Most Underappreciated/Forgotten Albums

[Asonokirk V 2.0]

I was thinking about all the music I've listened to over the years, and remembered two albums that have all but been forgotten, yet the music is still great.

Alice Cooper: "Killer."
This album is phenomenal, and it never received the acclaim I feel it deserved, and still deserves. If you have not listened to this album from beginning to end, do so and I think you'll have to agree with me here.

Love: "Forever Changes."
Just incredible, and easily the most overlooked recording of all time. If you can find this record, just listen to it.

[sickness]

The Verve Pipe: "Villains"

Sure, they went on to adult pop crappiness but this record is a knockout from beginning to end with the hits "Freshmen" and "Photograph" as well as shoulda-beens like "Cup of Tea," "Reverend Girl," "Veener," "Cattle," etc. I absolutely love this record and still listen to it 6-10 times per year 10 years after it's release. If you liked "Freshmen" and/or "Photograph" go grab this record. I have a strong feeling that you won't be disappointed. :)

[Nostromo]

Soundtrack from Performance - includes "Memo From Turner."
Way cool.

N

[Asonokirk V 2.0]

"Foo Fighters": Foo Fighters

I hadn't listened to this for a long time, but am listening to it again now. I forgot this is an absolutely terrific album, and I don't think it is as appreciated as it should be.

[sickness]

I don't know. Still standing tall in and of itself considering it was the first post-Nirvana disc by that band's least-visible member and it was followed by a string of equally landmark discs... sounds like it's appreciated pretty well.

On a related note, I saw the Foo Fighters do an acoustic show in Berkeley last Thursday. They played several songs from this album (not including Big Me... how cliche would it have been to insist on playing that song acoustic?) and I was absolutely floored by how different and equally great they sounded compared to their album counterparts. This disc is not just a great rock record; it's a great record. These are not just great rock songs, they're great songs.

[Asonokirk V 2.0]

I don't know. Still standing tall in and of itself considering it was the first post-Nirvana disc by that band's least-visible member and it was followed by a string of equally landmark discs... sounds like it's appreciated pretty well.

On a related note, I saw the Foo Fighters do an acoustic show in Berkeley last Thursday. They played several songs from this album (not including Big Me... how cliche would it have been to insist on playing that song acoustic?) and I was absolutely floored by how different and equally great they sounded compared to their album counterparts. This disc is not just a great rock record; it's a great record. These are not just great rock songs, they're great songs.

I agree 100% with that! I just never felt the album got its props when it was released. I barely ever heard any of it played on the air, and even now you hear a lot of Foo Fighters, but not much from this album. That could simply be my perception, though.

[Trazalca]

For my money, one terribly underappreciated album
that seems almost forgotten, unless I'm mistaken,
is Peter Gabriel's soundtrack for The Last Temptation of Jesus Christ.
Forget whatever opinions you had of the movie,
the music was just mind blowing and phenomenal.
And I couldn't help but hear hints of Peter's music
in the soundtrack for The Passion of the Christ,
with even some bars of music that seemed lifted right off
of Peter's music. And in an odd way, that didn't bother me.
I took it as a loving nod from one fellow musician to another.
Both soundtracks are great, but Peter's set the bar,
and with headphones on, sitting back and relaxing with eyes closed,
it just about takes you to another world, even Jesus's.

[Penfold]

Traz, I am so there. That score is my absolute favorite, and it works so well without the movie. It was actually my campus minister in college that got me interested in this soundtrack, and since then I can't hear it enough. Peter Gabriel has become my favorite artist in recent years, and this album stands out as one of his best works.

[sickness]

Queen's "Highlander" soundtrack. Fucking AWESOME!!!

HEEEEEEEERE we ARE! Born to be kings! We're the princes of the uuuuuniverrrrrrrse!!!

[sickness]

I agree 100% with that! I just never felt the album got its props when it was released. I barely ever heard any of it played on the air, and even now you hear a lot of Foo Fighters, but not much from this album. That could simply be my perception, though.
Obviously with as many hits as the Foos have had, the earlier stuff will get less play but I still do hear I Don't Owe You Anything, This is A Call and Big Me with moderate regularity. And as far as how much they were played back in the day, maybe they weren't so hot in LA but up here in the Bay Area, you literally couldn't turn on a hard rock, alt or mod station without hearing them at least once every two hours when that album came out. If you rotated between the three formats with some regularity, you were guaranteed to hear them at least once an hour. Naturally, when The Colour & The Shape shot past the popularity of Foo Fighters with alarming speed, you would hear any of their singles from either album on any station that was even remotely rock oriented to the point of wearing the damn things out. I wasn't a fan at first with the first album but they won me over. With the overplaying of everything Foo during the promotion of TC&TS, I went through a major backlash phase and almost started hating the band again. That's how much they got played around here. You could probably hear them on a station every 10 minutes if you cycled through all rock-related stations around here.

[JackCross]

I'd have to say the two most underrated in my collection would be:

Faith no more's "King for a day fool for a lifetime"

and

Kid Koala's "Some of my best friend's are DJ's"

On an earlier note I would have to agree that Foo Fighters first release is an amazingly underrated album. I think this would have something to do with how closely it was released to Nirvana's "final" album "MTV unplugged in New York" Had the album been released about half a year later it probably would have had been far more impactful.

Josh

(Not that I am slighting Nirvana, they were amazing, or Grohl, he's amazing or the Foo fighters, they're amazing as well.)

[Jakester]

That's amazing!

[JackCross]

>_< how dare you mock my amazing attempts to drop the word amazing several times in one amazing sentence! How dare -_-...

[Bill_the_Pony]

Another vote for Peter Gabriel's PASSION. :)

Speaking of Foo Fighters, I'm recalling an album titled SONGS IN THE KEY OF X.

Compilation of songs "inspired" by The X Files.
Some of them were pretty damn good.
Still, I prefer the score album by Mark Snow....

Julee Cruise's albums, FLOATING INTO THE NIGHT and THE VOICE OF LOVE, which were also collaborations with David Lynch and Angelo Badalamenti, and on those albums you could find songs featured in Lynch productions such as Twin Peaks (series and movie), Wild at Heart, and Blue Velvet, plus his stage show called Industrial Symphony No. 1......

[Mouse]

13 Songs by Fugazi (In most circles.)
Hallowed Ground by The Violent Femmes
On Avery Island and In The Aeroplane Over The Sea by Neutral Milk Hotel
Adore by Smashing Pumpkins
Satanic Panic In The Attic by Of Montreal

[Nostromo]

Captain Beyond

http://www.progarchives.com/Progressive_rock_discography_BAND.asp?band_id=795

The Plimsouls

http://www.trouserpress.com/entry.php?a=plimsouls


N

[colmatrix]

Forgotten: Anything by Michael Jackson. At one point the guy was as big as The Beatles and his music was a big part of that.

Underappreciated: Dogstar