Reviews by littlestlassloves

Given that I owned this on cassette (cassette!) when I was a teenager and I also listened to it a few weeks ago when I felt the need to cathartically yell into the abyss, there is no need for me to listen to this today to rate it. But it'd be rude not to.

When I was about 12 we got MTV and within a couple of years it completely changed my listening habits. I think the first Offspring song I heard as a kid was Self Esteem because MTV played it to death, but for me, Come Out And Play is the best song on here. The fact they're remembered for Pretty Fly For A White Guy and not something from Smash is a crying shame (but I'm sure that song built Dexter Holland a house or two, and probably paid for his solo flight nonstop around the world, so I can't begrudge it too much).

This was a pivotal album from my childhood.

5/5

Upon opening the 1001 generator this morning I saw the artist name, rolled my eyes and thought "oh great, fucking jazz". While I enjoy a lot of jazzy music, me and actual jazz have not really got on so far, but I tried to put that out of my mind.

Someone in the reviews described this as baby's first jazz album, which probably goes someway towards explaining why I actually enjoyed this. I already knew Take Five obviously, and like it, but I honestly enjoyed every track. I don't think there's anything wrong in wanting to enjoy melody and tap your foot rather than be "challenged" by discordant and "difficult" music.

I listened to this more than once, high praise for me and a jazz record.

3/5

On track one and the lyric about his nose being "big like a pickle" made me roll my eyes. And then that song pointlessly went on for 6 1/2 minutes.

The next track (The Way We Swing) decided to one-up that, by being even longer. And the whole album sort of carried on in the same vein - everything was longer than it needed to be, there were excessively long outros where nothing happened and everything just sounds so dated.

It might be that this comes immediately after the generator giving me Queen Latifah and Beastie Boys, but I did not have patience for this album. The idea that 2Pac started with this group is inexplicable.

"Peace and humptiness forever"? Pah!

1/5

I was a bit too young (and firmly not into hiphop) to have listened to this the first time round, so I don't remember having ever heard any of this before. Plus nothing from this album made the UK charts, so my main source of music as a pre-teen (Top Of The Pops) would have been no help.

This is a really weird mix, as parts of it sound pretty fresh - you could imagine releasing them today and it not sounding out of place - but parts of this sound so aggressively late 80s, it's really jarring. Also, it appears Will Smith based his entire rap style on The 45 King ("A King and Queen Creation").

I enjoyed it, but less than I was expecting.

3/5

I can absolutely understand why you might not like the Beastie Boys. The rapping is nasally, they shout, and finish EACH others SENTENCES!

But I was a teenager with access to MTV when Sabotage was released and I watched that music video thousands of times but never got bored of it. While Sabotage and Sure Shot are probably the high points of this album, I still really like the rest of the record so....

4/5

This is one of those albums where I just have no strong opinions. It was fine. I wouldn't turn it off if it was playing in the background, but I'm pretty sure it has left absolutely no impression (positive or negative). So:

2/5

I feared the worst, given my track record with 70s prog rock (and prog rock adjacent stuff) has been patchy at best. But I was already really liking this at least partially due to it being pretty keyboard/piano heavy. Then Dreamer started.

I have rambled on a lot about my Dad during many of the 70s albums on this list, and this is another opportunity. He loved this song. The absolute wave of nostalgia hearing this for the first time in probably 25 years made me a bit misty-eyed on my walk to work. When I started this thing, I wasn't expecting to have days where the album just really, really made me miss my Dad. He would have enjoyed the idea of this project, because he genuinely loved music, though I'm sure would have despaired at some of my ratings (Pink Floyd always worth 5 stars to him).

It made me feel feelings (and listen to Breakfast In America later in the day).

4/5

To enjoy ABBA you have to disconnect the part of your brain that internally cringes at lyrics talking about kissing your teacher or being jealous of a man's relationship with his fiddle. Once you get past the idea music has to have "poetic beauty" or "importance" and surrender yourself to the ABBA sound, you're going to have a much better time. That being said, I admit I'd rather listen to Erasure covering ABBA than ABBA being ABBA (I said what I said!).

Despite the original UK version of this album not included Fernando, I'm counting it because I like it. Dum Diddle Diddle is bonkers. Money Money Money is fab.

This feels like a 3.5 for me, but in the absence of half stars:

3/5

This left me with Homeward Bound stuck in my head all day because I'm a certain age and so it's inextricably tied to Michael J Fox voicing a Bulldog.

I think their voices are lovely and the songs are pleasant but that this particular S&G album didn't really do it for me. I have always liked "The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy)" and "A Simple Desultory Philippic (or How I Was Robert McNamara'd into Submission)" though.

Bemoaning the lack of a half star again, I'm going for:

3/5

I am not sure how to feel about this at all. It was... samey?

It was sort of like listening to a single 23-part, 51 minute song, that sounded like someone was just stream of consciousness rambling and then occasionally someone like Kendrick or Wiz Khalifa would try and interrupt to get him back on track.

I had to listen to it in two parts because I realised half way through that I didn't really want to finish it but that I wasn't really sure why. I didn't hate it, just didn't have the patience for it.

All of which I think gets me to:

2/5

An artist I had never heard of, or heard anything by, which is always fun while doing this project.

Absolutely loved the discordant piano on D.Original because it was so interesting as a backdrop, and that sort of interesting choice carried on being made for the rest of the album (like the high pitched beeping - dial tone? - on Mental Stamina for example).

In terms of the actual lyricism, I am not a big enough hip-hop fan to know if this is out of the norm - it felt like the standard "I'm great, be wary of women who just want your money, I'm gonna kill my rivals" schtick to me. I found it started dragging a bit towards the end.

3/5

I think this might be the first time during this project that an album has included a song (Wild Is The Wind) that was also covered on an album the generator already suggested to me (Station To Station by Bowie). And it was a good follow-up to yesterday's artist (Marvin Gaye) given that both were political throughout their careers - this idea some people in 2025 have that activism should be "kept out of music like it was in the past" is such nonsense.

Reading about this album was really interesting, for example, Four Women being banned from some radio stations in the 60s because they considered it racist despite the fact it was intended to highlight racist attitudes, seems about as absurd as can be.

She had a lovely voice, and this album is very diverse in terms of styles, but this didn't grab me as much as I thought it might. But I did enjoy the listen so:

3/5

The album generator has taught me to approach an album where the most famous song is the first track with an element of caution. But this time I needn't have worried because this is a fantastic album.

Yes, Gaye has a gorgeous voice, but also the lyrics are amazing, the music is beautiful. Just a great, great record.

5/5

There are few things that will really put me off an album as much as the phrase "19 minute jam session". I do not understand the mindset that creates a 7 song, 36 minute album but chooses to dedicate 19 of those minutes to the final track.

Other than that monstrosity, we got a bit of harpsichord (including a bit of jumpscare harpsichord right at the end) which was my first so far on this project and some perfectly meh songs.

2/5

As someone who was a teenager in the 90s and therefore into Green Day, Rancid, Offspring, Bad Religion etc you'd have thought I'd have listened to Minor Threat before, but no! The most hardcore punk I ever got was Dead Kennedys.

I can certainly hear the elements that later bands were going to be inspired by - some of the basslines are very Matt Freeman for example. Minor Threat were so influential in so many ways and I wish I'd have listened to them as a kid when I listened to punk and ska almost exclusively. But middle aged, middle class me really enjoyed listening to this on my walk to my cushy office job.

4/5

Firstly: what a beautiful voice. Genuinely, heartbreakingly, lovely.

Cry To Me was great, particularly the honky-tonk piano bits. I also loved Won't You Give Him (One More Chance) and You Can't Love 'Em All, with its mariachi style brass accompaniment. Also I have weak spot for that 60s slightly-shouty female backing vocal thing that happens on a lot of these songs. I was generally less keen on the slower tracks than the more upbeat ones, as I don't think they lived up to the rest, so that brings down the overall score for me.

Every song on this album sounds like it's a hairs breadth away from appearing on an Edgar Wright film soundtrack.

As is so often the case, I would like a half mark (3.5) but in the absence of that option:

3/5

I had never heard of these guys before and was excited about discovering a new (to me) artist - especially as this was a tight 28 minutes, so my normal objection to self indulgent over long songs couldn't apply.

Alas from the first held note, which unfortunately occurs 6 seconds into the album, it was apparent I HATE his wavery vibrato. Like "have a visceral reaction to his warbling nonsense" level hate. I tried to stop listening to him so I only heard the instrumental, and honestly that was helping a lot until I hit Nine Pound Hammer.

The "tink" sound (that I assume was supposed to be a hammer, but which actually sounded like someone tapping a 10p coin against a teacup) was nearly as annoying as his wibbly wobbly crooning.

If I were to mark this on the songs, it'd probably get a 2.5/5, but I was pleased it was over, so:

1/5

I really wanted to like this but was surprised to find a lot of it was just a bit dull?

My very official and technical ranking system ended up on two songs I really like, four that were fine I guess, and four that I just found uninteresting.

Should be a 2.5 really, but I'm plumping for 2 because I can't see me listening to 8 of these tracks again.

2/5

Another artist I got to hear a lot as a kid - my Mum loves Joni Mitchell - but that, Big Yellow Taxi aside, I cannot remember at all.

I like her voice but for the most part this album passed me by (though I liked Raised on Robbery a lot). It is however a record I'll try again in the future as I think I could really get into it after a few listens.

3/5

The hit being the first track of the album always makes for a nerve wracking start - will it all be downhill from there?

I actually quite enjoyed all of it, in a background music kinda way. Though this make directly correlate with how much I enjoy Hammond organ on anything.

3/5