1,001 Albums [I] Must Hear before [I] Die: Introduction

There has been a book on my radar for quite awhile now; 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.

It has been, not only on my "to read" list, but on my "to listen to" list, pretty much since its first publication in 2005 - and has haunted me since I first learned of it. As both a musician, one with a short attention span for musical genres as well as an eclectic taste in general, the idea that someone could possibly tell me that there is a set of albums (primarily comprising of music from the Western culture from which I am from) that I must hear before I die, felt like nothing less than a challenge. So, I have accepted that challenge.


Initially, my plan was simply to listen to all 1,001 albums straight through for my own personal pleasure - for my own (selfish) benefit. However, my girlfriend, upon hearing the challenge I had adopted for myself, recognizing that I, as a musician, may potentially have some form of unique insight, some comments which may not be thought of by other individuals without a musical background and formal training, suggested that I blog about my experience listening to these 1,001 ablums - 1,001 albums that a group of music critics, that, for whatever reason, feel that [I] "must" listen to before [I] "die".

Confused as how to go about this, I decided not to approach it considering what would be most interesting stylistically, but what would come most naturally: reviewing each album - one by one. If all goes well, this will work out - reviewing each album, all 1,001 individually, even if I have very little to say about them (hopefully I have a lot to say... we'll see).

Hopefully you will enjoy.

So it begins...