They have a monthly feature on this in "Uncut" and I thought it might make an interesting topic here. The idea is to name an album that you love that seems to have fallen off the radar and tell everyone why you recommend it. I'll start:
"Controversy" - Prince
Whatever happened to Prince? Has the "Artist formerly known as..." nonsense damaged his reputation beyond repair? Whatever the reason, the string of albums he put out in the '80s was superb. "1999" is widely considered his strongest disc from that period, but I have a soft spot for "Controversy". Sure, some of the sexual references are a little corny and over-the-top (e.g. "Jack U Off"), but it is without a doubt one of the funkiest albums ever recorded and I vividly remember my college roommate and I spinning this at parties, along with Earth, Wind & Fire, while smoking things I won't mention here. Good times. The music still sounds terrific and today's third-rate pop stars can't hold a candle to The Man in Purple. Come to think of it, "Purple Rain" wasn't a bad film either.
Underappreciated albums
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Who Shot Sam?
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Underappreciated albums
Mother, Moose-Hunter, Maverick
Rock of Ages
by The Band
I realize that few live albums get the respect they deserve, save maybe Live At Leeds by The Who, but when listening to The Band's studio albums we forget how great a live band The Band were. Sure, there's The Last Waltz, but it seems so much of the focus there is on the guest artists rather than The Band themselves.
On Rock of Ages, recorded over a series of concerts around New Year's Eve 1971/1972, The Band deliver hits and lesser-known tracks live and enthusiastically, with the help (on many tracks) of fantastic horn arrangements, arranged by Allen Toussaint and performed by Howard Johnson, Joe Farrell, Earl McIntyre, J.D. Parron, and Snooky Young.
In 2000, a deluxe 2CD edition was released with Disc 1 containing the entire original album and Disc 2 containing songs recorded over those evenings but not included on the initial album.
Highly recommended, especially if you have the early studio albums by The Band and don't know where to go next.
by The Band
I realize that few live albums get the respect they deserve, save maybe Live At Leeds by The Who, but when listening to The Band's studio albums we forget how great a live band The Band were. Sure, there's The Last Waltz, but it seems so much of the focus there is on the guest artists rather than The Band themselves.
On Rock of Ages, recorded over a series of concerts around New Year's Eve 1971/1972, The Band deliver hits and lesser-known tracks live and enthusiastically, with the help (on many tracks) of fantastic horn arrangements, arranged by Allen Toussaint and performed by Howard Johnson, Joe Farrell, Earl McIntyre, J.D. Parron, and Snooky Young.
In 2000, a deluxe 2CD edition was released with Disc 1 containing the entire original album and Disc 2 containing songs recorded over those evenings but not included on the initial album.
Highly recommended, especially if you have the early studio albums by The Band and don't know where to go next.
This morning you've got time for a hot, home-cooked breakfast! Delicious and piping hot in only 3 microwave minutes.
Matthew Sweet: In Reverse
This album, much of which was recorded using Phil Spector's classic Wall of Sound technique, shows all the best sides of Matthew Sweet as a vocalist and writer. Sweet pop, excellent rock (Millenium Blues) and the best boy-band song ever written, but not recorded by any boy band (I'll Do Something For You). Great, great stuff.
This album, much of which was recorded using Phil Spector's classic Wall of Sound technique, shows all the best sides of Matthew Sweet as a vocalist and writer. Sweet pop, excellent rock (Millenium Blues) and the best boy-band song ever written, but not recorded by any boy band (I'll Do Something For You). Great, great stuff.
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SoLikeCandy
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Flood by They Might Be Giants
"Lincoln" was the album that made them famous, but "Flood" is the album that revealed their genius. Songs like "Birdhouse in Your Soul", "Whistling in the Dark" and "Dead" sound delightfully goofy, but the lyrics hold a much deeper, darker meaning--the bounciness of the music is tempered by the ideas behind it. Aside from that, it's terribly fun music that compels you to laugh, dance, or get strange looks from fellow drivers.
"Lincoln" was the album that made them famous, but "Flood" is the album that revealed their genius. Songs like "Birdhouse in Your Soul", "Whistling in the Dark" and "Dead" sound delightfully goofy, but the lyrics hold a much deeper, darker meaning--the bounciness of the music is tempered by the ideas behind it. Aside from that, it's terribly fun music that compels you to laugh, dance, or get strange looks from fellow drivers.
If there's one thing you can say about mankind--there's nothing kind about man
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Mr. Average
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Pat Metheny: Secret Story
A brilliant guitarist from Missouri (maybe Rope knows him) who has produced a new musical genre that is loosely tethered to traditional guitar jazz, but weaves in element so of World Music and influences from so many sources. This particular recording is absolutely brilliant...challenging, riveting, sonically stimulating.
As it represents a theme (all instrumental with vocal choral work performed by Vietnamese Womens Choirs to give a very unique sound) of the perfect relationship, followed from the original meeting, through the apogee of it's intensity, and finally through its demise. The lament that marks the realization that his relationship with the stunning Colombian-born girl is over is a compisition that will move you, unless you are made of stone.
This is worth the investment. When I saw this thread last evening, I stayed up and listened to it in the dark until almost three am, and although I have heard this album a zillion times over the years, and seen parts of it performed live, I was as moved as the first time I heard it. It, like Miles Davis' Kind of Blue, never loses its fresh, alluring feel.
This guy is very underappreciated, but whatever you do don't run out and selct randomly from his catalog. He is the EC of the uitar jazz community, meaning that he never falls into a rut and is always discovering new ways to express himself. The forays into the Don Cherry experiments of completely improvisational and free-form jazz will leave you cold unless you are a very critical listener of that genre of music.
Get "Secret Story"
A brilliant guitarist from Missouri (maybe Rope knows him) who has produced a new musical genre that is loosely tethered to traditional guitar jazz, but weaves in element so of World Music and influences from so many sources. This particular recording is absolutely brilliant...challenging, riveting, sonically stimulating.
As it represents a theme (all instrumental with vocal choral work performed by Vietnamese Womens Choirs to give a very unique sound) of the perfect relationship, followed from the original meeting, through the apogee of it's intensity, and finally through its demise. The lament that marks the realization that his relationship with the stunning Colombian-born girl is over is a compisition that will move you, unless you are made of stone.
This is worth the investment. When I saw this thread last evening, I stayed up and listened to it in the dark until almost three am, and although I have heard this album a zillion times over the years, and seen parts of it performed live, I was as moved as the first time I heard it. It, like Miles Davis' Kind of Blue, never loses its fresh, alluring feel.
This guy is very underappreciated, but whatever you do don't run out and selct randomly from his catalog. He is the EC of the uitar jazz community, meaning that he never falls into a rut and is always discovering new ways to express himself. The forays into the Don Cherry experiments of completely improvisational and free-form jazz will leave you cold unless you are a very critical listener of that genre of music.
Get "Secret Story"
"The smarter mysteries are hidden in the light" - Jean Giono (1895-1970)
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Who Shot Sam?
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I would agree with you that Metheny's albums are really hard to pigeonhole. I like the stuff he did with Don Cherry/Old & New Dreams, etc. but I can see that it might not be everyone's cup of tea.Mr. Average wrote:Pat Metheny: Secret Story
I saw Pat with his trio (including Larry Grenadier and Bill Stewart) a few years ago at a little place up here in our neck of the woods, just after they came out with that 2CD live album. It was a great show. I also liked "Under the Missouri Sky", a guitar/bass duets album he did with Charlie Haden.
Mother, Moose-Hunter, Maverick
"Bellybutton" - Jellyfish
I guess you could call Jellyfish a kind of American Squeeze - why they werent huge is beyond me. The King Is Half Undressed is kinda like the long lost brother of King Horse and I Wanna Stay Home is one of those songs that when its finished you just wanna take right back to the start and listen to all over again and again and again, and I do...a masterpeice of Beatley pop - my album of the 90s.
..she dots her "i"s with a smiley face
a work of art in all but taste
the fool deserves the bed hes made
where idiots slumber
I guess you could call Jellyfish a kind of American Squeeze - why they werent huge is beyond me. The King Is Half Undressed is kinda like the long lost brother of King Horse and I Wanna Stay Home is one of those songs that when its finished you just wanna take right back to the start and listen to all over again and again and again, and I do...a masterpeice of Beatley pop - my album of the 90s.
..she dots her "i"s with a smiley face
a work of art in all but taste
the fool deserves the bed hes made
where idiots slumber
echos myron like a siren
with endurance like the liberty bell
and he tells you of the dreamers
but he's cracked up like the road
and he'd like to lift us up, but we're a very heavy load
with endurance like the liberty bell
and he tells you of the dreamers
but he's cracked up like the road
and he'd like to lift us up, but we're a very heavy load
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invisible Pole
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In 2000 I thought they were gone or at least they couldn't release anything remotely interesting.
The Waterboys - Universal Hall
After a few years of lame and rather uninspiring songs they were back with the best collection for at least a decade.
The Waterboys - Universal Hall
After a few years of lame and rather uninspiring songs they were back with the best collection for at least a decade.
If you don't know what is wrong with me
Then you don't know what you've missed
Then you don't know what you've missed
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Mr. Average
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Jackson Monk
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Nice call Mike!Mike Boom wrote:"Bellybutton" - Jellyfish
I guess you could call Jellyfish a kind of American Squeeze - why they werent huge is beyond me. The King Is Half Undressed is kinda like the long lost brother of King Horse and I Wanna Stay Home is one of those songs that when its finished you just wanna take right back to the start and listen to all over again and again and again, and I do...a masterpeice of Beatley pop - my album of the 90s.
..she dots her "i"s with a smiley face
a work of art in all but taste
the fool deserves the bed hes made
where idiots slumber
One of my favourite albums of the 90s as well. You've inspired me to dig it out again - its been a while. 'Spilt Milk' wasn't bad either, although not as consistent. The perfect pop band.
corruptio optimi pessima
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tokyo vogue
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I always thought the second wave of punk got a short shrift. Combat 84, the Exploited, and Minor Threat were just as exciting (to me, at least) as anything from 77. If not for the associated football hooliganism, the 4-Skins album The Good, the Bad, and the 4-Skins (or, hell, any other album they put out) would have become effin' famous. Great songs, especially "Plastic Gangster", which is the best punk song you've never heard.
Oi wins out over punk, anyway. The Clash filtered reggae through punk, but Oi filtered punk through Trojan Ska, and I think that's been more of an influence on the scene. I listen to it more often, that's for certain.
Oi wins out over punk, anyway. The Clash filtered reggae through punk, but Oi filtered punk through Trojan Ska, and I think that's been more of an influence on the scene. I listen to it more often, that's for certain.
if we can rock together, why can't we walk together?
Yeah, I got Flood when it came out and hearing it for the first time was revolutionary for me. I saw "Gigantic: A Tale of Two Johns" the TMBG documentary recently and it reminded me how much I do like TMBG.SoLikeCandy wrote:Flood by They Might Be Giants
"Lincoln" was the album that made them famous, but "Flood" is the album that revealed their genius. Songs like "Birdhouse in Your Soul", "Whistling in the Dark" and "Dead" sound delightfully goofy, but the lyrics hold a much deeper, darker meaning--the bounciness of the music is tempered by the ideas behind it. Aside from that, it's terribly fun music that compels you to laugh, dance, or get strange looks from fellow drivers.
Some albums I think are better than the usual critical picks...
Matthew Sweet - 100% Fun
Pink Floyd - The Final Cut
REM - Up
Dexys Midnight Runners - Don't Stand Me Down (although regularly sighted in those 'Underappreciated Albums" articles)
Sugar - Copper Blue
Squeeze - Play
Crowded House - Together Alone
Billy Joel - The Nylon Curtain
The Kinks - Lola Vs The Powermen on the Money-Go-Round, Part One
Wings - Wild Life
DrJ
Tlentifini Maarhaysu
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wehitandrun
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Play by Squeeze?! Hmm.
Underappeciated albums, I'd have to side with...
Deja Entendu - Brand New
Figure 8 - Elliott Smith
Stay What You Are - Saves The Day
The Places You Have Come to Fear The Most - Dashboard Confessional
Make Up The Breakdown - Hot Hot Heat
Slowly Going The Way Of the Buffalo - MxPx
No Kill No Beep Beep - Q and not U
On A Wire - Get Up Kids
Fevers & Mirrors - Bright Eyes
Jungle City Twitch - The Stryder
Underappeciated albums, I'd have to side with...
Deja Entendu - Brand New
Figure 8 - Elliott Smith
Stay What You Are - Saves The Day
The Places You Have Come to Fear The Most - Dashboard Confessional
Make Up The Breakdown - Hot Hot Heat
Slowly Going The Way Of the Buffalo - MxPx
No Kill No Beep Beep - Q and not U
On A Wire - Get Up Kids
Fevers & Mirrors - Bright Eyes
Jungle City Twitch - The Stryder
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selfmademug
Good call. They're the Stephen Hawking of Rock 'n' Roll. I will add MINK CAR by them to the list. There's not a bad song on it. And with a song called HOVERING SOMBRERO which is about-- so far as I can tell after 200-odd listens-- general relativity and the nature of space-time, how can you go wrong? To wit (and from memory, as my son loved this song more than any other for about a year): [nb there is a galaxy called the Sombrero]SoLikeCandy wrote:Flood by They Might Be Giants
Time is flying like an arrow
And the clock hands move so fast they make the wind blow
And it makes the pages of the calendar go
Flying out the window, one by one.
Till a hundred years are on your front lawn
And the old familiar things are mostly all gone
But that old sombrero just keeps hovering on
Hovering Sombrero, hover on.
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Mr. Average
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Dr. J:
It takes courage to list the Nylon Curtain - Billy Joel, and I completely support its inclusion on your list . Underappreciated is a great characterization of this very balanced album of songs.
I concur with Squeeze-Play, as well. Slow to grab, unlike other earlier Squeeze efforst like Cool for Cats, Argybargy, East Side Story. Play takes a while to play out, but once unfolded, it is a great record that is definitely underappreciated
It takes courage to list the Nylon Curtain - Billy Joel, and I completely support its inclusion on your list . Underappreciated is a great characterization of this very balanced album of songs.
I concur with Squeeze-Play, as well. Slow to grab, unlike other earlier Squeeze efforst like Cool for Cats, Argybargy, East Side Story. Play takes a while to play out, but once unfolded, it is a great record that is definitely underappreciated
"The smarter mysteries are hidden in the light" - Jean Giono (1895-1970)
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wehitandrun
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wehitandrun
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laughingcrow
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Rumour and Sigh by Richard Thompson
is probably his finest outing as a solo artist. One of the finest guitarists and lyricists that these shores have produced notches up some crackers here...'Read about love' a tale of pubescent adventure, 'I misundestood' - unrequited heartache, 'Grey walls' - the loss of a loved one to mental illness, 'God Loves A Drunk', 'Keep Your Distance', 'I Feel So Good' all classics...and '1958 Vincent Black Lightning' the finest song about love affairs and motorbikes ever written.
Shame it ends with the weird and disturbing Psycho Street though.
If you don't know Richard Thompson, as one of his many proponents on the board, I urge you to discover him.
is probably his finest outing as a solo artist. One of the finest guitarists and lyricists that these shores have produced notches up some crackers here...'Read about love' a tale of pubescent adventure, 'I misundestood' - unrequited heartache, 'Grey walls' - the loss of a loved one to mental illness, 'God Loves A Drunk', 'Keep Your Distance', 'I Feel So Good' all classics...and '1958 Vincent Black Lightning' the finest song about love affairs and motorbikes ever written.
Shame it ends with the weird and disturbing Psycho Street though.
If you don't know Richard Thompson, as one of his many proponents on the board, I urge you to discover him.
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Jackson Monk
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LC - a fine record indeed, but I'd hardly call it underappreciated....surely any real music fan recgnises it's brilliance???!!??laughingcrow wrote:Rumour and Sigh by Richard Thompson
is probably his finest outing as a solo artist. One of the finest guitarists and lyricists that these shores have produced notches up some crackers here...'Read about love' a tale of pubescent adventure, 'I misundestood' - unrequited heartache, 'Grey walls' - the loss of a loved one to mental illness, 'God Loves A Drunk', 'Keep Your Distance', 'I Feel So Good' all classics...and '1958 Vincent Black Lightning' the finest song about love affairs and motorbikes ever written.
Shame it ends with the weird and disturbing Psycho Street though.
If you don't know Richard Thompson, as one of his many proponents on the board, I urge you to discover him.
corruptio optimi pessima
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Jackson Monk
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Ridiculous was good, but not in the same class as 'Play' or even 'Some Fantastic Place'.wehitandrun wrote:Hey Mr. A- have you listened to "Ridiculous"? I am trying to download it, I keep reading about how it is a 'gem' and their best in years.
All of Squeeze's albums are good tho. I disagree with the wisdom that suggests they went completely downhill after 'East Side Story' . They never made an album as good again, but then Elvis has never come close to his early 80s peak. Doesn't mean it aint worth buying KOA or Brutal Youth...
corruptio optimi pessima
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Mr. Average
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Mr. Average
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Jackson, as per Laughingcrows inclusion of Rumour and Sigh as an underappreicated album...
In the States, you can mention this album to 1000 music lovers and get one, maybe two hits. Richard Thompson just doesn't command the same fan base here as he does elsewhere. While this recording will never escape my top ten of all (deserted on an the uninhabited island with only ten records hypothetical),st doesn't resonate with lots of US fans.
Even though Rolling Stone, for wheatever that is worth, listed it as either the album of the year or a nominee for album of the year when it was released, very few seem to know of it, have it, or appreciate it.
The theory is that, melodically, he is unremarkable on the surface. His productions are often austere, although that doesn't hold for Rumour and Sign, which is more elegantly produced. I think the power of RT lies in the way his lyrics have the ability to reach inside of you and rip parts of your gut out. But if you are looking first for the melody and ignoring the lyrics, then it will be unsatisfying for those who are on the trial run with RT. I swear, that he followed me around during some of the more crisis periods of my life and wrote about it. When I hear songs from, for example, "You? Me? Us?", they hit on a level that no other artist has ever been able to reach.
In the States, you can mention this album to 1000 music lovers and get one, maybe two hits. Richard Thompson just doesn't command the same fan base here as he does elsewhere. While this recording will never escape my top ten of all (deserted on an the uninhabited island with only ten records hypothetical),st doesn't resonate with lots of US fans.
Even though Rolling Stone, for wheatever that is worth, listed it as either the album of the year or a nominee for album of the year when it was released, very few seem to know of it, have it, or appreciate it.
The theory is that, melodically, he is unremarkable on the surface. His productions are often austere, although that doesn't hold for Rumour and Sign, which is more elegantly produced. I think the power of RT lies in the way his lyrics have the ability to reach inside of you and rip parts of your gut out. But if you are looking first for the melody and ignoring the lyrics, then it will be unsatisfying for those who are on the trial run with RT. I swear, that he followed me around during some of the more crisis periods of my life and wrote about it. When I hear songs from, for example, "You? Me? Us?", they hit on a level that no other artist has ever been able to reach.
"The smarter mysteries are hidden in the light" - Jean Giono (1895-1970)
Back to 1990's Squeeze for a mo'...
Play and Some Fantastic Place are definitely worth it, Ridiculous has it's moments but it's where the rot set in. A lot of lyrics are Chris writing directy about himself (Electric Trains, Walk Away) and the production lacks some of the subtlety of the previous two records. The last Squeeze album, Domino(1998), is dire.
DrJ
Play and Some Fantastic Place are definitely worth it, Ridiculous has it's moments but it's where the rot set in. A lot of lyrics are Chris writing directy about himself (Electric Trains, Walk Away) and the production lacks some of the subtlety of the previous two records. The last Squeeze album, Domino(1998), is dire.
DrJ
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