Albums That Were Considered Huge Flops That You Actually Enjoy...

[Newguy562]

Well I know it's confusing how some albums are considered the worst but some still have gems and some people like them (not everybody have to agree)
What album that is considered crap/flop do you actually like/enjoy?

Creedence Clearwater Revival - Mardi Gras (even though it's been deemed the worst they ever did or the worst album by any major rock band.)
David Bowie - Never Let Me Down..(Shining Star? no album with that song on it deserves to be trashed..)
The Ramones - End of the Century (Screw London Calling..this is the best punk album! lol)
The Rolling Stones - Their Satanic Majesties Request (Sgt. Peppers? psh my ass this was something totally different and way better.)
T. Rex - Tanx (This was a great follow up to The Slider i'm suprised many didn't realize it at that time.)
Radiohead - Hail to the Thief (ok not a flop but definitely considered one of their weakest releases.)

[MyGlove]

You really like Never Let Me Down? I tried it today and didn't geet through three songs before i became extremely bored.

anyway

Smiley Smile (obviously)
Velvet Underground and Nico - VU
Pinkerton by Weezer
Pop by U2 (funny enough, it almost seems less pretentious than everything else they've ever done, so i like it)

[Newguy562]

You really like Never Let Me Down? I tried it today and didn't geet through three songs before i became extremely bored.

anyway

Smiley Smile (obviously)
Velvet Underground and Nico - VU
Pinkerton by Weezer
Pop by U2 (funny enough, it almost seems less pretentious than everything else they've ever done, so i like it)

wow really? boring is the last word i would use to describe that brilliant piece of art i can't believe people s*** on that album so much :/ it might be my favorite album of his in the 80's.. check out the song "shining star"

[Dead Parrot]

Pink Floyd - The Final Cut
Wings - Back To The Egg
Oasis - Be Here Now
Fleetwood Mac - Tusk
Fleetwood Mac - Bare Trees
The Stone Roses - Second Coming
Richard Thompson - Henry The Human Fly

[Newguy562]

Pink Floyd - The Final Cut
Wings - Back To The Egg
Oasis - Be Here Now
Fleetwood Mac - Tusk
Fleetwood Mac - Bare Trees
The Stone Roses - Second Coming
Richard Thompson - Henry The Human Fly

final cut is a pretty big flop lol..what do you like about it?

[Dead Parrot]

final cut is a pretty big flop lol..what do you like about it?

Some great songs
Orchestrations that compliment the songs, but don't overwhelm them
Great production
Great guitar playing from David Gilmour, particularly on "Your Possible Pasts", "The Fletcher Memorial Home", and "The Final Cut"

I can understand why a lot of people, including some of the people who made it, don't like the album though.

[Ron]

Pinkerton by Weezer
Pop by U2 (funny enough, it almost seems less pretentious than everything else they've ever done, so i like it)

Hell yeah!  Pop was so great.  If every album sounded like Pop U2 woul be my favorite band.  I agree with the pretention, too.  At least all their B.S. was tongue in cheek on that album, lol!  That guitar solo on Discoteque was enough to lift the album up another point or so.  it was a 7 before that solo, then it was an 8/10.  My ears are still ringing from trying to destroy the speakers in my car playing that as loud as I possibly could. 

I also quoted the pinkerton thing.  There's something about Weezer, where I just want to believe Rivers is a genius so much that I like all of their albums.  I dont' really listen to them that much, but I enjoy them.  I don't think I could possibly consider any of their stuff a flop. 

[Ron]

Oasis - Be Here Now

Yup.  When Be Here Now came out, as a huge Oasis fan, it was everything I wanted at the time.  I saw all the bad reviews and couldn't believe it.  To my friends and I (probably... 19,20,21 at the time) it was great.  Lots of time spent riding around at the Beach listening to it blaring out of the windows. 

I think a lot of critics when they slam albums like that, want it to be a masterpiece.  Ultimately an album like that has a purpose, just to have a good time listening to it, it's Rock and Roll man. 

[Pinder's Gone To Kokomo And Back Again]

Pinkerton by Weezer
Pop by U2 (funny enough, it almost seems less pretentious than everything else they've ever done, so i like it)

Hell yeah!  Pop was so great.  If every album sounded like Pop U2 woul be my favorite band.  I agree with the pretention, too.  At least all their B.S. was tongue in cheek on that album, lol!  That guitar solo on Discoteque was enough to lift the album up another point or so.  it was a 7 before that solo, then it was an 8/10.  My ears are still ringing from trying to destroy the speakers in my car playing that as loud as I possibly could. 

I also quoted the pinkerton thing.  There's something about Weezer, where I just want to believe Rivers is a genius so much that I like all of their albums.  I dont' really listen to them that much, but I enjoy them.  I don't think I could possibly consider any of their stuff a flop. 

Pop is amazing! The songwriting is off the hook and artistic/edgy U2 were still alive and kicking!!!!

Here's my list:

Tales Of Topographic Oceans - Yes
Pleasant Dreams - Ramones
Subterranean Jungle - Ramones
Among My Swan - Mazzy Star
LA (Light Album) - Beach Boys
Flick Of The Switch - AC/DC
And Now The Runaways - Runaways

[MBE]

I'm only talking about creatively misjudged albums yet to fully get their day
Back To The Egg is one, Satanic is another.
Elvis Now and Raised On Rock by Elvis Presley
Under The Red Sky and Self Portrait Bob Dylan
Becoups Of Blues Ringo Starr
Extra Texture by George Harrison
Face Dances by The Who
Can't think of any others now but maybe I'll think of more.

[JanBerryFarm]

[MyGlove]

I'm only talking about creatively misjudged albums yet to fully get their day
Back To The Egg is one, Satanic is another.
Elvis Now and Raised On Rock by Elvis Presley
Under The Red Sky and Self Portrait Bob Dylan
Becoups Of Blues Ringo Starr
Extra Texture by George Harrison
Face Dances by The Who
Can't think of any others now but maybe I'll think of more.

Face Dances! Absolutely. I love every song on that album.

[onkster]

I'm gonna say:
Frank - Squeeze (I think this is actually their best album)
McCartney II - by you-know-who
On the Beach - Neil Young (although it's probably not considered a flop now)
Mummer - XTC
Chicago 13 - though I'm not as big on it now; at the time, I thought it was extremely catchy stuff
Photograph Smile - Julian Lennon
Spilt Milk - Jellyfish - yeah, I know it's a beloved album, but it cost half a mil to make, and it pretty much didn't sell. Still: a must have for all pop fans!

[Aum Bop Diddit]

I get your point but I'd never think of "Spilt Milk" as anything other than the greatest album of the 90s and up there with anything!

[hypehat]

Oasis - Be Here Now

Yup.  When Be Here Now came out, as a huge Oasis fan, it was everything I wanted at the time.  I saw all the bad reviews and couldn't believe it.  To my friends and I (probably... 19,20,21 at the time) it was great.  Lots of time spent riding around at the Beach listening to it blaring out of the windows. 

I think a lot of critics when they slam albums like that, want it to be a masterpiece.  Ultimately an album like that has a purpose, just to have a good time listening to it, it's Rock and Roll man. 

IDK, I didn't go into Be Here Now expecting a masterpiece (no Oasis album is, and I thought that when I actually liked them too)  but it's fundamentally flawed - Cocaine's a hell of a drug... It's incredibly underwritten and insanely overproduced. It just becomes so tiring to actually, y'know, listen to. Probably sounds great in the background/car stereo/with the aid of several thousand pounds worth of Colombian marching powder, mind.

What was that quote from Noel about All Around The World? Something like 'I like Hey Jude, but then I thought to myself  - wouldn't it be better if it was EVEN longer and had, like, four keychanges in it?' and I just think that sums up everything wrong about that album.



As for me on this thread, idk. I don't like basing it on commercial standing, because some of the greatest music ever doesn't sell much (easy, Ron). So critical flops? But the only
records I really pay attention to the critical standing of are the records I already know and thus I will probably  already like, and so no critic is going to change my mind.

Despite the fact I never actually said much, that's a bit of an essay. That'll learn me to drink coffee at 5pm......

[meltedwhiskeyinmyhand]

REM - UP, first album without Bill Berry. They went in a new direction, I think the album is brilliant, most thought it was crap.

[cablegeddon]

Be here now was huge in Europe and a flop in the U.S. Standing on the shoulders was their first flop in Europe. I love both albums as well as their debut. Gas Panic and Go let it out are to underrated gems on Standing.

[Summertime Blooz]

Hall & Oates- Beauty On A Back Street
Elton John- Blue Moves
Electric Light Orchestra- Secret Messages

[onkster]

Oh, I know an Elton one: The Fox.

It's actually a pretty good bunch of songs, with a mini-suite thrown in. The single is maybe the weakest part ("Nobody Wins") but even that seemed good at the time after that "Victim of Love" nightmare.

[MBE]

McCartney II is a good choice, has some good melodies.

[Jukka]

Stone Roses' Second Coming. One great, if flawed piece of work.

Pearl Jam's No Code. Seems like everyone's forgotten it, but it really is a great album, my fave! Come on, someone must agree?

Van Halen's Fair Warning. Van Halen's finest and heaviest hour.

Extreme's Waiting for the Punchline. Does anyone remember this? Their other albums are cheesy wannabe-Queen-metal, but this album is simply stunning.

Suede's Dog Man Star. They completely lost it after this. A dark masterpiece.

Chinese Democracy. It's not bad!

[Heysaboda]

When the Byrds released Byrdmaniax, it was considered to be a flop.  People couldn't understand it because it contained 2 gospel songs, a show tune, some comedy music, a couple of acoustic numbers with orchestra, a bluegrass instrumental and even a Jackson Browne song "Jamaica Say You Will".  (He was not well known at the time.)

But I liked it from the beginning, and I still play it, all of it, to this day.  It's wacky and surprising, but the gospel numbers ARE gorgeous.  And those acoustic numbers ARE lovely.  This was McGuinn and the Byrds totally upending peoples' expectations and "mostpeople" couldn't handle it.  So scroo mostpeople.  The fact that they are missing out actually makes me glad.   

 

[Runaways]

the killers - sam's town

[bluesno1fann]

SUNFLOWER!!!

....and most of the Beach Boys albums from the late 60's and early 70's.

Agreed with some of the people here who included Pink Floyd's The Final Cut and the Stones's Satanic Majesties!

[Please delete my account]

Paul Simon- Hearts and Bones
R.E.M.- Fables of the Reconstruction
Pet Shop Boys- Elysium
Boo Radleys- C'mon Kids
The Cure- The Top