What's the least acclaimed album you love?

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...

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.