Free Phil!

This is currently my favorite podcast. It’s consistently funny and insightful. I really love listening to these guys talk about music.

I picked up the pod on the Yes, Close to the Edge, episode 210. Although I wasn’t sure about it at first, I liked the concept, and after a few episodes I learned the personalities of the guys which helps make the experience more enjoyable. I appreciate the work involved on the backstories and now this has become my favorite podcast.

Being a former college DJ and a lover of all music genres, I love listening to these folks provide historical background and critiques of albums. I like their dedication to multiple listenings before each show and discussing both the musicianship and lyricism. They are knowledgeable, funny, and interesting, and I’m inspired when I hear each show to listen to albums again for nuances based on the context of their discussions. I enjoy learning how the artists got started, how bands came together, and how the albums were created, providing a wholistic view for both the music I love and for the music I’m hearing about for the first time. I also love their analysis of selected songs. This podcast is a treat and enhances the world of music that I’ve inhabited for 60+ years. Let the music keep our spirits high.

I mean I’ll give em some credit, the title is accurate to what the show is about.🙄

Music nerds giving their thoughts on this list. I appreciate the dynamic between the hosts and the honest/thorough reviews of all the albums. Keep up the great work!

I look forward to Mondays to catch up with the complainers and get their takes on the chosen album. While I don’t always agree with their assessments, each episode is thoroughly researched and full of fun and snark.

I’m an avid listener. Even if I don’t agree sometimes, I can see their point. I used to think they were biased against mainstream music, but since the Meat Loaf episode I’ve changed my mind! Love these guys!

Love these guys! Very knowledgable musicians who make a great show! Check it out!

The hosts are way too pleased with their mostly lame attempts at humor and the regular laughing and snickering throughout is really cringe and distracting.

The idea of the podcast is sound but maybe people who enjoy music should host it

Started listening to an episode and it was just repetitive jokes and critiques without much analysis. Bunch of “musicians” who seem way too jaded and/or jealous they didn’t find commercial success or critical acclaim. Maybe it was just a bad episode but I got 30 minutes through and that’s as much as I’m willing to give these guys. Plenty of solid music podcasts out there and this is not one of them in my opinion

It took a while for me to appreciate this podcast since these guys have never even heard of most of my favorite bands. But they are super funny and engaging, and they make a lot of observations that I never would have picked up on. I started with episode one and have been listening to every episode since, I’m up to Episode 130 something now. Every time an episode ends, I get so excited for the next one. I might have a problem, not sure.

As a fellow lover of music, I have truly enjoyed this podcast. A good blend of humor and music knowledge and honesty really challenges me each time I listen to the podcast. I find myself yelling at them when I disagree, but it forces me to take an honest look at each song from a perspective I didn’t necessarily think of before. My suggestion is start of by listening to an episode focusing one of your favorite albums and go from there.

Don’t brag about not listening to the album you’re discussing if you want me to take your album discussion podcast seriously

This review specifically is in reference to the Harry Nilsson episode. This is essentially a Wikipedia reading by a bunch of dorks having no clue what they’re talking about, little frame of reference, and frankly terrible taste. It was really hard to get through.

Just discovered this podcast while searching for an episode on the Stone Roses, and loved their take on the self-titled album. It’s an excellent combination of historical background, technical analysis, and entertaining banter.

Boring and unoriginal takes. The kind of stuff you find on Wikipedia and YouTube. Some of it flat out wrong too. Not the sort of insight I’d expect from “musicians”.

I’ve only listened to one episode - RATM - and it was brilliant. Such a good listen

Sat through the episode in hopes of gleaning some history or facts about the group and album, and it is filled with nothing but idiotic observations and obvious inaccuracies.

Good lord these guys are insufferable

Lots of good background info on the bands and music here but once they start doing reviews it gets very music-snobbish. On their “top 50 songs” list, 2 of the top 5 are songs by Rage Against the Machine. Yeah, OK then.

What a bunch of homos.

There are a number of “dudes listen to 1001 albums” podcasts out there. What makes this one distinctive is that these particular dudes are all experienced musicians. They have expertise they can bring to bear. This has its downside. As long time musicians they have an overly narrow perspective on what good music is supposed to do, and they have a hard time dealing with anything wherein conventional musical craftsmanship is not the focus (cough cough Gang of Four cough cough cough). But I’ll give them credit for trying—they do listen closely, even when they flat don’t get what the album of the week is trying to do. And they’re funny and they bounce off each other well, so there’s that.

Failed musicians, failed comedians, failing podcasters

Having delved into the 1001 albums list through the years (I’ve probably heard each album at least twice and a lot of the albums I’ve listened to many, many more times), it was great to find a podcast that takes a deep dive into each album. The randomness of each episode is also fun. I have no musical talent myself but I sure love listening to music and I love hearing these guys chat about more technical aspects. Keep up the great work for the next 17 or so years it’s going to take to go through them all.

As a lifelong music nerd, I am enjoying the humor and insight offered here. The right mix of fun and real music knowledge. And I get to ask myself the question-do I I need to hear this before I die?

I love the format of this show and the way it has a randomly selected albums each week. Even when I don't like the music very much, the show does a fantastic job providing a bit of history and context to better understand the musicians who made the music. Even though the hosts can sometimes get a bit snarky, they are generally respectful and are great examples of criticism that seeks to understand rather than tear down just for laughs. My own kids have gotten into this podcast and enjoy listening to the random album of the week and then hearing the breakdown on the podcast.

Failed musicians/comedians criticizing music they only wish they could have made

Annoying dribble by wanna be comedians.

My go to podcast for background information on famous albums. Great chemistry with the crew and A LOT of tidbits about various albums.

I just discovered this podcast a couple months ago and am absolutely hooked, to the point I went back to the first episode and am working my way through every single one, together with album listens. It’s been a super enjoyable ride…I’m now about 80 episodes in and looking forward to getting caught up to the present. I’m especially glad for my new and deep appreciation of the twin patron saints of the podcast, Eric Clapton and Neneh Cherry. I do wish the guys would recruit some more pod guests who grew up consuming different types of music than they did, especially hip-hop - although to be fair they do point out their own blind spots. Amazing work guys and thanks for making multiple road trips fly by lately.

I found this podcast while doing a search for deep dives into 90s music. The first episode I listened to was Odelay by Beck, which they treated fairly and dropped a number of interesting nuggets of info I didn’t know about. The second was Surfer Rosa by Pixies, which they unmitigatedly fumbled. My jaw hit the floor when they mention “this guy named Steve Albini” as if it was the first time they were hearing about him. So I hate listened to a few more episodes, and then a few more, and then a few more (I was on a business trip with 12 hours of driving, lol). And now I can’t stop. Haven’t heard the whole back catalog yet buy I’m probably 2/3rds of the way through it and I find myself really looking forward to each new episode as they drop. Y’all have charmed me. Keep it up!

Love it

As much as I dislike hearing people crap all over some of the best music produced in the 20th century, I keep coming back to it. It’s nice to hear alternative takes to the culturally hip critics’ canonization, and occasionally their criticisms are on point. Having said that, I think they could bone up on their history of some of these albums. Their knowledge of punk and post punk in particular is abysmal and embarrassing. The mispronunciation of the great John McGeoch is one of the many cringe-worthy examples. However I get the sense that these guys despise amateurism in music and only truly enjoy music made by virtuosos and consummate professionals, so I think that’s where it stems from. I’m probably being a bit generous with my three star rating, but overall I respect what these guys are trying to do. Definitely worth a listen.

1001 Album Complaints keeps me on my toes! Rob and all the guys give great insight into each album on the “1001 albums you must hear before you die” list. With some added humor, I can’t help but laugh along with the show hosts as they share their takes on what is right with each album and what possibly could be fixed with each album.

There are certain albums that are pushed as "you must listen to this one." Some of them are worthy of that label, others not so much. Who decides which catagory certain albums falls into can be debated. So let's grab a group of friends and have that debate. Listening to them have that debate is so much fun. This is highly recomended, even if they did have less than kind things about Born in the USA.

As someone who has long collected music, one of my greatest joys has been to find someone I can share a favorite album with who does not already know it. It’s never fun to feel like your audience is only half listening to the music, or has already listened to and written it off. What makes this podcast special is that these guys give each album a fair listen, take the time to learn the artist’s back story, but importantly *don’t normally already know the album very well*, and therefore are giving genuine reactions to the music. I hope you guys stick it out for the full 1001!

Are these guys often pedantic and sometimes wrong? Sure, but that’s part of the fun. I also appreciate that they’re right on time with new episodes, week after week, indicating that if nothing else they are really on point with their production process. And at long last I can tell Adam’s voice from Tom’s!

These guys do a tweet synopsis at the beginning of each podcast to sum up their typically negative opinion of an album. In that vein, my quick take headline on this podcast: This is what happens when you have no other friends aside from those hosting alongside you to tell you how bad your podcast really is. It’s a good premise- review all the albums on the list of 1001 albums you must listen to before you die. But these guys take the position of bagging on the majority. Aside from each host having played an instrument, who gigged and maybe recorded an album, they have no actual music theory education or critique experience. They will knock albums that came out 30, 40, 50 years ago for the low production quality. But that was what was available in the day. Their utter lack of musical history and knowledge is staggering for people doing this kind of podcast.

Although I do agree with them about some of the crappy albums they’ve reviewed, others they mercilessly pick apart every note and chord. I’ve always said that music isn’t for musicians. Their jealousy and obsessions often gets in the way of appreciating it. That’s the issue here.

There’s no accounting for taste… I say that consistently when spending time with this podcast. I genuinely find their personal tastes to be divergent from mine more often than not. But on occasion they demonstrate a refined sense of taste that would otherwise seem impossible from Steely Dan acolytes. This is an entertaining and admirable chore they’ve taken upon themselves and I endorse this podcast in its entirety.

One thing that is difficult for many people to do is actually put into words why they like and dislike a song, but I will say these guys do an excellent job of it. I actually strongly disagree with their opinions on Weather Report: Heavy Weather but I still really enjoyed listening to their opinions on it. Solid podcast.

These guys do a great job reviewing records of all kinds and giving excellent insight. And are very entertaining while do it! In my regular rotation and look forward to every episode!

Fun show - I always learn something, and it’s mostly just musicians talking shop. Reminds me of me and my friends

Takes me back to talking music for hours at the pub. Cool intro and outro music too.

These guys are obviously old friends and though I tend to only listen to episodes covering records I know already, it’s fun to hear them dissect stuff from a musician’s point of view. Also a bonus is that this pushes me to listen more closely to records I’m less familiar with. Overall a great show with lots of little band facts and weird musical tidbits. Feels like you’re hanging out with musican friends.

I learn something new every episode and somehow these guys are actually charming.