1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die

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Editorial Reviews:

Product Description
1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die is a highly readable list of the best, the most important, and the most influential pop albums from 1955 through 2003. Carefully selected by a team of international critics, each album is a groundbreaking work seminal to the understanding and appreciation of music from the 1950s to the present. Included with each entry are production details and credits as well as reproductions of original album cover art. Perhaps most important of all, each album featured comes with an authoritative description of its importance and influence. Among the critics involved in selecting the list are some of the best known music reviewers and commentators, including Theunis Bates (music writer for Time and urban editor at worldpop.com), Jon Harrington (staff writer at MTV), Seth Jacobson (writer for Dazed & Confused), as well as many others.

Customer Reviews: Read 33 more reviews...

2 out of 5 stars

1950 - 1979 good /1980 - 1994 o.k./1995 - 2005 terrible September 3, 2006
105 out of 137 found this review helpful

Books like this generally suck not because they leave out a few of my favourite albums but because they are deliberately populist, lack depth and consistency and try to be everything to everyone without really satisfying anyone.

I will say however that the list is not bad up till 1980 although I'll never understand, as an example, why Elton John's "Yellow Brick Road" and "Madman Across the Water" is favoured over "Tumbleweed Connection" and "Honky Chateau". The 80s is still reasonable although there are some albums that should be hidden in a box under your bed.

Another gripe I have is why an innovative genre like metal is constantly ignored particularly when the book moves into the 1990s. Metal is constantly relegated to the same few albums of the NWOBHM (Iron Maiden; Judas Priest; Motorhead; Venom) and the Thrash Big Four (Metallica; Slayer; Megadeth; Anthrax) giving the impression that metal stopped in 1988. Death Metal and Black Metal, while being specialist extreme genres obviously didn't happen, yet something as lame as Brit Pop gets excessive mentions. By the time the book gets to the 2000s it is so far off the mark of where it should be going.

According to this book you can die happily without having heard these bands:

A Certain Ratio; Aesop Rock; Albert Ayler; Albert King; Aim; Ambitious Lovers; Amon Duul II; Amon Tobin; Animal Collective; Anthony Braxton; Autechre; Bad Religion; Bathory; Bessie Smith; Bethlehem; Blind Willie Johnson; Blues Magoos; Boogie Down Productions; Boredoms; Boris; Broken Social Scene; Burzum; Cabaret Voltaire; Cannibal Ox; Carcass; Cecil Taylor; Celtic Frost; Charlie Haden; Charley Patton; Company Flow; Cornelius; Crass; Darkthrone; Dead Can Dance; Death; Deicide; Deltron; Descendents; Dismemberment Plan; Don Cherry; Earth, El-P; Emperor; EPMD; Eric Dolphy; Exciter; Exodus; Felt; Foetus; Four Tet; The Fugs; Galaxie 500; Ghost; Godflesh; Godspeed Yr Black Emperor; Gong; Grandaddy; Guapo; Hank Williams; Interpol; Jesus Lizard; Josef K; Kevin Coyne; Khanate; Leadbelly; Lee Scratch Perry; Legeti; Louis Armstrong; Low; M83; Magma; Mayhem; Matmos; Mastodon; MDC; MF Doom; Melvins; Mercyful Fate; Misfits; Mississippi John Hurt; Mobb Deep; Modest Mouse; Morbid Angel; Morphine; Neurosis; Neutral Milk Hotel; Nile; Nocturnus; Obituary; Olivia Tremor Control; Ornette Coleman; Pan Sonic; Peter Brotzmann; Son House; Krzysztof Penderecki; Pestilence; Pharoah Sanders; The Pop Group; Popul Vuh; Quasimoto; Red Crayola; Red House Painters; Rites Of Spring; Robert Johnson; Roland Kirk; Royal Trux; Sage Francis; Foetus; Scratch Acid; Shellac; Dmitry Shostakovich; Sigh; Silver Apples; Sparklehorse; Squarepusher; Karlheinz Stockhausen; Suffocation; Sunn O))); Sun Ra; Swans; Tool; Type O Negative; Ultramagnetic MC's; Ultravox; Ulver; Univers Zero; Edgard Varese; Vaselines; Venetian Snares; Voivod; Wayne Shorter; Weezer; Witchfinder General; Woody Guthrie

If you haven't heard of these then you're looking in the wrong place. These were left out in favour of delightful albums by: Christina Aguilera; Britney Spears; Justin Timberlake; Destiny's Child and Coldplay. They were juxtaposed next to Lightning Bolt; Tortoise; Robert Wyatt and Devendra Banhart. This is what really annoys me because no one listening to the former will like the latter (or I hope not anyway).

Maybe this review reveals more about my snobbery than the content of the book but it's still annoying. I own 554 and there's 80 albums in the list I would not allow in my house under any circumstances.

3 out of 5 stars

Yeah, but what about important artists? September 14, 2006
40 out of 48 found this review helpful

I just got this book, and have gone though and ticked off the albums they list in my collection. I have a grand total of 115 of the 1001; mostly clustered between 1966 and 1972. Typical, I suppose of a lot of people my age. The book provides me an interesting touch stone that will help me expand outside of the 'golden era' I think.

Several points trouble me about the book however:

1) It has reminded me that I still haven't replaced a bunch of records that an ex-roommate stole from me - including my entire first release Beatles collection. (My total might have topped 150 I think).

2) While no list like this, however large, is going to satisfy everyone, how anyone could include Britney Spears in this list is beyond my imagination. If they just had to have an obvious example of late nineties bubblegum, they could have picked someone with just a little bit of talent, like maybe Kylie Minogue. I expect 99.44% of all readers could think of several omitted albums that would be more appropriate. I myself can't see how they could leave out the Moody Blues' Days of Future Passed, or John Coltrane's Blue Train but find room for Spears.

3) While not actually gathered onto an album until decades after the 78's were recorded, I think a 'special case' should have been made for Louis Armstrong's Hot Fives and Hot Sevens. It is not an overstatement to say that without these recordings, very little of the music on the 1001 albums chosen could have ever existed. And even though the 'LP album' as such wasn't invented until much later, taken together they are very much in the general mode of an album, capturing a special time in the artists development and a turning point in popular music.

4) Although this is "1001 Albums..." not "1001 Artists..." several artists are clearly over-represented (Led Zeppelin is great, but do they really deserve 5 albums here) and other very important artists are completely missing (the above mentioned Louis Armstrong; Robert Johnson; Bessie Smith [actually most Blues artists in general], Screamin' Jay Hawkins, Sam the Sham and the Pharohs).

5) I found a bunch of indexing errors - page numbers and inconsistent group names ("Led Zeppelin" and "Zeppelin, Led").

Items 2, 3, and 4 point to a possibly more fundamental problem. I expect that the contributors felt is important to try to balance the weights of the decades and dropped older stuff to make way for the newer. The problem is that much of the newer stuff is too new to be properly considered a 'must hear' important album. Pop music is in a deep cycle of bubblegum, and very little of todays 'pop' is destined to become important historical records. These days, ground breaking takes place by indies and is distributed via the internet. Not a very easy environment for an album to grab the imagination.

Overall I think it is an interesting - if weighty - tome. Ready made to inspire arguements and the widening of horizons. And much more realistic than its 1001 Books or 1001 Movies siblings.

5 out of 5 stars

Great Book April 22, 2006
16 out of 22 found this review helpful

1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die is a critical chronological collection of albums, spanning 50 years of music from 1955 to 2005. It features reviews from 90 international music journalists. Each album has a detailed description of its importance and influence which are accompanied with insights, trivia, and some track listings. The book is illustrated with over 1000 images of album covers, bands, and artists. There are excellent album, artist, and general indexes in this huge 960 page hardcover book.

My only criticisms of the book are that it includes mostly Rock CDs (no classical and minimal blues, country, jazz, and pop) and that greatest hits compilations are excluded. This is a great book and I agree with many of the selections. In fact, 291 of the titles appear on my genre lists of 1222 top CDs at http://spaces.msn.com/rfnaples/

The general editor, Robert Dimery, is a writer and editor who has worked for numerous magazines, including Time Out and Vogue. The preface is by Michael Lydon, a founding editor of Rolling Stone.

5 out of 5 stars

You better get a move on.... there are 1001 albums you have to hear... February 11, 2006
15 out of 16 found this review helpful

I'm always sceptical about these kind of books; it's either the writing is too arrogant, or all the facts are wrong. But, with this publication, I'm extremly suprised, and glad to be so, seeing as it's an Australian ABC book!
The records are in chronological order, starting from the 50s - the book begins with Frank Sinatra's "In the wee small hours" and ends in 2005, with the White Stripes latest, "Get beind me satan." The majoirity of the reviews include - the year, the label, producer, art direction, nationary and running time. Plus, a small album cover picture, and then about 350 words on why the album is so remarkable. But, for the most influential, like, for example, The Clash's first self titled album, it includes a quote from the band, a full page picture, and a list of the album tracks and their running times.
The people writing about all these albums seem to know what they are talking about - they know little facts about the people they are writing about, and seem to dig out the dirt on why this album should be in the list of 1001 you should hear before you die. --- It is also a very varied list, with mainstream artists like Norah Jones being included, and alternative artists like Elliott Smith, and DJ Shadow thrown into the mix. Actually, most of the entries aren't from the mainstream, and if they are, they have actually been influential, even if it's only on the 'scene' like The Killers have. (Their album "Hot fuss"is one of the last reviewed)
However, I was suprised with a few of the entries - such as Britney, Christina and Justin - I think inclusions by people like Suzi Quatro, and the Runaways would have been more interesting - as the mickey mouse kids seem to be a sign of the decline in female rock, whilst Quatro and the Runaways prompted girls to pick up guitars and start a' rockin'.
I don't listen to that much music from today, I'm still listening to all the old stuff, the roots of rock n' roll, but I still really love this book, and every few days, I pull it out and have a flick, and read about a band I've heard of before, but never heard.
If you want to -
Improve your CD collection,
Expand your musical knowledge,
Read good music reviews,
Then check this book out.

3 out of 5 stars

The trouble.... March 9, 2006
14 out of 22 found this review helpful

...with making such highly subjective judgments is just that - they're highly subjective. And, it is highly debatable that ANYBODY must hear many of these titles...I think most could go to their graves quite unimpoverished having never heard the Bon Jovi album, or the Lightning Bolt, or the Killers, or...I could go on...the idea of this book is fine, and the author's choice will always be subject to contention...it's just that you have to have your critical bonafides in place...

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