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Underrated albums

Started by Bigfella, October 15, 2021, 01:45:03 PM

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Bigfella

Let's talk about albums which are perfectly good, bloody amazing in fact, but don't get proper recognition because people just want to talk about the obvious hits. 1) 'Never Say Die' by Black Sabbath - the tracks 'Air Dance' and 'Over To You' are right up there with their best work, brilliant composition by Iommi.      2) 'Beetroot' by Cast.  As a band, unfairly overshadowed by Oasis, Pulp and Blur.  By this time their sound had mutated beyond indie pop-rock and this album is a unique mystical, funky oddity.

Custard

12 Memories is the best thing Travis have ever done (please add your jokes here). But all people remember is the singer putting on a beret. It's full of genuinely good tunes, and is their strongest set by miles. Then the next record they went back to their usual fare

On a similar note, I think Viva La Vida is Coldplay's best. Especially the title track. The album has a feel and quality that none of their other stuff does

Oasis' Dig Out Your Soul is the best record they did since their glory days, IE Morning Glory

Manics' Lifeblood. Though happily the CaB Manics fans seem to love it

Sorry, that's all a bit meat n potatoes rock. Will have a think for some more!

Spiteface

#2
Inspired by downloading a bootleg of a show from the Smashing Pumpkins' The Arising! tour in 1999,  hearing the then-new material being debuted I decided to revisit MACHINA II/The Friends & Enemies of Modern Music.

For an album released as a final "fuck you" to Virgin, it's fantastic.

https://archive.org/details/machina.II.ver.Q101

I'm almost dreading Billy Corgan finally realising the intended concept album Machina was supposed to be, because I like Machina II as it is, and worry it'll get "lost" as it's not the "real" one.

jfjnpxmy

Exile On Coldharbor Lane by the Alabama 3 is a splendid concept album, banger after banger, interestingly weird, good socialist politics, the lot. Every cunt just knows The Sopranos Theme and that's it.

itsfredtitmus

that one I like and you don't

purlieu

Quote from: Shameless Custard on October 15, 2021, 02:57:19 PM
12 Memories is the best thing Travis have ever done (please add your jokes here). But all people remember is the singer putting on a beret. It's full of genuinely good tunes, and is their strongest set by miles. Then the next record they went back to their usual fare
Oh absolutely, it's got a few nice twists and turns in it - the opening track having a big dramatic cello solo followed by a final verse with the whole band doing dejected "meh meh meh" backing vocals; 'Mid-Like Crysis's weird sitar drone; the genuinely strange 'Paperclips' - and by far their best set of songs. I have a fondness for their first few records, all very charming everyman indie rock stuff, but 12 Memories is by far their most interesting and most consistent. And it was a huge commercial flop and then never properly followed that path again, other than maybe on 'J. Smith' with its huge gothic choir.
QuoteOn a similar note, I think Viva La Vida is Coldplay's best. Especially the title track. The album has a feel and quality that none of their other stuff does
I think it tends to be generally considered as their best, or at least joint best with Parachutes. I actually love Viva La Vida, a surprisingly bold album with a few two-in-one songs, some unusual string arrangements, an unnamed shoegaze track in the middle, and a run of gorgeous songs. The title track and 'Lost' are my least favourites there and, typically, the two most people will know. I honestly thought it was a sign of them finally becoming a great band, and then they followed it up by just going straight-up pop.
QuoteManics' Lifeblood. Though happily the CaB Manics fans seem to love it
It seems to be gaining a bit of a 'lost gem' reputation, if you read the Forever Delayed boards you'd sometimes think it was their best album. I always adored it.

If we're doing mellow indie stuff, Snow Patrol's Final Straw is a great record that's a nice balance between their earlier scuzzy indie work and the later acoustic balladry, just a really good mix, especially as I never thought they were that good at scuzzy indie or acoustic balladry.

Tangerine Dream's Hyperborea is often overlooked for some reason, coming right near the end of the side-long spacey tracks era of the band, but it's one of my favourites. 'No Man's Land' is an astonishingly forward-thinking track that could easily have been released ten years later, the title track is the best new age-leaning piece they ever did, and refreshingly without a sequencer for once, and 'Sphinx Lightning' is a wonderfully hypnotic piece of minimalism with a surprise triumphant ending. Quite how their fanbase tends to consider 'White Eagle' - with its endless noodly soloing - the better album I don't know.

Wire - Silver/Lead. Got rave reviews, but a largely unfavourable response from fans. I think it's their best batch of songs since A Bell is a Cup, and although it might be their mellowest album, that's no bad thing if they do it well. Robert Grey provides some uncharacteristically swinging drum parts, and the whole thing has this wonderfully melancholic atmosphere from start to finish.

Guided by Voices - Universal Truths and Cycles, a real gem amidst the slightly fallow pre-breakup period. Has the chop & change feel of their mid-'90s peak, some utterly bizarre moments including some Latin-inspired songs, their very best proggy material ('Christian Animation Torch Carriers' and 'Car Language' are incredible), and some of their best pop songs to date. The fanbase and critics seem to find it completely inferior to the ploddy, tuneless Isolation Drills though, for reasons totally beyond me. Also, Let's Go Eat the Factory, possibly their most unhinged album, not even remotely the comeback anyone was expecting, and all the better for it. Noisy, dark, totally daft, and with some of Tobin Sprout's best songs on it. Last time I checked, it was their second-lowest rated album on rateyourmusic, somehow.

Orbital - The Altogether. Took me a long time but I really grew to appreciate this record. The brothers basically sack off all the Detroit techno, acid house and breakbeat influences that shaped their '90s trajectory and go for a thinner, crisper electro sound, with shorter tracks and more direct melodies. Yes, the David Gray collaboration is awful and the Doctor Who theme should have remained a live novelty, but the rest is excellent, and the album itself was a brave move for a band with such an established sound. Yet it was another of those albums that kind of stalled their career, and a lot of fans couldn't go along with the changes.

Johnboy

Traffic- Shoot Out at the Fantasy Factory

jobotic

I know this probably makes me a philistine who should go back to his Justin Sheeran records but I prefer Shaggs' Own Thing to Philosophy of the World . It's easier on the ear.

Lungpuddle

Quote from: purlieu on October 15, 2021, 09:53:01 PM
Guided by Voices - Universal Truths and Cycles, a real gem amidst the slightly fallow pre-breakup period. Has the chop & change feel of their mid-'90s peak, some utterly bizarre moments including some Latin-inspired songs, their very best proggy material ('Christian Animation Torch Carriers' and 'Car Language' are incredible), and some of their best pop songs to date. The fanbase and critics seem to find it completely inferior to the ploddy, tuneless Isolation Drills though, for reasons totally beyond me. Also, Let's Go Eat the Factory, possibly their most unhinged album, not even remotely the comeback anyone was expecting, and all the better for it. Noisy, dark, totally daft, and with some of Tobin Sprout's best songs on it. Last time I checked, it was their second-lowest rated album on rateyourmusic, somehow.

I agree with all of this. All the good songs on Isolation Drills are on the Human Amusements compilation anyway. As for the first batch of reunion albums, I think I prefer The Bears For Lunch purely because of Sprout's The Corners are Glowing, which I just find so lovely for reasons I can't really articulate. Universal Truths and Cycles and even Do the Collapse are better than Drills, even if the version of Teenage FB makes very odd production choices that I don't understand. The shorter version on the compilation is great fun though.

I want to nominate a Crowded House album, but Finn kicking Mark Hart and Matt Sherrod out has soured me on them a bit (although all the albums Paul Hester played on are all great and I'm surprised Together Alone in particular is never mentioned outside the fanbase), so instead I'll go for Kirsty MacColls' Kite. The single version of Innocence may be better than the album track, but still the whole is full of wonderful stuff.

Also, Ry Cooder's I, Flathead is brilliant. There's a sense of humour running through it and the last track (Little Trona Girl) is a magical finish to the album - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WaWxKY3Senc

Quote from: jobotic on October 15, 2021, 10:32:09 PM
I know this probably makes me a philistine who should go back to his Justin Sheeran records but I prefer Shaggs' Own Thing to Philosophy of the World . It's easier on the ear.

Must admit, I don't understand how anyone listens to anything by The Shaggs. The first album, anyway, I wasn't even aware there was anything other than Philosophy[nb]I Googled after typing this and I'm guessing you're actually joking, but hey ho.[/nb]. I just can't disassociate it from the abusive control of their father. Might say more about me than a comment on the record, and I think I'm in the minority in feeling that way. I liked the Justin Sheeran remark[nb]And then Googled again to make sure I wasn't making a further pillock of myself.[/nb].

markburgle

My fav run of Fall albums is Cerebral Caustic - Light User Syndrome - Levitate. I do obvs love the classic stuff but I find tired drunk Mark easier on the ear and these records are easier to enjoy whereas sometimes with the aggression and tension of the earlier ones it feels more a matter of "appreciating" them.

Also I like how you can hear things disintegrating, there's a drama to "bunch of ageing geniuses only just getting it together" that isn't there when they're all young and firing on all cylinders.

Light User is my favourite Fall album overall (though I pretend most of the last 3rd of it doesn't exist). Hooky, punchy, chaotic, diverse. Great fucking record

the science eel

LOVE Light-User although it really falls apart for the last four or five songs.


My nominations:

Music In A Doll's House - Family

Warm, melodic, eccentric, varied English classic. They never did anything like it again

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZnWN0VXheE&list=OLAK5uy_lv7DBTYcUUAOPqGBHIyzDRaDGZtMaIay8


Corky's Debt To His Father - Mayo Thompson

Utterly unique, odd, but (mostly) accessible country-tinged thing. To my ears a much more enjoyable LP than anything he did with the Red Krayola. The last track 'Worried Worried' is one of my favourites by anyone - maybe try that first.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8Op6YUT7bI&t=2023s



Power Plant - The Golden Dawn

Maybe the greatest garage LP ever to come out of the US. Fans of the Elevators will love it (although I guess many here have already heard it). If you're looking for 'underrated' then this definitely fits the bill because it's still rarely talked about.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0aRibGhv8XE

Custard

Quote from: purlieu on October 15, 2021, 09:53:01 PM
Oh absolutely, it's got a few nice twists and turns in it - the opening track having a big dramatic cello solo followed by a final verse with the whole band doing dejected "meh meh meh" backing vocals; 'Mid-Like Crysis's weird sitar drone; the genuinely strange 'Paperclips' - and by far their best set of songs. I have a fondness for their first few records, all very charming everyman indie rock stuff, but 12 Memories is by far their most interesting and most consistent. And it was a huge commercial flop and then never properly followed that path again, other than maybe on 'J. Smith' with its huge gothic choir.I think it tends to be generally considered as their best, or at least joint best with Parachutes. I actually love Viva La Vida, a surprisingly bold album with a few two-in-one songs, some unusual string arrangements, an unnamed shoegaze track in the middle, and a run of gorgeous songs. The title track and 'Lost' are my least favourites there and, typically, the two most people will know. I honestly thought it was a sign of them finally becoming a great band, and then they followed it up by just going straight-up pop.It seems to be gaining a bit of a 'lost gem' reputation, if you read the Forever Delayed boards you'd sometimes think it was their best album. I always adored it.

If we're doing mellow indie stuff, Snow Patrol's Final Straw is a great record that's a nice balance between their earlier scuzzy indie work and the later acoustic balladry, just a really good mix, especially as I never thought they were that good at scuzzy indie or acoustic balladry.

Tangerine Dream's Hyperborea is often overlooked for some reason, coming right near the end of the side-long spacey tracks era of the band, but it's one of my favourites. 'No Man's Land' is an astonishingly forward-thinking track that could easily have been released ten years later, the title track is the best new age-leaning piece they ever did, and refreshingly without a sequencer for once, and 'Sphinx Lightning' is a wonderfully hypnotic piece of minimalism with a surprise triumphant ending. Quite how their fanbase tends to consider 'White Eagle' - with its endless noodly soloing - the better album I don't know.

Wire - Silver/Lead. Got rave reviews, but a largely unfavourable response from fans. I think it's their best batch of songs since A Bell is a Cup, and although it might be their mellowest album, that's no bad thing if they do it well. Robert Grey provides some uncharacteristically swinging drum parts, and the whole thing has this wonderfully melancholic atmosphere from start to finish.

Guided by Voices - Universal Truths and Cycles, a real gem amidst the slightly fallow pre-breakup period. Has the chop & change feel of their mid-'90s peak, some utterly bizarre moments including some Latin-inspired songs, their very best proggy material ('Christian Animation Torch Carriers' and 'Car Language' are incredible), and some of their best pop songs to date. The fanbase and critics seem to find it completely inferior to the ploddy, tuneless Isolation Drills though, for reasons totally beyond me. Also, Let's Go Eat the Factory, possibly their most unhinged album, not even remotely the comeback anyone was expecting, and all the better for it. Noisy, dark, totally daft, and with some of Tobin Sprout's best songs on it. Last time I checked, it was their second-lowest rated album on rateyourmusic, somehow.

Orbital - The Altogether. Took me a long time but I really grew to appreciate this record. The brothers basically sack off all the Detroit techno, acid house and breakbeat influences that shaped their '90s trajectory and go for a thinner, crisper electro sound, with shorter tracks and more direct melodies. Yes, the David Gray collaboration is awful and the Doctor Who theme should have remained a live novelty, but the rest is excellent, and the album itself was a brave move for a band with such an established sound. Yet it was another of those albums that kind of stalled their career, and a lot of fans couldn't go along with the changes.

Agreed. Listened to 12 Memories last night, and I'd say there's not a duff track on it. It's a really strong record. I especially like Re-Offender, which is about Fran Healy's dad being abusive, which makes it a sequel of sorts to Blue Flashing Light. Horrible subject matter, but what a tune

Agreed on Paper Clips too, a fine song. I wish they'd do more stuff like this. Though like you, I do enjoy the early stuff, especially the first album

Quote from: the science eel on October 17, 2021, 12:14:31 PM
Corky's Debt To His Father - Mayo Thompson

Utterly unique, odd, but (mostly) accessible country-tinged thing. To my ears a much more enjoyable LP than anything he did with the Red Krayola. The last track 'Worried Worried' is one of my favourites by anyone - maybe try that first.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8Op6YUT7bI&t=2023s

Think I was introduced to this album when someone played "Horses" on CaB radio. It's brilliant. The last RK album, Introduction, from 2006, is my favourite and I think the most similar to CDTHF.

purlieu

Quote from: the science eel on October 17, 2021, 12:14:31 PM
Music In A Doll's House - Family

Warm, melodic, eccentric, varied English classic. They never did anything like it again

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZnWN0VXheE&list=OLAK5uy_lv7DBTYcUUAOPqGBHIyzDRaDGZtMaIay8
Ooh yes, a great album. Listening to their later stuff was always a huge disappointment.

Art Bear

Quote from: the science eel on October 17, 2021, 12:14:31 PM

My nominations:

Music In A Doll's House - Family

Warm, melodic, eccentric, varied English classic. They never did anything like it again

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZnWN0VXheE&list=OLAK5uy_lv7DBTYcUUAOPqGBHIyzDRaDGZtMaIay8

Power Plant - The Golden Dawn

Maybe the greatest garage LP ever to come out of the US. Fans of the Elevators will love it (although I guess many here have already heard it). If you're looking for 'underrated' then this definitely fits the bill because it's still rarely talked about.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0aRibGhv8XE

Two great records. After hearing and loving a few Golden Dawn tracks on an IA comp I couldn't believe that the whole album would be that good but it is. So sad that they didn't do anything else.

samadriel

Quote from: Lungpuddle on October 15, 2021, 11:05:55 PM
I want to nominate a Crowded House album, but Finn kicking Mark Hart and Matt Sherrod out has soured me on them a bit (although all the albums Paul Hester played on are all great and I'm surprised Together Alone in particular is never mentioned outside the fanbase)

Good call on Together Alone, my favourite CH album.

I'd nominate Fox Confessor Brings the Flood by Neko Case. Brilliant album, never spoken of.

Kankurette

To Venus and Back by Tori Amos. It's the tits. It has my favourite Tori song ever on it, for a start (Spring Haze, if anyone's interested). And The Hot Rock by Sleater-Kinney, which I'm mentioning because the bastards won't play anything from it live. I appreciate it is hard to sing and play, they were going through an obsession with counterpoint at the time, but I'd rather hear Burn Don't Freeze or Get Up! or Memorise Your Lines instead of some of the garbage on The Path of Wellness.
Quote from: Shameless Custard on October 15, 2021, 02:57:19 PMManics' Lifeblood. Though happily the CaB Manics fans seem to love it
Lifeblood is a grower and The Love of Richard Nixon doesn't do it justice. I wasn't keen on it at first, but a couple of friends insisted I give it another chance, and they were right. I'd also add Gold Against the Soul.

phantom_power

Quote from: samadriel on October 18, 2021, 12:43:23 PM
Good call on Together Alone, my favourite CH album.


Yeah a great album. I would add Finn, the album he did with his brother shortly after CH first split up

Hat FM

great shout on 12 memories. really good album that no one i know ever seemed to mention and i didnt really recomend as...well it wouldnt sound great to recomend travis to anyone.

off the top of my head i would say pushing the senses by feeder. Much like the travis  album it came a while after their commerical peak. i think it was released a while after their drummer took his own life and the songs are just packed with emotion. again, it wasnt cool to like feeder at this stage but its an album that i go back to more than you would imagine considering they wouldnt make my list of top 25 bands.

Lungpuddle

Quote from: Hat FM on October 18, 2021, 01:54:36 PM
off the top of my head i would say pushing the senses by feeder. Much like the travis  album it came a while after their commerical peak. i think it was released a while after their drummer took his own life and the songs are just packed with emotion. again, it wasnt cool to like feeder at this stage but its an album that i go back to more than you would imagine considering they wouldnt make my list of top 25 bands.

I think this was the first Feeder album I bought (years after it had come out), the singles are great but Dove Grey Sands is particularly lovely. The whole album wasn't really what I was expecting since I'd only really heard Buck Rogers and Just a Day on the radio.

Quote from: phantom_power on October 18, 2021, 01:21:10 PM
Yeah a great album. I would add Finn, the album he did with his brother shortly after CH first split up

I'm using the word 'lovely' and 'magical' too much lately, but Angel's Heap is particularly lovely and sweetly magical. It's about bonking, right?

Quote from: samadriel on October 18, 2021, 12:43:23 PM
I'd nominate Fox Confessor Brings the Flood by Neko Case. Brilliant album, never spoken of.

Really need to get this. I've got The Worse Things Get and Hell-On and really liked them. I'm not sure if The New Pornographers' fourth album Challengers is underrated anymore, but it's certainly one of my all-time favourites. A bit like Pushing the Senses in the way it's more emotional and less like what the band's usual sound up to then. It doesn't really sacrificing anything though, it's just more mature. Listening to Unguided, Adventures in Solitude and Spirit of Giving gets me more emotional now than ten years ago. Lovely, magical, that sort of thing. I think I read someone on this forum say all TNP albums are the same, but their latest one is so lush and emotionally rewarding whereas their scrappy-go-lucky debut had less range. Having said that, it's still pretty great. There are consistencies but I think there's been a definite progression in structure and production.

A.C. Newman's The Slow Wonder is also chockablock with songs to rouse any sensible pop lover.

Fr.Bigley

Shaking Stevens, Greatest hit.

JohnnyCouncil

Elastica - The Menace Hated by the band and public alike, it's a messy affair with the sludgy indie-rock on side one dissipating to synthpop and electronic ambience on side 2 with Nothing Stays the Same, My Sex & Human. Short, sweet and much more rewarding than the debut.

greenman

Mercury Rev's Boces, its not very unifed in sound I spose as you can see the band being pulled in different directions between Bakers more aggressive noise and the more melodic style they'd go after afterwards but still I think the majority of the album is pretty great, Downs Are Feminine Balloons is maybe the prettiest track they ever did.

bigfatheart

Therapy? - Semi-Detached. Their last major label album, the first one after a big line-up change, and the last one before they gave up on the Troublegum-era poppier direction, so on paper it sounds like it should be a bit of an embarrassment, but it's a sweet, melancholy album which feels like a natural progression and maturation from what they'd been doing a few years earlier.

Egyptian Feast

Quote from: greenman on October 23, 2021, 01:03:21 PM
Mercury Rev's Boces, its not very unifed in sound I spose as you can see the band being pulled in different directions between Bakers more aggressive noise and the more melodic style they'd go after afterwards but still I think the majority of the album is pretty great, Downs Are Feminine Balloons is maybe the prettiest track they ever did.

I've been revisiting this and Yerself Is Steam recently. The opening tracks of each are so glorious. If some band based their career on ripping off 'Meth Of A Rockette's Kick', I'd probably be a big fan.

I do quite like their later stuff too. I've picked up a few of their unloved post 2000s albums in charity shops and they're pretty good.

greenman

Quote from: Egyptian Feast on October 23, 2021, 02:04:50 PM
I've been revisiting this and Yerself Is Steam recently. The opening tracks of each are so glorious. If some band based their career on ripping off 'Meth Of A Rockette's Kick', I'd probably be a big fan.

I do quite like their later stuff too. I've picked up a few of their unloved post 2000s albums in charity shops and they're pretty good.

I think you could argue the big shift for them wasnt actually Baker leaving it was Suzanne Thrope, her clarinet against the noise freak outs is I think what defines the first three albums.

Egyptian Feast

Quote from: greenman on October 23, 2021, 02:55:09 PM
I think you could argue the big shift for them wasnt actually Baker leaving it was Suzanne Thrope, her clarinet against the noise freak outs is I think what defines the first three albums.

Yeah, I totally agree. Even though I quite like their later stuff, she's on all the essential albums and is sorely missed after Deserter's Songs. She's the Michael Stipe hair of Mercury Rev (ref: non capisco's concise buyer's guide to REM).

purlieu

Quote from: bigfatheart on October 23, 2021, 01:07:10 PM
Therapy? - Semi-Detached. Their last major label album, the first one after a big line-up change, and the last one before they gave up on the Troublegum-era poppier direction, so on paper it sounds like it should be a bit of an embarrassment, but it's a sweet, melancholy album which feels like a natural progression and maturation from what they'd been doing a few years earlier.
Yeah, one of their best, my favourite '90s T? album. It's a bit of a mess, with some of their heaviest stuff and some of their poppiest stuff and some of their weirdest stuff all thrown together, and the lineup change makes it sound quite odd after the first few, but song-for-song it's one of their best for sure.


Boces is the '90s Mercury Rev album I struggle with the most, for reasons I don't quite understand. 'Snorry Mouth' is incredible, though.
That said, Suzanne Thorpe played flute, the clarinet was by guitarist Grasshopper.

lazyhour

Semi-Detached is possibly my favourite Therapy? album.

purlieu

It was mine until the magnificent double-header of Crooked Timber and A Brief Crack of Light came along.