Frankie Teardrop and Ghost Rider. More recent re-releases of this album include Keep Your Dreams. All excellent stuff and pretty infuential on later synth bands. | ||||
| 112 | Bad | Michael Jackson | 3 |
3.8
|
| When I think back glorious singles like Billie Jean and Thriller, and the albums of the time, I think Bad is just not up there. It really suffers from the production values of the time, making it all sound rather samey and bland to my ears. It was a massive seller at the time, so I guess popularity counts for something. | ||||
| 111 | Lupe Fiasco's Food & Liquor | Lupe Fiasco | 2 |
3.11
|
| OK, well I'd not heard of this record before! I found it dull and boring with the same kind of vocal delivery throughout this excessively long album. | ||||
| 110 | Ágætis Byrjun | Sigur Rós | 3 |
3.38
|
| I'd played albums by Sigur Ros before, so I knew what to expect - an album of lush dreamy music, somewhat proggy in feel. Lyrics mostly in Icelandic. this one of the rare non-English language album in this selection of albums, for which I'm pleased. However I thought the tracks were all a bit same-y, except for the occasional one where the singer's tone grated somewhat. | ||||
| 109 | Rubber Soul | Beatles | 4 |
4.13
|
| One of the four key Beatles albums. I can appreciate the importance of this record, but I don't really play The Beatles much, not really my thing. | ||||
| 108 | War | U2 | 3 |
3.5
|
| I've never really taken to U2. I don't actively dislike them, it's just that they've always seemed to be rather an anthemic stadium rock style of music, even when they were a young and upcoming band. I didn't think anything here really stood out. | ||||
| 107 | A Hard Day's Night | Beatles | 3 |
3.89
|
| This is a nice album of quality pop songs, but not an essential album. I guess it's best seen as a development of The Beatles as pop song writers and performers. Some of these songs are really solid efforts. | ||||
| 106 | Chelsea Girl | Nico | 4 |
2.6
|
| I'm baffled as to why this album was chosen, since The Marble Index and Desertshore are far better albums. I'd agree with Nico that the flute isn't great, but I think the sparse sound (presumably due to the absence of the drums and guitars wanted by Nico) is really great. Probably my favourite track is 'It Was A Pleasure Then'. | ||||
| 105 | Cupid & Psyche 85 | Scritti Politti | 2 |
2.41
|
| I didn't really like Scritti Politti when this album was released, and I still find the excessively smooth production, lightweight pop stylings and Green Gartside's vocals a bit too much. But maybe over the years my dislike of this album has moderated. I can see why this is considered an album one ought to listen to, though I really can't give it a strong rating. | ||||
| 104 | I See You | The xx | 2 |
3.11
|
| I had high hopes for this album, as I have The XX's first two albums in my library. Unfortunately I found this album pretty un-memorable - nothing stood out as good (or as bad) over three listens. I think that's more than enough. I would rank this average, and I thought the previous albums were better. | ||||
| 103 | Automatic For The People | R.E.M. | 4 |
3.8
|
| So far on this site I've had several R.E.M. albums, about 3% of the albums to date! Anyway, R.E.M. is one of those bands I never really cared for back then. Didn't particularly hate them either. After having R.E.M. pushed at my via this list, I think I like them a bit better, but not enough to rush out an buy a copy. It's a pretty consistent album, Sidewinder and Everybody Hurts stand out for me. | ||||
| 102 | Behaviour | Pet Shop Boys | 3 |
3.07
|
| I've never really liked Pet Shop Boys - I think it's the rather emotionless feel to Neil Tennant's vocals. This is probably the best PSB album I've played, but I doubt it's one I'll play often. | ||||
| 101 | Sunshine Hit Me | The Bees | 2 |
3.01
|
| This record displays the band's influences openly, to the point the whole record comes over as a selection of pastiches. It ends up sounding a bit bland. | ||||
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