• If you would like to get your account Verified, read this thread
  • Check out Tickling.com - the most innovative tickling site of the year.
  • The TMF is sponsored by Clips4sale - By supporting them, you're supporting us.
  • >>> If you cannot get into your account email me at [email protected] <<<
    Don't forget to include your username

Non-Hit Albums That Are Your Faves

Dave2112

Level of Cherry Feather
Joined
Apr 17, 2001
Messages
10,293
Points
0
Ok, so I have weird tastes in music. I was thinking of this the other day and many of my favorite albums by the bands I like tend to not be their biggest hit albums in terms of sales or singles.

So, fess up folks! Do you have any albums by bands you like that either didn't do "well" or were panned but you still rank them high? Here's a short list of mine...

Caress of Steel - Rush

In my Top 5 Rush albums even though it spawned the infamous "Down the Tubes Tour". Containing only three regular-length songs, the 10-minute piece "The Necromancer" and the full-side length concept opus "The Fountain of Lamneth", this album almost ended Rush's career. However, "Fountain..." gave the boys one last inspiration to either do it their way or go down trying...leading to "2112" which launched their career and spawned prog-metal as we know it. To this day, "Fountain" is my favorite piece to get stoned to, hands down.

Good Trouble - REO Speedwagon

Nestled between two mega-hit albums, this 1982 offering is my fave REO album. I'm more of a 70's REO fan...but "Good Trouble" managed to keep that 70's feel that "Hi Infidelity" lacked while still creating songs that should have been huge hits. Easily Kevin Cronin's most powerful vocal album by a long shot.

Surveillance - Triumph

Not my fave Triumph album, but in the Top 2. Coming on the heels of the over-produced, heavily synth-oriented and (some say) "sell-out" album "Sport of Kings"...this may actually be Triumph's heaviest album. Spawned no real hits, but contains some of Rik Emmett's best guitar work. It was their last album with the original line-up, and they went out with a huge bang.

In Through the Out Door - Led Zeppelin

Ask any Zep fan what their favorite album is, and you get either "IV", "II" or "Houses of the Holy". I could never put my finger on why...but "In Through the Out Door" is my favorite total body of work by Led Zeppelin. I always thought that John Paul Jones was grossly underrated as a true musical force in that band, and his keyboard work in particular was brilliant on this album. This makes me wonder what kinds of sounds Zep would have experimented with if they'd been around into the 80's.

Broadsword and the Beast - Jethro Tull

I'm gonna catch a lot of flak for this one from Tull fans...but I totally dig this album and it's perhaps my fave album by Ian Anderson and Co. Doesn't contain my favorite songs individually...but as a whole album, it's way cool. Said by many critics to be way to reliant on synths, I disagree. Another album you can get stoned to every song to.

Ride the Lightning - Metallica

Am I the only metal fan who doesn't think that "Master of Puppets" was God's gift to metal? Great album, don't get me wrong, I love it...but for my money "Ride the Lightning" is THE definitive Metallica album and the greatest thrash album ever.

Well, those are the ones I can think of. Which "lost" albums are your faves?

:triangle:
 
I totally agree with you on In Through The Out Door by Led Zeppelin, their last studio album, filled with hope until sadly, John Bonham died. They may have been the most successful band ever if not for that. 'I'm Gonna Crawl' is one of my favorite songs.

I'm also on board with Aja by Steely Dan, fantastic album and underrated I think.
 
My tastes in music is very eclectic as you can see by this small list.

Aja by SteelyDan I thought very good and underrated.
Blue Views by Paul Carrack is wonderful in my opinion.
Down The Road I Go by Travis Tritt is a great country album.
At The Movies...Van Morrison....'nuff said.
The Why Store..self titled goodness from The Why Store
Winelight by Grover Washington Jr. :yourock:
 
My second favourite band after Led Zeppelin ( Im afraid I hated ' In through the out door' ) is Free and my favourite album of theirs is Highway which followed the hugely successful Fire and Water. Highway bombed commercially and contributed to the bands break up but for me its a more mature and varied album than F and W and although lacking a anthem like All right now it still has some of their best work including The Stealer ,Be my friend , and Soon I will be gone. It does however have the absolute worst album sleeve ever which may have had something to do with its lack of success.

FreeHighway.jpg
 
Broadsword and the Beast was a pretty good album, the song "Broadsword" is quite awesome. My favorite Tull record is still their first, "This Was",when Tull did straight blues rock with Mick Abrahams on guitar.

The first Free record/8 track I ever bought was "Heartbreaker". This was near the end of their career but it's really well done.

Other faves:

"The Turning point"- John Mayall
"Love"- Love
"The Piper at the Gates of Dawn"-Pink Floyd
"Cahoots"- The Band
"Liege and Leaf"-Fairport Convention
"Moby Grape 69"- Moby Grape...........fantastic record!



Drew
 
To name those immediately coming to mind

:boogie: Beach Boys, M.I.U. Album

:boogie: Warren Zevon, Life'll Kill Ya

:boogie: Lou Reed, Growing Up in Public

:boogie: Badfinger, Badfinger

:boogie: Graham Parker, Your Country

:boogie: Rick James, The Flag

:boogie: Elton John, Victim of Love

:boogie: Rolling Stones, A Bigger Bang

:boogie: Nilsson, Duit On Mon Dei

:boogie: Peter Frampton, Breaking All the Rules

:boogie: Bob Dylan, Street-Legal

I'm sure I will think of others after posting.

Sorry to be so male/white-oriented.
 
None of Queen's later albums were hits in America, although they were hits just about everywhere else in the known universe. So I don't know if they count?
 
I actually was going to put Queen's Innuendo on that list. I'll be honest...I was never much of a "classic Queen" fan, but the last two albums they did were probably their best, and hardly anyone knows about them.

Also, since I mentioned REO earlier...one of my fave (and grossly underrated) albums was The Earth, A Small Man, His Dog and a Chicken. Funny name, great album. It was the first release after Gary Richrath and Alan Gratzer left the band. I love every track on this album, even though it didn't really sell well.
 
Most of the bands I like are in no way considered mainstream so as far as any of them being "hit albums" would be stretching the definition of hit. So, anyway here are a few of my favorite albums by bands that you may have heard of and in most cases these records weren't their top selling efforts.




Kings Of Leon- Aha Shake Heartbreak, this record is raw and less melodic than the ones released later, it contained no songs that received massive radio play (think Use Somebody or Sex on Fire) but most of the songs are good and has an intimate feel to it.


Rancid- Life Won't Wait, has an reggae vibe to it along with the anger that any good punk record should have.

Rolling Stones - Sticky Fingers, this is a classic album but not as commercially or critically acclaimed as some of their others....Sway is, to this day, one of my favorite songs of all time.


Radiohead- The Bends, the last "traditional" record they made before they got all experimental. Just, High and Dry, the Bends and My Iron Lung are all very good songs.

That's just a few off the top of my head as well.
 
@ InspectorJapp - While I'm totally on board with you that "Clutching at Straws" is one hell of a great album...wasn't it pretty commercially and critically succesful? It was one of only two Marillion albums that broke in the US and spawned any singles. If you're going for the "we're the only ones who know Marillion" angle...I'd agree. But "...Straws" was a very successful album.

(By the way, I know I'm splitting hairs. Not picking on your choice at all. :triangle: )
 
Come What(ever) May- Stone Sour: Every knows by Stone Sour by pretty much one song, but this is the perfect mix of pump up and chill out music.

The secret Life of..... -The Veronicas: They pretty much only have 2 albums. This is one without their main hit. I love these girls.

Lights and Sounds-Yellowcard: Another good mix of pump up and chill out music.

The Adventures of Ghosthorse and Stillborn-CocoRosie: These girls are about as underground as it gets. But if you've never heard these girls, listen to them. WARNING: be prepared for some weird s***

Because I Got High-Afroman: Hahaha. Hahah. Hah. Haha. Hah...................

Dear Agony-Breaking Benjamin: Seriously one of my all time favorites! Love love love these guys
 
My favourite Non-Hit album is from a Non-Hit artist: Lewis Taylor.

I know when someone says something like I'm about to say the tendency is to just roll your eyes and switch off until they've finished, but the man is a musical visionary (At least I avoided the word "Genius"!) and it is an utter travesty that nobody has heard of him. I mean that in the sincerest possible way.

It's hard to pin him down to one genre but I think if I had to pigeon-hole it I'd classify it as psychedelic soul. His songs kind of sound like Pet Sounds era Beach Boys cross bred with Syd Barret era Pink Floyd cross bred once more with classic Sly and the Family Stone, with the same perfect vocals as Al Green. He was signed to Island in the mid-nineties with high expectations but due to drug abuse and a reclusive nature he never came near to succeeding commercially, despite the tunes being some of the most pristine, mind bendingly brilliant pop songs I've ever heard (And I pride myself in being a music geek: I own around 1200 CDs and about 5000 digital files). Elton John once held one of his albums up on a chat show and yelled "This guy is a genius!!!" but aside from that he's totally slipped under the radar: after Island dropped him he quit recording and was last seen playing bass with Gnarls Barkley's live band. Everything that has ever been posted online (apart from the skimpy Wikipedia page) has been promptly deleted, most fans suspect by Taylor himself.

Everything he's ever done is great, but the essential album is his first, Lewis I. There simply hasn't been an album like it ever before and I doubt there will be one ever again. When I first heard it I was high, but after the first song I felt as if I'd sobered up: I was totally taken aback by the sounds, the melodies, the musicianship, the voice, the production. It really has everything, and even if you're not into soul or psychedelia (I love the former but hate the latter) you still need this music in your life. Metal and Rock fans will love the face melting guitar solos he sprays into most of his songs, Urban fans will love hearing the same influences they dig in most of today's stuff applied differently, and even Classical music lovers will marvel at the compositional complexity of it all. Must-own music, without being must-own. If you have a spare bit of cash floating around, take a chance and grab a used copy on amazon for peanuts like I did. I promise you won't regret it.

Aside from that I'd say my top ten from bigger artists would be:

10. U2 - Zooropa - I can't stand U2 or anything to do with them aside from this, and it's not exactly a flop but it isn't mooted as their best album as I think it should be. I love the fuzziness of Eno's production and it manages to be sweet, rather than sentimental (unlike pretty much everything else they've ever done).

9. Stereophonics - You Gotta Go There To Come Back - Critically panned and deservedly so: I listen to it now and it's probably the laziest piece of shit of a record I've ever heard, but I will always love it because they were the first band I saw live, and they were touring this. And as crap as the rest of it is, "Help Me (She's Out Of Her Mind)" and "Madame Helga" still rock.

8. Bob Marley & The Wailers - African Herbsman - Absolute stonker that they released just before they signed to their first mainstream label. Contains early versions of "One Love" and "Sun Is Shining"

7. Lou Reed - Coney Island Baby - Generally one of his most ignored albums but I can't for the life of me see why, the guitar playing alone is worthy of classic status.

6. The Stone Roses - The Second Coming - Another critically obliterated work that was expected to live up to impossible heights and never had a chance. I personally like the direction they were trying to go in. They could have hammed it up and made a fortune by releasing another set of pop gems, but instead they tried to break away from type, and I've got a lot of respect for that.

5. Air - 10,000 Hz Legend - Too far removed from Moon Safari's chill out coffee table music but I think it's their most inventive album.

4. Nirvana - Incesticide - Doesn't really count because technically speaking it's a platinum album, but I think we all know that's mostly due to teens who jumped on the bandwagon after '94: when it was released it barely registered. Songs like "Dive" and "Aneurysm" really are the band at their rockin' best. It was also cool to release something totally different to Nevermind so soon afterwards.

3. Jeff Buckley - My Sweetheart The Drunk - Only Buckley fans will really know what I'm on about, but even though he made a massive fuck up in getting Tom Verlaine to produce it I think it still could have been something to shout about. It seems like he tried to make the Anti-Grace, and songs like the cover of "Yard Of Blonde Girls" and "The Sky Is A Landfill" seem to confirm that. I guess I just like it when musicians are bold enough to do something different, and this is probably the best example of that.

2. Massive Attack - 100th Window - Wasn't energetic enough for most fans and got the most lukewarm critical response out of all of their albums, even though I think it's the best Chillout album ever made. I love how it all sounds like one song, the basslines just melt your spine and they actually make Sinead O'Connor's voice sound likeable. Best. Stoned. Album. Ever.

1. Whiskeytown - Pneumonia - Probably one of my favourite albums period. Alt-Country isn't for everyone but every song on this record is a perfect pop song, even if most of them descend into typical Ryan Adams moodiness. I listen to this and still get surprised by aspects of it, two years after hearing it for the first time. The band is at it's most solid playing-wise and I think it would be seen as their best if it was released whilst they were still together and not post-breakup. A true forgotten classic by a criminally underrated band.

Anyways sorry if I've prattled on a bit, I guess you'll think twice before posting a question like this when there might be sad bastards like me lurking in the depths of the forum...
 
The Soul Cages is my favorite Sting album. I don't know why people make fun of that album so much. It's really good.

It beats the hell out of Sacred Love and everything that came after it by him.
 
Jethro Tull - This Was. Gotta agree with Drew here, this was a terrific little jazz album and My Sunday Feeling is one of my all-time favorite songs.

The Rolling Stones - Their Satanic Majesties Request. Way out of character and brilliant at times. I loved this album when I was 7 years old and still love it.

Cheap Trick - (self-titled). Their first album was excellent no-nonsense rock with great cuts like Elo Kiddies and The Ballad of TV Violence. Also a terrific single in "Oh Candy" which should have been a huge hit.

REM - Fables of the Reconstruction. Not their most popular early album, but to me represents everything that was great about their 80s stuff.

Journey - Look Into The Future. Good basic 70s rock album, before Steve Perry came along and ruined everything.

XTC - Nonesuch. "Oranges and Lemons", previous to this one, had at least 4 singles that did pretty well but Nonesuch so interesting instrumentally and every song is different.

The Pixies - Trompe Le Monde. Few albums start faster and don't let up like this great Black Francis creation.

More recent...

Radiohead - Hail to the Thief. Among the later more experimental albums, I find this really solid from end to end.

Cut Copy - In Ghost Colors. Last year's "Zonoscope" got a lot of acclaim, but In Ghost Colors from a few years back is a terrific 80s style dance album.

Jim Noir - (self-titled). This 2008 second album by Jim Noir is lightweight, trippy, psychedelic pop that is probably just annoying to most people but I find it extremely catchy and fun.

Sondre Lerche - Phantom Punch. This guys does mostly melodic and very creative lighter rock but Phantom Punch from 2007 had a louder and harder edge that he pulled off very well.
 
Just a few of my own favorites:

Suicide - Suicide: This 1976 album by this avant punk duo features Alan Vega on vocals and Martin Rev on drum machine and instrument (note the singular), which is a beat-up electronic organ. Sounds almost like a band you'd want to avoid, but it's amazing the lovely sonic cloudscapes which can be created with this minimalist approach. And they can get scary too. Don't listen to Frankie Teardrop, the story of an unemployed worker who goes berserk, alone or at night. Bruce Springsteen is a fan!

Can - anything by them: These guys are one of the flagship acts in the "Kraut Rock" genre. They studied composition under avant-garde composers, Karlheinz Stockhausen (who inspired John Lennon to record Revolution #9) and Gyorgi Ligeti. But despite their avant education, they definitely know how to rock! For the uninitiated, I'd recommend the albums Inner Space, Saw Delight or Tago Mago.

Pere Ubu - Terminal Tower (also part of their Datapanik In The Year Zero boxed set). All the early, mid-seventies waxings from a group of Cleveland electro-punks, who are still at it by the way. Educated punk with alien electronics invading the mix when you'd least expect them. Check out "Final Solution", which isn't about fascism but is a surrealistic teenage anthem which any decent punk or metal band could do proud. Also check out "Heaven" and "Cloud 149".

Frank Zappa - 200 Motels: The soundtrack from his R-rated satirical comedy about what life on the road is really like for a touring rock band, which I'd wholly recommend you check out if you can (official copies of it are hard to find).

Philip Glass - North Star: A collection of short pieces which he recorded to accompany an exhibition of sculpture. He was using loops years before digital samplers became available.

Negativland - Escape From Noise: These people have no qualms about sampling anything that isn't nailed down. This concept album was their most polished and most listenable effort and set the tone for future releases. This is what "collage" sounds like when you think things out and choose your material carefully. It contains samples contributed by the likes of Mark Mothersbaugh, Fred Frith, Jello Biafra, Ivan Stang, Einsturzende Neubauten and Mickey Hart.
 
unit5610

The 1977 Cheap Trick debut Cheap Trick is one I would add to my list!
 
This:


<object width="425" height="349"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/AYbPJfLFvSI?version=3&hl=en_US&rel=0"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/AYbPJfLFvSI?version=3&hl=en_US&rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="425" height="349" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object>



Drew
 
Well, much as I hate to say it, Most of Colin James' stuff never made the top 10 so I guess you could say I have 10 albums I really like that didn't make the charts (that I know of).
 
I'm also a child of the 60's - 70's. Underrated is such an overused term so I'll just call these overlooked by the mainstream.

Mahogany Rush - Child Of The Novelty and Strange Universe
Rory Gallagher - Calling Card (Most of Rory's was overlooked)
Wishbone Ash - Pilgrimage and Argus
Bloodrock (All 4 albums)

Thanks for this question. I love the assortment of diverse answers.
 
Here is my list:

"Dusty In Memphis"-Dusty Springfield
"Across A Crowded Room"-Richard Thompson
"Femme Fatale" - Britney Spear
"We Can't Dance" - Genesis :wharblgarbl:
 
Rush-Vapor Trails (Earthshine is my favorite song on that album)

While I wouldn't call it "underrated" (it was received pretty well by critics and considered a comeback)...I totally agree that it fell a bit between the cracks of "Test for Echo" and the massively successful "Snakes and Arrows". Not to mention being mixed WAY too "hot".

And yes...Earthshine is one kick-ass tune. Funny how my least favorite Rush album contains one of my ten favorite songs. (Note: my "least favorite" Rush album is still better than most other stuff I have. 😉 )

The Vapor Trails tour was the fuckin' bomb, though, eh? What a setlist.
 
What's New

2/17/2025
Check out Clips4Sale for the internets largest one-stop fetish clip location!.
Door 44
Live Camgirls!
Live Camgirls
Streaming Videos
Pic of the Week
Pic of the Week
Congratulations to
*** brad1701 ***
The winner of our weekly Trivia, held every Sunday night at 11PM EST in our Chat Room
Back
Top