r/1001AlbumsGenerator

I still have some left to rate so I'm not finished yet, but here is my #1089. I'm going to listen after a good night's sleep.

My #1 was Hotel California by the Eagles.

The image shows a screenshot of the 1001 Album Generator and my final album of Alien Lanes by Guided by Voices.

I got to know the Meat Puppets around 1991 with their amazing record Forbidden Places. But Meat Puppets II, (Spotify) from 1983, is considered their masterpiece, including the 1001 Albums list. I tried listening to it a few times back in the day, but I found it difficult; messy, unfinished, and frequently out of tune. It’s in the same vein as Ween and the Minutemen, but for me, just a little less. Time to give it another solid listen.

The album, and the band in general, is primarily known because Nirvana covered no fewer than three tracks from this record on their MTV Unplugged. The Meat Puppets Kirkwood brothers also played along. The album pleases me a more now than it used to, it’s actually kind of fun—that zany vibe, it goes in every direction. Apparently, there were quite a lot of drugs involved. But I still miss the spark of the absurd and humorous that I do find in Ween (especially their debut, which goes a few steps further) or the virtuosity and humor of the Meat Puppets album Forbidden Places. I still don't quite get the fuss about this record.

I saw the Meat Puppets live at the Effenaar, in the Netherlands around 1991 (if I remember correctly). It was good and pretty weird. At one point, the singer grabbed a roll of stage tape and taped his microphone to his head by slapping large strips of tape around his face, including over his big mop of hair. I don't remember how he managed to get that off, but that couldn't have been fun. Ouch.

Here some videos:

No decent live footage from '83. But here is the brilliant “Sam” from Forbidden Places. Try singing along to that! Sam + That's How It Goes (Into The Night 7/31/91): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IhQgvIqa62c

https://preview.redd.it/7qy68gvoqnuh1.png?width=480&format=png&auto=webp&s=8f875f1c953df148f4b7a393e481b7b1fc82561e

A few songs from the follow-up Up On The Sun, Live 1986, Music Machine, Los Angeles: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vCOoKDXjhZ8

https://preview.redd.it/2lshb68sqnuh1.png?width=480&format=png&auto=webp&s=ad255a51e31dfa2753184ec473af342006caf51f

One of the three songs Nirvana performed with the Meat Puppets during their famous Unplugged session. Lake Of Fire (Live On MTV Unplugged, 1993): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d4LdUQzCPPM

https://preview.redd.it/hhddf2fwqnuh1.png?width=480&format=png&auto=webp&s=5e6c0bc92204c481d586e1f7566f06bc80cc1a70

See also: https://bier-en-brood.nl/1001albums/?album=530-meat-puppets-meat-puppets-ii&lang=en

Kinda can’t believe it.

For my fave album, I went with Talk Talk - Colour of Spring, which isn’t my favorite album exactly, but it’s by far my favorite discovery here, and has become ONE of my favorite albums since.

Red Headed Stranger was my second favorite discovery.

My user submitted album is Kikagaku Moyo — Masana Temples, assuming no one else has submitted it.

Reggae is most definitely NOT my fave genre lol. In fact going into this I didn’t like it at all — but i definitely came around to appreciate how great it is, specifically Bob Marley, Peter Tosh and Burning Spear. I’d only heard the Marley hits and the iconography, I’d never dug in.

I kept my own separate spreadsheet to track how many of these I’d heard before starting:

732 No and 357 Yes, which means I’d heard just over 1/3 of the albums on this list before starting

I’m on the fence about starting the user submitted list right away. I’ll give it a couple days at least…

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