[Closed] Insanely underrated albums

Beck, colours album

Insanely underrated.

Better Living Through Chemistry sits in the shade compared to Fatboy Slim's other albums which is criminal as it's ace.
Synthia by The Jezabels never sold anything like as well as their previous two albums but it's umpteen times more accomplished.
Beautiful by Garbage sounds soooo good now as well, but it was panned because it wasn't Version 2.0 part 2. In fact, all their stuff past Version 2.0 is easily as good but not as radio friendly so never achieved the success it should have...

One of my favourite Bowie albums but maybe get a wee bit of a hard time from some is Aladdin Sane, it took a while to really like it as a 13 year old but stick with it

Afghan Whigs - Do to the beast

They obviously never listened to Parked outside and Can Rova

Beautiful by Garbage sounds soooo good now as well

Agreed, another fantastic album.

Sonic Youth Goo

Not sure it's underrated but I always thought it was their best album, as a complete package. And has many of their best songs on it, to my ears. And one of the best album covers ever.

I always did like my feedback-drench atonal guitar noise on the more melodic side though.

Agree with Beautiful Garbage but I really preferred Not Your Kind Of People.

I'm not sure if underrated is the same as under-appreciated but Slowdive's Souvlaki got totally lost on release (there's a Pitchfork doco on Youtube). It was all Blur v Oasis etc. I think now it's no longer underrated and I'm glad that over the last few years the band have been getting the praise they were due.

Yeah, I snuck Goo in just cos I personally forgot how damn good it was 😁

Allow me to be the first to mention this undersung slice of unutterable genius:

^ An insanely under-appreciated band but that record is well regarded by their fans.

Great thread. Loving the Daughter album and enjoyed Beulah too.

Blind Melon - Soup. A phenomenal album from a criminally underrated band remembered for one song and a video. A truly eclectic album that still flows extremely well, has great lyrics and compositions. Tackles some very dark subject matter with a sense of humour. Also has a kazoo solo in a song about Ed Gein.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=5j_ps7ylddE

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=lCHd3VCu47M

Frank Zappa - Zoot Allures.

Tell me who is daring to underestimate a Zappa album. I'll go round and wee in their sausages.

Can think of many so here’s randoms per decade:

70’s: Nektar ‘Down To Earth’

80’s: XTC ‘Black Sea’

90’s: Julian Cope ‘Jehovakill’

00’s: Boredoms ‘Vision Creation Newsun

10’s: Angel Olsen ‘Halfway Home’

20’s: Jockstrap - Wicked City

For their second appearance in the thread. 100% twisted pop perfection. Awful cover though.

+ Second Coming. Great to cycle to too.

New Adventures in Hifi is my favourite REM album.

Goo is probably my favourite Sonic Youth album.

Dunno if it's underrated or not, but I really love Third by Portishead. I suspect it didn't fare as well in the charts as their other albums

I have to take issue with ‘Broken English’ as an ‘Insanely underrated album’. I remember when it came out, it was hugely regarded, it saw Marianne’s return after years of obscurity and showed just how great a singer and songwriter she was. I still have my original vinyl copy upstairs, it got played a lot, and I believe it’s still regarded as one of the great British female rock albums.
Not got a contribution at the mo’, I’ll have to give it some thought because there’s quite a few spring to mind, and it’s getting late and I need to head for bed. 😴

Bit off track because it stretches the album bit, but under rated band. Most people have them as a one (maybe two) hit wonder, but give Wheatus a chance. Some lovely textured, layered harmony songs with his all-part-of-the-band backing singers

If I had to go with one album - Hand Over Your Loved Ones

but I just love this from the Lightning EP

Great live too - every show a request show

Loving the TPE recommendations. Top albums.
How about XCNN - 'XCNN'.
Still don't know a single person who's heard of them, but it's a great album.

New Adventures in Hifi is my favourite REM album.

Mine too. Never realised it wasn’t well regarded. I especially liked it on CD as there was no artwork on the version I had. Regularly put it in the player upside down.

Not sure it's underrated as much as just unknown but I love Wide Awake by Rayland Baxter, full of beautifully crafted songs blending pop and Americana. Try 79 Shiny Revolvers or Hey Larocco to start.
I'm not a Dinosaur Jr fan but I found a copy of I Bet On Sky in our local library and I prefer it to their more highly rated albums.

I'd go with strawberries by the damned, overshadowed by the debut album and the black album, it's a brilliant collection of psychedelic dark poppy tunes. Just doesn't seem to get the recognition it deserves.

Still don’t know a single person who’s heard of them, but it’s a great album.

You do now 🙂
From before the news corp made them add an 'X'

Glad some of you enjoyed Beulah, baffling why it's not more widely known - perhaps just 1999 was the wrong time for a perfect pop album.

Enjoyed listening to Daughter, that was new to me.

My second submission is The Egg - Albumen.

A joyous mash-up of house, funk, disco and pop and one of the most impressive live dance music acts I've ever experienced.

Dunno why it wasn't a massive hit, possibly too genre-bending at a time (1996) when dance music was getting more nichey and segregated. Or maybe just too much wah-wah and chick-chick.

Anyway, click through for the full album playlist again...

Anything by James McMurtry

Saturday Night Wrist by Deftones get an undue hard time. There are some amazing tracks on that, and Mein with Serj Tankian is one of my favourite Deftones tracks ever.

God Shuffled His Feet. Crash Test Dummies

I would like to share Leigh Steven Kenny. He records as LSK, and the eponymous album LSK from 2000 is just lovely.

Its worth a listen

Ian

DezB I salute your impeccable music taste.

Deli creeps - Dawn of the deli creeps. Its like abstract faith no more. Its a shame they only released the one album.

Not had a chance to really give this much thought until now, getting home at gone 7.30 and having dinner at around 9 and what have you, I’ve only just started to think about what albums I’d consider underrated without seeming to be wilfully obscure, but there are three that spring to mind.
‘Hearts And Bones’, by Paul Simon. It started off as a new Simon and Garfunkel album, but Art was also involved with some solo stuff, and their fractious relationship took a turn for the worse, and Paul just scrapped Art’s bits and carried on on his own and presented it to the record company as his new solo album. It wasn’t given a great reception by the critics, but I read a great retrospective review in Hi-Fi News and Record Reviews later on by Ken Kessler, which supported my view that it was one of Simon’s greatest albums. It’s a lovely mixture of upbeat, humorous and melancholic, and it’s stunningly well produced.
‘Cowgirl’s Prayer’ - Emmylou Harris. She made this album at a point where she was becoming disillusioned with the Nashville country scene, and was returning to her folk roots in New York; it’s what would later be referred to as more alt-Country, and is a sign of what she would produce later with Daniel Lanois on her ‘Wrecking Ball’ album.
There’s a bunch of great songs, but ‘Prayer In Open ‘D’’is the standout for me, a heartbreaking song about loss, regret and redemption.
‘Black Rose’ - John David Souther. I bought this on the strength of a surprisingly decent review in NME, in the early 70’s, and fell in love with it immediately. JD worked with a number of other musicians who would later form The Eagles, who he wrote and co-wrote major hits for, as well as for other artists like Linda Ronstadt. Obviously there’s a strong country-rock feel, but again a bit more melancholy in tone.
A great singer, as well as writer, and a really lovely, unassuming man to talk to as well.
I can’t miss an opportunity to mention all the albums by Kris Delmhorst as well; I saw her supporting her friend Erin McKeown in Bristol, when she’d just released her third album, ‘Songs For A Hurricane’, and I was smitten! She’s got a really warm quality to her voice, and a great way with words, and, twelve albums in, her talent has been criminally ignored by the music media; it’s way past time she had some exposure and recognition of her talent as a musician and songwriter.

I must like underrated albums as I've probably got about half of the ones mentioned here 🙂

Blind Melon – Soup

I love that album

I’ve got a soft spot for ABC’s second album, Beauty Stab.

Me too 🙂

The Proclaimers “Sunshine on Leith”

Dont think they 've been mentioned yet, but Hey!Hello! brought out two absolutely amazing albums which no one heard.

I would never have considered Sunshine on Leith to be underrated