1001 Albums Generator Discussion Thread

[Zaireeka]

https://1001albumsgenerator.com/

1001 Albums Generator is a website equivalent of the "1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die" book. The site randomly assigns an album for you to listen to every weekday at 3am GMT. There are 1089 albums on the site as of writing, with the site including every album across all six editions of the book. The website doesn't require registration - just a project name and you're good to go. You could even hijack my homie projects like "nigger" and "faggot" to get them across the finish line if you so please.

I'm creating a discussion thread here for any kiwis who also happen to be working their way through the list. I'm ~200 albums in and have really enjoyed the experience of slow-burning my way through these albums. There are some truly bizarre inclusions that keep the listening experience engaging. I'm talking about albums like the experimental and esoteric "They Were Wrong, So We Drowned". The industrial albums "Kollaps"/"D.o.A: The Third and Final Report of Throbbing Gristle". The ever-infamous "Trout Mask Replica" and the grueling "69 Love Songs" - a three-hour-long indie album.

Despite only making it a fifth of my way through this list I am confident in saying that Todd Rundgren's "A Wizard / A True Star" is the best album that I have listened to through the site. It's a freewheeling psychedelic album that has shattered many of my preconceptions about music - particularly in regards to track length, the genres that I like and my enjoyment of harsh noise in music. I'm also very favourable to The Stone Roses' debut album and "Melody A.M." by Röyksopp - a downtempo electronic album with a great cosmic sound.

The best album I have listened to in recent memory is Dusty Springfield's "Dusty In Memphis". A rock-solid pop album from the 60s that captures much of the classy appeal of the decade. The string sections are fantastic, there's a good level of variety and the songwriting is paired very nicely with Dusty's sultry voice. The most recent album I have listened to is Nick Drake's "Pink Moon". An acclaimed and influential album, but one that isn't for me. The guitarwork is intricate and the lo-fi sound is humbling, though I've yet to hear anything from the folk genre that captivates me.

For any newbies who want to commence their 1089 album journey I would recommend keeping weekend albums off while you're starting out. It's a common occurrence for many beginners to burn out and you'll be needing as much of a reprieve as you can get. It's also worth mentioning that the 1001 Albums book has a strong bias towards English music. The panel of critics that curated the book is overwhelmingly British with a surprisingly high number of Australian critics and a negligible amount of American/Canadian critics. This results in some glaring omissions of American music, such as Weezer's Blue Album. Additionally, no albums released prior to 1997 have been added or removed from future editions of the book, making the established lineup pretty set in stone. The post-90s lineup of albums is generally pretty shitty as well - especially during the 2010s and 2020s. There's a tepid synthpop pooner album from 2018 that I'm doubtful made it onto the list for any reason other than contemporary gender politics.

I've attached a scan of the first edition 1001 Albums book below for anyone curious about reading the entries for these albums.

 

[The Fly 91]

I first discovered the book (the 2018 edition) back in 2019, and I think it's a perfect start for those who want to get deeper into music. Once you complete the list, I highly recommend checking out Tom Moon's 1000 Recordings book. His list is more diverse and also includes classical pieces if you were curious.

 

[DeadwastePrime]

i got recommended this

kinda bops ngl

 

[Cougar Pump]

I love the album '69 Love Songs' by The Magnetic Fields, but listening to it end-to-end would be torture. There's little cohesion between the tracks and there's about 70 of the fuckers on it, it's a triple CD.

 

[Zaireeka]

i got recommended this

kinda bops ngl

Phenomenally poor luck to somehow roll an Indian album on your first pull. I'm pretty sure there are ~6 Indian albums on the list, so the chance of landing on one is beyond miniscule.

I haven't listened to this album yet, though the album cover kinda rules. I like the sleek, futuristic graphic style that was popular from around the time. Mixing Indian instruments with ambient/electronic music is an interesting approach, though I'm dubious of how well it will work in the context of a full album. Guess I'll just have to wait and see.

 

[d33CH]

Bright Flight - Silver Jews (2001)
very first rec...
its fairly uncompelling, in my cursory listening, ngl, but I did get a chuckle given the current state of affairs.
there is a song called Horseleg Swastikas which is a great name .

 

[Zaireeka]

Bright Flight - Silver Jews (2001)
very first rec...
its fairly uncompelling, in my cursory listening, ngl, but I did get a chuckle given the current state of affairs.
there is a song called Horseleg Swastikas which is a great name .

Agreed - funny album to pull on your first recommendation. I rolled that album a few weeks back and felt much the same as you did, though I was surprised to discover that I already had some familiarity with the band. A few years back I listened to Purple Mountains, which was the successor band to Silver Jews. There's something pleasing to me about Bright Flight with how the mild, meek instrumentals contrast with David Berman's depressive vocals, though I felt that he had much more of his act together with Purple Mountains' self-titled album. That album has some very solid lyrics and instrumentals. All that being said, I definitely have Bright Flight on my radar. I'm keen to give it a relisten sometime in the future.

In other news, the site recommended every user Beach Boys albums on the 12th following the passing of Brian Wilson, which I thought was a nice touch. Among the more positive things this site has done for me is forcing me to get off my ass and listen to music that I should have heard a long time ago, Beach Boys included. I listened to Pet Sounds, which was very good. There are a lot of great musical flourishes and songwriting choices on that album which I'm keen to uncover with future listens. "Caroline, No" is also among the best songs I've heard through the site. A very difficult track to fault.

My most recent album was "Millions Now Living Will Never Die" by Tortoise, which was alright. Tortoise are apparently key players in the post-rock genre, so I understand their inclusion on the list even if the music isn't really for me. I enjoyed it most when the album leaned into the electronic sound and I liked some of the guitar performances, though the rest of the album came off as a little tacky and stale to me. The album appears to have a prominent noir/spy movie influence, which isn't really my thing.

 

[Airstrip One]

I drew Talk Talk Talk by The Psychedelic Furs.

The Furs are one of those bands where people might know the name and perhaps a couple of their songs but not much else. They had a decent career but they were never terribly successful. Pretty In Pink, which is the opening track on the album, and the band's best known song, didn't even break the top 40 when it was released in 1981. It went top 20 when it was reissued a few years later as the lead song from the John Hughes movie of the same title. There is a weird sleight of hand in play where on the surface it's a celebratory song, Delve into the lyrics and it's about a girl looking for love who gets used very carelessly by a string of casual partners who openly boast about their sexual conquests. Similarly, another song on the album, Into You Like A Train, which one could assume from the title concerns unfettered shagging, is really about being in love with someone but wanting to keep your distance.

They are quite a hard band to pigeonhole. At heart, they're a rough round the edges rock group with an eye on suburban kitchen sink drama. There are traces of punk and glam, but they belong in neither camp. Nor are they really post-punk or art-rock, though elements of both are present. The final track on the album, the six-minute All Of This & Nothing, comes in three-movements, incorporating a moody saxophone-led overture and a slightly more energetic outtro. I can imagine them ending gigs on this and really stretching it out. Although this is a studio recording, you do get a sense of what the band were like live in their heyday. They weren't the only left field group of their era to incorporate a saxophone - British bands like X-Ray Spex made more aggressive use of the instrument. However, the way they use it was more thoughtful, almost like a bridge between punk and the smoldering soft rock of the 1980s.

If anything defines The Psychedelic Furs, then it's Richard Butler's vocals which are distinctive, sometimes to the point of overshadowing what the remainder of the band is doing. The more you listen to this album the more its nuances come through. I think that, ultimately, they are one of those bands like The Gun Club who have a small following, but the people who are into them are really into them.