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[Hombre_de_ningun_lugar]

First, the following albums are not at the top of my preference, but I enjoy them a lot and think that they are criminally underrated. If I had to rate them, I would give them 3 stars out of 5, that is, good albums.



The Beatles - Beatles For Sale (1964). Fans usually consider this to be the worst Beatles album (not counting Yellow Submarine), but though it's not nearly as good as A Hard Day's Night, in my opinion it's at least better than the first two albums. "No Reply", "I'm A Loser", "Eight Days A Week", "Every Little Thing" and "I Don't Want To Spoil The Party" are all very good songs for me. Yeah, it also has the "awful" cover of "Mr. Moonlight", but it's just one song!



Buffalo Springfield - Last Time Around (1968). An overlooked record, probably because it was recorded while the band was breaking (actually Neil Young was not on the original photo of the cover and his image was cheaply added). But the result was still quite good, with two great Neil's songs ("On The Way Home"; "I Am A Child"), the usually good songwriting of Steve Stills ("Pretty Girl Why"; "Special Care"; "Questions") and one of the best songs ever written by Richie Furay ("Kind Woman").



The Doors - The Soft Parade (1969). I can see why this album is put down by most critics, it doesn't sound like the other Doors' records, with all the over-orchestration, and Krieger wrote more songs than usual instead of the great Jim. Some pieces like the title track are laughable (in the good meaning of the word), anyway, if I just listen to the album I find several good pop songs like "Tell All The People", "Touch Me", "Runnin' Blue" and "Wishful Sinful". I guess that people expected different things from the Doors.



The Rolling Stones - The Satanic Majesties Request (1967). The obvious psychedelic answer of the Stones to the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's. It seems that everybody were allowed to become psychedelic except the Stones, and that's unfair. And sure, this is not one of the best psychedelic records of the era, but I find it quite enjoyable despite some excesses. It's a great fun to listen to "Sing This All Together", "Citadel", "2000 Man", "She's A Rainbow", "The Lantern" and "2000 Light Years From Home". Give me this before anything the Stones recorded after 1972.



The Who - The Who By Numbers (1975). Yeah, the Who could do much better than this, but why don't we just sit and enjoy this record? A couple of songs are classics ("Slip Kid"; "Squezee Box"), others are mindless fun ("Success Story"; "They Are All In Love"; "How Many Friends") and some little gems are also found ("Dreaming From The Waist"; "Imagine A Man").



The Yardbirds - Little Games (1967). The Yardbirds were known as an experimental blues band, and this record dominated by pop songs may be their weakest one. However, it is the document of Jimmy Page as the guitarist of the band, and his talent is showed here. Actually I prefer this record before anything done by Led Zeppelin, but I know it's just me. It includes the title track, "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Sailor", "Drinking Muddy Water", "No Excess Baggage", and some good bonus like "Puzzles" and "Think About It". It's a nice experience to listen to this record.

Now it's your turn. Which albums do you think are underrated?

[nimrod]

Good thread Hombre, I agree about your choices.



Garden Shed by England.....released in 77 a very good symphonic style rock album, derivative of Yes & genesis but still a very very good album which sold very poorly and hence (sadly) was the only release by the band



Once Again by Barclay James Harvest........a 1971 masterpiece by one of my very favourite bands, BJH were always very underrated but made some very fine albums which only seemed to sell well in Germany and Holland, some great songwriting here. Even theyre home country (England) have always pretty much ignored them.



Four Moments by Sebastian Hardie.........one of THE best records to come out of Australia IMO, absolutely beautiful album, very symphonic, very underrated......hell, even Aussies have never heard of em'

[nimrod]

Spring by Spring........oops almost forgot this one from 1971, another absolute gem which was completely ignored so no more albums from Spring, great English band, great songs (particularly Golden Fleece)
Apparently they did record a follow up but due to lack of sales of the debut, it stayed on the shelf.

Spring - Grail

[Hombre_de_ningun_lugar]

Thanks for your contributions nimrod.

Sometimes "ignored" (by the general public) doesn't mean "underrated" (e.g. The Velvet Underground & Nico), but I'm not saying that your examples are that case, just wanted to point out that.

[nimrod]

BJH are one of the most underrated bands of all time IMO Hombre, people dont really listen to them

they call themselves the 'poor mans moody blues'

[Hombre_de_ningun_lugar]

Yeah, maybe the most underrated records are those which nobody rates.

[emmi_luvs_beatles]

http://www.digitaldreamdoor.com/pages/best_underalbum.html

1. United States Of America - United States Of America
  2. Days Of Future Passed - The Moody Blues
  3. Deep Purple - Deep Purple
  4. Parsley, Sage, Rosemary And Thyme - Simon & Garfunkel
  5. Live - Robin Trower
  6. Captain Beyond - Captain Beyond
  7. In Concert 1970/1972 - Deep Purple
  8. Live At The Fillmore - Derek & The Dominos
  9. BBC Sessions - Led Zeppelin
10. Live At The Fillmore East - Jefferson Airplane
11. Live At The Star Club - Jerry Lee Lewis
12. Live At Carnegie Hall - Glass Harp
13. The Book Of Taliesyn - Deep Purple
14. Nazareth - Nazareth
15. Truth - The Jeff Beck Group
16. In Rock - Deep Purple
17. Uriah Heep - Uriah Heep
18. Fresh Cream - Cream
19. This Was - Jethro Tull
20. Blue Oyster Cult - Blue Oyster Cult
21. Inner Mounting Flame - The Mahavishnu Orchestra
22. Glass Harp - Glass Harp
23. Live In Germany '76 - Rainbow
24. Sufficiently Breathless - Captain Beyond
25. A Saucerful Of Secrets - Pink Floyd
26. Argus - Wishbone Ash
27. Steppenwolf The Second - Steppenwolf
28. Who Else! - Jeff Beck
29. Back To The Trenches - Nazareth
30. Out Of Our Heads - The Rolling Stones
31. A Quick One - The Who
32. Recorded Live - Ten Years After
33. Roger The Engineer - The Yardbirds
34. Nantucket Sleighride - Mountain
35. The Magician's Birthday - Uriah Heep
36. Absolutely Live - The Doors
37. Raw Sienna - Savoy Brown
38. Rockin' The Fillmore - Humble Pie
39. Led Zeppelin 3 - Led Zeppelin
40. Viva Santana - Santana
41. Dedicated To You - The "5" Royales
42. Quicksilver Messenger Service - Quicksilver Messenger Service
43. December's Children (And Everybody's) - The Rolling Stones
44. Big Brother & The Holding Company - Big Brother & The Holding Company
45. Sounds Of Silence - Simon & Garfunkel
46. Jefferson Airplane Takes Off - Jefferson Airplane
47. Exercises - Nazareth
48. More - Pink Floyd
49. Wishbone Ash - Wishbone Ash
50. The Jeff Beck Group - The Jeff Beck Group
51. Birds Of Fire - The Mahavishnu Orchestra
52. England's Newest Hit-Makers - The Rolling Stones
53. Ssssh - Ten Years After
54. Shades Of Deep Purple - Deep Purple
55. Physical Graffiti - Led Zeppelin
56. Friends - The Beach Boys
57. On Your Feet Or On Your Knees - Blue Oyster Cult
58. Broken Barricades - Procol Harum
59. Sailsbury - Uriah Heep
60. Razamanaz - Nazareth
61. Shady Grove - Quicksilver Messenger Service
62. Live At The Greek - Jimmy Page/The Black Crows
63. Rush - Rush
64. Live - George Thorogood
65. Piece Of Mind - Iron Maiden
66. Waiting For The Sun - The Doors
67. Kink Kontroversy - The Kinks
68. The Rolling Stones Now! - The Rolling Stones
69. Secret Treaties - Blue Oyster Cult
70. Heavy - Iron Butterfly
71. The Animals On Tour - The Animals
72. Forever Changes - Love
73. Ten Years After - Ten Years After
74. Sabotage - Black Sabbath
75. Cauldron - Fifty-Foot Hose
76. Van Halen 2 - Van Halen
77. Undead - Ten Years After
78. Look At Yourself - Uriah Heep
79. Rampant - Nazareth
80. It's A Beatiful Day - It's A Beautiful Day
81. Technical Ecstasy - Black Sabbath
82. The Time Has Come - The Chambers Brothers
83. What About Me - Quicksilver Messenger Service
84. Hotter Than Hell - KISS
85. Johnny And Live - Johnny Winter
86. Stonedhenge - Ten Years After
87. Tyranny And Mutation - Blue Oyster Cult
88. Loud 'N Proud - Nazareth
89. Born Again - Black Sabbath
90. Countdown To Extinction - Megadeth
91. Watt - Ten Years After
92. Rock & Roll Over - KISS
93. Gasoline Alley - Rod Stewart
94. Around The Next Dream - BBM (Jack Bruce, Ginger Baker, Gary Moore)
95. Some Tough City - Tony Carey
96. Souviners - Dan Fogelberg
97. 15 minutes - Nik Kershaw
98. Crazy Eyes - Poco
99. The Family That Plays Together - Spirit
100. Monster - R.E.M.

[Hombre_de_ningun_lugar]

Great to see The United States Of America's only album at the top of that list, but I wouldn't say it's underrated, it's just ignored, most people don't know about them. I think there's usually a confusion about that. Plus, in the list there's also Forever Changes by Love, which I wouldn't call underrated either since almost every rock critic praises the album.

[tkitna]

http://www.digitaldreamdoor.com/pages/best_underalbum.html

I dont agree with a ton of those albums being underrated. 'Days Of Future Passed'? Come on, its widely accepted as their best. Oh well.

[tkitna]

The Pretty Things are criminally underrated as it is, but this album is a fine listen. I'd rate it as their third best behind 'SF Sorrow' and 'Parachute', but it has a lot of good stuff on it.



I think this is their best album period.



If anybody is familiar with Jo Jo Gunne, they would associate them with their self titled, first album. 'Bite Down Hard' is better in my opinion. 'Wait A Lifetime' is an awesome, awesome song.



People dont seem to care for this album for some reason and I dont know why. I thinks its seriously underrated. I like every song on it.

[nimrod]

Yeah, maybe the most underrated records are those which nobody rates.

aha, I think there may be some confusion here, maybe Ive got hold of the wrong end of the stick and Ive posted about underrated bands, not albums......am I right hombre ?

[Hombre_de_ningun_lugar]

aha, I think there may be some confusion here, maybe Ive got hold of the wrong end of the stick and Ive posted about underrated bands, not albums......am I right hombre ?

No, no, it's ok, an underrated band for sure must have done underrated albums. My point is that "ignored" is not the same as "underrated". But an ignored album can also be an underrated album, though it's not always the case. I said the example of The Velvet Underground & Nico, it wasn't successful at all, but most critics rate it very high.

[nimrod]

Aquila self titled album from 1970, I always loved it, even the prog fans didnt like it ! But have a listen...

Aquila - How Many More Times

[stevie]

I dont agree with a ton of those albums being underrated. 'Days Of Future Passed'? Come on, its widely accepted as their best. Oh well.

And Physical Graffiti is considered by a few to be zep's best album too

[Ovi]

The Final Cut by Pink Floyd. "The Wall" is considered one of their best efforts, and this one is known as one of their worst. Nonsense.

[nimrod]

The Final Cut by Pink Floyd. "The Wall" is considered one of their best efforts, and this one is known as one of their worst. Nonsense.

yes good shout, Ive always liked TFC, better than some Floyd albums IMO

[tkitna]

And Physical Graffiti is considered by a few to be zep's best album too

Physical Graffiti was ont at list? Cripes, its a top ten album of all time for me. I went as far as seeing Zeppelin 3 mentioned and dismissed the entire list as bullsh*t.

[tkitna]

The Final Cut by Pink Floyd. "The Wall" is considered one of their best efforts, and this one is known as one of their worst. Nonsense.

'The Final Cut' is dreadful in my opinion. Its basically a Roger Waters solo album. The only decent tunes on the whole thing are 'Not Now John' and 'The Hero's Return'. Sorry, I think its awful.

[Ovi]

'The Final Cut' is dreadful in my opinion. Its basically a Roger Waters solo album. The only decent tunes on the whole thing are 'Not Now John' and 'The Hero's Return'. Sorry, I think its awful.

Well, I don't know about that. On "The Wall" Gilmour is credited as songwriter on 3 songs : Young Lust, Comfortably Numb and Run Like Hell. Young Lust's lyrics are horrible in my opinion, so we basically have two Dave songs. On The Final Cut we have one Dave song. The Wall was a double album. The Final Cut was not. About lead vocals, yes, Dave sang a lot more on The Wall (about 8 songs), but really is that a reason to hate an album? As long as the lyrics are as good as The Wall's or even better, who cares really? I think Roger's voice is pretty good, it fits very well with the songs, and then again, the lyrics are basically about his father, I don't think I'd let somebody else singing as long as all the songs are about my father and my personal feelings.

Another thing to mention is that Dave admitted that he was guilty at times of being lazy. Here's the quote "I'm certainly guilty at times of being lazy, and moments have arrived when Roger might say, "Well, what have you got?" And I'd be like, "Well, I haven't got anything right now. I need a bit of time to put some ideas on tape."

I agree, Roger was a bit of an ass, trying to do all by himself, but as long as people worship "The Wall", I don't get all the hate for "The Final Cut". If you don't like either of them, Todd, then I understand. No disrespect meant.

[tkitna]

I agree, Roger was a bit of an ass, trying to do all by himself, but as long as people worship "The Wall", I don't get all the hate for "The Final Cut".

Because the 'Final Cut' is bland and boring. 98% of the songs are long, mellow, and uninteresting. 'The Wall' has diversity and a better concept.

If you don't like either of them, Todd, then I understand. No disrespect meant.

I spent four years of my life listening to nothing but Pink Floyd and 'The Wall' would be my favorite. I sh*t you not when I say that I knew every word, every drum beat, and every guitar lick on the entire album. My friends and I in college lived and breathed Pink Floyd and none of us liked 'The Final Cut'. Just my opinion though. I do know people on other forums that love the album.