Reviews by aineslee

I was fully expecting to dislike this but I was pleasantly surprised and actually quite liked it. This was clearly before the terrible 80’s Rod Stewart and who knew he was actually quite good!

Obviously Maggie May is a class above the rest but a lot of other songs were pretty good and worth a few listens.

Another surprising win in the 1001 albums.

Like the Beatles I don’t think I’d ever listened to a Stones album all the way through before this project so wasn’t really sure what to expect outside of the singles I’d heard before.

I found myself enjoying some of the songs more than I expected. Ok so not all of them hit the spot and the musical sound was definitely better than the singing in a number of songs. Overall an enjoyable listen but just not sure it’s one of revisit again and again.

The singles still hold up pretty well but the other album tracks don’t quite hold the attention as well. Another one that was probably big at the time of release.

Fairly middle of the road stuff but was quite surprised this as an 80’s album as it had the sound of a 90’s band.

It was alright, nothing amazing but equally not terrible. Hard to completely judge in hindsight it may have been a revelation at the time. However so many other bands did this type of music but better in the years after this albums release. And I think I’d rather listen to those bands.

Let’s be honest, it was pretty much unlistenable the whole way through.

Another album I’d never listened to as I was only aware of a couple of Fugees singles which never really tempted me into listening to any more of their songs. Therefore I was fully expecting not to like this and find it a bit of a chore to get through.

However I was pleasantly surprised that there were a few songs I thought were alright. A few listenable songs which I was not expecting. Ok my attention wasn’t quite held all the way through but far more than I thought it would.

I would likely never have chosen to listen to this and that would have been a shame. Opening my ears to music I have never even been aware of or would have sought out.

I enjoyed listening to this album but not sure I listened to it in the right environment though as I can imagine a late night chilled out session would suit it better. However it still hit all the right funk notes and was more enjoyable than I expected.

The problem with this is its so hard not to compare it to all the other Beatles work with so many better songs further into their careers.

I’m guessing at the time this was a popular album but now it feels like bit of a filler in-between albums and most of the songs don’t really grab the attention.

Not rubbish but given they’ve done so many better songs this album just doesn’t really do much for me.

Drivel

A bit too experimental for me, can’t say I was really a fan of this.

Stevie’s got his funk back! A vast improvement on the previous offering of his.

Can’t say I was a fan of this. Not sure if it was the grating voice or the harmonica or the fact the songs were a struggle to get into.

Don’t think this album will be on my playlist again anytime soon.

Somehow I resisted the temptation to skip songs but not sure how.

Stevie Wonder does have some funky songs to get your toes tapping. None were on this album.

Not saying these songs were terrible, I just found most of them a bit boring.

I’m aware this is regarded as one of the best albums of all time but does it live up to the hype? Well the answer is yes and I can’t believe it’s taken me until I'm nearly 50 to listen to it!

A magnificent album from start to finish and it feels like the culmination of everything they’d learnt making music over the years. I’ve tried listening to a couple of their albums previously but often found the big songs overshadowed the rest. This feels like more of a complete album with no tracks I wanted to skip. The Beatles body of work and progression from the start to this in only 6/7 years is bonkers.

I won’t be leaving it another 49 years to listen to it again (already on my third play today!)

I really liked the first seven songs of this album and just wish the second half had followed suit. If it had then a strong score of 4 would have been forthcoming.

Unfortunately the last 4 songs were just a bit too experimental for me and brought the overall score down.

Still, easily the best album on here I’ve listened to so far.

Come back Billy Joel, all is forgiven!

I guess you’ve got to be a fan of this music to endure listening to it. I mean, a reeeeeeally big fan!

Beginning to wonder what Jim has got me into here!

Billy Joel you say?

Well he’s a pretty big name and I know some of his work so must have some decent songs right?

Well if he does then none of them are on this album. Utter dross. So depressed right now I’m considering trying some Pere Ubu to lift my spirits as that can’t be any worse than this surely?

My opinion of Tracy Chapman has always been negative based on the only song I knew of hers (Fast Car) which I have never liked and would always turn off if it came on the radio. So I was fully expecting to hate this album but was pleasantly surprised that I actually thought some of the songs were ok. I guess that’s the point of this whole exercise!

Ok so I don’t think I’ll be rushing out to buy it but I now get the cultural relevance of the whole album with a lot of the themes still very relevant nearly 30 years later. Perhaps Mylo could learn something about the importance of lyrics and how ghey engage with people!

I’ve never been a big fan of dance music but this album did provide a few toe-tapping moments, probably to the songs with samples where I recognised some of the original tunes.

After a while the repetitiveness of it all got me close to turning the sound down as the album reached its latter stages. The last couple of songs redeemed the situation slightly. At least it didn’t require much attention so in a way not the worse background music to work along to.

Wife walked in and heard 2 songs and hated it.

What a powerhouse of an album. Like most I was aware of the singles and was expecting a lot of filler. However there are numerous other quality songs in here. The whole album feels like a bit of a runaway train, all over the place but never relenting and giving you a moment to compose yourself. So much better than I was expecting.