u/VampireOnHoyt

This was a difficult and eventful month for me personally, which led to me falling behind a bit on reviews. Maybe it's just those issues but I also felt myself struggling more than usual to connect with this music. But I did get some classics, so I've tried to focus on enjoying those. And yes, I did put Mariah Carey above Slayer - I'm sure 13-year-old me wants to kick my ass. 😁

Album of the Month: Marvin Gaye, What's Going On (one of the most acclaimed albums of all time and for good reason)

Lowest Rated Album of the Month: The Incredible String Band, The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter (A for effort, D+ for execution)

Best New Discovery: Skepta, Konnichiwa (so I guess I like grime now)

Album I Liked More than Expected: Talking Heads, More Songs About Buildings and Food (I didn't expect to realize that this might be their best album)

Album I Liked Less than Expected: Muse, Black Holes and Revelations (there's less here than meets the ear)

Hardest Album to Rate: N.W.A., Straight Outta Compton (the stuff they're most famous for is the stuff I liked least)

Rating breakdown:

5 stars: 6 (What's Going On through Third)

4 stars: 18 (I'm a Lonesome Fugitive through Reign in Blood)

3 stars: 6 (Talking Timbuktu through The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter)

2 stars: 0 (I used to be a teacher and I was bad at failing people back then also)

1 star: 0

It's been an interesting month - a lot more "difficult" albums and a lower ratio of great albums than previous months. But I've also gotten to enjoy some all-time highlights.

Album of the Month: The Beatles, Rubber Soul (everybody else is playing for second)

Lowest Rated Album of the Month: Scritti Politti, Cupid & Psyche 85 (the problem with making inane pop music ironically is that you might end up making it sincerely)

Best New Discovery: The Good, the Bad & the Queen, The Good, the Bad & the Queen (I had overlooked this Damon Albarn project to my detriment)

Album I Liked More than Expected: Bob Dylan, Blonde on Blonde (I've been trying for decades to "get" it and I finally feel like I did)

Album I Liked Less than Expected: Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, Murder Ballads (an album I found repugnant from an artist for whom I have great respect)

Hardest Album to Rate: Leonard Cohen, Songs of Love and Hate (left me cold, seemingly on purpose)

Rating breakdown:

5 stars: 6

4 stars: 14

3 stars: 10:

2 stars: 1

1 star: 0

This has been an interesting, and mostly uniformly excellent, section of the 1001 MORE List. As always, a lot of the best stuff here easily belongs on the main list.

Best Album from This Section: Husker Du, Zen Arcade (no idea why this was omitted in favor of an inferior Husker Du album)

Worst Album from This Section: The Jesus Lizard, Goat (Kurt Cobain was wrong about some stuff)

Best New Discovery from This Section: Fishmans, Long Season (a really cool suite, check it out)

Album I Liked More than Expected: C418, Minecraft: Volume Alpha (is there such a thing as post-chipcore?)

Album I Liked Less than Expected: Placebo, Without You I'm Nothing (I'm beginning to think opiate abuse may actually be mostly bad for creativity)

Hardest Album to Rate: Deathspell Omega, Paracletus (not a genre I'm a big fan of, and the singer is a scumbag to boot; so why do I keep listening to it?)

Rating breakdown:

5 stars: 8

4 stars: 33

3 stars: 8

2 stars: 1

Wow, what a month! With about a week left the top end was looking a bit slimmer than usual, but then I got Metallica, the Manics, Massive Attack, Beck, and Pearl Jam - all easy 5s for me. I also didn't get anything I actively disliked this month, although Robbie Williams is on thin ice.

Album of the Month: Pearl Jam, Ten (which is on the short list for my favorite albums ever)

Lowest Rated Album of the Month: Robbie Williams, Life Thru a Lens (I didn't hate it but I won't likely come back to it)

Best New Discovery: Moby Grape, Moby Grape (maybe the best thing to come out of the Bay Area scene from that era, Creedence included)

Album I Liked More than Expected: Adele, 21 (I knew the singles were good but several of the album tracks blew me away also)

Album I Liked Less than Expected: CeeLo Green, Cee-Lo Green... Is the Soul Machine (I dig Gnarls Barkley and Goodie Mob, what happened here?)

Hardest Album to Rate: LCD Soundsystem, American Dream (I may get there eventually with James Murphy but I'm not there yet)

Rating breakdown:

5 stars: 9

4 stars: 13

3 stars: 8

2 stars: 0

1 stars: 0

Fixed for me as of a couple minutes ago. I had previously been missing the song info for all stations when listening via Chrome.

Album of the Month: Black Sabbath, Paranoid (narrowly beating out Outkast's Stankonia)

Lowest Rated Album of the Month: Traffic, John Barleycorn Must Die (really didn't do anything for me)

Best New Discovery: Japan, Quiet Life (can't believe I was unaware of this band before)

Album I Liked More than Expected: Tom Waits, Bone Machine (nowhere near as scary as I'd been led to believe)

Album I Liked Less than Expected: Aimee Mann, Whatever (I honestly think I was in the wrong headspace to appreciate this and might like it better if I came back to it)

Hardest Album to Rate: Jane's Addiction, Ritual De Lo Habitual (do I even have to explain why)

Rating breakdown:

5 stars: 8

4 stars: 18

3 stars: 4

2 stars: 1

1 star: 0

I've really enjoyed the 1001 MORE List so far; I find it has a lot more breadth in terms of genre, covers eras of music I really like, and fills in some crucial gaps in the main list.

Best Album from This Section: The National, Boxer

Lowest Rated Album from This Section: Mr. Bungle, Mr. Bungle (both Mr. Bungle albums were my two lowest rated)

Best New Discovery: Sweet Trip, Velocity : Design : Comfort

Album I Liked More than Expected: Hawkwind, Hawkwind

Album I Liked Less than Expected: Of Montreal, Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer?

Hardest Album to Rate: Knocked Loose, You Won't Go Before You're Supposed To

Rating breakdown:

5 stars: 17

4 stars: 61

3 stars: 20

2 stars: 1

1 star: 1

Album of the Month: Radiohead, *The Bends*

Lowest Rated Album of the Month: Lambchop, *Nixon*

Best New Discovery: Keith Jarrett, *The Köln Concert*

Album I Liked More than Expected: Michael Kiwanuka, *Kiwanuka*

Album I Liked Less than Expected: Dr. Dre, *The Chronic*

Hardest Album to Rate: Laibach, *Opus Dei*

Rating breakdown:

5 stars: 11

4 stars: 9

3 stars: 8

2 stars: 2

1 star: 0