Underrated Albums From Artists You Like

[Gabriel Girard]

The Smashing Pumpkins - Adore : Elegiac, touching, quiet, seemingly personnal. A dark gem.

Radiohead - Pablo Honey : This one often gets short-changed but it's a very solid first album.

Led Zeppelin - In Through The Out Door : Say what you like but I think they went out in style, showing that they could tackle different kinds of music. Carouselambra is a masterpiece.

Alice Cooper - Muscle Of Love - the original group's last deserves more recogintion as does The Last Temption which is Alice's last great album IMHO.

Depeche Mode - Songs Of Faith And Devotions - Their last great album is often overlooked.

Iggy Pop - Naughty Litle Doggie - Great Fun.

Leonard Cohen - Various Positions - Sure there's "Hallellujah" but the rest of the albumn is also very solid. With my favorite being "If It Be Your Will"

[Dan Mancini]

Pink Floyd, Animals - Yes, Roger Waters stretches extended metaphors beyond the breaking point, but David Gilmour's playing is wicked good.

Pearl Jam, Binaural - It's not their best album, but it's not their worst (as many critics say). It's a heck of a lot better than Riot Act. Some days, I like it as much as Yield.

Ramones, Loco Live - Okay, it's not It's Alive, but it's still a butt-kicking document of the band during their post-Dee Dee years.

[Dimwitted]

Chris Rea - Road to Hell. A stunning disc, not a bad song in the bunch which is a rarity these days and the engineering/production is reference quality.
Labradford - Mi Media Maranja. Again, the whole album is great, fantastic ambiance. If you need something that you can drift along to, soothing the difficulties of the day, this is a great place to start.
The Cinematic Orchestra - Ma Fleur. Their most accomplished disc. You'll recognise a few of the pieces since they've licenced a few of them for movies and commercials, especially Home, but the disc holds up quite well.
Godspeed You! Black Emperor - Yanqui U.X.O. I was going to put Skinny Fists in here but it's a little much to take in the first time. Another of those dark ambient things. Long, semi orchestral type pieces with found sound and spoken word bits. Very much an acquired taste but there's not much like it out there. If you like this sort of stuff, this is the best there is.

[tucco]

Totally agree with "In Through the Out Door" by Zep........A strong, strong final parting shot.
I think critics just resented the fact that Zeppelin were dressing like The Knack at the time.
But seriously, it's got some stellar high points and some spine tingling moments......

I'd like to add (just one for now) *Between the Buttons* by the Rolling Stones.
It gets lost in the shuffle as an album (overshadowed by the singles) sometimes but it's got a few essential tracks and some great album tracks as well.

Well just one more for shits and giggles......*Hotter Than Hell* by Kiss.
The dark horse of their classic six studio records, but side one is as brutal and melodic as it gets.....more modern recording artists have cited this particular album since the nineties than I can possibly recall.

[Steve T Power]

Totally agree with Binaural. While i wouldn't say i was ever disappointed with it, I kinda stuck with Yield for a few years beyond even Binaural. Now Binaural comes off of my shelf fairly often. It's grown on me in huge way, and even cuts i used to skip over or just kind of tune out have really kinda endeared themselves to me (like 'Rival' or 'God's Dice'). It was definitely the album they needed to make at that time, even if back then i'd hoped for Yield book II.

Some others:

Oasis - Don't Believe the Truth - After the excess that comes with success filled 'Be Here Now' (the first Oasis album i really 'loved'), Oasis did a bit of soul searching, and Noel's control over the band waned a little. Don't Believe the Truth is the band at their most united, most mature, and least self conscious. I call it the strongest collection of songs of the band's career.

AC/DC - Powerage - Bon Scott era AC/DC at their absolute meanest. The blues influences and barroom vibe permeates the whole album, and every track is a winner. 'Rock n Roll Damnation' would be the best tune this band ever laid to tape if they hadn't written 'If you want Blood (You got It)'. I'm amazed that more people don't go to this one more often, it's the ultimate "groove" album. Music you can nod(or bang if you prefer) your head to. It's what classic AC/DC was all about before they were converted into a radio band, which sounds more disdainful than i mean for it to.

Megadeth - Youthanasia - The natural progression that followed the mainstream break-out that was Countdown to Extinction. So many people rode this album as a "sell out" or (in classic metal fan style) a "pussification", but i posit it as Megadeth's last truly great album. It wasn't blisteringly fast, but it pounded with doom-y heaviness, and the riffs were more technical that 99 percent of the band's peers. It was also Dave Mustaine at the peak of his songwriting ability (the guy doesn't get near enough credit as composer of some of the best metal in the business in his prime), every song had the composition of a symphonic movement, and not a single note was wasted. Sure they've gone back to being "heavy, fast, loud!" in recent years, but nothing they've done since has had the snap of 'Youth'. Can't believe this one was over 15 years ago.

[Gabriel Girard]

AC/DC - Powerage - Bon Scott era AC/DC at their absolute meanest. The blues influences and barroom vibe permeates the whole album, and every track is a winner. 'Rock n Roll Damnation' would be the best tune this band ever laid to tape if they hadn't written 'If you want Blood (You got It)'. I'm amazed that more people don't go to this one more often, it's the ultimate "groove" album. Music you can nod(or bang if you prefer) your head to. It's what classic AC/DC was all about before they were converted into a radio band, which sounds more disdainful than i mean for it to.

Agree 100% Even if "Down Payment Blues" is my favorite song on the album. The band really wasn't the same after Bon Scott passed.

[tucco]

Agreed on Powerage. My theory is that this album gets overlooked because it doesn't have an obvious hit single on it. Sure AC/DC fans love this record and I've seen it rated as their best album on a list once, I just think it's the dark horse AC/DC album for the same reason that Hotter Than Hell is the dark horse Kiss album.....no obvious hit single.
But a killer album. "Gone Shootin" is a highlight for me.

[erich]

Arthur or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire by The Kinks. An underrated album from one of the most underrated rock band of all time. The Kinks walk the fine line between rock swagger and parody like no one else. Between this album and The Kinks are the Village Green Preservation Society (on my short list of best albums), they really captured the essence of a proper Britain that was quickly crumbling.

The Who Sell Out by The Who. Not sure how underrated The Who are, but they deserve to be mentioned in any conversation that includes The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, and Led Zeppelin. Fantastic rock and roll in general, and on this album it's mixed with a sense of humor. This is a concept album I can get behind.

[Dunnyman]

Arthur or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire by The Kinks. An underrated album from one of the most underrated rock band of all time. The Kinks walk the fine line between rock swagger and parody like no one else. Between this album and The Kinks are the Village Green Preservation Society (on my short list of best albums), they really captured the essence of a proper Britain that was quickly crumbling.

I agree with you wholeheartedly. Arthur hits on so many levels, that it's incredible to think that one man wrote the whole thing. Ray Davies pours out the anguish and frustration of an entire nation whose way of life and place in the world is crumbling, and he doesn't just mention a few piddling things, he tells the entire story. From the mighty Queen who ruled that empire, to the parents whose children paid the ultimate price for their freedom, from the great leader who inspired them during their darkest hours, to the poor working class sods who had to leave their beloved England for greener pastures in Australia, and Ray manages to slam those same working class sods who no longer realize that they've traded it all away for a few meager comforts and cheap "luxuries" in the epic "Shangri La" And oh yeah, this comes after Ray told the tales of the lives of your typical English villagers in the equally brilliant Village Green Preservation Society. I'll argue that no writer in rock history ever put together two such majestic records in a row.

[Gabriel Girard]

King Diamond - The Graveyard : A great story, some really awesome tracks, great guitar work by La Rocque throughout - especially on "Daddy". Defintitally his most underrated, although I must admit I'm also partial to The Spider's Lullabye.

Actually I have a question for Mancini. I know you love Zappa but I don't really know where critics hang with him. What do you think would be an underrated Zappa album? Would you say that most of his albums are underrated?

[tucco]

[quote="Gabriel Girard"]King Diamond - The Graveyard : A great story, some really awesome tracks, great guitar work by La Rocque throughout - especially on "Daddy". Defintitally his most underrated, although I must admit I'm also partial to The Spider's Lullabye.

Wow I didn't think anyone would bring up King Diamond...
Graveyard is after Voodoo right?
Many, many years after leaving him behind after he left after Fatal Portrait, I made a point to check out the many albums he did with the reunited Mercyful Fate and with his own band.

I found him constantly trying to reinvent Abigail until he went "heavier"

I would pick *Fatal Portrait* as his most underrated, as it is the one that was considered to be the closest King record to an actual Mercyful Fate record.....I remember it being considered more or less the third official Fate record by fans.......It gets overshadowed by Abigail which is a COMPLETELY different game entirely....different style, and Andy was kinda like a Malmsteen guy whereas Denner and Herman were more melodically interesting.


God bless the guy.....he never gave up.....he saw other acts who were never supposed to break incredibly big (Metallica, Queensryche) and figured if he kept plugging that it would happen to him too.

[Gabriel Girard]

Actually The Graveyard comes right before Voodoo.

Well I'm a King Diamond fan first and foremost. I like Mercyful fate, especially "In The Shadows" but KD is more my thing. Too bad his post-"House Of God" albums suck.IMHO Abigail, Them and Conspiracy are all prime albums - I laso like The Eye, Voodoo has some good tracks but it's not that great.

He was supposed to come to Montreal a few years ago but he got injured and cancelled the tour

[Dave Ryan]

Travis -- The Invisible Band
Ben Folds -- Rockin' the Suburbs

Both came out, I believe, the week after 9/11. Never had a chance....

[tucco]

That sux.....I've only ever seen him twice....I've never seen Fate though.
I saw him on the Fatal Portrait tour and then many years later on the House of God tour....in a small club where I played myself...actually The Station where that terrible fire happened.

Most King fans agree with you .....Abigail, Them and Conspiracy are the favorites.....that I've talked to anyway.
Iv'e never understood why there is a divide between Fate and King music fans....well could be back to what I said about there being two different styles completely......With Fatal Portrait being the stylistic middle-ground album.

Post House of God.....yeah, I remember the hype about Puppet Master being some return to form and some stellar reviews but.....it's just more of one or two good songs and the rest a bag of suck......or the Abigail II: The Revenge hype....ugghhhh.

Is it me, or do you find that after Hank Sherman left Fate that both bands styles were finally pretty close?

[tucco]

Goat's Head Soup ..........Rolling Stones why do critics call this the downturn? Surely It's better than "It's Only Rock and Roll"

Infidels......Bob Dylan some great songs on there

Invincible .....Michael Jackson if he pared it down about six songs it would have been better.
Also I think it's another 9/11 album if I'm remembering correctly.

[HGervais]

Infidels......Bob Dylan some great songs on there

I kind of feel that way about Empire Burlesque. Vastly underrated album which houses some really great Dylan tunes.

[Dan Mancini]

Actually I have a question for Mancini. I know you love Zappa but I don't really know where critics hang with him. What do you think would be an underrated Zappa album? Would you say that most of his albums are underrated?

Critics pretty much fawn over Zappa, but a lot of his stuff is still underrated. Freak Out! doesn't get nearly the credit it deserves considering it was released a full year before Sgt Pepper's and is far more revolutionary. We're Only In It for the Money should be more highly regarded, both because it's musically and structurally complex and because The Mothers had the balls to call the hippie counterculture out as a fraud and a fashion trend in 1968. While the rock 'n roll industrial complex was pointing its collective finger at the squares, Zappa was pointing his finger at rock 'n roll and declaring that it was just as full of shit as LBJ, Nixon, and the rest of the establishment. Who else did that in the '60s?

Skipping ahead to the end of his career, no list of the greatest records of all time should exclude The Yellow Shark or Civilization Phaze III, as far as I'm concerned. They're masterpieces.

[Gabriel Girard]

Actually I have a question for Mancini. I know you love Zappa but I don't really know where critics hang with him. What do you think would be an underrated Zappa album? Would you say that most of his albums are underrated?

Critics pretty much fawn over Zappa, but a lot of his stuff is still underrated. Freak Out! doesn't get nearly the credit it deserves considering it was released a full year before Sgt Pepper's and is far more revolutionary. We're Only In It for the Money should be more highly regarded, both because it's musically and structurally complex and because The Mothers had the balls to call the hippie counterculture out as a fraud and a fashion trend in 1968. While the rock 'n roll industrial complex was pointing its collective finger at the squares, Zappa was pointing his finger at rock 'n roll and declaring that it was just as full of shit as LBJ, Nixon, and the rest of the establishment. Who else did that in the '60s?

Right On! I've always felt that those two albums and Absolutely Free deserved more recognition, but I wasn't sure if that feeling was based on reality

Skipping ahead to the end of his career, no list of the greatest records of all time should exclude The Yellow Shark or Civilization Phaze III, as far as I'm concerned. They're masterpieces.

This might sound like heresy from an avowed Zappahead but i've never really cared for his "serious" music and I'm not really fond of the Synclavier. As far as his late albums go the last one I really care for is Ship Arriving To Late To Save a Drowning Witch. It probably belongs in the underrated category- people remember it for the novelty hit "Valley Girl" but the songs after it are much better. I also kinda like The Man From Utopia but that's mostly because it's one of the first Zappa albums I bought.

[Stubblecat]

Zappa is often completely unaccessible to the average listener, so the argument can be made that everything he did is underrated. It's hard to recommend just a couple of albums to introduce people to his styles. I often suggest Simply Commercial as a jump-off point, and then Hot Rats and [i]Over-Nite Sensation[/b]. But still... So many styles and so much to cover...

Although it was a minor hit, INXS's Welcome To Wherever You Are was a brilliant album and a pure headphone experience. It had the benefit of having unique album covers for cassette, vinyl and CD.

[Dan Mancini]

This might sound like heresy from an avowed Zappahead but i've never really cared for his "serious" music and I'm not really fond of the Synclavier.

Tisk tisk.

[Steve T Power]

I always kinda lumped Zappa into the same "I just don't get it" list that i put Radiohead on.

Yeah, i'm a heathen.

[Gabriel Girard]

I always kinda lumped Zappa into the same "I just don't get it" list that i put Radiohead on.

Yeah, i'm a heathen.

That's alright man. I don't really care for Peter Gabriel, or Genesis for that matter. I don't really dig early The Who. I also have a shameful affection for Madonna and ELP.....

[tucco]

*Double Fanstasy* (John's side) ......got a lot of flack, but the compositions are great and beats some of his "I wanna be trendy" stuff from earlier in the decade as an album....and his early mid-seventies tendency to sing over standard blues/country/fifties ballad chord progressions instead of writing what he was capable of.
He rebounded with what a forty year old would wrote in 1980 when a forty year old MEANT 40....and came up with a little string of hits that have been underrated as to their their caliber.
And the production is crystalline......That and Off The Wall are the best produced albums of the late 70's in my opinion.

[Stubblecat]

I know I'll get some grief, but let it be said: Chinese Democracy by Guns 'N Roses is excellent.

Unfortunately endless bad press, no videos, no tour and a complete lack of promotion killed any momentum there could have been for this record. But it garnered a lot of great reviews and ended up on a lot of best-of 2008 lists.

But as an album itself, CD plays out like a huge theatrical piece. If someone were enterprising enough, they should really adapt it into a musical stage show.

[Steve T Power]

I know I'll get some grief, but let it be said: Chinese Democracy by Guns 'N Roses is excellent.

Unfortunately endless bad press, no videos, no tour and a complete lack of promotion killed any momentum there could have been for this record. But it garnered a lot of great reviews and ended up on a lot of best-of 2008 lists.

But as an album itself, CD plays out like a huge theatrical piece. If someone were enterprising enough, they should really adapt it into a musical stage show.

I hated it myself. Just felt like all the parts mixed like oil and water. Axel threw in everything AND the kitchen sink, and didn't bother to stir. There's some good in there for sure, Madagascar is still as awesome as it was the first time i heard it in 2001, but again, it's that lack of cohesion that really turns me off. It's like a sackfull of cats howling while bums in the alleyway beat on pots and pans.

[Stubby]

I'd like to offer up 2 other classic rock bands :
Procul Harum-Home. The final album with lead guitarist Robin Trower. From the guitar driven "Whiskey Train" to the epic "Whaling Stories" a masterpiece both instumentally and lyrically thanks to writer Keith Reid

Spirit-Twelve Dreams of Dr. Sardonicus . Includes the ballad "Nature's Way" and the rockin' "I Got A Line on You" . Guitarist Randy California's Jimi Hendrix style playing was never more focused

[Gabriel Girard]

Leonard Cohen - Death Of A Ladie's Man - I enjoy this infamous Phil Spector produced album.

Metallica - Load and Reload - Like a lot of people I didn't appreciate them on my first listens but they grew on me

Aimee Mann - Lost In Space anything Aimee doesis underrated but I think this one and The Forgotten Arm are her most underrated.

David Bowie - Diamond Dogs - Apparently some crazy people don't like this one.

Love And Rockets - Earth Sun Moon - trippy

Pink Floyd - The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn and The Rolling Stones' Their Satanic Majestic Request - I also like these more than Sgt Pepper...

Pulp - This Is Hardcore - Haunting, fun, beautifully performed and written. Jarvis rules.

Anything by The Cramps or Nina Hagen

I have a serious problem...

[tucco]

Pink Floyd - The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn and The Rolling Stones' Their Satanic Majestic Request - I also like these more than Sgt Pepper...-Gabriel Girard

The fact that you said you like these better than Sgt. Pepper (plus your mention of the Cramps) marks you as a true hipster.
Not kidding either...!

[Dimwitted]

GG, don't you feel that Cohen got a lot better as he aged?

[Gabriel Girard]

Pink Floyd - The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn and The Rolling Stones' Their Satanic Majestic Request - I also like these more than Sgt Pepper...-Gabriel Girard

The fact that you said you like these better than Sgt. Pepper (plus your mention of the Cramps) marks you as a true hipster.
Not kidding either...!

Wait, is that an insult or a compliment ? I'm really not one of thesese people who tries to be hip. I follow my own whims ...

GG, don't you feel that Cohen got a lot better as he aged?

Not really. His first album is a classic and I didn't really care for Dear Heather. I liked when he used to be able to sing instead of just reciting. My favorite album is New Skin For The Old Ceremony which came out in '74.

[Steve T Power]

Metallica - Load and Reload - Like a lot of people I didn't appreciate them on my first listens but they grew on me

I remember scoring Load five or six days early (A friend was managing a record store) and being completely blown away by it. It seems like all everyone could talk about was haircuts and Lars Ulrich in a fur coat with eyeliner. People just completely missed the album itself. I'd call it one of the best hard rock/metal albums of the 90's. Reload on the other hand felt exactly like what it was, a bunch of leftover unfinished tunes polished and dumped onto a retail disc. The vocals were rough (James sounds like he's on helium) and the ideas are unfinished. There were a few solid tracks on there, hell, even one or two excellent bits (Low Man's Lyric was amazing stuff), but most of Reload just fell flat for me.

Aimee Mann - Lost In Space anything Aimee doesis underrated but I think this one and The Forgotten Arm are her most underrated.

Lost in Space is effing amazing stuff. I'd definitely call it my favorite Mann album.

[Neal Masri]

Bruce Springsteen- Tunnel of Love

BTW- Hi... haven't been around in a while. Thought I'd drop in.

[tucco]

Flick of the Switch AC/DC - A stripped sown approach with some great numbers, poorly promoted and it was their first wobbly attempt at making videos FOR MTV. (unlike the live clips from the For Those About To Rock.....tour).
Fell flat with the public, but I think it gets short shrift.....

Every artist has an album where they start to slide, fans either think it's their last good album or their first bad album

For Aerosmith it was Draw the Line, for Kiss it was Love Gun, for Metallica it was the Black album, for Black Sabbath it was Sabotage.

For AC/DC it was For Those About To Rock or Flick of the Switch.

I feel it was For Those About To Rock.....first album that didn't match up to the last one in a big way, but is of a high pedigree because of the title track, Finger On You, and Let's Get it Up.

Still, I think Flick of the Switch is better then remembered.