Most underrated CD of all time?

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

Here's what I'm talking about - a CD that was either critically or publicly ridiculed, yet you find it to be very good.

My choice is Pearl Jam's "Vitalogy". This CD boasts a large number of great songs, including Corduroy, Immortality, Nothingman, Tremor Christ, and Spin the Black Circle, yet because it moves more away from the edgy, grunge monolith "Ten", it has typically been tarred and feathered.

What's your pick?

[underpants]

1. Game Theory's "Lolita Nation" or Urge Overkill's "Saturation"

LOVE both of them

[Tyrone Slothrop]

19. Saturation is great

I still listen to it. It's held up pretty well.

[driver8]

30. I love "Lolita Nation", also. It is funny that you mention "Game Theory"

A good friend of mine named Scott Miller was visiting Los Angeles from New York last week. He used to record a lot with John Lombardo from 10,000 Maniacs on the John and Mary albums. He told me that in a review he read of one of the records he played on, Scott Miller from Game Theory got credit for guitars. After that, every review he read mentioned Scott Miller from Game Theory.

My friend said he wrote him a letter saying something like, "Thanks for taking credit for my work!" (Of course, the Game Theory Scott Miller had nothing to do with it.)

[BigMcLargehuge]

34. SATURATION - DEFINITELY!

Heaven 90210 was my wedding song!

I am a full on Urge fan, from Jesus Urge Superstar to Americruiser through The Supersonic Storybook (Henhough, the best song they ever recorded), to Saturation, and Exit the Dragon, and finally to Nash Kato's amazingly awesome solo Debutante.

Long live the Urge!!!!!!!!

[RandomKoolzip]

45. Big ups on the Game TTheory....nice choice.

[CarpeDiebold]

2. Cold play x&y

:hide:

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

3. I hate you.

[Richardo]

4. Not ridiculed, but ignored: Little Feat's first album.

Sold only 11,000 copies when first released in 1970 (71?), and it's excellent. :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

[Loonman]

5. Julian Cope "My Nation Underground"

Brilliant.

[BigMcLargehuge]

35. All of Cope's stuff is underrated

I am partial to Peggy Suicide, but all of his recordings are excellent.

[HughBeaumont]

6. Genesis - "Selling England By the Pound"

Never can get sick of that disc.

[hellbound-liberal]

10. I second your Genesis selection. Strangely enough, I also enjoy

listening to Seconds Out without Peter Gabriel. Even though it's a live CD the selections are well done.

[HughBeaumont]

58. I'm a fan of the post-Gabriel albums up until Invisible Touch.

That's just when they went to shit, IMNSHO.

I can even listen to "Mama" and it still sounds heavy for a radio single . . . dare I say it even sounds like NIN was influenced by that song a little?

Seconds Out is a damn good live album.

[Tyrone Slothrop]

20. I am/was to be a huge fan of theirs

(Even though I was born after PG left the band), but I still can't decide whether I prefer Selling England or The Lamb.

For a self-indulgent, concept double-album, there's virtually no filler on The Lamb, and it still moves me -- largely due to Peter's voice.

[taterguy]

7. The Essential Lynyrd Skynyrd

First of all "Greatest Hits" CDs are rarely respected. Secondly, many so-called open minded people can't see past the image of the Confederate flag when they think of Skynyrd. Thirdly, there's the whole Free Bird thing. That song is overplayed and annoying. But the rest of the CD does something rarely achieved: rocking out while discussing social issues; like greed, environmentalism and respecting folks of limited means. My utopia is one where everyone lives by the simple credo on its song They Call Me the Breeze: "I ain't hiding from nobody. Nobody's hiding from me."

[timber84]

13. No No just say no to Freebird

[Zomby Woof]

27. The boxed set is even better

It has a demo version of Freebird from 1970 that will make you fall in love with the song all over again. It is pure blues transcendence,pared down, and no extended guitar coda.

But you nailed it otherwise. Ronnie Van Zant was a Carter-loving Democrat and had liberal song material. :thumbsup: There was more to them than met the eye.

[DanCa]

8. Bruce Springsteen Devils and Dust

I thought i was alone on this for a while but I took this this off Brucespringsteen.net just now. Ah it feels good to be vindicated.
www.brucespringsteen.net


BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN AND "DEVILS & DUST" ARE NOMINATED FOR FIVE GRAMMY AWARDS

Columbia Records congratulations Bruce Springsteen for his five Grammy nominations:

Song of the Year: "Devils & Dust"
Best Rock Song: "Devils & Dust"
Best Solo Rock Vocal Performance: "Devils & Dust"
Best Contemporary Folk Album: "Devils & Dust"
Best Long Form Music Video: "Devils & Dust" (DualDisc DVD Content), Danny Clinch (video director) and Lindha Narvaez (video producer)

The 48th Annual Grammy Awards will be presented on Wednesday, Feb. 8, 2006, at the Staples Center in L.A., broadcast live on CBS.

[MrScorpio]

9. I have an entire collection of them

and I play them on my show

[Texasgal]

11. GOOD ONE!!!

I love that CD!!!

[carpetbagger]

12. "The Final Cut"

More coherent than Thw Wall, and ran circles over any album Pink Gilmour could conjure up.

[fishwax]

16. I'll have to absolutely agree with that

I think the Final Cut is fucking brilliant. It's much better than The Wall, and is, occasionally, my very favorite album by the floyd.

The critical history is checkered, though ... while it's widely dismissed now by both critics, casual listeners, and pink floyd fans (myself excluded), it was originally highly-regarded critically. Kurt Loder called it "Rock art's crowning achievement" and gave it five stars in his original rolling stone review of the record.

Damn good call, carpetbagger! :toast:

[TallahasseeGrannie]

14. Muskrat Love by the Carpenters

hhahahahah

just kidding

[Montauk6]

26. Actually I love that song

Correction, though: it was The Captain & Tennille. I love their cover AND the original version by America.

[no name no slogan]

15. Comsat Angels -- "Sleep No More"

An album that was criminally neglected at its release (1981), but still sounds amazingly fresh 25 years later. It compares favorably with its contemporaries (U2, Joy Division, Echo & The Bunnymen) yet has an immediacy and depth only hinted at by their competition.

Review at AMG

[0007]

17. Three Old Maid from Canada

[fishwax]

18. I like Willie Nelson's new reggae CD

although i haven't seen a critic yet who doesn't consider it a ridiculous idea that was poorly executed to boot :)

But for most underrated of all time, I'd have to agree with Carpetbagger on Floyd's The Final Cut. I think Vitalogy is a good choice too, though. Great album, that one ...

[Beware the Beast Man]

21. Kyuss- "Blues for the Red Sun."

It was a critical favorite, but Kyuss never reached the level of success they deserved, which may have been for the better...

[Tyrone Slothrop]

22. Afghan Whigs, 1965

One of my all-time faves that a lot of people seem to have never heard of.

It's pitch-perfect blend of blues, rock, soul and R&B.

My personal fave for an evening with your significant other. Just make sure the lights are low.

[SmileyBoy]

23. Nirvana - Bleach

Their best album, IMO.

[William Bloode]

24. Sure was.

I actually got to see them on the Bleach tour. A whole 40-50 people showed. I did not even know who they were, and the only reason i was there was because i was employed as a bouncer.

[SmileyBoy]

55. You were lucky.

I was only 7 years old then.

[William Bloode]

59. I was a mere 22-23 at the time.

I'm not even sure i liked them much lol! I was stuck pretty far up Metallica's ass back then. I am pretty sure i only remembered them in retrospect when they hit the big time.

[Montauk6]

25. Culture Club's "Waking Up With The House On Fire"

It was released among much inner turmoil with Boy George & Company, critics and fans sharpened their knives due to the lead-off single "The War Song," with its over-the-top simplistic lyrics (frankly, I was no more offended by "War-war is stupid and people are stupid" than, say, "I'll Tumble 4 You"".

Yet, I found most of the tunes pretty catchy, particularly "The Medal Song," "Mannequin," and the ultra-silky smooth "Mistake No. 3."

[Zomby Woof]

28. I love "Vitalogy" but...

It was critically acclaimed by Dave Marsh and other nationally know critics. I lived in Seattle when it came out, and it was universally praised.

The REAL underrated Pearl Jam album is "No Code", the follow-up to "Vitalogy". Give that one another listen.

My vote for underrated album of all time is The Flatlanders "Now Again". What a perfect gem.

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

60. Was it? I guess I was mistaken

I could've sworn critics hated it. My bad!

[Adenoid_Hynkel]

29. Munki, the last CD by the Jesus and Mary Chain

completely written off by the critic as an 80s act at that point, but it was one of their best

[HEyHEY]

31. u2 - zooropa

[Adenoid_Hynkel]

33. the title track of that is the best cd opener of all time

and i love the distorted guitar that kicks in when that song starts off

plus, it has 'stay' , my all-time favorite u2 song

i think all of their 90s stuff is underrated. i still think pop was one of their best albums ever.

[HEyHEY]

36. And some Johnny Cash there too

[jpgray]

32. It's not, but Caravan's first album

Most Caravan fans are huge prog-heads who pan the first album because it isn't "Land of Grey and Pink" or some weird, Tolkienish boring jazz-fusion epic. But I think song-by-song it's their best album. It has great, sludgy, echoey, organ-dominated production.

[swag]

37. Gotta be this one:

[BigMcLargehuge]

38. she has crazy eyes

[swag]

40. They don't call her Psycho Suze(e) fer nuttin'.

[BigMcLargehuge]

46. Pair her with that weirdo Dr. Wayne Dyer

during PBS pledge month, and I worry that they are sending psychic messages for us to join the others in the comets tail...

Hey, this applesauce tastes funny...

[swag]

47. They had a baby, you know.

And that baby is you.

[BigMcLargehuge]

48. AHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

wait, why aren't I rich then?

[swag]

50. Same old story.

The minister's daughter's in love with a snake.

The cobbler's son has no shoes.

[jpgray]

39. My "Coward's Guide to Dumpster Diving" never made audio book

[swag]

41. Cool cats marked the boundary between the sacred and the profane long ago.

[last_texas_dem]

42. I love _Vitalogy_

Although it was a successful album (debuted at #1 unless you count the two weeks it was only available on vinyl, and went multi-platinum) I know it lost Pearl Jam more than a few fans for not being Ten pt. III. Then again, vs. wasn't exactly Ten pt. II but it wasn't as wild a departure from their earlier stuff as Vitalogy. I figure it got mixed reviews from the critics, considering the only album guide I have gives it 1-1/2 stars, probably due to some of the weirder stuff on it, like "Bugs" and "Aye Davanita." And yeah, considering stuff like "Stupid Mop" it probably wouldn't be the first album I'd give someone I wanted to get into Pearl Jam, but after listening to it several times myself I consider some of the throwaways to be part of the album's weird "charm."

As for my own pick, I wouldn't even know where to begin. I like several albums that don't have a lot of fans or get critically lambasted, but I figure the truly most underrated album ever is something I'm not even familiar with!

[tuvor]

43. "Mesopotamia" by the B-52's

"Before I talk, I should read a book."

[BigMcLargehuge]

44. that is a good record

I have it on vinyl here somewhere...

[donheld]

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

actually IMHO all k d lang's CDs are underrated.

[BigMcLargehuge]

52. KD Lang could sing "Advanced Medieval Cabinetmaking Theory"

and I'd still groove to it.

[tuvor]

54. I know she's ditched the Country thing, but

she really should do an all-Patsy album.

Just before she got really well-known she was being interviewed playing pool on a Barbara Walters special, and she suddenly broke out into "Crazy".

Words are useless. Suffice to say, Patsy got clobbered. Cuh-lobbered.

[RandomKoolzip]

51. Shudder To Think: "Pony Express Record."

Their first major label album, released to deafening silence and critical hostility in 1994. Old fans hated it, new listeners were put off by its oddness and dissonance. Found in delete bins the world after for the rest of the 90's....


However, in ten years, it'll be recognized for the underground classic it actually is. Jeff Buckley said STT were his favorite band; Coheed and Cambria's music sounds VERY Shudder-influenced, and the whole Brit Falsetto school of rock (Muse, Radiohead, Coldplay, The Darkness, etc) owes a debt of gratitude to these guys for inventing a genre (Sorta operatic sexy noise-metal-prog rock).

[LeftofU]

57. awesome cd!

[BigMcLargehuge]

53. Too Much Joy - Cereal Killers

The album containing the best indie pop rock song ever -

"Susquehana Hat Company"

So she said fuck this town,
nothing's ever going down
spun herself round and round
drilled herself into the ground
twenty kids fell in that hole
I was twenty-one out of control
she crawled right inside my brain
she's some mental hurricane

all you do is say her name
everybody goes insane

so I said screw that girl
she's the end of the world
don't like what she does to me
makes me hate my memory
I said things I am ashamed
to the girl with three first names
she crawled right inside my brain
she's some mental hurricane

all you do is say her name
everybody goes insane

[LeftofU]

56. Shriekback

oil and gold