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Jellyfish "Spilt milk" is not in the AM top 3000. I think it's a shame.
For me, in english spoken music, is the Crystal Ball Prince's album.
Maybe the better album of this fantastic artist. Yes , I really said the "better album". Extremely varied, energic and brilliant.
In the Aeroplane over the Sea is still outside the AM 500. I'm not really sure how this could be, but I think that pretty much makes it the most underrated album of all time, and judging by it's finish in our recent album poll (40th) this board agrees.
I think the reason for this is that it received very little fanfare when it first came out. Today, Indie sites call it the equal of beloved albums such as Loveless and Slanted and Enchanted, but really, it's better than even those two. It's pretty much unique among every album I've listened to, and I doubt I'll ever be affected the same way by another album.
Aeroplane is tricky; it's sort of like Guided by Voices Bee Thousand, and Modest Mouse's Moon & Antarctica; albums that have huge hype from indie publications, but get almost no mainstream props.
In certain circles, I'd say it's far from underrated, but as a whole, it's failed to get over with mainstream critics the way The Soft Bulletin, Funeral and Yankee Hotel Foxtrot have.
I'll make it a top 3, neither of these 3 is on the website at all but all 3 are in my top 40 of all time and the first two even in the top 25:
1) Marc Cohn - Marc Cohn (I absolutely love this album, it's full of catchy, fun and gorgeous songs and there's not a single bad song on the entire album. And of course "Walking In Memphis" is simply one of the most beautiful songs ever written. There are 4.5 star ratings from allmusic and sputnikmusic, but that's about it, never understood why this isn't getting more attention from the critics.)
2) The Alan Parsons Project - Eye In The Sky (A very varied album, from the perfect ballad "Old And Wise" (one of my 29 10.0 songs) to the beautiful "Eye In The Sky" and one my favorite instrumental tracks "Sirius" (very often used as entrance music for American sports teams). Perhaps a bit more of a personal album than the other two, but I still think it deserves a spot in the AM 3000.
2) New Radicals - Maybe You've Been Brainwashed Too (The song "You Get What You Give" is very popular and reasonably acclaimed as well but this album has so much more to offer. "Someday We'll Know" has to be one of the best songs of lost love, and "Technicolor Lover" and "I Hope I Didn't Just Give Away The Ending" are brilliant too. And it doesn't stop there. Seriously fantastic album. Also received some decent reviews, but not enough to make it onto AM apparently.)
In certain circles, I'd say it's far from underrated, but as a whole, it's failed to get over with mainstream critics the way The Soft Bulletin, Funeral and Yankee Hotel Foxtrot have.
Agreed on all accounts. Bee Thousand and Moon and Antarctica are two more records I believe are absolutely excellent that seldom get the appropriate props. But In the Aeroplane is still a cut above those two. It's so much more than just a "great Indie album". I guess part of it is the polarizing nature of the album. Most people I know either cant get it, or think it's one of the greatest albums of all time.
I don't think "Aeroplane Over The Sea" is quite that polarizing. Yes, it requires more than few spins to fully take it all in, and it might take even more to begin to love it but it is an album that gives you back as much as you put into it. I am very confident that (almost) everyone who listens to it more than just once or twice will come to appreciate it (if not love it).
I might be wrong though, I haven't recommended it to that many people.
Maybe the better album of this fantastic artist. Yes , I really said the "better album". Extremely varied, energic and brilliant.
I absolutely agree that it is painfully underrated! It's among my top 20 albums of all-time. So many excellent tracks!
Three that come to mind right away are Living Colour's "Time's Up," Drive-by Truckers' "Decoration Day" and Imperial Teen's "Seasick."
the self titled Gordian Knot album... all you O&O, Millennium, Sagittarius, Neon Philharmonic, Dumbangels, late 60's sunpsych pop lovers out there, do yourselves a favour and achieve a copy of it.. whether via filesharing or physical form, hughcarezbutanthony..
For me it is the Pogues "Red Roses for Me". This is an outstanding album that captures the raw spirit of that great band better than any of their other albums, yet it is generally not as highly regarded as "Rum Sodomy and the Lash" or "If I Should Fall From Grace with God".
Notwithstanding said exclusion of top 500 records, Odessey and Oracle and The Kinks are Village Green Preservation Society are the two most underrated albums of all time at least on AM. Less an opinion than an observation. Both albums should have reached Pet Sounds / Revolver status by now.
Absolutely agree on Wilco's "Summerteeth". It's a pretty much, song-by-song, a perfect album and I think it is one of the best of the 90s.
I know the suggestion of Radiohead and underrated in the same sentence is a major stretch, many would even say completely wrong but I think that critics still haven't fully caught on with "Amnesiac"; a record that seems like it will permanently live in the shadows of its monumental predecessor. It's crazy that "Amnesiac" has received so little recognition in these EOD lists. It's a magnificent album and if it were any other band's debut, it'd be labeled as a masterpiece. Its reputation has grown over the years, yes, but there still isn't enough recognition for it.
Summerteeth is one of those albums that was upgraded to 5 stars on AMG awhile back. YHFT still stands at 4 stars.
Thanks for your comments.
Eye in the Sky is a great song. I also find the Sirius instrumental and Gemini to be very enjoyable. I'll have to listen to the other songs you recommend again and hopefully appreciate them more.
Rocky... 110% agree with you on Seasick, which is in my all-time top-50, and depending on my mood bumps up into my top-20. It is fantastic, tuneful poppy rock, delivered with a tempered, wry sneer and not a small dose of pain hidden in the crevices. This band was formed by Roddy Bottom after he left Faith No More, and consists of two gay guys and two women. I was never a fan of Faith No More, but I'd say Seasick really feels nothing like that band's work.
I remember some time ago someone posted Out Magazine's list of the "greatest, gayest" albums of all time. It was a puzzling list. But I remember thinking that if we had to ghettoize albums in that manner (and Seasick is much more than a "gay" album), then Seasick belonged at the top of that list.
I'm also a big fan of Spilt Milk.
I'm gonna check that out ASAP.
My candidate would be "The Use of Ashes" by Pearls Before Swine; their two first are sitting down at about AM #2100-2200, but their next few albums are every bit as good, I'd say, and personally I think they ought to be way up in the top half of the AM 3000. Any Cohen or Drake fan should find something to like.
Summerteeth sort of falls into the category of super high reviews but overlooked on lists. I tried to put together a metacritic average for it once using major sources, and it came out about a 92 average.
That said, it's majorly overlooked on decade end, and best of all time lists, which explains the 488 place difference between it and Yankee Hotel Foxtrot.
I know Summerteeth will never be a top 200, I just wish it was more of a solid top 500. Every update it seems to run the gamut between 400-600. I'd love to see it in the 300s.
It's just as strong imo as The Soft Bulletin, Deserter's Songs, and 69 Love Songs, all of which break the top 300.
Happy to see Spilt Milk and Time's Up namechecked.
Mine is, far and away, Lou Christie's amazing Paint America Love...it fits right in with other poppy yet eco-concerned 1971 classics like What's Going On and Surf's Up. In fact, it may serve as an exact mid-point between those 2 albums, except it's actually better than either. No bad tracks, fantastic singing (Christie ranges from his well-known falsetto to baritone), and amazing, lush arrangements.
Considering his bubblegum pedigree, I did not expect this at all when I first heard it in the mid-'90s. It has finally been reissued on CD, so it's no longer "lost", but it still seems to be barely "found". Regardless, pretty much every open-minded music lover I've introduced this to has fallen in love with it.
Hey Netjade, do you talk about that : http://rateyourmusic.com/release/album/gordian_knot/gordian_knot/
It seems to be a prog-metal band. It think that the Curt Boettcher fan ears are going to be broken :))
haha... no, i mean these guys. and don't get discouraged neither by the wacky cover artwork nor the surprisingly low rating score.. it's really nom nom..
Times Up is indeed fantastic!
sonofsam, the pusherman, first fix is for free... and sooo true
It's probably not the most underrated album of all time, but I think Bob Dylan's "Self Portrait" has been unfairly maligned due to the fact that it has a few weird songs/covers. There is actually a lot of good material on that record. (It's just not up to the standard of the iconic albums of the 1960's.)
Follow the link to listen to two great tracks from the album:
Days of 49
In Search Of Little Sadie (Cocaine Blues)
the Colourfield - Virgins and Philistines
This mortal coil - it'll end in tears
Rasputina - Oh perilous World
Rasputina - How we quit the forest
Dresden Dolls - S/t
Dresden Dolls - Yes Virginia
Gene Loves Jezebel - Immigrant
Depeche Mode - Music for the Masses
Pulp - His n Hers
Mine may seem a very strange choice, since it is very acclaimed, to the point of being called "overhyped" soon after its release. But the idea that Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not by Arctic Monkeys was initially overhyped led to its abrupt dismissal by mainstream and American critics as simply the product of "yet another NME band", whose debut had been used as the magazine's latest attempt to prove that modern music is better than The Beatles.
The idea that the band themselves would attempt such an act is laughable, since they never pretended to be anything other than themselves. Because of the furore that surrounded the album's release, its title seems even more apt, both at indicating its true function as a soundtrack to the weekends of British youth (it is a reference to the film Saturday Night, Sunday Morning) and as a message to its listeners not to believe the hype. Yes, the album did receive reasonably high acclaim aside from NME on both sides of the Atlantic, by the label "overhyped", directly caused by the hype itself, meant that its real value as THE Sign Of The Times album of the 21st century was wrongly negated.
The size of the achievement that is Whatever is only evdient upon listening when you know the context in which it was recorded. Considering that most of the songs on it were written within two years of Alex Turner first picking up a guitar, and that the influences the band had to work with were as narrow as Queens of the Stone Age's Songs For The Deaf and The Vines, the album demonstrates staggering innovation and maturity. Furthermore, on close analysis of the album, 'Mardy Bum', despite its simplicity, appears to be one of the best songs ever written, while the track that follows it 'Perhaps vampire's a bit strong bit...', often overlooked, is one of the most astute comments on the music business since its conception. And all this from a group of teens who had barely been beyond the dingy suburbs of Sheffield.
Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not, stands out for its complete sincerity; its songs may range from the poetic to the cynical, but they are always delivered with the heartfelt honesty of Northern England, from Turner's harsh, unrestrained vocals to Andy Nicholson's yearning bass lines. It is because this sincerity that it is the ultimate embodiment of youth, both its hopes and disappointments, above even Is This It and Pet Sounds. What is more, the imagery and themes explored in the album demonstrate the state of Britain and, indeed, the whole of Western society, without ever threatening to make it sound preachery or even to go beyond the Northern setting. By saying that this is the most underrated album ever for me does not mean that I am arguing that it is not highly acclaimed, which it obviously is; rather that I am arguing that it is not acclaimed anywhere near enough for my liking.
(For the record, if I had done that AMF album poll, I would have put Pet Sounds at number one and this at number two, I just think this relates to the experiences of youth better.)
I don't know about albums right now but I know Harry Nilsson and The Monkees have multiple albums that are underrated.
The Artic Monkeys album is copying the Libertines which is copying the Strokes both of whom did it better. If you are copying someone's style at least you could copy something that wasn't recorded the year before you. The only thing worth listening to on that album is "Riot Van". I think that album should be in the most overrated album of all time. Well maybe behind "Exile on main street".
I think you don't understand the word "Underrated". 1000's of perfect albums that don't get any credit at all.
The idea that the band themselves would attempt such an act is laughable, since they never pretended to be anything other than themselves. Because of the furore that surrounded the album's release, its title seems even more apt, both at indicating its true function as a soundtrack to the weekends of British youth (it is a reference to the film Saturday Night, Sunday Morning) and as a message to its listeners not to believe the hype. Yes, the album did receive reasonably high acclaim aside from NME on both sides of the Atlantic, by the label "overhyped", directly caused by the hype itself, meant that its real value as THE Sign Of The Times album of the 21st century was wrongly negated.
The size of the achievement that is Whatever is only evdient upon listening when you know the context in which it was recorded. Considering that most of the songs on it were written within two years of Alex Turner first picking up a guitar, and that the influences the band had to work with were as narrow as Queens of the Stone Age's Songs For The Deaf and The Vines, the album demonstrates staggering innovation and maturity. Furthermore, on close analysis of the album, 'Mardy Bum', despite its simplicity, appears to be one of the best songs ever written, while the track that follows it 'Perhaps vampire's a bit strong bit...', often overlooked, is one of the most astute comments on the music business since its conception. And all this from a group of teens who had barely been beyond the dingy suburbs of Sheffield.
Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not, stands out for its complete sincerity; its songs may range from the poetic to the cynical, but they are always delivered with the heartfelt honesty of Northern England, from Turner's harsh, unrestrained vocals to Andy Nicholson's yearning bass lines. It is because this sincerity that it is the ultimate embodiment of youth, both its hopes and disappointments, above even Is This It and Pet Sounds. What is more, the imagery and themes explored in the album demonstrate the state of Britain and, indeed, the whole of Western society, without ever threatening to make it sound preachery or even to go beyond the Northern setting. By saying that this is the most underrated album ever for me does not mean that I am arguing that it is not highly acclaimed, which it obviously is; rather that I am arguing that it is not acclaimed anywhere near enough for my liking.
(For the record, if I had done that AMF album poll, I would have put Pet Sounds at number one and this at number two, I just think this relates to the experiences of youth better.)
The Artic Monkeys album is copying the Libertines which is copying the Strokes both of whom did it better. If you are copying someone's style at least you could copy something that wasn't recorded the year before you. The only thing worth listening to on that album is "Riot Van". I think that album should be in the most overrated album of all time. Well maybe behind "Exile on main street".
I think you don't understand the word "Underrated". 1000's of perfect albums that don't get any credit at all.
Most underrated in my view is the Style Council's - Our Favorite Shop
Other Albums that I also consider underrated include:
Pink Floyd - Animals
George Harrison - All Things Must Pass
Beat - Special Beat Service
Todd Rundgren - Hermit of Mink Hollow
Todd Rundgren - Healing
Yes - The Yes Album
Genesis - Duke
Thomas Dolby - This Flat Earth
Eagles - One of These Nights
Style Council - Cafe Bleu
Cat Stevens - Teaser and the Firecat
Billy Joel - Glass Houses
Doobie Brothers - The Captain and Me
Blink 182 - Enema of State
Boston - Don't Look Back
Chicago - Chicago Transit Authority
Collective Soul - Collective Soul
Cowboy Junkies - Lay Down
Cranberries - Bury the Hatchet
Third Eye Blind - Third Eye Blind
Foo Fighters - The Colour and the Shape
Seems like Aerial Ballet should be a lot higher than 2979.
So many underrated gems.
Two of my top picks are Supergrass' s/t and Pearl Jam's Binaural (oddly enough they came out on the same day in the US). The Supergrass album has some of the best melodies the band has ever recorded, perfectly balancing the band's fun and melancholy sides. Binaural for some reason has become the punching bag in Pearl Jam's catalog, the album that all recent PJ albums are considered better than for avoiding it's "flaws." All said, Binaural is a more challenging, original and downright enjoyable album than anything the band has done since. It marks the last time the band was really pushing their boundaries sonically (and it rocks about as hard as any of their recent "return to form" albums).
Three albums that have received a fair amount of acclaim but are overlooked far too often in favor of other albums in the band's catalog: Blur - 13, Spiritualized - Laser Guided Melodies and The Verve - A Northern Soul. 13 is just amazing, a brilliant precursor to the kind of boundary dismantling perfected on Kid A in a lot of ways.
Others:
Unwound - Leaves Turn Inside You
Failure - Fantastic Planet
Truly - Fast Stories...From Kid Coma
Soundgarden - Down on the Upside
REM - Up
Mudhoney - Superfuzz Bigmuff
Television Personalities - ...And Don't the Kids Just Love It
David Bowie - Lodger and The Man Who Sold the World
Wire - 154
COCKNEY REBEL-The Human Menagerie (1973).
There are more underrated/obscure albums out there, but I picked Cockney rebel's debut because I'm pretty sure that there are people who frequent this site that will dig the hell out of it. If you like your early 70s Bowie, Roxy Music or Sparks then The Human Menagerie is for you.
Arty, theatrical, shunning guitars for the violin as the dominant force, but you got also accordeons, saxophones & early synths. Decadent lyrics from the big city, sleazy lounge tunes, creepy ballads and some orchestral epics thrown in for good measure. You can hear echoes of The Kinks, Vaudeville, Glam, but in the end it's all unmistakably Cockney rebel with its very own sound. Very English, eccentric, but always accessible.
So, why this once great band got lost in the shuffle over time ? Maybe because frontman/potentate Steve Harley ditched the original line-up after the second album. From that moment on Cockney rebel became more or less Harley's backing band, turning into just an ordinary pop combo that sounded less interesting after each next release.
But The Human Menagerie rules. Heartily recommended to all Bowie and/or Glam lovers.
Other, more recent underrated names: Cadence Weapon, the Canadian Dizzee Rascal, only better. And Korpiklaani, a gatecrashing collision of thrash metal and Finnish Folk, yeah!
Off the top of my head...
Yo La Tengo - And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-Out
Sunny Day Real Estate - How it Feels to be Something on
Sigur Ros - ( )
Silver Jews - American Water
Lilys - Eccsame the Photon Band (this one is probably out of left field for most people, but seriously, one of the best pop-shoegaze albums ever, by anyone...probably more of an under the radar album than underrated)