Under-rated Albums(classics)

It always amuses me when the term "under-rated" is used, I always then want to know where I can find the official ratings that fail to accurately represent the "under-rated".

That aside, I'll throw Waiting by Fun Boy Three in to the mix.

Dry... Pj Harvey...patti smiths dawter

An astonishingly good album, but difficult to see how it could be considered as under rated

Dry has since been featured on several best-of-all-time lists. It was ranked number 70 on Rolling Stone's list of the "100 Best Debut Albums of All Time" and number 151 on NME's "500 Greatest Albums of All Time" list.

Dry is also included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.

I'll never forget the first time I listened to it, blew me away, a truly unique sound.

no one i know likes it

kaya ....bob marley
whathappen.....the beat
a tonic for the troops......boomtown rats
journeys to glory ...spandau ballet
the flat earth ....thomas dolby
dare ....human league
shes so unusual ...cyndi lauper



are any of them underated ?, dunno, but i love em.

most albums i have never see the light of day, with tracks pulled into
playlists, via mp3

but a few get an airing in proper order, just like the old days

Pink Floyd - Animals

Animals was widely acclaimed . Radio Caroline played it virtually non-stop

A Wizard a true star-Todd Rundgren

RA (Utopia) I thought would have done better

Animals has my second favourite Floyd Track... Sheep

Every album Tangerine Dream have ever released has failed to gain the recognition deserved . Maybe a thread for most underrated 'groups' is required

Back To The Egg - Wings
Down To Earth - Rainbow
A Farewell To Kings - Rush

Aspro - there isn't a track on the entire album that isn't brilliant .
sixtwosix - A Farewell To Kings is an absolute classic album . Hemispheres is not far behind either 9another underrated group

Pleased to see The Beat (English Beat anyone?) but mine would be I just can't stop it
Peter Gabriel Melt
Warren Zevon Excitable Boy
Crazy Horse Crazy Horse
Tom Verlaine Tom Verlaine
Donald Fagen The Nightfly

Underrated was mentioned so I'll go with Electronic by Electronic

The Colour Of Spring - Talk Talk

A Few Small Repairs - Shawn Colvin

The danse society. Seduction
Rosie Vela...Zazu
Play Dead...the first flower
Hugh Mundell...Africa must be free by 1983
Freeez ..Southern Freeeze
The Fall...Slates

Bim Sherman..Danger

Apr 6, 2020 -- 6:42PM, doridoru wrote:

The Colour Of Spring - Talk Talk

just bought this , stunning

calenture- triffids
east side story- squeeze
trapped and unwrapped -friends again
walk across the rooftops- blue nile
starless- starless

The beat brilliant ska band, mirror in the bathroom classic.

I always thought Ultravox albums underrated, no better electronic band IMO.

Never really got Farewell to Kings, Xanadu an exception, much preferred 80s Rush, Perm Waves etc.. but they were huge by that stage, so those early 80s albums werent really underrated.

Tarnation - Mirador

Walkabouts - Satisfied Mind

Tindersticks - Donkeys 92-97

Pal Shazar - There's A Wild Thing In The House

Oh Susanna - Johnstown

Josh Ritter - Golden Age Of Radio

John Stewart - Punch The Big Guy

Joe Pug - Messenger

Jesse DeNatale - Shangri-La West

The Heavy Horses - Murder Ballads & Other Love Songs & With Darkness In My Eyes

Gregory Alan Isakov - This Empty Northern Hemisphere & That Sea The Gambler

Greg Brown - Covenant

Doug Burr - The Sickle & The Sheaves

Catie Curtis - Crash Course In Roses

Brett Dennen - So Much More

Television -  Marquee Moon

duke..good shout.

Abandoned Luncheonette - Hall & Oats

Marquee Moon is wonderful, but hardly under-rated. It figures on virtually everyone's top 10.

If anyone could make a case that the follow-up LP, Adventure, was not a shocking let-down and devoid of inspiration, then perhaps that could go on the list of under-rated albums.

But no one can, so it can't.

Another good shout from pumpy..found it hard to leave out a stelly dan album..but which one?..maybe pretzel logic.

This is a difficult one.



You can hardly call it under-rated - it's one of the most influential records ever made, from the motorik drumming on Isi, to the vocal style on Hero, which was copied just a few weeks later by Johnny Rotten. It was also the album which sent Bowie to Germany.

But hardly anyone I knew at the time had ever heard it.

some very interesting posts on here . ..i'd add one . dylan's blood on the tracks . if it was rated 6th best album of all time then it fits this thread.

Whatever happened to kraut rock?..tangerine dream faust amon duul can neu and others.

sofia .. good one . can were groundbreaking . listen to tago mago then the happy mondays . a bit in common .

Moonaxed

Slates by the Fall was a 10" ep.
Underated but Mark E Smith is an acquired taste ?.

Hope
by Klaatu

The golden age of wireless..Thomas Dolby
You're safe....Maxi Priest
Dim the lights....Winston Reedy
Peace at last...The Blue Nile
Ghostyhead....Rickie Lee Jones

Ell...Slates was a mini lp.it is 10"
Mark e is an aquired taste,so is marmite. It is still underrated.

Trompe Le Monde - Pixies
Songs For A Blue Guitar - Red House Painters
II - Meat Puppets
Sleeps With Angels - Neil Young
In Through The Out Door - Led Zeppelin

Gang of Four - Entertainment
Ultravox (Foxx era) - Ha! Ha1 Ha!
Lou Reed - New York
The Sundays - Reading, Writing and Arithmetic
The Fall - Extricate

'Under rated' is a difficult concept.

If no one's heard of it and it was a commercial flop then it was probably 'rated' about right and it's down to personal taste then.

There's some cracking stuff out there by bands very few will have heard of however, that deserve more widespread exposure.

'Master Volume' - The Dirty Nil (Punk / Hard Rock crossover)
'Waiting To Burn' - Hana Piranha (Tori Amos with balls!)
'Unhinged' - Callow Saints (Female-fronted bluesy rock)
'The Green Album' - Woods of Ypres (Doom Metal)
'Personal Troubles and Public Issues' - The Wall (early punk rock, featuring brilliant single 'Ghetto')

Glad to see somebody else has heard of Rosie Vela. Her one and only album was produced by Walter Becker so there is a Steely dan connection.
Starsailor - Tim Buckley
Road to Cairo - David Ackles ( originally just David Ackles )

Rosie Vela,managed a top 30 hit single but i think a&m promoted her poorly i have owned in excess of 1200 vinyl l.p and 12" singles over the last 40 years and Zazu is in the top 10.Along with a Wendy and Lisa l.p which is also on a& m its the thinnest 12 in the 1200!
Rumours of a 2nd Rosie Vela album are true but only the occasional bootleg cassette seems to turn up and never to me!

Moonaxed.

We'll have to beg to differ whether it was an LP or not.
Rough Trade singles had serial numbers starting RT??? and LP's were Rough??, Slates was RT061.
Still got my original copy.

Worth a few quid now ell

Rumble Doll
Patti Scialfa
Released 1993
5099747387425


Rumble Doll 3:25
Come Tomorrow 3:54
In My Imagination 4:22
Valerie 4:59
As Long As I (Can Be With You) 4:47
Big Black Heaven 3:38
Loves Glory 3:47
Lucky Girl 4:08
Charm Light 3:44
Baby Don't 3:11
Talk To Me Like The Rain 3:44
Spanish Dancer 4:50

I know. They still turn up cheap on eBay or boot sales.
It was plugged big time by John Peel on the radio.
Seminal Live is my favourite Fall release.

Favourite fall single
How i wrote elastic man
City hobgoblins

I would have picked Spoilt Victorian Child or Ghost In My House.

Magazine - Real Life
Nils Lofgren - (fatman album)
Tommy Bolin - Teaser
Jess Roden - Jess Roden

Southside Johnny & the Asbury Jukes - Hearts of Stone

Ben Folds Five (self titled)

Masterpiece of an album. Great melodies, musicianship and lyrics too. Cracking live band. Had another two really good albums but this album is the shizz.

Big Thief - Capacity

Maybe too early to call it a classic but possibly the best album of the last five years. Heartbreaking, uplifting.

Wilco - Summerteeth & Yankee Hotel Foxtrot

Band seem to have done very nicely for themselves without being huge. These two are my faves. First is an easy listen, full of McCartneyesque pop hooks and very consistent while latter is much bumpier but deeper and the highs are higher.

Brakes - Give Blood

Still amazes me these didn't make a breakthrough. A bit of a punk-XTC-Pixies fusion. Short album with loads of songs that just makes me smile.

Cotton Mather - Kontiki

Another cracker from a band who did nothing whatsoever. Bit this is ridiculously good. Along the lines of Crowded House in terms of craftsmanship but with a slightly gnarlier edge. Tunes like Password and She's Only Cool would make a career of some people but these guys' faces just didn't fit.

Probably not under-rated but definitely worth a listen (if you're not old like me you may never have heard it).

Dr John.....Gris-Gris

Don't know if it's under rated but
Little Creatures - Talking Heads is an album I've never tired of after 35 years.

Xmal Deutschland - Fetisch

23 Skidoo - Urban Gamelan checkout the 1st track g,i.f.u. which became coup and was ripped off by the chemical brothers for block rockin beats

The Church - The Blurred Crusade

Inspiral Carpets - Revenge Of The Goldfish (1992)

The Brit pop album before brit pop and sounds fresher than most of Oasis stuff today, Noel was the roadie for this album tour....

Ready N Willing - Whitesnake