The 1001 Album Generator Project Thread

Should we do a group project

  • Total voters
    22
  • Poll closed .
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5/5
I love this album. It's a unique sound by one of the best front women in rock. I don't think this album would make it if it came out today though. It's too much of it's time, but we're lucky that it captured something of that time so incredibly well. This is one of those bands that I regret never having been able to see live.
 
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I have a vague memory of hearing XTC, but I don't think I could tell you any of their songs.
 
I have a sneaking suspicion, this is not the best album to start with. However, this is awesome so far. There is, of course, eighties pop in spades here. But it's quirky and each song paints from a different palette. Good music is an impressive thing that can pull you into it. There is no way I was in the mood for this, but here I am 5 songs in and completely enthralled. A bummer day after a rough night at work coupled with a general malaise are a fog being pierced by the light of this music.
 
Lee Newman said:
I think @LeeVing is our resident XTC fanatic, maybe he can give some insight into this album's place in the discography and the band in general. The Wikipedia article is fascinating. Makes me wonder if there is a 33 1/3...
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It's probably their most "mainstream" album. Dear God was a hit - even in the US....but it wasn't that big of a hit. They didn't tour during this time, so they really weren't popular unless you were already a fan or were eventually introduced to them.

It's probably in my top 5 of their albums, though.

And the whole Andy Partridge vs Todd Rundgren seems just to be a clash of egos. The "polarity issue" aside, it has always been a great sounding album.

I think my favorite 3 album run would be Drums And Wires, Black Sea, and English Settlement.

Apple Venus Volume 1 would still be my favorite album, though....at least it's the one I go back to most often.
 
33/1001
Chic - C'est Chic
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First time listening. "Le Freak" is the choice cut here, "Savoir Faire" is a smooth instrumental and "Happy Man" isn't too shabby. Classic disco/boogie maybe, but serves better as background music when you get to side B; the ballad "At Last I Am Free" is absolutely dire, and surely one of the most boring songs in the genre.
This seems a smidge overrated to be considered bucketlist listening.

Personal highlights: I'd just focus on the A-side, personally
Rating: 2.5/5 [Decent]
 
34/1001
The Youngbloods - Elephant Mountain
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First time listening. Uninspiring. Nothing overly terrible, just very monochromatic wallpaper-like. Might be a classic to some but not to this millennial, no sir.

Personal highlights: "Sunlight," and "Sham" but it was difficult to find enjoyment overall
Rating: 2/5 [Mediocre]

My least favorite album I've gotten up to this point. Typing in "Youngbloods" into the N&G search field and viewing the results, I see only a small selection of relevant posts in the entire post history across over 3.5 years. I don't think I'm too far off. Thinking about dropping this to 1.5 actually.
 
Rip_City said:
34/1001
The Youngbloods - Elephant Mountain
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First time listening. Uninspiring. Nothing overly terrible, just very monochromatic wallpaper-like. Might be a classic to some but not to this millennial, no sir.

Personal highlights: "Sunlight," and "Sham" but it was difficult to find enjoyment overall
Rating: 2/5 [Mediocre]

My least favorite album I've gotten up to this point. Typing in "Youngbloods" into the N&G search field and viewing the results, I see only a small selection of relevant posts in the entire post history across over 3.5 years. I don't think I'm too far off. Thinking about dropping this to 1.5 actually.
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It doesn't even have this song I had on a mix cd back in high school.

 
gaporter said:
A Walk Across the Rooftops... I'm leaning towards maybe a 3.5 but since the website doesn't let you do half stars (as far as I know) it will probably get bumped down to a high 3. I'm enjoying it well enough, but I feel like it plays its best hand right out of the starting gate with the title track and Tinseltown in the Rain. I think those are the best songs here and the album never quite recaptures those heights again (although Heatwave is quite good as well). Like the Paul Revere album, it sounds very much of its time, but just because the production is a little dated doesn't make it bad. I think it's more that several tracks go on for too long and not every song is as strongly written as the ones I previously mentioned. I'm kind of in a weird spot with this one because I acknowledge there's some really beautiful songs here but I'm not sure how often I'd actually want to return to this.
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I am surprised they went with this album and not Hats, which is considered their best album. Let's Go Out Tonight in this album is a beautiful song.

 
Yesterday's album:
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Wu-Tang is one of my more embarrassing hip-hop blind spots so I was intrigued to finally give this a listen and see if it lives up to the hype. For the most part, I think it does. There's no doubt that Raekwon, Ghost Face and the rest of the featured Clan members are absolutely in their element here. The album succeeds mostly due to the immaculate pairing of their aggressive delivery over RZA's dark, distorted beats. I don't know that there's a single bad verse on this thing.

The main detriment for me is the length. My ADHD brain often struggles with albums that stay in the same mode during the entirety of their runtime. For me, if you're going to make your record over an hour long, you should at least have a good amount of variety to make up for it. The subject matter and production here is pretty consistent throughout, and while I don't think that would be an issue if this was whittled down to be about 20 minutes shorter, at 17 tracks, it feels like too much of a good thing. Also, I couldn't help but think about @WhiteDahlias's post over in the other thread about the rampant misogyny present in many hip-hop albums of this era while listening. Personally, although I'm not really offended or bothered by the lines on here that haven't aged very gracefully, I have to say that the whole mafioso-machismo thing can definitely get tiring to listen to for almost 70 minutes straight.

However, despite all my complaints, I still mostly enjoyed my time with this and could see my opinion of it growing the more time I spend with it. For now, I'm giving it a 4. My favorites are Criminology, Rainy Dayz, Ice Cream and Wu-Gambinos
 
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