Most overrated Albums/CD's ever

[snowman]

Pink Floyd - The Wall.
Queen - A Night at the Opera.

[Claus]

beatles - let it be

[Dear 23]

Sex Pistols: Nevermind the Bullocks
The Clash: London Calling

[Cousin It]

Nirvana - Nevermind
Beatles - Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

[Uncle Al]

Hmmm.. should we post a word of caution on this thread? No pissing contests over choices? It seems that ultimately people will name albums that are considered "classic" by many, that they just never saw what all the fuss was about. I know that the following are overated to me (not bad, just over rated):

Eagles - Hotel California
Jimi Hendrix - Band of Gypsy's
Cream - Wheels of Fire (well... the live disc anyway. Dump "Pressed Rat" from the studio disc and insert "Crossroads" and ya got a really tight album).

and one I'm on the fence about:

Love - Forever Changes. I missed the boat on this one, having never heard it till last week (ya can't hear them all.... can ya??). It has all the markings of 60's gloom and doom nuclear holocaust folk music, a style I have never been too fond of : BUT: I have played it 3 or 4 times so far and it's got something. And that something might just be revealing itself a little at a time.

[Dave]

Anything by Brittany Spears, Nsync, The Backstreet Boys, Madonna, Michael Jackson and U2.

[Steve Hoffman]

Originally posted by Uncle Al


Love - Forever Changes. It has all the markings of 60's gloom and doom nuclear holocaust folk music, a style I have never been too fond of.


LOL!

That's a great description of one of my favorite albums! So, if this is an actual genre of music, can you name a few other "Gloom and Doom Nuclear Holocaust Folk Music" albums? I'm curious...:)

[Steve w]

Nevermind

[Uncle Al]

Gloom and Doom : I guess you could start with Barry McGuires "Eve of Destruction" (I really do like that one, however) and work your way through Lenord Cohen, Tim Hardin, and reach an apex with "Come Away Melinda" by Tim Rose. Major fear of the atomic age and it's eventual destruction of us all. While "Forever Changes" doesn't really deal with that directly - it often shares much of that minor chord "feeling of impending doom" sound. I keep coming back to it because....

I don't know. The Herb Alpert licks in the opening track? The "goofy psychedlic" insanity of "we're throwing away the key"..? So much of it is (no offense) TYPICAL, yet so much of it is not. I can't say that I like it - I also know that I rarely spin a disc I don't like 3 times in a week. It's drawing me in and I don't know why. When I figure it out (if ever) I will let you know. However, I suppose better minds than mine already have the answer.

[Grant]

It seems that ultimately people will name albums that are considered "classic" by many, that they just never saw what all the fuss was about. I know that the following are overated to me (not bad, just over rated):

Beatles-Let It Be :p
Chic-Risque
Led Zepplin IV
Foreigner (first album)
Michael Jackson-Thriller
Rolling Stones-Exile On Main Street
Prince-1999
Pearl Jam-.vs
Wings-Band On The Run

[JohnG]

The Long Run- The Eagles...just never liked this album compared to the classic Hotel California.

Breakfast In America- Supertramp...even though this was a big seller, its not even in my personal Top 5 favorite Supertramp albums. Has some good singles though. I like Even In The Quietest Moments better for instance.

JohnG

[Dave]

How could you guys (Steve and Uncle Al) forget Bruce Cockburn.;)

[Kym]

These are highly revered albums that I could never understand what all the fuss was about. I admit that I own a few of them. :rolleyes:

Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band - Beatles
Exile On Main Street - Rolling Stones
Grace - Jeff Buckley
Blue - Joni Mitchell
The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill - Lauryn Hill
Band On The Run - Paul McCartney
OK Computer - Radiohead
Astral Weeks - Van Morrison
Rocks - Aerosmith
All Things Must Pass - George Harrison
Gold - Ryan Adams
Dirty Mind - Prince
Pet Sounds - Beach Boys
Blue Lines - Massive Attack (Protection is better!)

[jligon]

I'm surprised Let It Be has been mentioned, only because it has been criticized so heavily over the years. I think it is generally considered a notch below every other Beatles album. I've always thought it was kind of underrated, considering it's standing among other Beatles' albums.

As far as overrated, I never appreciated Born To Run (or any Springstein for that matter) as much as most.

[John Carsell]

Definitely Pet Sounds.

[Andrew]

Trout Mask Replica

[dwmann]

Uncle AL:

Don't think you're alone having a weird experience with Forever Changes, or any of the Love albums. Love was a unique band and made some strange, unique music that is hard to catagorize and can be hard to get used to, but seems almost impossible to dismiss. I tend to think of it as sixties psychedelic-junkie music. It has a distinct heroin-induced psychedelic flavor that predated the sound of the Velvet Underground slightly, and the amazing flute work on deCapo predated the sound of Tull and Traffic. I think the band will continue to grow on you. It grew on me.

While you're getting used to Forever Changes, you ought to check out a couple of their other releases. I am particularly partial to the first first album (Love) with its plaintive 'Message to Pretty' (another of those weird songs that sounds so typical, yet isn't) and Out Here, a doulbe record (of outtakes?) that has a blistering version of 'Signed DC' (Sometimes I feel so lonely, my comedown I'm scared to face - I've pierced my skin again, Lord, and no one cares for me) that sounds like pure pain pouring through the speakers - predating Lennon's primal scream album by a couple of years. (Probably found on vinyl only - I've never seen a CD version.) And of course, there is the now-famous Hendrix intro on 'The Everlasting First' on False Start.

[sgb]

Originally posted by Uncle Al
Gloom and Doom : I guess you could start with Barry McGuires "Eve of Destruction" (I really do like that one, however) and work your way through Lenord Cohen, Tim Hardin, and reach an apex with "Come Away Melinda" by Tim Rose. Major fear of the atomic age and it's eventual destruction of us all. While "Forever Changes" doesn't really deal with that directly - it often shares much of that minor chord "feeling of impending doom" sound. I keep coming back to it because....

I don't know. The Herb Alpert licks in the opening track? The "goofy psychedlic" insanity of "we're throwing away the key"..? So much of it is (no offense) TYPICAL, yet so much of it is not. I can't say that I like it - I also know that I rarely spin a disc I don't like 3 times in a week. It's drawing me in and I don't know why. When I figure it out (if ever) I will let you know. However, I suppose better minds than mine already have the answer.

Have you ever heard Rare Bird's first album? (I hasten to add this is the most under-rated album ever.)

[Larry]

Any Beatles album fits into the most overrated category!

[Dave]

One I'd forgotten about and don't really understand all the "hype" about is Paul McCartney: Ram. Not a very good album IMHO

[jligon]

Originally posted by Dave
One I'd forgotten about and don't really understand all the "hype" about is Paul McCartney: Ram. Not a very good album IMHO

In comparison to other McCartney albums? I consider this his first or second most essential solo Lp.

[Dave]

Sorry I just can't agree with you on this one.

The first album, the self-titled McCartney was neat and entertaining. Everything after Ram did it for me as well, up to 1986 anyways. I've really tried, on more than one ocassion, to get into Ram and for the life of me just couldn't.

[SVL]

Originally posted by snowman
Queen - A Night at the Opera.

I don't think the album ever had that much critical acclaim - in fact, it was called gimmicky and pretentious from the very beginning.

For myself, I believe it is a great record. I could do without two of the tracks - Sweet Lady and The Prophet's Song, though the latter has been redeemed (sort of) by Steve's remastering.

[peterC]

Some interesting choices.

The ones I agree with:

Band On the Run.

Pet Sounds (one of my favourite albums but not THAT much better than every other
BB album. Interestingly, it only appears to have become over-rated in the last 10 years or so since magazines like Q listed it as best album of all time).

Hotel California (I prefer the earlier stuff).

McCartney-well it's not really over-rated except here! Apart from Maybe I'm Amazed, Every Night and one or two other tracks, it's a huge let down considering what preceded it. I certainly prefer Ram and even Wild Life.

Let it Be isn't over-rated. It's generally rated quite accurately as a weaker Beatles album.

The ones I strongly disagree with:

Astral Weeks
Blue

These are both absolutely wonderful and could never possibly be over-rated.

Here are my extra candidates:

Everything Tim Buckley did except Greetings from LA (which of course is his least typical album).

BS&T first album-they BADLY needed a vocalist (which of course they subsequently got).

Rumours-great album but the one before was better.

AND................


WHO'S NEXT.

[jligon]

I was thinking the same about Astral Weeks. Simply beautiful in my opinion. If any of his albums could be considered overrated it might be Moondance but I love that one as well.

I don't at all think Pet Sounds is overrated but I do agree that many of the albums preceeding it are underrated. I think a lot of the folks that jump on the PS bandwagon just assume that everything the predates it is simplistic pop surf/car music.