Most underrated album ever?

[Kid_A]

My pick is "Zooropa" by U2. I don't understand the sheer hatred some people have for this album. Sure, it's not "The Joshua Tree Redux", but it's damn good for what it is. "Pop" was very, very not good, and "All That You Can't Leave Behind" is just boring, but "Zooropa" is almost a Great Album that doesn't deserve a tenth of the criticism it gets.

[tsakshaug]

1. either

Abby Road or Sgt. Pepper's lonely hearts club band:D

[MadHound]

2. It's a Beautiful Day, by It's a Beautiful Day

Underated albumn, underrated group. Of course the fact that they faded quickly due to heroin problems didn't help. Still, absolutely phenomenol albumn.

[last_texas_dem]

10. I love that album

Definitely underrated... I think the group also fell apart due to disputes with the owner of the first label they recorded for, San Francisco Sound and their owner (similar to CCR's dispute with Fantasy Records). Also, the rest of the band had a falling-out with the original lead singer/violinist, David LaFlamme. He basically considered himself to be "the band" (and he was definitely the driving force behind it) but so alienated the other members that that aided in their falling apart. Their last album Today is actually my second-favorite by them even though it lacks the awesome psychedelic feel of the first one, and LaFlamme was no longer playing by the time of its recording.

But yeah... great, underrated album. "White Bird" is beautiful, "Girl with No Eyes" is awesomely creepy, and the entire second side is something near psychedelic-music heaven (I like to play it to fall asleep at night). One interesting bit of trivia is that Deep Purple's "Child in Time" has an intro (first couple minutes or so) that basically steals outright the melody to It's a Beautiful Day's "Bombay Calling." Crazy, although I don't believe the band ever took legal action over it.

[Boswells_Johnson]

41. They were a great group!

I think they and Purple did a bit of give and take, 'cause they borrowed a riff from one of Deep Purple's songs in around the same time as Bombay Calling.

[Kid_A]

3. Those are both considered classics...

Unless you mean that they're even better than their reputations imply. In which case you'd be right.:)

[saltpoint]

4. Ferron's SHADOWS ON A DIME.

One tune in particular, "Snowin' in Brooklyn," is a gleaming ruby of a song.

[tigereye]

13. Ferron

whatever happened to her? She was such a big deal at the time.

[saltpoint]

15. I don't know, tigereye. I wish she'd tour again.

What a kinship she had with that guitar.

[tigereye]

17. she did write great songs

And Phranc disappeared, too. Not quite the same caliber, but.

[Wat_Tyler]

20. Morrissey tried desperately to launch Phranc, didn't he?

[XNASA]

5. I really like that album too.

It's by far my fave U2 offering, even though it's really an Eno album with U2 playing the instruments.

[maveric]

6. Schoolboys in Disgrace by The Kinks.

On opera about hypocracy in the british educational system.

[XNASA]

8. Oh man. Another one I love.

That is one wonderful album.

[underpants]

7. I agree and I'll add Game Theory's "Lolita Nation"

I lost the tape of it that I had to a PIECE OF S**T car vacuum and I think it is out of print. Mid to late 80's- it also had the original "Hey Kenneth what's the frequency?" line later made (in)famous by Dan Rather and turned into the title of a completely different song by REM. Great "concept" the whole album was like flipping around a radio dial until you hit the next song.

[tigerbeat]

26. another fan of scott miller!

i somehow lucked into one of the few CDs of Lolita Nation in a used CD store a few years back. apparantly they didn't know that you could sell LN on Ebay for much more than the $3.00 they sold it to me for.

"Plants and Birds and Rocks and Things" just barely edges out Lolita Nation for my favorite scott miller album though.

[driver8]

46. Game Theory fan here, too.

I used to play these guys all the time when I was a college dj. I am going to have to buy some of their stuff on cd. The tapes I have are pretty well shot.

[Jade Fox]

9. Second-rate U2 is better than most band's best efforts....

I like Zooropa too.

[donheld]

11. k d lang's "All You Can Eat"

[warrens]

12. I have two

Words on Black Plastic by Forever More (who later became the inferior Average White Band)

Remember by Doll by Doll. WAY underrated band's first album. A classic and almost totally unknown.

[last_texas_dem]

14. The Four Seasons' _Genuine Imitation Life Gazette_

This one's pretty well forgotten... the sixties vocal group goes "psychedelic" and decides to touch on major social and political issues of the time. Flopped because the concept was perhaps too unbelievable for people to deal with at the time, but it's still a great album.

Other forgotten favorites of mine are The Grassroots' Feelings, Kansas's debut album, and the Association's self-titled album from the late sixties.

[Wat_Tyler]

16. Darklands by the Jesus and Mary Chain.

[aquaman]

51. All can say about that is....

You have amazing taste, Psycho Candy and Darklands are my two favorite releases by Jesus and Mary Chain.

[Touchdown]

18. I'm just the opposite. I'd have to say Pop is MUR

(most underrated)...because you, like every other band jumping wagoneer without a reason love to pile onto it. None of you ever gave it a chance. Gone, Last Night on Earth and Please are some of the best work they ever did... on any album...period. AYCLB is also quite good, but not up to Achtung Baby standards. Zooropa? Except for Lemon, unlistenable at any price.

[Wat_Tyler]

19. Pop is a dog - Zooropa is far better.

Sometimes, bandwagons are there for a reason.

[Touchdown]

24. and after 10 years, still not a reason given.

Oh' well. maybe I'll get an explaination after 15.

[Wat_Tyler]

27. Great use of texture, great tunes - a real sense of atmosphere

a feeling that U2 had perfectly captured the European zeitgeist, Johnny Cash, their best ever song - Stay, a great Talking Heads pastiche, great opening song, Dirty Day, The First Time, Daddy's Gonna Pay For Your Crashed Car, Babyface, good lyrics....

[Touchdown]

29. Fine, now answer my question. Why did Pop suck?

...and don't give me that tired "Sell out" or the fact that the first 3 songs had a dance beat to them, because the next 9 were all pure U2.

[Wat_Tyler]

31. Tired - Eno wasn't involved, Discotheque had no discernable lyric,

Staring at the Sun was OK, but like Please and others, it was pretty much a retread of past U2 glory. Pop sounds very much like U2 following, not U2 leading - it's an attempt to emulate the sounds of the time - The Chemical Brothers, Oasis, Radiohead, The Verve etc. It's a derivative record.

[Touchdown]

34. Not being an Eno fan, then I can see the point.

Unforgettable Fire was a death march for me as well. So it's about Eno and not U2 then, right?

[Wat_Tyler]

37. No, it's about U2 playing to their strengths and collaborating.

You really don't like The Unforgettable Fire? It's a fantastic record.

[Touchdown]

38. I realize what they were trying to do and grow as a band...

...but the energy of Boy & War just wasn't there. They didn't succeed in combing the two until Joshua Tree. Aside from the anger and frustration of their earlier 3, it was just morose to me. Pink Floyd does a better job at being morose and depressing. I don't listen to U2 for that.

[Touchdown]

60. Sorry, not buying it.

Pop is their most introspective, cynical, and personalized albums to date, which includes Atomic Bomb. Underneath the experimental studio work, are lyrics and words searching for things to make us whole, but end up being empty. Most of their other work is extrospective, or commentaries on society or specific societies.

Discotheque is far from empty lyrics. It's a commentary on the search for meaning and love in a drug induced party atmosphere where nothing is real. This theme is furthered in "Gone" where the emptiness is pacified with drug addiction, and finally culminating with the lesson learned at the end in "Please" with the words..."Love is big, is bigger than us, but love is not what you're thinking of." MIxed in are commentaries about looking for happiness in money and popularity in "Playboy Mansion" and "Last Night on Earth."

U2 has no other album as deep and dark as this one.

Never said I didn't like UFF, just that it's not my favorite, but with U2, even at their poorest, they're still better than most rock groups.

[Wat_Tyler]

69. It failed to make any emotional connection to me.

All the previous ones did.

[fishwax]

56. I'll agree with you about Pop

although I also like Zooropa. They are both very different albums, and I don't think either is a rehash of earlier U2 stuff.

I think Zooropa was great for going off in some of the directions it did (The Wanderer with Johnny Cash is quite simply one of U2's finest songs).

I thought Pop was great for returning home from the new directions of Zooropa with some interesting perspectives. It certainly wasn't and didn't try to be the "electronica" album that everyone claimed they were trying to make, and aside from The Playboy Mansion (which makes me retch), the second half of the album is very good.

[FrankBooth]

21. Frank Black's "Teenager of the Year"

and Bowie's "Hunky Dory" which was recorded almost at the same time as "Ziggy Stardust," but never got the acclaim of the latter.

[Wat_Tyler]

22. Hunky Dory is one of the 20 greatest records of all time.

[redqueen]

25. YES! Hunky Dory is definitely underrated.

:thumbsup:

[Wat_Tyler]

28. If she likes it, I don't like it any more.

[redqueen]

30. You're too easy to manipulate...

I fucking LOVE Wat Tyler. He's a true hero and a legend.

Now, run along and change your username again.

[Wat_Tyler]

32. Your wish is my command, your majesty.

[redqueen]

36. Dammit.

I shoulda just said "eat me".

[Ron Green]

23. Willis Alan Ramsey.

He made one album, and it's 100% strong, all the way through.

[FrankBooth]

33. Pavement's "Wowee Zowee"

Sure it was weird and had too many songs, but it still is better than 99% of the stuff that is released - now or ever.

[ChoralScholar]

35. Damn Yankees self-titled album:

[artv28]

39. Crash Test Dummies - Ghost That Haunts Me

CTD's first album is an alt-country rock classic. Only 10 songs but all of them good. None of their other albums have the same country rock sound except for a couple of songs like "Afternoon and Coffee spoons". Each subsequent album has gotten progressively worse in my opinion.

[grace0418]

40. Together Alone by Crowded House

If forced at gunpoint, I might have to say this is my favorite album of all time. It's definitely my favorite Crowded House album. Crowded House in general is massively underrated.

[Wat_Tyler]

43. Good call - as uncool as it is, it's a fabulous record.

[grace0418]

50. Why do you think it's uncool?

I guess that makes me a supergeek but I don't care.

[Wat_Tyler]

57. They're a deeply uncool band for some reason.

I think it's due to their total lack of image and the admitted blandness of their big hit 'Don't Dream It's Over'. Personally, I think Neil Finn one of the dozen-or-so greatest songwriter rock music has ever produced.

[grace0418]

61. I don't know about that

I realize I'm biased but I don't necessarily agree with the assessment of them being uncool (although I DO agree with your assessment of Neil's talent). :) And while I will readily admit their lesser hit "Something So Strong" is rather bland and not an example of their best work, "Don't Dream It's Over" is one of the most beautifully crafted pop songs around.

There are a number of respected musicians that list Neil Finn as one of their faves. I remember one reviewer writing (and I paraphrase here) "Neil Finn has written some songs that Paul McCartney would give his right arm to have written." And a couple years back Neil was able to assemble Ed and Phil of Radiohead (check out the credits of Hail to the Thief, Neil gets a nod), Johnny Marr formerly of the Smiths, Lisa Germano, Sebastian Steinberg of Soul Coughing and Eddie Vedder (a lifelong fan of Finn's work according to various interviews) on very short notice to perform with him in the astounding "Seven Worlds Collide". That doesn't sound like an uncool musician to me.

I realize that the uncool label wasn't your opinion so I'm not bagging on you. But I just wonder where you've seen that perception because I haven't seen it.

[driver8]

65. If being extremely talented is uncool...

then Neil Finn is uncool! However, I never thought of Crowded House as uncool -- great songs, great players, fun shows...can't ask for much more than that.

The shows that Finn did with Vedder, Marr and the rest were amazing. I saw a documentary on tv about it last year. Johnny Marr has always been a favorite of mine. I know that Eddie Vedder is a Split Enz fan -- I am in the Pearl Jam fan club and they always send out singles and one of them is Eddie and the boys doing "History Never Repeats".

Neil also did some new songs with his brother, Tim. The harmonies they sing are amazing. Neil said that sometimes he can't tell who is singing what because their voices just kind of blend together.

Very talented brothers indeed.

[grace0418]

66. LOL! Well, since people like Britney Spears and

Jessica Simpson make millions of dollars, maybe being incredibly talented IS uncool!

[Wat_Tyler]

67. Most people I've discussed the subject with have brought it up.

That, plus the fact that the majority of the music press seemed to dislike them. I think the production on some of the records may have had something to do with it - Woodface is an album of great songs let down by a too clean production, Together Alone really benefits from the grit Youth throws into it.
I think there was a suspicion that they were too mainstream, too safe - I've certainly encountered that opinion often enough.

[driver8]

47. Neil Finn is amazing...

I love Crowded House. I don't have "Together Alone" -- I will have to check that one out.

I have a friend who sees a lot of shows and I remember asking him what's the best show he ever saw and without hesitating he said, "Crowded House."

[grace0418]

52. Buy it immediately

And try to listen to it with no expectations. It's a little different than other CH albums, more atmospheric, more melacholy. But utterly beautiful. I think listening to "Walking on the Spot" early on a summer day, the kind of morning where the sunrise is really golden and magical, is an amazing musical experience.

And see Neil Finn next time he tours your town. Right now he's touring with his brother Tim but I prefer him solo. Anyway, he does a lot of CH and Split Enz material and his shows are always amazing.

[Speck Tater]

42. Spock Sings! Leonard Nimoy (nt)

[tjdee]

44. Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness by Smashing Pumpkins

OR Siamese Dream, can't decide.

Am I the only person who thinks Billy Corgan, jerk though he may be, is a good musician?

[Joe Power]

45. Wayne Kramer - The Hard Stuff

Former guitarist for the MC5. Very underrated guitar player and songwriter, even more underrated album.

"CRACK IN THE UNIVERSE"
(Kramer)


Wilson moved his family out the city
Where times are tough, life is fast and hard and gritty
Moved out to the country where the air is clean and pure
Enrolled his kids in the community college
To gain some working knowledge
Grow up, get married, and settle down
To the American Dream on the edge of town
The dream became a nightmare
When three escaped convicts
Broke into his world
Took the life of his youngest girl
In the space of a breath
There was sudden death
Like a soul had slipped and fallen through
A crack in the universe
A crack in the universe

Ellen was a nice girl raised in Queens
Looking good in designer jeans
She met up with some politicos on the lower east side
Joined a gang of radicals
French-fried fanaticals
Who thought theyd be revolutionary stars
Go and rob an armored car
But man, it turned out different
In a shootout with the police
That left three people dead
On the news they said Ellen took a slug in the head
The New York Post had a photo up close
Might a been a body
Might a been a ghost
From a crack in the universe
Crack in the universe
Lord, Lord
Its not a blessing and it might be a curse
Crack in the universe.

On Tuesday I went to the post office
Pick up a package and mail a letter
Drop a line to an old friend
That I hoped was doing better
The place was the scene of some kind of horrible crime
Another postal worker had lost his mind
Couldnt stand the tension, lost his pension
Afraid of growing old out in the cold no one to hold
As he did his stalking, that Glock did his talking
Yeah he settled the score up and down the floor
SWAT team sniper caught him at the door
The mailman put in a fresh clip
Turned and slipped
Through a crack in the universe
A crack in the universe
Lord, Lord
Its not a blessing and it might be a curse
A crack in the universe
A crack in the universe
A crack.

[DODI]

48. Pros & Cons of Hitchhiking - Roger Waters

[HEyHEY]

49. GOod pick Kid A

[enigmatic]

53. 3 albums:

"The Days Of Wine And Roses"- The Dream Syndicate

"Only Ghosts Remain"- Bobby Sutliff

"Anodyne"- Uncle Tupelo

[enigmatic]

54. 1 more!

"Lost Son"- Richmond Fontaine

[MnFats]

55. anybody remember Rotary Connection?

spooky-cool, great young singer name of Minnie Ripperton with an astounding range....they did a cover of "Like a Rolling Stone" that could break glass.

[drumwolf]

58. Beastie Boys' "Paul's Boutique"

It seems to get more of its deserved respect now, but when it first came out, it landed with a big thud. It was a radical break from "Licensed to Ill" and I think that caught a lot of people, both critics and fans, off guard.

[Nitrogenica]

62. You took my pick!

I watched as a friend of mine destroyed his "Paul's Boutique" tape. I enjoyed it then and still do.

[Orsino]

59. James McMurtry's TOO LONG IN THE WASTELAND

Sad, sad songs--even when they're funny, they're sad. Great tunes, a tight band. It's on my desert island list.

[sakabatou]

63. "Cowgirl Ed OST" by Yoko Kanno

[fleabert]

64. Listen Without Prejudice, George Michael nt

[LeftPeopleFinishFirst]

68. Hanson- This Time Around

I'm serious! where's MVD to back me up on this?