What's the least acclaimed album you love?

Can't really think of a truly panned album I love...

I love Seekers Seen in Green but that may be more overlooked than unacclaimed. Same goes for The Healing Game.

I also love Lulu but that may be more divisive than unacclaimed.

What's the least acclaimed album you love?

The Ark Work by Liturgy, probably

every sigue sigue sputnik album i have.

Have a secret fondness for the ludicrousness of Mansun

Soap Opera by the Kinks/ concept album era Kinks in general

(unless these have been 'reassessed' or whatever without me noticing? but I get the impression that no-one really cares about post-60s Kinks these days)

How about "Wild Life", Wings?

haha, these are great

that is, they're fun to listen to

if you're on RYM this is fairly easy to calculate:
http://rateyourmusic.com/misc/conformity

looks like the biggest difference for me is Datarock - Red. which makes sense, I don't recall seeing a single good review of that album. I still think it's great though.

I could probably dredge up a ton of these. Starting with Basia's discography.

The most recent example I can think of is Zero 7's last album, Yeah Ghost, which was lambasted but which I thought and continue to think is fantastic.

Manic Street Preachers - Journal for Plague Lovers, Know Your Enemy

Tom Petty - Long After Dark

Joe Strummer and the Mescaleros - Global a GoGo

My highest result on that RYM thing is last year's Saqqara Mastabas album by Matthew Friedberger (Fiery Furnaces guy), which I found to be charming and mad, and which literally everyone else on the planet (aka the 25 or so people who heard it) found to be baffling, scrawny and irrelevant

The Ark Work is my third highest though lol

This is a great question. I think for me, most are albums that slipped under the bar before my critical facilities were well formed (and before I cared about acclaim). Things like Dead or Alive (Sophisticated Boom Boom) or the first 3 or 4 Thompson Twins albums.

Sad to say, but my adult listening habits first filter everything through a gauntlet of received wisdom before I even give anything a chance. But this is part of the reason why I like ILM -- for encouraging me to give things like The 1975 a listen.

Billy Joel's Attila thing is a contender

that dog's "totally crushed out" is near perfect and in my top 20

that dog are great, yeah. i tried looking at the rym thing but since i stopped rating records it doesn't have much to say. maybe "everybody loves a happy ending" by tears for fears? that seems to have been roundly ignored by everyone except me.

It seems likely that the answer to this question will be 'album by artist that I continued to follow long after they fell out of critical favor'. Like latter-day Tori Amos, maybe?

How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb

the Who, Endless Wire

probably these corny "global underground" mix cds from danny tenaglia from the late 90s, they are very dear to me though

Great thread idea! I'm gonna say 'Once Around The World' by It Bites.

I've never been a fan of that type of middlebrow/tasteful prog house, but those Global Underground mixes were acclaimed at the time, then fell deeply out of fashion, and I'm sure will do crazy prices in ten years, just like deep house.

yes, the ladder

Word of Mouth, the Kinks

Soap Opera by the Kinks/ concept album era Kinks in general

― soref, Wednesday, April 19, 2017 12:14 PM (five hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Word of Mouth, the Kinks

― Guayaquil (eephus!), Wednesday, April 19, 2017 5:31 PM (seventeen minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I won't lie, it's slightly hurtful to have been out-"least acclaimed" like this

probably the last pair of U2 albums (not to mention Rattle & Hum)

Monster by R.E.M.

oh wait:

Rift by Phish

Cobra and Phases Group Play Voltage in the Milky Night - Stereolab

i was thinking about making a thread about bands where your favorite album is not beloved/rated highly- Cobra has its fans but it always gets overlooked.

I've never been a fan of that type of middlebrow/tasteful prog house, but those Global Underground mixes were acclaimed at the time, then fell deeply out of fashion, and I'm sure will do crazy prices in ten years, just like deep house.

― Siegbran, Wednesday, April 19, 2017 12:27 PM (forty-three minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

yea most of them are boring as fuck but the two danny tenaglia ones *kisses fingers*

Goodbye Jumbo, World Party

i really dug some of those sasha and digweed mixes, especially the northern exposure series.

yea i like that xpander ep by sasha too

I've always felt that nobody gives the slightest shit about that live Tom Waits record Big Time, but it's astoundingly great and many of the tracks are rendered out much better than their studio versions.

I fucking love Asobi Seksu's last 2 albums (Hush and Fluorescence) but rym seems to think they jumped the shark after Citrus (common complaints seem to be "vocals too high in the mix, too many keyboards, doesn't sound exactly like Citrus, not shoegazey enough to appease the genre fascists"). I should probably stop defining my tastes in opposition to the rym hivemind, huh

I only like acclaimed music

For me, probably Toto IV. Although, now that I think about it, there are probably a good few critics out there who show it some love since the yacht rock revival began in earnest.

Once upon a time it was Miles Davis's On the Corner, but everybody loves that now.
So...Miles Davis's You're Under Arrest.
Oh, and Swans' The Burning World, which Michael Gira himself hates.

Ha, nomar beat me to Monster. Apart from that, probably the second Best Coast album.

Lloyd Cole - Bad Vibes. Objectively very poor but I love it for the "artist tries something outside his comfort zone and fails wonderfully" vibe.

i really dug some of those sasha and digweed mixes, especially the northern exposure series.

― nomar

the northern exposure series is totally back

I'd probably have to pay every ILM poster money to listen to this but it's one of my favorite releases of the 90s:
https://www.discogs.com/Folk-Implosion-Nothings-Gonna-Stop-The-Flow/release/1639807

this is a good question

The Fall's Middle Class Revolt album seems to be regarded as somewhat of a failure, but I love it.

Sting - Ten Summoner's Tales

i think i have affection for a lot of (what are now) critically unloved albums from the early '90s that received four stars in Rolling Stone.

"Goodbye Jumbo, World Party"

i'm always interested in the fandom that goes beyond something like goodbye jumbo which is an album people have actually heard of and even heard. is there a thread about rolling really deep with a band/artist? and how lonely that can be? did anyone buy the last prefab sprout album? lloyd cole has, like, ten solo albums.

if there is a thread, i don't know the name of it.

i bought the lloyd cole/roedelius album.

i thought about buying the last prefab sprout album and I'm sure it's really good but...

also think being a fan of preservation act 1/act 2 might be even bolder than being a fan of word of mouth.

i've also kinda been curious about what post-word of mouth albums sound like. don't think i ever heard phobia or u.k. jive.

i'm always interested in the fandom that goes beyond something like goodbye jumbo which is an album people have actually heard of and even heard.

I don't know anybody irl who likes this album. Even when it came out I didn't know anyone else who was into it. I think it's fantastic, I return to it regularly and it's Wallinger's best album imo.

i've also kinda been curious about what post-word of mouth albums sound like. don't think i ever heard phobia or u.k. jive.

― scott seward, Wednesday, April 19, 2017 2:45 PM (four minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I loved U.K. Jive at the time, and considered it their best since Muswell Hillbillies. When I revisited it recently, it mostly held up, but the production is pretty bad (all-digital recording in 1989).

Phobia is garbage, with the exception of the last song, "Scattered," which is one of their best ever. Turns out it was written in 1971.

I love Maxwell's Embrya which got panned hard when it came out, but I see some people praising it now so idk

also think being a fan of preservation act 1/act 2 might be even bolder than being a fan of word of mouth.

Act 1 is not bad. Act 2 is bad.

Cybill Shepherd's Cybill Does It... To Cole Porter. I was trying to find reviews online without much luck. Christgau gave it a D-, although he did say her voice is surprisingly pleasant. The album features many of the songs from the film At Long Last Love, which was a notorious flop. The record is campy fun, though; I've listened to it way more than Ella Fitzgerald's Cole Porter Songbooks.

i kinda like the 2nd and 3rd albums by the dream academy. that is my contribution to this thread. or parts of them anyway. there is a prefab sproutishness to some of it sorta. i even liked their insane john lennon cover. also i like the solo albums by the woman from the dream academy. ambient pop stuff. she was also in a new age group with bill nelson and roger eno that you might have missed. any friend of virginia astley is a friend of mine.

also, by mentioning virginia astley i make tarfumes happy because then he thinks about pete townshend.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z2OcTsl7s6w

Preservation Act 2 got a 9.5 on pitchfork

https://web.archive.org/web/20011212144343/http://www.pitchforkmedia.com:80/record-reviews/k/kinks/preservation-act-2.shtml

oh and Act 1 got a 9.8

https://web.archive.org/web/20011223071609/pitchforkmedia.com/record-reviews/k/kinks/preservation-act-1.shtml

hahaha

I couldn't get through all of Act 2 in one sitting. I don't think I even got through it in two sittings.

Must've been a fun couple of years at RCA.

"Ugh, the Kinks want to put out TWO theatrical concept albums! One a double! This is gonna kill us. Oh well, at least Lou Reed will deliver a solid commercial follow-up to Sally Can't Dance."

I love Mariah Carey's album "Emotions", that'd have to be top for me.

I am a real big fan of the Scarlett Johannssen album!

whitesnake, self-titled

xps LOL Tarfumes

i've also kinda been curious about what post-word of mouth albums sound like.

I loved (as I still love) Word of Mouth so much that I bought "Think Visual" on its day of release and tried to convince myself I was into it, but nope

xps LOL Tarfumes

Seconded!

Cybill Shepherd's Cybill Does It... To Cole Porter. I was trying to find reviews online without much luck. Christgau gave it a D-, although he did say her voice is surprisingly pleasant. The album features many of the songs from the film At Long Last Love, which was a notorious flop. The record is campy fun, though; I've listened to it way more than Ella Fitzgerald's Cole Porter Songbooks.

i picked this up as a 50p cut out special at the same time i bought the Godfathers major label album for same price in a strange pop up store in the leeds corn exchange while having a lovely lunchtime groove with BH.
i have listened to the Godfathers album a lot (one of the few occasions i get the whole vinyl is better than cd argument),
but, not sure i have ever been able to get all way through the Cybill album.

It's certainly not for everyone!

it's not for me that's for sure.
nice cover though.

I've seen both Metal Machine Music and the John Gavanti album described as unlistenable but I kinda love them both. Probably not a terribly controversial opinion on ILM.

Must've been a fun couple of years at RCA.

"Ugh, the Kinks want to put out TWO theatrical concept albums! One a double! This is gonna kill us. Oh well, at least Lou Reed will deliver a solid commercial follow-up to Sally Can't Dance."

― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Wednesday, April 19, 2017 2:24 PM (twenty-four minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Probably not far from the truth. While that was happening, you also had John Lennon renegotiate a sweetheart deal for Harry Nilsson that saw RCA shelling out million dollar advances for 'luded out comedy albums from a singer with a blownout voice.

...and with that said I actually get a bit of enjoyment from the mid '70s Nilsson albums.

Probably Maladjusted by Morrissey for me. A supposed career nadir that is actually very strong, and better than the supposed return to form that followed a few years later.

ratt - out of the cellar

i don't think i've ever heard any morrissey after southpaw grammar. which is my fave mozzzzz album. because metal fan. (though i love a bunch of the singles circa 1988-1992)

people like us - mamas & papas

According to RYM, it's Bob Dylan's Saved, though there seem to be a fair number of fans on this board. More recently, it's Broncho's Double Vanity.

Off the top of my head, King Crimson's Islands. Even 'Ladies of the Road.' Not sure it actually counts, though.

I know you guys are playing some hair metal and the Xanadu soundtrack way more than some of this stuff on this list.

The ELO stuff on Xanadu is pretty good, and of course "Magic" is the best song ever.

I was going to say the first Gay Dad album but that actually has a decent score on RYM (3.38). I'll go with Comedown Machine by The Strokes. Barely anyone seems to appreciate what a weird and wonderful album that is.

I am a real big fan of the Scarlett Johannssen album!
totally!

the waits covers one, that is - haven't heard the other

My goto answer is Wolfgang Press's Bird Wood Cage (1988), but there are a lot of less acclaimed albums from the late 80s that would qualify. I'll stan for Wire's It's Beginning to and Back Again (IBTABA), which RYM considers a 3.15.

The first that comes to mind is All fools day by The Saints.

Not sure about albums, but I do love loads of chart EDM from the last decade, and none of it seems to receive either critical acclaim or even low-key support around here. Was thinking of starting a thread on this topic at some stage, but afraid it would crash and burn.

I am a real big fan of the Scarlett Johannssen album!
totally!

the waits covers one, that is - haven't heard the other

I love it too.

The Books - Lost and Safe

For me it's not only their best by a wide margin (yet it gets less attention than their previous efforts "lemon of pink" and "food for thought") but it's also one of my top 5 albums of the 00's.

The Books in general are very underrated imho, almost nobody seems to remember them and it was only a decade ago that they were active. Granted they are not the sort of artists or music that drive people crazy.

Yeah I've always liked Lost and Safe and never really understood why people seem to like it so much less than their other stuff.

According to RYM, Aereogamme - Sleep and Release is the "correct" answer to this question for me. But I don't think that really the case, since that record's not hated, it's just obscure and overlooked. Most of my favourite music's unacclaimed but not in the way this thread's looking for.

I'll stan for Wire's It's Beginning to and Back Again (IBTABA), which RYM considers a 3.15.

If you'd said "Manscape" I'd have been impressed.

I was listening to The Drill yesterday and quite enjoyed it, does that count?

Real answer is probably something by the Exploited.

Dokken - Dysfunctional. Apparently it started out as a Don Dokken solo album, but then John Kalodner worked his magic and brought the rest of the band in. He even got the album released on Columbia in 1993!

If you'd said "Manscape" I'd have been impressed.

― Punnet of the Grapes (Tom D.), Thursday, 20 April 2017 10:54 (twenty-eight minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

closing track is incredible tbf

Idk my answer but isn't Acclaimed Music a better reference for this than RYM? Unless In the Court of the Crimson King really is the sixth most acclaimed album of all time?

I mean, there's probably a bunch of obscure stuff I like that hardly anyone has heard of, let alone reviewed.

incubus - morning view

I think Acclaimed Music is a good reference, I'm no expert on RYM but believe it historically swings (even) more rockist than AM

Absolutely love "Paper Tigers" by that Swedish pop/garage band the Caesars, who did that one iPod ad.

xp to self And pretty much anything popular has someone who will defend it; I guess the problem with Acclaimed Music is that it only tracks things that have been reasonably highly acclaimed. So, hm, if we're going with things that are popular to get a lot of high-profile critical reviews... Metal Machine Music may be the best answer for me, especially since it's the only solo Lou Reed I care about. I like Monster too if that has been poorly received (although I remember glowing reviews at the time). Anything by Rush and Journey's Escape were critically derided until the last decade or so. Styx - Pieces of Eight? Bon Jovi - New Jersey?

*popular or well-known enough to get...

couple of others:

William Shatner - Has Been (seriously entertaining album. one of my favourites of 2004. possibly my favourite)
Pere Ubu - Long Live Pere Ubu (it's sort of the soundtrack to a musical but it's totally weird and grotesque, operatic, not particularly accessible even for PU but i love love love it)

thought i mentioned UB40 - Promises & Lies. A big family holiday tape. It makes me feel warm, cosy and slightly guilty for liking it

I'm also a fair fan of all the shit 70s Beach Boys albums except 15 Big Ones

If I go by RYM, whose chart lists only those items reviewed a sufficient number of times, the lowest rates album that I love is Robyn Hitchcock - Groovy Decoy. I've never understand the disgust aimed at this album.

I'm no expert on RYM but believe it historically swings (even) more rockist than AM

It tends to get a lot more fans of prog, metal, classical, and jazz, relative to most 'music criticism' outlets.

Lindstrom's Six Cups of Rebel seems mostly to confound others, but the deep dive in to circa-1980 sounds hits the mark perfectly for me. His similarly conceived collab with Todd Rundgren doesn't do a thing though.

Not sure about albums, but I do love loads of chart EDM from the last decade, and none of it seems to receive either critical acclaim or even low-key support around here. Was thinking of starting a thread on this topic at some stage, but afraid it would crash and burn.

― Camaraderie at Arms Length

Yeah it's a shame - I've always enjoyed a lot of populist/chart dance all the way from Hi-NRG and Italo days to today's EDM but as ILM gets older there's less and less enthusiasm for it. There were big discussions about UK Garage and French House circa 2001 but there's very little of that going on today.

Acclaimed Music is useful as a subset of critically acclaimed music from the pop music press, but also filters out a huge chunk of 'less accessible music' like experimental, electronic, classical, jazz and metal, which RYM does include. Anyway, it's extremely rare for albums to be highly rated on AM and low on RYM, and vice-versa.

The Books - Lost and Safe

For me it's not only their best by a wide margin (yet it gets less attention than their previous efforts "lemon of pink" and "food for thought") but it's also one of my top 5 albums of the 00's.

The Books in general are very underrated imho, almost nobody seems to remember them and it was only a decade ago that they were active. Granted they are not the sort of artists or music that drive people crazy.

ditto but for The Way Out. I remember general consensus being something like "it's ok but not as good as Lemon of Pink" which felt weird to me. on first listen it seemed to me like it was obviously their best.

I'd also throw the Zammuto albums in here, which I enjoy even more than The Books, and didn't really get any critical love at all

I wouldn't say I *love* it, but there's a couple of Crazy Frog songs on Presents Crazy Hits (which was for a while the worst rated album of all time on RYM) that improve on the originals.

xxp
Well, e.g. In the Court of the Crimson King and Red are, respectively, #6 and #40 on RYM and #113 and #591 on AM. Black Saint and the Sinner Lady is #30 on RYM and #524 on AM.

I was mostly interpreting 'acclaim' to also account for the number and profile of good reviews, such that Bob Dylan gets more acclaim than Morton Feldman. (If we're looking at scholarly/specialist acclaim for 'less accessible' styles, I'm actually not sure that RYM is the best source here either.)

Kuedo - Severant

It wasn't panned or anything, just received "okay to good" marks from critics and was quickly forgotten. Personally, I feel it's an absolute classic, beautifully meshing footwork rhythms with early 80's Bladerunner/Vangelis atmospherics perfectly for the entire duration of the album. Every song is memorable and unique. The cinematic feel of it is on the level of Burial's Untrue imho. I never tire of listening to it. Things like Jlin's Dark Energy (same label, same genre) received significantly more praise for what I feel is a comparatively inferior record. Perhaps her style is more novel, but Severant's songs are more memorable.

A related category to this could be "Albums you love which the artist apparently hates" - my nomination for this would be The Auteurs vs. μ-Ziq, which has been disowned by both Luke Haines and Mike Paradinas, but which is the thing I listen to most from either of them.

^^ all three Soul Coughing albums :)

A couple of Embrace albums that everyone else hates or ignored.

Well, e.g. In the Court of the Crimson King and Red are, respectively, #6 and #40 on RYM and #113 and #591 on AM. Black Saint and the Sinner Lady is #30 on RYM and #524 on AM.

How We Rock is my number one SSD album and one of my favorite albums of the 80's. always felt all alone there with that one.

haha I knew you would come through here

i have tried to think of things that were HATED/dismissed that i love and its kinda hard to think of examples. i mostly just liked a lot of stuff that was ignored and that people ended up liking later. because of my trailblazer status.

i am a terrible late-period fan though. i am happy to ignore decades of work and just listen to the 2 or 3 albums by an artist that are best.

i did enjoy that saints album someone mentioned above. they played that a lot on college radio and even mtv.

that saints album probably got a good review in rolling stone.

The Saints - All Fools Day seemed pretty well regarded from what I remember. So was Big Time, it's just hard to find these days. Even harder to find is the movie it came from.

I have many that no one cares about, but this one seems to draw plenty of ire - Razorlight - Up All Night. Once I saw Razorlight live I understood the hate. The lead singer (I forget his name) was such a punchable d-bag. But for that one album (and some good B-sides), it was an entertaining attempt to approximate Richard Hell-era Television and Patti Smith.

absolutely love the God Bless Tiny Tim album but i think that is well-regarded. i listened to the first Presidents of the United States recently and it was still amazing. i think most people see them as a joke but imo they have really good Everly Bros-style close harmonies and the use of only a few strings per instrument is an intriguing, minimalist version of pop punk. but with a 60s surf rock/psychedelic/garage influence. via the 90s. damn i love POTUSA.

i felt bad when i went on a wire thread and people were talking about how they liked the new album and i listened to it and went uhhhhhhhhh wire fans are really nice to wire....

whereas i am happy with 2nd album, 3rd album, kidney bingos once a year, ahead once a year, big black's heartbeat cover once a year and everything that colin did in the 80's. but, you know, they changed my life.

if only Green Day and POTUSA's careers had switched places. we would have Shia Lebouf doing "Peaches" on Broadway.

Just remembered, I think Worlds Apart destroyed Trail of Dead's chances of having any lasting (relatively) mainstream success and/or indie cred but I love that record lol

think it's been largely rehabilitated tbh

i listened to the first Presidents of the United States recently and it was still amazing. i think most people see them as a joke but imo they have really good Everly Bros-style close harmonies and the use of only a few strings per instrument is an intriguing, minimalist version of pop punk. but with a 60s surf rock/psychedelic/garage influence. via the 90s. damn i love POTUSA.

yea I've not encountered another album that sounds quite like that. the other day "Boll Weevil" came up on shuffle and I remember being kind of floored by it, it sounded great. they have such a strange tuning, which I think is because they never really knew how to play.

shame they only really got their 15 minutes. their later albums aren't quite as good though I really do like Freaked Out & Small, which I think is a good candidate for this thread. I was a pretty big fan of the band and I had no idea the album existed until years later when I stumbled upon it in a used CD shop. I thought it was a bootleg at first. There were almost no reviews and the ones that came out were mostly like "these guys used to be fun". But it's great, track-for-track even better than the first album, IMHO of course

I'll also mention the first three Starcastle albums here - that band took a pounding critically, and for good reason really, but I can't help but grin all the way through those records.

haha a friend of mine recently turned me on to those albums, Styx-lite but in a good way!

there seems to be something about film scores which are not acclaimed by the fans. i both like yo la tengo's quite meditative "they shoot, we score" and sonic youth "made in usa" quite a bit. they both fetch ratings around 2.8-2.9 at rateyourmusic. not my fave albums by two of my fave bands but by no stretch bad and a very nice change from their other albums.

Limp Bizkit's imperial phase is pretty much undeniable

I'm a big fan of White Zombie's Astro-Creep 2000, which was pretty popular at the time I guess, but I don't think it was critically acclaimed much.

One of my favorite bands is a relatively unknown from the mid 90s called milf so I can imagine that deterring people who might love them otherwise.

absolutely love the God Bless Tiny Tim album but i think that is well-regarded.

Of course it is, it's a classic.

someone mentioned fiery furnace brother album above and it reminded me that last week in the car rufus put on a later FF album and i had a mental mantra in my head of *i still like blueberry boat i still like blueberry boat*. it was driving me up a wall. a car wall. a door, really. driving me up a door.

you were both a passenger and the driver

remembered Razorlight as complete Kings of Leon shite, so pleasantly surprised to put on the album on Spotify and find the Television comparison not wholly off

I'm a little surprised Cardiacs haven't been mentioned yet.

Heh, you might have heard Razorlight's self-titled second album the first time. While most of Up All Night is pretty meandering, "Golden Touch" is a genuinely great song.

No-one loves them, they don't care (xp)

Leonard Cohen - Death of a Ladies' Man. I unironically think it's his best album.

The Books - Lost and Safe

For me it's not only their best by a wide margin...

I agree with this 100%

i can't make it through an entire Cardiacs song let alone an album. i don't know how people do it. i've tried on the youtube before. i've never made it through an entire zappa album either though. and i've never mustered up the courage to listen to an oingo boingo album or a mr. bungle album.

how many people are listening to oingo boingo in the world right now? i'd love to know. 6 people? more than 6?

There was a point in my life when Oingo Boingo was my favorite band. In my defense I was a high schooler in LA and they were pretty good live. Haven't listened to them in years, but perhaps Elfman's later career suggests there was more to them compositionally than they got credit for. That's all I got.

Leonard Cohen - Death of a Ladies' Man. I unironically think it's his best album.

I think this too (high five) and was thinking of posting it but I wasn't sure if ppl would complain that it actually *is* acclaimed or something. Among Leonard Cohen diehards it doesn't seem especially well-regarded. I think it's amazing.

how many people are listening to oingo boingo in the world right now? i'd love to know. 6 people? more than 6?

wtf is this shit just in the air these days? chaki tweeted yesterday about how Riotfest should get OB to reunite (lol) and then I woke up this morning with "Private Life" in my head. I don't even like this fucking band...

cardiacs have a growing and by-now considerable cult following and a not insignificant critical cachet. they have guardian articles written about them and sing to god is a bona fide rym nerd rite of passage. compared to all the bands or albums that were critically loathed AND then forgotten they've got it good imo (and their stock will continue to rise)

i see this thread as more for stuff each of us will end up being nigh on the last/only fan of, stuff that everyone else has dismissed

DOALM is amazing.

Oingo Boingo is awesome and Elfman is a beast. before the band split he had already scored Batman, Edward Scissorhands, Pee Wee, Beetlejuice, and Forbidden Zone. in addition to songs in movies like "Fast Times at Ridgemont High" and "Back to School". they were kind of the official party band of the 80s.

death of a ladies man is incredible and definitely one of the best cohen albums imo

I don't even know if it is maligned anymore, seems like it has entered "here, my dear" territory of critical flops that have since been reappraised

love - four sail (i like it so much better than forever changes)
every oingo boingo album

yeah, no offense to boingo or cardiacs fans. that frenetic circus thing is just really hard for me. which i thought of because of that fiery furnaces incident in the car.

four sail is great but it's true that it was kinda considered a dud for years. or just not listened to much. i like reel-to-real and false start too. and there was definitely a time in my life when out here was my fave love album.

i have no idea what reviews of later Love albums were like. i must have read some in old magazines at some point. should check rolling stone.

"Reel to Real" is definitely less acclaimed than "Four Sail". I like it!

Has Dylan's Self Portrait been rehabilitated? There was that box set... I definitely love it, even the Paul Simon cover

boingo became a mature pop act after the early circus stuff but critics and fans alike also hated that stuff (its my fave)

I really love "Common One" by Van Morrison but I'm not sure it's that panned, it's just kinda slept on

There's definitely something of the Boingo that persists in my "mature" listening habits - and a high tolerance for "frenetic circus" music is part of it. Only now I get my demented fun-house kicks from bands like Hail Spirit Noir and Ghost.

Can't believe somebody already mentioned How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb! Well, I guess I can because I think it's very good, but I never see love for it on ILM. At this point, probably my third favorite U2 album after Achtung Baby and Zooropa

Wrath by the band Iris is another one. Synth pop by two guys who obviously dig the shit out of Depeche Mode and I think this album is up there with some of DM's best

there was also a weird time in my life when no guru no method no teacher was my favorite van morrison album and i have no idea what people think of that one. or if its even talked about or rated or whatever. i loved it.

but now i quickly check and it got five stars by david fricke in rs so i guess people liked.

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/albumreviews/no-guru-no-method-no-teacher-19860911

In the Stereolab poll I had Chemical Chords at #2 in my albums list. It's hardly reviled, but the consensus seems to be that they'd gotten too ornate by that point. I think it's really lovely.

Air - 10,000 Hz. Legend

Air - 10,000 Hz. Legend

I really enjoyed and still love Pet Shop Boys' 'Relentless' EP which had a mixed reaction at the time and is now basically forgotten.

The Farrah Abraham album

I don't even know if it is maligned anymore, seems like it has entered "here, my dear" territory of critical flops that have since been reappraised

I definitely malign it. I'm a massive Cohen fan but DoaLM is by some distance his weakest album.

My answer to this would be whichever 10,000 Maniacs album is least acclaimed – Blind Man's Zoo, probably.

any wing-tip sloat.
they were largely ignored & dismissed as lesser than trumans water / pavement / polvo, they had some gorgeous scrappy mathy bits thempered with a blithe tossed off sensibility. would've been more at home on ron johnson records than vhf, and to my mind you can hear the REACH. and that counts for something.
Also Qui's "love's miracle", w/ d yow guesting on vocals. I remember people throwing their toys out of their prams that this didn't sound exactly like birthday party tribute act "the jesus lizard" .
to my mind it sounds better, and qui's subsequent yow-less "life, water, living" disappeared with barely a whisper, but is the perfect mix of the method actors, shudder to think pony express record, the melvins, and something ineffably them (vaudeville sensibility?)

The Kinks' Preservation Act 1 and 2 are mentioned above - I absolutely adore those, they're my favourite Kinks albums by far and I'd probably place them in my top 20 albums of all time, if I'm allowed to put them together. I always listen to the two albums in sequence anyway, never to just one of the two.

If by "least acclaimed" you mean something like "most likely to be held in contempt by ilx" probably one of 3 or 4 albums by Diana Krall.

I'm crazy about Ashlee Simpson's first album.

Absolutely love "Paper Tigers" by that Swedish pop/garage band the Caesars, who did that one iPod ad.

― Josh in Chicago, 20. april 2017 14:05 (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

For me it's their 'Love for the Streets' album. Much better retro-rock than what The Hives were doing.

I am very fond of Sly Stone's "Heard Ya Missed Me, Well I'm Back".

<3 Wingtip Sloat

Ok, thought of one I'll really be on my own with. The last Klaxons album.

yay Wingtip Sloat!

I am very fond of Sly Stone's "Heard Ya Missed Me, Well I'm Back".

ha ok now this def fits the bill - since most people are totally unaware of this album, and those that are generally don't like it (myself included, it's the only Sly album I've sold back)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0GjKyAEePk

an album some people may have missed. okay, all people...

always felt like heard you missed me is a weird title cuz he had a good album out the year before. he didn't really let people miss him for too long.

Should have been called "Heard You Missed Us, Well We're Back" maybe, since the previous one was credited to solely him, and all the others were Family Stone records. I also enjoy the record, as I have time for all things Sly.

Air - 10,000 Hz Legend is amazing!

"Radian"

"10,000 Hz Legend" for sure!

John Cale "AI"

Prince "20Ten"

Emiliana Torrini - Fisherman's Woman

- gets zero love

Ultra Vivid Scene - Joy

Antics > Turn on the Bright Lights

i also fuck with the next two records

I play "Sheezus" every other month or so.

Bobby Conn - The Golden Age - not sure how people rate it nowadays, if at all

Also, Experimental Jet Set Trash and No Star could be my fave SY album, but it seems less reviled nowadays.

I like quite a lot of albums which are not very well regarded. If I like an artist, I tend to find something to like in every album they do; for example I can really enjoy listening to Bob Dylan's 'Knocked Out, Loaded'; Neil Young's 'Landing On Water'; Genesis' 'We Can't Dance' etc. Liking them doesn't mean loving them, though - I wouldn't name those albums as my favourites at all.

But: bands/artists where my most favourite album actually IS a lesser acclaimed album:
-Kinks - Preservation Act 1 and 2 (as I posted earlier, see above)
-King Crimson - Islands (one of my top 10 albums of all time!)
-Manic Street Preachers - Gold Against the Soul
-Super Furry Animals - Love Kraft
-John Cale - Caribbean Sunset t/w Words For The Dying
-Divine Comedy - Victory for the Comic Muse (I suppose most would go for an earlier album)
-Duran Duran - used to be Big Thing until it was dethroned by All You Need Is Now
-Peter Gabriel - PG2(scratch) t/w Up (probably neither has bad acclaim but again I suppose most would go for his other albums
-New Order - ...actually not sure which is my favourite, could just be Technique but could also even be their last album Music Complete... anyway, I've always loved Get Ready and Republic (with the exception of Regret, which tends to be the only acclaimed part of the album!); while Power, Corruption and Lies is my least favourite, which makes me feel that I my feelings on the band are completely the opposite to those of the general fan.
-Richard Thompson - You? Me? Us? (at least I think it's lesser acclaimed. It's tied for me with Dream Attic.)
-Neil Young - have several faves, most are acclaimed but I think Greendale is not

Artists I love, which probably get low acclaim altogether:
-Shed Seven
-Kula Shaker
-Cast
-Menswe@r
-Mansun, mentioned by someone else above - do they really have low acclaim?
(not love, but like:)
-Mumford & Sons (really don't get the hate I often see directed at them, I have their first two albums and I think they're pretty good)

Albums which aren't my favourites but which I do like a lot & of which I don't really get the bad acclaim:
-David Bowie - Never Let Me Down (also: Tonight and Tin Machine II)
-Byrds - S/T 1973 reunion album (also Byrdmaniax: it has bad production but several really great songs)
-Roxy Music - Flesh+Blood (probably my fave after Stranded)

Valentijn - Kinks one was a good call. "Sweet Lady Genevieve" is a good track

Oh and my absolute fave Dylan albums are New Morning and Planet Waves. They're not regarded as his worst but they're not especially regarded as equals to Blood On The Tracks either.

Bobby Conn - The Golden Age - not sure how people rate it nowadays, if at all

beyond fucking classic

Echobelly - On

-Roxy Music - Flesh+Blood (probably my fave after Stranded)

you win

All of this love for those Kinks albums is making me really happy. Also, I adore The Cure 'Bloodflowers' album, and although it wasn't exactly panned, it was greeted with a giant yawn and then ignored.

huge soft spot in my heart for Metric's Fantasies, which meant a lot to me in high school (really clocking my age with that factoid)—it was tepidly received and it is pretty ramshackle in hindsight, but i can't help but love that middle ground between pop-punky tightness/hooks and late-aughts cosmopolitan indie wistfulness.

Valentijn - Kinks one was a good call. "Sweet Lady Genevieve" is a good track

― Carlotta's Portrait (Ross), Friday, April 21, 2017 3:24 PM (thirty-two minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

The one time I saw the Kinks, in 1993, Ray opened with a solo acoustic "Sweet Lady Genevieve." About eight of us in the audience went nuts, while everyone else wondered what the song was and why it was making only eight people go nuts.

And last month when my partner and I were out to dinner celebrating our anniversary, I heard it over the restaurant's PA. It wasn't a totally out-of-left-field choice, as I'd heard "Picture Book" there before, but still odd to hear in the wild.

^ very cool :)

13th Floor Elevators - Bull Of The Woods:

https://devonrecordclub.com/2014/10/24/13th-floor-elevators-bull-of-the-woods-round-73-toms-selction/

We had this as a theme at one of our meetings.

John Cale - Caribbean Sunset

Not my favorite, but much much better than the consensus says. I've been waiting for a reissue!

If you'd said "Manscape" I'd have been impressed.

I always leaned more "stentorian" Graham Lewis fan than "tuneful abstract" Colin Newman fan. Yes, I like his 80s solo efforts more, too. Manscape is a bit too uneven, even for me, but I do remember afternoons with "Torch It" on repeat.

xp Valentijn:

I loved Mansun's "Wide Open Space", and I'm not surprised it was embraced years later by the trance community. At the time, though, I was rather prejudiced against Britpop, as I thought the shoegazers and post-rockers (Simon Reynold's early usage) offered a path forward, and Britpop trapped in the past.

Another vote for caribbean sunset. I haven't listened to it for years but when i discovered it around 1985 and i loved it as it seemed so badass compared to paris 1919.

Greendale is fantastic, but I don't think it received bad reviews?

When he toured Greendale, I think there was some negative press, but mainly because it hadn't been released yet, nor had the tour been promoted as "Neil's new shit!" or whatever, and audiences didn't want to sit through 70+ minutes of unfamiliar material.

I love both the album and the film (which I was lucky enough to see in a theater).

Wrath by the band Iris is another one. Synth pop by two guys who obviously dig the shit out of Depeche Mode and I think this album is up there with some of DM's best

― Vinnie
Great recommendation!

the CURE - The Top
clap your hands say yeah - s/t

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah is the eponymous debut album by Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, self-released in the U.S. on 13 September 2005, and released in the UK on 23 January 2006 by Wichita Recordings. Produced and mixed by Adam Lasus, the album and the band rose to fame after buzz and attention built up on various MP3 blogs and a very positive ("9.0/10") review from influential music website Pitchfork Media. Clap Your Hands Say Yeah was listed as one of the 50 most important recordings of the decade by National Public Radio's All Songs Considered.[12]

Well I hope Im wrong then but I thought opinion changed after the intial buzz. Also thought most of that buzz was due to its DIY success

aight

it's a great record

I am possibly the only person who likes the last Lovin' Spoonful album, "Revelation: Revolution '69", which was basically Joe Butler and some session musicians - Joe Butler being the drummer of Lovin' Spoonful, for those not so familiar with them. I always liked the songs he sang when Lovin' Spoonful actually were Lovin' Spoonful.

Another one for Bobby Conn...really great album

New Radicals - Maybe You've Been Brainwashed Too

my favorite Flying Burrito Bros record is the self-titled one with "Colorado," don't know if that's rated

the top is like the best cure album

Think that New Radicals record has had enough reevaluation that I know more people who view it positively than negatively. It's a nice album

my favorite Flying Burrito Bros record is the self-titled one with "Colorado," don't know if that's rated

It is by me.

Yes - Tormato (lots of fun)
Beach Boys - Holland (not particularly disliked but extremely underrated)
Beach Boys - Light Album (not a great album but it has some of my favourite songs on it)

When the Dennis Wilson albums got reissued I was incredibly pissed off nobody ever mentioned "Baby Blue" from Light Album.

Don't know who underrates Holland anymore tbh, I think it' might even be overrated now!

King Crimson - Lizard (hey, despite Haskell's stroke-y vocals, I dig it)

Beach Boys - Love You

this has for real become one of my favorite BB albums

I'm still a fan of the pre-release bootleg version of Lily Allen's first album.

Also, The Streets.

I'll have to have a think about what the actual "least" acclaimed album that I like is, but one that's springing to my mind right now is Ministry's With Sympathy.

Lizard has it's fans, I thought. I like it a lot more than In the Court... personally.

Prob 1st Remy Zero (s/t) or 1st Kelley Deal 6000 album (Go to the Sugar Altar)

Beach Boys - Love You

A lot of Beach Boys fans like this album.

I guess nobody's brave enough to stan for the Beach Boys' '80s outout?

*output

I guess nobody's brave enough to stan for the Beach Boys' '80s outout?

well SOME people belonged to Columbia House in the 80s....

Yeah, Love You is very well regarded in Beach Boys hardcore fan circles. Goodness knows why, I think it's shit.

Yes, I tried to get into it based on all the buzz but...

I don't recall much good on the album, just the silliest tracks.

Great album.

"Mona" is pretty good.

Probably my least favourite track tbh.

I really just wish someone would write a book about 'Ding Dang'

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shortnin%27_Bread#The_Beach_Boys_version

Some people responded to my mention of Neil Young's Greendale. It's probably true that it was never that badly acclaimed. I got the impression that many weren't wild about it as I have heard from some people/in some reviews that they simply don't have patience for it or couldn't get into the themes.

It's probably more a divisive album than an overall badly acclaimed one. That, I think, might also be true for later David Sylvian albums: Blemish, Manafon. I adore them, I'm pretty sure I'm far from the only one & those albums got good reviews, but I've met three different longtime Sylvian fans who told me that they couldn't listen to it.

More on topic: every album by Echo & the Bunnymen is very, very dear to me. I know that a lot of fans mainly think highly of their classic first four records with the original line-up and are quite dismissive of most of their post-reunion album, some of those later albums didn't get all-positive reviews either. But I have immense love for them all, as well as Ian McCulloch's solo work (even if I would also name Porcupine and Ocean Rain their best).

xp saw Neil play a Greendale show and will never be able to fully forgive him.

Oh!

Alice Cooper's DaDa! There's another one.

clap your hands say yeah - s/t

― nicky lo-fi, Saturday, April 22, 2017 10:44 AM (one year ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I don't know how many people who love their self-titled album know this, but their 2017 album, The Tourist is right up there with that one - a pretty damn good album.

i like a lot of indie landfill stuff that the critics sneer at

my morning jacket, i like them. i like danger mouse a lot too.

rubik, i think they were good. also zun zun egui, i like them.

lots of "weird" stuff of course. that thing eric dolphy did with the opera singer, i think people don't like that one much.

The final album by Kingmaker, 'In The Best Possible Taste' - or the first half of it at least.

Rehearsing My Choir received mixed reviews, and has a 63 on Metacritic — so I guess that.

yeah that one is so good! no Blueberry Boat but oh well

Oh, I like it more!

I love Van Der Graaf's World Record, which is probably their least loved LP including reunion albums

rym has it above all the reunion records (the last two of which i love) and "aerosol grey machine" (which i also love)

Throwing Muses' "Red Heaven" maybe or The Pooh Sticks "Great White Wonder"?

The 1976 Iron Butterfly album ‘Sun and Steel’ is terrible but I adore it and could listen to it forever.

Many people love to hate on Drake but I think most of his albums have worthwhile moments and his “pop” singles are usually brilliant imho.

Leaving aside library music, second-tier mid-century composers with virtually no audience, and recordings of bird-song and steam trains, maybe...

Terence Trent D'Arby's Neither Fish Nor Flesh, or most of it.

I really like Endless Wire by Gordon Lightfoot but everyone says its the beginning of his decline.

a weekend in the city

Kreuzberg's a great song, but yeah i don't think i've listened to the rest of that album since it came out.

Cher Lloyd - Sorry I'm Late

I could actually list a lot of modern pop albums here if I was going by RYM. All Britney albums apart from Blackout have scores under 3, even her good albums like Glory, In The Zone and Femme Fatale.

for whatever reason it's the remake of "The Circle is Small" that sours me on Endless Wire. can't remake perfection.

but its definitely fine, maybe a half-step down from Summertime Dream, if that. his later records are way worse.

Roxette - Joyride

Good question. If we're only talking about critically panned albums rather than hopelessly obscure ones, I frankly have no idea.

New Order - Get Ready, Waiting for the Sirens Call, and Republic

The second Subcircus one, probably, although I haven’t listened to it in years.

For me, this might have to be the Velvet-Underground-But-Really-Just-Doug-Yule album Squeeze, which I legit enjoy very much.

The second Subcircus one, probably, although I haven’t listened to it in years.

I'll rep for their debut, but the 2nd album fell off a cliff. When you do go back to it, you may find it hasn't aged well.

not sure what acclaimed means here but idaho's "year after year" is still one of the albums i love most. i don't remember many people repping for it besides parts of the french press (libé, les inrocks).

Kula Shaker - Peasants, Pigs & Astronauts

OK, I haven't heard it in over a decade, but I used to like it a lot

FPed Fred

xxp I can believe that, still embarrassed I spent real money on it.

Fred in Kula SHOCKAH!

Moby Grape "Wow"

"VU" Squeeze is impressive. Not sure I've heard or read any positive opinion on that before.

I still can't be bothered to try it.

yeah I think that's the best answer so far

Lol what can I say, I like Yule's voice it's got some good tunes, but doomed by its context. Obviously doesn't belong on the shelf with the Velvets but ime the reasons its so bad & hated often boil down to "has no original members of the VU" and "no songs about drug-fueled orgies", which yeah, neither do a lot of albums. The 3 best songs on it could replace the 3 worst songs on Loaded imho. Forget that it says "Velvet Underground" on the cover and it's a nice enough slice of 70s singer-songwriter rock. Resigned to the fact that not even Doug Yule agrees with me :)

OK, I'll bite -- which 3 songs on "Squeeze" are better than any 3 songs on "Loaded" (and which 3)?

Heh, well here's where the "imho" part comes in. But Loaded being my least fav VU record, "Cool It Down" and "Head Held High" have always been weak links for me, and Lou's vox on "Train Round the Bend" are like nails on a chalkboard to me, the only Velvets song that I truly flat-out dislike. An alternate universe version of Loaded that replaces those 3 with "Friends", "She'll Make You Cry", and "Wordless" from Squeeze is an improved listening experience to my ears. They'd still be the 3 weakest songs on Loaded, but they wouldn't make it any worse imo. (Faint praise maybe, but hey.)

I read somewhere once that "Friends" and "She'll Make You Cry" were supposedly demoed during the Loaded sessions but not sure if I believe it.

That is bollocks, as is the idea that the best tracks on Squeeze are even halfway as good as the worst tracks on Loaded.

Squeeze is not terrible but I don't believe anyone LOVES it.

I long ago accepted the fact that I am nuts and literally no one else thinks this.

"wordless" is a decent enough song, and "loaded" is my least favorite velvets record too, but i wouldn't replace "train round the bend" with it.

i'd replace some songs on mardi gras, possibly even pendulum, with songs from "squeeze". i'd replace any of the songs on "unconditionally guaranteed" with songs from "squeeze". i wouldn't replace any songs on any beach boys albums through "keepin' the summer alive" with songs from "squeeze", even the terrible ones.

Even "Transcendental Meditation"? Ouch, poor Doug.

New Radicals

Frankie Goes To Hollywood's Liverpool is one that I really love that gets a hard time. Sure there's nothing as incredible as Two Tribes, Relax or The Power Of Love, but it's solid all the way through. For Heaven's Sake in particular is one of their best songs and Rage Hard deserved to be massive.

I used to love the first two King's X albums and still dig them out once in a blue moon.

I know it's basically Christian rock, but there's something about the pastoral airy-fairyness of it that just gets me.

I think I have quite a few of these. I've already said With Sympathy (disowned by both Al Jourgensen and a lot of Ministry fans) and DaDa (a fan favourite, but one of Alice Cooper's lowest selling and commercially unsuccessful albums and none of its songs have ever been played live) but I've been listening to Gary Numan's much maligned Warriors a lot recently, so it may just be that.

hue and cry: seduced and abandoned, and remote

wet wet wet: popped in souled out

Terence Trent D'Arby's Symphony Or Damn
Xiu Xiu Nina
Eurythmics Peace

I feel like I do this with movies a lot more than albums ("Myra Breckenridge", "Southland Tales")

Oh I like "uncondit guar", but...

I LIKES "BLUEJEANS AND MOONBEAMS" MORE ahem except "Upon the my o my" is prime.

Singalong chaps.. "Captain, Captain..."

Gene - Olympian

Bluejeans & Moonbeams was the first Beefheart album I knew, my dad had it when I was young. For a supposedly terrible album it's amazing, there are a few duff tracks for sure, but Observatory Crest is just sublime.

'Observatory Crest' is a beautiful song!

I used to love the first two King's X albums and still dig them out once in a blue moon.

I know it's basically Christian rock, but there's something about the pastoral airy-fairyness of it that just gets me.

― does it look like i'm here (jon123)

i don't think an album being made by a christian, even a rock album, disqualifies it from being worth listening to. i really like an album by a band called the rock 'n roll worship circus who were really into big star. mostly i feel sorry for them. the guy from king's x for instance probably gave a good go of being christian and gay before reluctantly concluding he couldn't be both and that he couldn't not be gay.

Even "Transcendental Meditation"? Ouch, poor Doug.

― One Eye Open

i like transcendental meditation! but even so i'm not saying that the songs are _good_, a lot (all) of the statutory rape songs the beach boys loved to do are just indefensible, just that i can't imagine any of the songs on "squeeze" ever finding their way onto beach boys albums... and there's a lot of unexpected shit on beach boys albums!

Terence Trent D'Arby's Symphony Or Damn

uh what? this is often called his best album, even at the time

Oh really? I think I just got clowned a couple times for thinking it was good (and it is)

The self-titled Interpol album

I love Bluejeans and Moonbeams too! Yeah it’s too “normal” for beefheart but it has some beautiful arrangements. I’m particularly fond of “observatory crest” and “further than we’ve gone”. I’d definitely sample several bits of tbis album if I were a producer.

“Same old blues” is also good. “Party of special things to do”... Yes I actually love this album come to think of it... might even be one of my top 3 CB albums.

Robbie Williams - Rudebox

A lot of people are listing a less acclaimed album from an otherwise highly-regarded artist, so I just want to give a shout to the people upthread who mentioned Phish, Wet Wet Wet, and Toto.

For me, I think it's gonna be "When I Woke" from Rusted Root, who have a whole ILM thread dedicated to how laughable they are.

I thought of Empire, New Jersey, The Wall, and various Yes and Rush albums but a quick scan suggests the correct answer is probably Metal Machine Music.

This thread did motivate me to listen to Squeeze for the first time. It hasn't made a strong impression a few tracks in.

(I am listening to Ghost now.)

i have 12 hours of live phish in my music library

that's 39 songs, i know that seems like a lot for 12 hours of phish but there are some really short jams that skew the average

squeeze never made an impression on me either, i struggle to figure out how anybody can hate it, like dude you're just hating the idea of it because i can't believe you can actually remember a single goddamn thing about that record

Making a weak impression is what Squeeze does best.

I love Kiss' Unmasked. It's a fun power pop album. "She's So European!"

Uriah Heep's Salisbury - the North American version that has "Simon The Bullet Freak" instead of "Bird Of Prey." (I prefer the earlier version of BOP.)

Robbie Williams - Rudebox

Rudebox is Robbie’s only interesting album

Ooh "she's so European" is catchy as heck, great pre-chorus.

comedown machine

Oh damn I loved the singles. Shld I listen to the rec?

wet wet wet: /popped in souled out/

I can't on this thread. I refuse to participate. 😂

comedown machine

― ufo,

Great album. Their second best after Room On Fire.

"i don't think an album being made by a christian, even a rock album, disqualifies it from being worth listening to."

To be fair, I didn't say that. But Christian rock has a pretty bad rep for a reason.

oh absolutely, christian rock is mostly very bad and deserves to be hated, and honestly even king's x never grabbed me

comedown machine

― ufo, Thursday, March 28, 2019 11:30 PM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

omg this is a good one

Angles was the true critical nadir, no?

yes, rightly

i mean i really like about half of it

Those later Strokes albums are totally non-canonical to me (lol)

And the third album isn’t even all that good, but at least it’s a “Strokes album.”

the two albums that follow are both superior! (it does have some jams though)

haha angles is the one i dig. easily my 3rd fave of theirs.

i fuck w those first 4 my morning jacket records but seems even if they're unfashionable now they were fairly well-regarded at the time?

Comedown Machine might be the only album of theirs I’d consider purchasing.

metacritic says Angles was reviewed slightly better than Comedown Machine and FIOE but it's solidly their worst imo. the first three tracks rule but the rest feels like a dry run for Comedown Machine. on a lot of tracks they're trying to do something that resembles the chiller, slightly more groove driven sound they adopted on Comedown Machine but with harsh production to sound like their first two albums and it doesn't just work that well. FIOE is mostly just bloated, it has plenty of highs as great as their best work but around 1/3 of it is complete filler.

Comedown Machine has a lovely warm sound and all the songs are jam-packed with subtle hooks that feel like they've been with you forever, there's times when it's my favourite of their albums

i also really like the first album Julian did with The Voidz, Tyranny, but i think i'm much more alone there. his trademark hooks are still everywhere they're just buried under layers of sludge

Killing Joke's Fire Dances. Generally regarded as their weakest, I think it their best.

^ well, weakest of their early period. I can't really be arsed with KJ when they became a token metal band with ideas.

you have dishonored the 🔥

I bought Fire Dances last year on the understanding that it was one of their best and I love it. Looking forward to the earlier stuff.

Is that the first post-Youth?
I finally got into the early stuff when the remasters happened 10 years ago or whatever.

Queen - A Kind of Magic

Not unacclaimed but inexplicably underrated, I would trade Buke And Gase for the entire oeuvre of both Kate Bush and Sonic Youth

Just checking them out, sounds pretty good.

The first Queen album doesn't seem to get much love but I prefer it to A Night At The Opera. Even "My Fairy King", yes.

I agree. That first Queen album rocks hard and while the production has its flaws, I've come to love the record anyway. It's nice to hear them in a (relatively) rawer way. 'Liar' and 'Great King Rat' still tear my face off.

Ooh, thought of another one... Japan's Adolescent Sex from their early, more glam rock era. David Sylvian's snotty and bratty vocal style bears little resemblance to the vocal style he'd become known for, Mick Karn hasn't discovered fretless yet and the bass is more in a supporting role rather than pushed up front like it would be later, and Rob Dean had yet to become surplus to requirements - there's funky guitar licks galore all over the record.

The band have gone on record as saying that they don't think much to the album and they weren't ready to make a record at that stage in their development. As the creators of Quiet Life, Gentlemen Take Polaroids and Tin Drum, I respect their opinion. They're fucking wrong, though.

The thread title promises so much more than these posts actually deliver.
Where are the people testifying about their love for Candlebox or Uncle Kracker?
Where are the closet fans of the Spin Doctors or the Scarlett Johansson covers album? Does anyone in this bitch like ICP??

Step it up, people -- the spectrum of bad goes way past Comedown Machine. This is the rare thread where the people in the adjacent cubicles would have more interesting answers than ilxors.

i love multiple silverchair albums idk

Surely "least acclaimed" does not equal "bad", but I agree that Comedown Machine isn't particularly an interesting answer to the thread question.

Ok I will struggle to enjoy more time unenjoyed music

I mean, I do like two albums by The Tea Party like a lot but they’re not critically reviled so much as just weirdly embarassing

my family photo album!!

Transmission rules tbh xp

I avoided Buke and Gase subconsciously because I always clocked them by their name as a Tenacious D side project or something, but I'm listening now and they sound pretty cool

Metal Machine Music was much more critically reviled than Pocket Full of Kryptonite, based on the surveys of critical reception in Wikipedia!

The one Buke & Gase clip I checked out was very good. Listening to Scholars now.

I can safely say that I do not care for Transmission, but I think The Edges Of Twilight is a pretty.. perfect album? What they're trying to do is extremely stupid! But they do it so perfectly! It is amazing to see how much sound they made as a rock trio, too

Buke And Gase are named after their instruments (baritone uke, guitar-bass) and even were originally named Buke And Gass for spelling consistency but were constantly introduced with the Gass being pronounced "gas" so, yeah. They don't have good album covers and actually they don't particularly have good albums either? Like, obtuse self-sabotaging mixing decisions that are particular to virtuosos with lofty goals who choose to shoot themselves in the foot at the last moment rather than turn in "the album that their efforts produced"? But it's really about seeing them live, they are the loudest and most brilliant two-piece in history, I must've seen them play two dozen times now over the years and I'm still shattered every time. Think of Deerhoof scaled-down to a two-piece and with added ambition and less levity

My partner cites The Edges of Twilight as the album she has listened to the most in her life. I do mean to listen to the whole thing at some point. I think I always felt that the drummer let them down a bit?

What they're trying to do is extremely stupid! But they do it so perfectly!

ahaha this is a perfect summation of their whole thing. they were the most embarrassing and thus most enjoyable of the "major" CanCon radio rock acts of the 90s. (have we ever polled those?)

i guess i need to get into the tea party

(i already love olp and matthew good)

They were no Gandharvas imo.

Brad I can safely say that you would love both Splendour Solis and The Edges Of Twilight

The lead singer is definitely something. It felt even in the 90s like everyone was trying to take down the band for the lead singer being "lame-o" because he equal parts aped Jim Morrison and Jimi Hendrix, was the only person I'd stoop to using the word "pseudo-intellectual" to describe, but his insufferability comes off as charming now. I remember in high school, my friends saying things about him like "lol he's from WINDSOR" and "people who went to high school with him said he only listened to New Order and only developed this guitar-mystic persona once he graduated lololol" and these "criticisms" just seem kind of charming now? idk, those first two albums are hit after hit after hit. Brad just listen to The Edges Of Twilight's first six tracks and either you'll flip out or you'll know the band is not for you

Jim Morrison and Jimmy Page, surely?

As a side note, did we ever poll Big Shiny Tunes 2?

Yep!: Favourite track from Canada's 5th biggest selling album of all-time "Big Shiny Tunes 2"

I listened to Edges of Twilight a lot, but did eventually get rid of the CD in my early 20s because I thought it looked embarrassing in my CD collection. Haven't listened to it in about 20 years but looking at the track listing right now I could remember most of the songs. Sister Awake is the one I remember liking the most. I should listen to it.

Yeah, that's her favourite.

Yes I got my Jameses confused

Me I like The Bazaar and Inanna and especially Silence... this album really got into some tightly controlled cacophony

Edges of Twilight is better than I expected tbh.

I unfortunately have The Tea Party to thank for my introduction to "what all the Indian instruments are called and what they do"

I managed to listen to half of Edges of Twilight. It's not really that bad, but I don't need or want any of this.

It's not really that bad, but I don't need or want any of this.

New board description.

TRIPtych was my intro. Some good singles off that one. I imagine some of the deep cuts are pretty dire, though.

Daughters self titled album is my favorite thing they've ever done including the new stuff. Usually is pretty forgotten.

I still love the Tomorrow, in a Year by The Knife, Planningtorock and Mt. Sims. Generally unloved.

I feel like I was shouting into the void with Self Defense Family's Have You Considered Punk Music last year. Still love it.

The Sunn/Scott Walker collab might get some more love now due to recent sad events but I was genuinely shocked at how little acclaim it got comparatively to how much i loved that thing.

For this question thought I'm going to go with the Mountain Goats - Goths. Its my favorite by them and easily one of my favorite albums of the decade. It definitely got a fair amount of love but they have a lot of acclaimed albums and this generally probably isn't considered top tier. And that is a testament to a lifetime of excellent releases. It's also very different than the others and i love it very much.

Love is a funny word to use in the case of Rick Dees' "Disco Duck" album, but hey.

can't actually remember any full albums if i look at the tracklistings but i probably really enjoy a modern talking album or two

Siegbran to thread.

Modern Talking were the best. I still play that shit now. I even wrote a musical based on their songs back in the 90s (in my head, but still).

ot unacclaimed but inexplicably underrated, I would trade Buke And Gase for the entire oeuvre of both Kate Bush and Sonic Youth

― flamboyant goon tie included, Sunday, March 31, 2019 4:48 AM

Meant to ask if you're a huge fan of Kate Bush and Sonic Youth?

Could Buke & Gase support a thread because I'm thinking of getting Riposte soon.

Daughters self titled album is my favorite thing they've ever done including the new stuff. Usually is pretty forgotten.

I only listened to it again when the new one came out, but 'The Unattractive, Portable Head' is such a great song.

i don't even know how to process my appreciation of jason falkner's _all quiet on the noise floor_ as kind of perfect statement of power pop and pop formalism, in structure, technique, and delivery. but a) i don't know if anyone outside of 100 people have ever heard it b) i am not a musician, critic or anything, i just like that genre generally and holy shit c) trying to like stuff other ppl don't know is an annoying trait.

Some bloke came in the shop. I said hello. He started singing:"Is it me you're looking for..." I added:"I can see it in your eyes." He turned around and fistbumped me saying I had top taste and asked if I knew of Paul Young.

One of the better clients. Lol. But no, I hate the song, dude. Lol

Siegbran to thread.

Modern Talking were the best. I still play that shit now. I even wrote a musical based on their songs back in the 90s (in my head, but still).

― breastcrawl, Wednesday, April 3, 2019 10:41 AM (two days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

nice

Thomas Anders and Modern Talking Band (how they're billed) played my city on Wednesday :'(

i don't even know how to process my appreciation of jason falkner's _all quiet on the noise floor_ as kind of perfect statement of power pop and pop formalism, in structure, technique, and delivery. but a) i don't know if anyone outside of 100 people have ever heard it b) i am not a musician, critic or anything, i just like that genre generally and holy shit c) trying to like stuff other ppl don't know is an annoying trait.

― Hunt3r

fuck it i'll listen to that record, i've only heard his record with r stevie moore but it was pretty good and i like power pop

seriously that experience is just goddamn normal for me, you know what power pop i listen to? goddamn hussalonia, there are maybe about five people who know who that dude is

feel free to drop by the thread where i just post shit i love but can't actually talk about to anybody because maybe three people have heard it, the more the merrier

Some bloke came in the shop. I said hello. He started singing:"Is it me you're looking for..." I added:"I can see it in your eyes."

that song was one of my mum's favourite songs when I was a kid. for kinda sad reasons, it was her sort of theme song for a failed relationship. although I can't stand the song myself I can't hate it either

It's more that nobody has heard it, but I found out the first self-titled Autre ne Veut is on streaming services, and that might still be my album of the decade. Love it so much.

Xpost it is actually a good song. Just heard it a gazillion times way back. :-)

Co-sign all that Tea Party talk upthread, have always loved The Edges Of Twilight, especially the songs where they amplified the Zep love and Eastern elements to a huge scale, the big drum break in Sister Awake is genuinely thrilling after all these years.

I don't think it's hated or anything - it just kind of fell into a crack in the earth upon release, as one would expect, but the Cult's 2012 album Choice of Weapon is really good.

Metal Machine Music for me - glad to see it's received several mentions on this thread already. When I first heard it (the Buddha Records reissue on CD) I was quite disappointed, expecting some kind of rip-your-head-off wall of feedback. But now I appreciate it as almost a relaxing record.

It's really beautiful. It's the only Lou Reed record I ever listen to anymore (I spent years trying to get into him and the VU before finally giving up).

I still stand by my answer at the start of this thread.

i like mmm too, it is a quite soothing listen.

I just realised it's most likely 'Monsters' by Meat Puppets

Ha; I remember buying that record in high school after hearing Huevos and Up On The Sun, liking both a lot, and wanting more of that; I put it in my Walkman and was instantly like "What is this terrible pseudo-metal?" (I love metal, but that wasn't what I wanted from the Meat Puppets at all.) I turned around and returned it; luckily, my friend's family owned the store and he let me pick something else instead.

First track I heard was 'Light' on the radio, which is a kinda Grateful Dead sounding thing, but I was at home with the heavier stuff on the record, not having heard them before, I love the whole thing, Linn-Drum and all but the last track 'Like Being Alive' is absolutely beautiful.

Well, your post has me revisiting them on Spotify, for the first time in ~30 years, so maybe I'll check it out.

I guess my real answer should be Tremolo by Blue Rodeo, generally regarded (when it's regarded at all) as a generic mid-career MOR album but was genuinely mind-expanding for me as a kid, esp the closing run of songs, which include Cowboy Junkies style slowcore, intricate instrumental gorgeousness, and the closest they ever got to cutting a punk tune.