Reviews for 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die

The average rating for 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die based on 2 reviews is 4 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2016-12-25 00:00:00 Catherine Yorgey Initial Thoughts I love lists. On the other hand, any fucker with an opinion can put together a list, so let me modify that to say I like lists but I love lists that include justification for each entry, or have some over-arching criteria by which they are constructed. If this book were merely a bare list, it wouldn't be particularly elevated above the thousands of other lists (on discogs for example), but it is more than that. A list like this will never satisfy everyone, and in fact it's almost guaranteed to satisfy no-one. There are plenty of entries in this book that I would kick out, and others I would include, but that's not really the point. This isn't a list of my personal favorites, and it shouldn't be. That list would be useless to me. The value of this book for me is that I'm listening to things I might otherwise not hear, and even if they aren't to my taste, there is value in the experience. Partway Through And Drunk Then again, there is not a single album listed by The Church. Starfish is my all time favorite, most influential (on me) album. Not having a single entry by The Church is enough to make me fucking annoyed at this list, putting aside the fact I could include 3 more albums besides Starfish. And also Tom Petty only has a single album (the first self titled) so where the fuck is Southern Accents, Full Moon Fever, and Into The Great Wide Open, all of which are arguably more solid than the first admittedly great album. Seriously what credibility do they have not including the album that has "Don't Come Around Here No More". Or maybe I'm just writing this while coming down from a late night drunken music listening night so just fucking ignore me. Process And Criteria I started reading this book on June 18th, 2016 with the intent to listen to ever album all the way through, regardless of whether I had heard it before or not. Initially I had no particular discipline with respect to pace. Additionally I would have to wait for a physical CD to arrive, which would delay my progress. At some point, I started to use Google Play for streaming, which vastly accelerated my ability to progress through the list, and I settled on 1 album each weekday. Later I started doing the weekends also. I listened to the albums in the same sequence as in the book, and did not skip around, and I always listened to the complete album in its original order, and I never skipped a track even if I hated it. And of course I read each review as I started each album. I also kept a log of listening stats and thoughts about each album. I listened to the last album in the book on Saturday February 15th, 2020. Some Statistics My journey through this book took 1338 days. I already owned 301 of the albums. I had already heard 358 of the albums (counting the ones I owned). I used a very strict criteria for this number. For an album to count, I must have listened to the album in sequence as whole. If I had heard every track on the album separately, say on the radio, that did not count. I had previously heard 1 or more tracks from 299 additional albums. I used fairly strict criteria to count for this number. I had to be familiar with, or have very clear memory of a track for it to count. It could not be some vague feeling that I had probably heard a song. I bought 38 albums from this book that I did not previously own. A couple of these were because I absolutely could not find them for legal streaming, but most were because I want to buy them, or thought they were something I should own anyway. I have marked an additional 25 albums as candidates for purchase. Completion So was this book worth it? For someone like me, who is obsessed with music, and also enjoys a very disciplined and persistent approach to finding music, the answer is a wholehearted 'yes'. Of course I didn't agree with every selection or opinion in the book. Some of the reviewers pissed me off, particularly when they would try to justify the inclusion of their particular choice by insulting other music; sometimes there would be a delicious, or infuriating, irony when the insulted release was also in the book. Even for many of the albums I did not like, I usually found it valuable to learn about its historical significance, and to actually give a full listen. And then there were the surprise discoveries that I totally missed when they first came out, and I was thrilled to have added to my collection, such as Skunk Anansie and Eels. Variations On A Theme I was discussing with a friend what we might change about this book, for example we both agreed that we would personally put in a rule that each band can have only one album represented, which would make for a very different book. For example, there are three albums in here by fucking Dexys Midnight Runners, a band I absolutely loath, and the experience of listening to those three albums only made me hate them even more. There are 7 albums by the Beatles. So here are a few variations on this book that I think would be potentially interesting: 1001 Albums by 1001 Different Bands You Must Hear Before You Die 1001 Totally Obscure Weird But Good Albums You Must Hear Before You Die 1001 World Music Albums Not From The US or The UK You Must Hear Before You Die 1001 Dark, Depressing, Atmospheric Albums You Must Hear Before You Die 1001 Electronic Albums You Must Hear Before You Die and of course the best one: Baal Of Confusion's 1001 Favorite Albums You Must Hear Before You Die

Review # 2 was written on 2011-09-11 00:00:00 Timothy Sullivan Aaaahhh...here I sit, listening to Einst�rzende Neubauten's great album, "Kollaps" which is semi-rhythmic collection of German yelling, banging on garbage cans and recorded sounds from every day objects such as water burbling, feet shuffling and what almost sounds like a broken AM radio. Such is the story of my life. My good friends Mike and Karen generously bought me this book several months ago, which was very much appreciated (of course). As close we are, they did not know that they were dooming to actually listening to all 1,001 albums before I died, else I'm sure they would have gotten me a whoopee cushion or something instead. I plan on remaining on good terms with them nonetheless. Now, I am a big music fan and thought I had pretty much heard everything. Turns out I was wrong. So now I have about 250 CDs on request the library which, I estimate, should total about two weeks of twenty-four hour a day listening to get through. The book touches on very few of the "great" albums (hardly anything by The Beatles in here) and instead seems to strive toward find the best of the most representative music from major genres in each time period. The focus is on "rock" but there's plenty of R&B, Hip Hop, Country, Jazz, Worldbeat, etc. So I find my playlist loaded with 80's faves like The Cocteau Twins and Scritt Politti as well as Dexy's Midnight Runners (not only was "Come on Eileen" not their only song, they were apparently quite the big thing back in their day. Who knew?). I'm listening to bands with names like Mercury Rev, Lambchop and Bonnie "Prince" Billy. It's also got me going back to some old favorites I was reminded of, like Dr. Dre, Sinead O'Conner, and Liz Phair and even suffering through albums I previously hated (Fugees' "The Score" is one of those). I'll probably still hate them, but maybe I missed something. Finally, I am embarrassed to admit the music I've never heard before: Billie Holiday, Bobby Womack, Bob Marley (besides the same greatest hits collection that about 95% of America owns), George Jones, Little Richard, The Smiths and, of course, Motorhead. How I've listened seriously to music without ever hearing an album by these folks is quite the mystery. So I'm expecting some good stuff there and am confident it will make up for the rest. I'll admit that I won't listen to all 1,001. I've already heard close to half of them, a quarter or so are of no interest for one reason or another, leaving with me with something like 250 to listen to. And I will. In all, a good read. Fast, too, despite being 1,001 pages long (and correspondingly heavy). By the way, if anyone has Ute Lemper's "Punishing Kiss," please let me know.