Underappreciated/Underdog Albums

[iron yuppie]

I'm wondering what albums are important to you all despite lack of popularity or critical respect.

The one that stands out to me is Oasis' Heathen Chemistry. I was listening to an Oasis playlist today and was thinking about how much I love that particular album, even though it is probably their least appreciated and worst-reviewed effort. I discovered it during a time in which my music taste was in an embarrassing spell - just really awful when I think back at it. I saw Heathen Chemistry in a used bin and thought I might as well give it a listen based on how much I had liked the band in my early teens. The raw energy of the first three tracks and the psychedelia-tinged second half got me back into Britpop, eventually leading me to Kid A, an album that vastly expanded my musical horizons. I don't listen to Heathen Chemistry all that often today, but I still enjoy it greatly when I do.

 

[purpleoscar]

I did enjoy Heathen Chemistry when it came out but it didn't leave a massive impression on me. What happens with Oasis for me is that when I'm in the mood I really like it but I can't sustain listening to their records for long before the repetition wears on me. I really liked Don't believe the truth when it came out but I don't listen to it anymore.

The album recently that has grown on me despite critical backlash is Turn Blue by The Black Keys. I ended up liking all the songs and to Jack White's chagrin it was way better than his solo efforts.

REM New Adventures in Hi-Fi. I remember the critical and sales backlash when it came out. If I'm correct, I remember Sheryl Crow receiving an award and lamenting the lack of interest for the album. I didn't like it at the time because it had that grunge sound that was so over-saturated so I didn't give it a chance. It's my most listened to REM album for the past few years.

 

[Jacobite]

Can I be the first to mention POP.

 

[cobl04]

I've mentioned this album on many occasions, more often than not as a joke, but I do thoroughly enjoy Bryan Adams' Waking Up the Neighbours. I grew up on it and though I rarely, if ever, listen to it, I still know all the words. I find the whole thing to just be a simple album, one that you can really enjoy when you take it for what it is, a bombastic, earnest, heart-on-sleeve type album by an artist playing for the masses. A lot of fun tracks, like the first two, quite a few ballads that hit the mark and melodies that stick with you.

There's plenty of others, but another one I'll bring up by an artist with more critical respect is Massive Attack's Heligoland. I thought that was extremely underrated by critics and Massive Attack fans alike. Pray for Rain is probably my favourite track, it's moody as hell and has a great vocal from Tunde Adebimpe, and there's a few other highlights in the two Horace Andy tracks, Paradise Circus, Saturday Come Slow with Damon Albarn. Shattered I missed the last two chances to see them live here.

 

[IWasBored]

Really depends on the definition of popularity or critical success. I've never seen a bad word written about the Ducky Boys three chords & the truth[/], and amongst their fan base it's probably their most popular. But it's hardly an international multi-platinum success. Hell, my all time favorite album (sinners & saints - the sky is falling) is woefully obscure. And The Beltones Cheap Trinkets is so, so good from start to finish but overlooked by way too many people, even those who legitimately have a claim on that particular brand of rock n roll punk rock (see the Hudson Falcons for even more consistent awesomeness that aside from a very small corner of a "scene" seem to be quite under appreciated). The joke about how most of my favorite albums and bands are largely unheard of by the majority of this site is not entirely without merit.

In terms of black sheep albums from massively popular bands, I like fucking Pablo Honey. I think Lucky Town gets a bad rap (bad example though, since it doesn't touch the generally accepted classic Springsteen albums in my opinion or popular opinion). Per song capita or what have you, there may actually be more about Distortion that I enjoy than 69 Love Songs. I'd rather listen to the oft-forgotten 2nd DKM album than the last 4 they put out. And do we need to discuss my apparently bizarre opinion when it comes to pre-Rubber Soul Beatles vs post?

 

[Jacobite]

Pablo Honey I agree is under-rated. It is not uniformly great but some very decent tracks on it.

And do we need to discuss my apparently bizarre opinion when it comes to pre-Rubber Soul Beatles vs post?

I think a few of the latter Beatles albums are vastly over-rated by the cognoscenti, possibly the early stuff is correspondingly under-rated.

 

[IWasBored]

My Beatles opinions are probably similar to cobbler's Bryan Adams nostalgia, as they're largely informed by my childhood. I grew up on that stuff, and even though when I was 8 or 9 I categorized music in two groups: The Beatles and Everything Else, the non-Beatles I enjoyed in my youth were all the things the oldies station played that The Beatles were obviously influenced by and/or covered. And Buddy Holly, Little Richard, Carl Perkins et al outweighed the psychedelic later stuff (which I also loved, just not as much as A Hard Day's Night).

 

[nbelcik]

Can I be the first to mention POP.

Fuck, I was gonna mention Pop. I'm gonna go with Too Fast For Love by Mötley Crüe, I just saw them last weekend and they played some cuts from TFFL. It's a great punky, hard rock album with some killer songs. I'll probably get shit for liking the Crüe, but they made three great albums (TFFL, Shout at the Devil, and Dr. Feelgood). They always get lumped in with the hair metal bands, which isn't fair to them.


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[IWasBored]

I like pop. I just wasn't going to go there, since we have a whole seperate part of the forum dedicated to that band (and often that very album).

 

[cobl04]

Let's make this a non-U2 thread, there's eight million threads on whether Pop's under or overrated in EYKiW.

 

[IWasBored]

Exactly.

I think I liked the Bouncing Souls Gold Album more than most Souls fans that aren't named u2popmofo (because he liked it more than I did).

I would also rank The Process of Belief over Suffer on the list of Bad Religion albums that are awesome (which is practically all of them*, and whilst they are punk rock royalty in the grand scheme of things, we run into that gray area of definition).


*even the ones on Atlantic! except for No Substance, because that one was a clunker /unpopular opinions no one here cares about

 

[Danny Boy]

World Party - Bang!

I think it went to #2 in the UK but did nothing in the US.

 

[LemonMelon]

Zooropa is the ultimate underdog album for me. It was released shortly after one of U2's most successful albums, to little fanfare, and delivered heightened ambition, a great set of thoughtful, paranoid Bono lyricism and a handful of U2 classics. The album has grown on a lot of people, but it generally stands in the shadow of a terrific album instead of being appreciated for its own unique strengths.

Outside of U2, I've got to say Tusk by Fleetwood Mac. It's esoteric and lacks big hits, but it's every bit as creative, expansive and inspired as any art rock music of the time, let alone their own work. It's a shame that it was greeted to a relatively muted response upon release, but it's not exactly surprising.

 

[IWasBored]

And was more responsible for any interest I ever had in the band than any other single album...maybe that was the real reason it all went wrong.

we're still talking about U2 here.

 

[Danny Boy]

?...but it generally stands in the shadow of a terrific album instead of being appreciated for its own unique strengths.

Including by the band themselves who just tossed it in with the deluxe AB remaster reissue.

 

[iron yuppie]

Another for me: Morrissey's Southpaw Grammar. It is certainly a departure for him in musical terms; I guess "prog" would be the appropriate term. His voice though is in a very rich tone - a tone he seems only to have had for that album - and the 10-minute-plus bookends are both stunners. "Southpaw" in particular is one of his best solo tracks.

And speaking of Radiohead, King of Limbs is an album I hold very dear. Ironically reminds me of a very positive time I spent in London.

 

[Danny Boy]

Also Wish. Disintegration was impossible to follow, but Wish is a fantastic pop album.

 

[LemonMelon]

Is Wowee Zowee overlooked? Because I would gladly place that one at or above any of Pavement's other albums but mostly see people discussing the first two.

Also, Midnite Vultures by Beck. It was a commercial failure that inadvertently rerouted his entire career but contains some of his most thrilling music. He picked a sound, dove right the fuck in and delivered a wonderful album that took the spirit of the 70s but made it feel completely modern. So much fun.

 

[nbelcik]

Metal Machine Music by Lou Reed...just kidding


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[cobl04]

Wow I had no idea Midnite Vultures was considered overlooked. Love that fucking thing. Wish he'd play more of it live.

iYup where do you stand on Morrissey currently? Not that I've followed any of his solo work (or indeed even heard anything bar The Queen is Dead) but I'm growing mightily tired of the man. But perhaps that's because Pitchfork and their ilk know they'll get hits if they write about him.

 

[IWasBored]

Mighty Mighty Bosstones - Jackknife to a Swan.

Long forgotten by anyone who only knew of them from The Impression that I Get by the time it came out, written off as phoning it in in the poppier vein by hardcore fans, but probably my favorite actual entire bosstones album (and the reason I gave them a second chance).

And on a related note, go do yourselves a favor and listen to the first Avoid One Thing album. The second was trash, but that first one is pure pop punk gold (not whiney, not emo, and no horns if you were afraid of the related note being ska in nature).


I've been at work for 5 and a half hours and we haven't done a call yet. Yes, I am bored.

 

[iron yuppie]

iYup where do you stand on Morrissey currently? Not that I've followed any of his solo work (or indeed even heard anything bar The Queen is Dead) but I'm growing mightily tired of the man. But perhaps that's because Pitchfork and their ilk know they'll get hits if they write about him.

I remain a huge fan and am almost always an apologist for him. That said, I understand how he can be off-putting, for lack of a better term. The autobiography puts a lot of his eccentricities in perspective and I think gives insight to many of the controversies. For example, I had to laugh a bit at the recent security guard accusation against him, because I had just read a part in the book where he talks about the various problems he has had in his career with abusive or exploitative security.

I think you are right as well that music publications tend to write about him whenever they get the chance and sometimes for no apparent reason, which is also something he frequently expresses bafflement toward in the autobiography.

 

[LemonMelon]

Wow I had no idea Midnite Vultures was considered overlooked. Love that fucking thing. Wish he'd play more of it live.

It definitely stands out a commercial failure:

Mellow Gold #13 US
Odelay #16 US
Mutations #13 US
Midnite Vultures #34 US
Sea Change #8 US

Critics liked it though and it has a cult following, so that's nice I guess.

 

[cobl04]

Sounds like me with Kanye. I think my latest opinion of him has been based on the lyrics that have been quoted in reviews of his latest albums, which all seem angry, judgemental and lacking any subtlety. I should look deeper.

 

[Vlad n U 2]

The first album that comes to mind for me is the Manics' Know Your Enemy, it was the next album after their biggest and most commercially successful and it was this sprawling 70-odd minute mess that didn't register much positivity from the critics at all (RS gave the whole thing no stars!). The background of the album is just as interesting as the music in it, it was essentially a deliberate fuck up of substantial proportion, not much cohesiveness, a variety of ventures into different styles and most importantly, the sound of a band who at the time did not seem to give a shit about what the critics would think (although as their career went on naturally they put a bit more stock into what the critics thought). For all those reasons above, I have a strong admiration for it, it's not even near perfect, there are a few songs I don't have much of an interest in but overall it's a big thrill to listen to it.

It's not the sort of album that is mentioned among their best with any regularity, and fan opinion is still divided on it, it's the sort of album that in the context of their career can only provoke strong, love or hate reactions. For as little critical positivity as it attracted I do tend to think that it is a 'necessary' album in the space of their entire discography.

 

[lazarus]

I think a few of the latter Beatles albums are vastly over-rated by the cognoscenti

Nope.

Those albums aren't just loved by some elite group of critics but by the general public as well. Sgt. Pepper's, Abbey Road, and The White Album have stood the test of time by any conceivable measure. Let It Be you could make a case for, but people don't go around saying it's some kind of masterpiece so not sure how it could be overrated.

Magical Mystery Tour was originally an EP and joined with singles and b-sides for its American issue, which has since become the canon format. But I don't see how that could be overrated either, as it has some of their most popular songs.

Is Wowee Zowee overlooked? Because I would gladly place that one at or above any of Pavement's other albums but mostly see people discussing the first two.

Among hardcore Pavement fans it tends to rate extremely high. It's always been my personal favorite of theirs and probably my #3 album of all time.

 

[bono_212]

Basically everything by The Killers, for me.

 

[Kieran McConville]

I guess Massive Attack's Heligoland counts as an underdog.

 

[cobl04]

Destroyer's Trouble in Dreams is underrated I think (not that there's many people rating their albums). My third fav after Kaputt and Rubies.

 

[Salome]

Palace Music - Arise, Therefore
Bonnie 'Prince' Bill - Ease Down the Road

2 Will Oldham albums released around the same time as "There Is No-One What Will Take Care of You" and "I See a Darkness" while not nearly getting the same critical acclaim.
I especially consider "Arise, Therefore" as one of the greatest albums ever made.
Mood, music and lyrics in superb balance and incomparable to just about anything else out there.