mitch058

I'm still a bit mystified by the project editors' choice to choose three consecutive Queen albums rather than a broader range of their discography, especially because of the three that we get in this collection, only "A Night at the Opera" is really worth hearing before we die. This album is definitely better and more interesting than "Queen II", and I was impressed at the number of genuinely hard-rocking tracks--especially the opener "Brighton rock", the duo "Tenement funster"/"Flick of the wrist", and "Stone cold crazy"--but it would have been more interesting (to me at least) to get their forays into pop albums like "The Game" or "The Works". Regardless, this is still a fun album from a band that was clearly more talented than their glam rock legacy might suggest.

I've never been a big Beatles fan, and I'm nearly 100% positive that I've never listened to this album in its entirety before, so I assumed that there would be a few songs I recognized and others that were new to me. Instead, I didn't hear *anything* I hadn't heard before at some point, which speaks volumes to how popular and widespread this album has been and continues to be. (IT may also indicate that my confidence about never having heard this album before is misplaced.) It's definitely not a perfect album, and obligatory inclusions like Ringo Starr's "Octopus's garden" or the somewhat maudlin "Sun king" are kind of jarring. But what a fitting end to the Fab Four's career.

I'm not very familiar with Todd Rundgren's apparently prodigious output, but it *feels* like the "1001 Albums" editors must have a love/hate relationship with Mr. Rundgren, or maybe they're just haters, because there's no way Rundgren could have had an entire musical career that sounds like this and his previous album, neither of which are all that interesting and/or must-hear selections. But at least this one is shorter (and yet still too long) and the first side is a *lot* more quirky than "Something/Anything?"; sadly side two feels a lot less unhinged and a lot more derivative. And what an album cover--it feels like he somehow channeled in 1970 what AI would do to images 55 years later. I didn't really need the Wikipedia entry to guess that drugs fueled much of the music and concepts in this album (at least the first side), but perhaps he could have showed a little more restraint in layering *so* much into every track? Given the kind of lackluster music he seems to have made solo, and how much he was (and is) sought out to help produce albums, even when he pisses off the band members, I'm beginning to think that Todd Rundgren is a kindred spirit to Brian Eno.

Aside from her big hit "Royals", I think this album is the only music by Lorde that I've knowingly listened to. "Royals" set a pretty high bar, and while I'm not sure she climbs to that level on this album, it's still a very solid pop album and she seems to be able to carve out her own sound pretty well. Highlights for me were probably "The Louvre" and the first half of "Hard feelings/Loveless", and "Writer in the dark" was the only real dud. Her songs are definitely more interesting when she's not pushing for straight Taylor-Swift-style pop tracks.

I've lost count of how many albums we've had so far involving Neil Young, but I know (a) it's a lot (too many, I'd even claim), and (b) I'm glad this one was included. I've never really been able to enjoy Neil Young's voice/singing style, but listening to this one I really wish I could enjoy his quavering whine to make the experience even better. Regardless, there's plenty of great songs it doesn't really matter, with only a few relative duds ("Till the morning comes" is probably the only lackluster attempt, although his cover of "Oh, lonesome me" isn't nearly as good as his originals). It was also fun to read the extensive Wikipedia entry that describes how the entire album was going to be at one point the soundtrack to Dean Stockwell's sci-fi/dystopian screenplay of an "After the Gold Rush" movie that never got made; eventually only the title track and "Cripple Creek ferry" had any connection to the screenplay (which helps explain some of the weirder references in both of those tracks, although I have to admit that until today I'd always assumed the latter song was "Cripple Creek fairy").