100 Reviews Spectacular!!!

Truly, it is a magical day! We're 100 albums in!! That's a whopping 10%!!! We're so excited that we can't stop using exclamation points!!!!  

But now the question is how do we celebrate this achievement? Is this even worth celebrating the fact that we still have over 900 albums left to listen to? Couldn't we just celebrate this milestone by reviewing the 101st albums and moving on with our lives? Have we forgotten how to use periods?

And then, just as we were preparing to resort to colon jokes, the answer descended from the heavens: our own awards ceremony. There is nothing more tastefully modest than ostentatiously announcing one's superiority (or inferiority, as the case may be) over it's competitors. Put on your best evening gowns/tuxedos, call the babysitter, and get ready to reminisce about all we've been through. But most importantly, get comfortable and enjoy the first of our ten-part series of 1001 Album Review Awards.

Emily: First, I would like to honor the albums that have changed my views on music the most. Going into this process, I admittedly had a very narrow taste in music. Now, 100 albums in, I have expanded my musical horizons to artists and genres I never would have considered listening to before writing the blog. The "Game Changer Award" is presented to the album that most contributed to this growth. The nominees are:

Bob Dylan – Highway 61 Revisited

Common – Be

Miles Davis – Birth of the Cool

Fugees – The Score

The Jimi Hendrix Experience – Are You Experienced?

And the winner is…Common – Be! Before the blog, I was adamantly opposed to listening to hip-hop. Zack has figured out the best way to ease me into it, however, and I’ve found that there is rap out there for me. Although Be wasn’t the first album where I realized this, it definitely was the one that spoke to me the loudest. Common’s lyrics are powerful, and the production behind them only enhances that power. After listening to Be, I told Zack that I wanted more socially conscious hip-hop to listen to. The me of last October would have been very confused and perhaps a bit frightened by this request, but it’s really a testament to the influence of the great music on this list.

Zack: As time goes by, things are forgotten. Usually, this is a gradual process. But other times, the thing to be remembered was so forgettable, that it leaves your memory banks almost immediately. The albums nominated for the "LeBron James Award," named after the disappearing act The (Ringless) King had in the NBA Finals this year, all managed to go in one ear and out the other. Some were actually pretty good, some were actually pretty terrible, but all had the staying power of Right Said Fred. The nominees are...

The Kinks - Face to Face

Talking Heads - Fear of Music

Living Colour - Vivid

Cyndi Lauper - She's So Unusual

Blur - Blur

And the winner is.... Blur - Blur! While going back over our reviews, I was completely taken by surprise to learn that we had listened to a Blur album. I was then taken by even more surprise to learn that we had done it like 2 weeks ago. The other albums in contention had more time to be forgotten. But Blur was able to achieve forgettableness in record time. Congratulations, whoever it was that won this award. I've already forgotten who you were.

Zack: But while time erased all memory of the previous albums, not enough has gone by to heal these wounds. These albums were able to inflict such deep wounds on my eardrums that I'm still disoriented. These artists were experts in cringe-inducing, just as the awards namesake. The nominees for the "Nick Cage Award" are...

Britney Spears - ...Baby One More Time

Ministry - Psalm 69: The Way to Succeed and the Way to Suck Eggs

Soft Cell - Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret

Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band - Trout Mask Replica

Norah Jones - Come Away With Me

And the winner is...Soft Cell - Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret! Admittedly, I have a predisposition against New Wave, but Soft Cell pushed my limits past distaste all the way to disgust/rage. What hurt the most was that I had hopes. High ones at that. But they were dashed. Hard against the cold ground. Curse you, Soft Cell. Curse you for breaking my tender little heart. I hope this award makes you remember just how much you hurt me. I have my doubts that that will happen, but at least I have hope again.

Emily: In addition to the many fantastic albums, we’ve also heard our fair share of duds. One would think that a list of 1001 albums to hear before you die would only be the best of the best, but clearly tastes differ from listener to listener. Here are some of the weirdest, most unpleasant, and the just plain worst albums we’ve heard so far. The nominees for the “WTF Were They Thinking Award” are…

Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band – Trout Mask Replica

Daft Punk – Homework

Ministry – Psalm 69: The Way to Succeed and the Way to Suck Eggs

Snoop Dogg – Doggystyle

Soft Cell – Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret

And the winner is…Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band – Trout Mask Replica! If any album deserves to be booted off the list, it’s this one. The hour and a half I spent listening to loud, distorted, mismatched noise (and the headache that ensued) is time that I wish I could get back to do pretty much anything else.

Zack: And now, the moment you may or may not have been waiting for. It's time for our favorite albums. First up is, well, me. Obviously. The nominees for the "James K. Polk Award" (named after America's most badass President) all made their mark by their sheer awesomeness. Some I had heard before and so came into this blogging experience fully aware of their spectacularness. Others I went into with some virgin ears and was quickly won over. They come from different genres and eras, but each is ball-bustingly terrific. And now, because I've given way too much adieu, the nominees...

The Specials - Specials

The Jimi Hendrix Experience - Are You Experienced?

The White Stripes - Elephant 

Lupe Fiasco - Lupe Fiasco's Food & Liquor

Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon

And the winner is... The Jimi Hendrix Experience - Are You Experienced?! This album is just plain loaded with greatness. As of right now, it is my favorite album of all time, and has been since well before I started this excursion. Some may call that bias, but how can it be bias to recognize an out of this world example of great music? Are You Experienced? is a transcendentally good album and a guitar virtuoso's masterpiece. It is a mind-numbing, breathtaking example of divine excellence in music. It will take something masterful to ever top this in my mind, but who knows what the next 100 albums will bring.

Emily: Over the past nine months and 100 albums, we’ve listened to a lot of great music. Some was new, some was old, some I had already heard, and some were completely unknown. Out of that list, a few have stood out and are worthy of the title of best album (so far, that is). The nominees for the "New Classic Award" are...

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - Henry's Dream

Dead Kennedys - Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables

Jeff Buckley – Grace

The Jimi Hendrix Experience – Are You Experienced?

Nirvana – Nevermind

And the winner is…Jeff Buckley – Grace! It’s simply a beautiful album that I can listen to again and again and never get tired of it.

Well, that's all for now. We hope you enjoyed this special (and lengthy) post. We also hope that you will stay with us for the next 901 albums. We've picked out some more to review and normal updates will commence again shortly. Until then, have a splendid day/night, whichever is appropriate.