galway_rat

November 7, 2026

HL: "Sethed seketelat", "Aha begena"

Is it jazz or punk? Is it live or a studio album? Are we human or are we dancer?

These questions, and more, will not be answered tonight

Huh. This is one of the first albums I listened to this year. I was specifically looking for albums for a cold winter’s night

With no snow in sight, and the sun in the sky instead of the moon, it’s quite a different experience listening to this album.

Idk, I might have enjoyed it even more today, despite it being perfect for listening right before bed (or, alternatively, lying awake as an insomniac).

I don’t always appreciate lo-fi techniques , but the way it’s used here is quite something. Despite the broken recordings, I got what I needed from them- beautiful, kind of sad melodies and tones, rising from the ether.

Maybe a 5 one day

HL: “Moon Is Sharp”, “Vapor Trails”, “She Loves Me That Way”

It's good. Likeable, you could even say. I expected something to become familiar to me, considering the album's success and Wikipedia's comparisons to Dookie and Smash in reviving mainstream interest in punk rock, but it was all new music to me.

3.5/5

HL: “Junkie Man”, “Ruby Soho”, "Old Friend"

October 30, 2026

HL: title track, “Caught in the Middle”, “Don’t Talk to Strangers”, “Rainbow in the Dark”

I’ve never been as enthusiastic about heavy metal as some, but I bought this on CD because I had a good feeling about Dio. Only actually heard the whole thing earlier this year, partly because someone from the 1001 subreddit named their cat after Dio.
Before, I really only went to the title track and “Rainbow in the Dark”, but pretty much every track lives up to its cheesy cover.

Man, I was so happy ending the list with the Hounds of Love, but now it ends with Hackney Diamonds. Tainted! :p

Two other lists I've been "almost done" for at least a year now are Rolling Stone magazine's 500 Greatest Albums (all editions combined, of course) and the 100 Best Albums of the 2000s.
The latter list is especially important to me because I had the physical copy of the magazine as a teen. Even though I wouldn't actually hear many of the albums in full until later, that issue certainly led to me paying attention to the artists they showcased, like MGMT, Arcade Fire and Radiohead.
There's also multiple albums by Bob Dylan, U2, Bruce Springsteen and Johnny Cash.
I guess looking back, it wasn't the cutting edge of modern music journalism I thought it was. It might have been the ONLY music journalism that got through to me for a time. How was I supposed to know the other teens weren't bumping U2's "Moment of Surrender" and Springsteen's "Radio Nowhere" on their iPod? (both good songs, btw).

I guess there's nothing wrong with showcasing late-career highlights from legacy acts- they don't have to be swan songs, either, like Blackstar or You Want It Darker. Songs of a Lost World was pretty good. I guess when one is trying to encapsulate a time period, like the 2000s, or the 2020s, balance is the key. You put too many legacy acts, it kinda seems like you don't actually care about the music of said period. And yeah, R.S. also has Tha Carter III and The College Dropout, this list has Billie and Charli, but then they're put on a par with the Rolling Stones's TWENTY FOURTH studio album and suddenly the whole thing stinks. It stinks!

The album is... good, I guess? I'd have a lot more thoughts about Hackney Diamonds if their return to the studio resulted in dogshit, but alas. They played it safe, and invited their rich friends to guest star, including at least two Sirs, a Lady, and Stevie M.F. Wonder.

The results speak for themselves. I have a soft spot for when they go full cowboy, like in "Dreamy Skies". "Dead Flowers" and "Love in Vain" are already on albums on this list, though. They also kind of revisit the Some Girls era with "Mess It Up", and go right back to the source in the final track, "Rolling Stone Blues", harkening to their early days when they cut their teeth watering down the Delta blues.

My main issue is the production, helmed by American producer Andrew Watt.
I quote from the Apple Music blurb:
"Watt kept it simple, bringing in vintage microphones and highlighting the interwoven guitars of [Keith] Richards and Ronnie Wood", and
"Hackney Diamonds was indeed made like the old days- live, with no click tracks or glossy production tricks".

Okay, so, my question is, why do songs like "Whole Wide World", and "Live By the Sword", and "Driving Me Too Hard" sound so GOD DAMN GLOSSY?? Even the COVER ART is glossy. I feel like I'm being lied to here!

My gut, based on other Watt-produced albums like the recent Paul McCartney and Elton John/Brandi Carlisle collab, tells me he's a hack who treats almost every artist with the same bland, commercial, over-compressed treatment. But he keeps working with a growing list of acclaimed artists, both old and new (see: Paul McCartney, Elton John, Brandi Carlisle), who all have good things to say about him.

Well, I'm sure that doing whatever it is he does bought him a nice house.

Man, having this on the 1001 is top-level ragebait.

Is it bad that I would still rank this album higher than their self-titled debut?

HL: "Angry", "Bite My Head Off", "Mess It Up", "Sweet Sounds of Heaven"