Albums undeserving of their (Good or Bad) reputations

Dude, Music from the Elder is fuckin' DIRE. And I'm a card-carrying -- literally -- member of the Kiss Army.

Royal Trux - Sweet Sixteen

Inexplicably and savagely maligned by RTX's own fans at the time of release. I remember so many dunderheaded reviews - "they've gone prog rock or some shit ... this must be a joke.... ". But I always thought that this album is fucking fantastic. RTX had outdistanced (most of) their fans by a mile with this one. It's only recently that I've actually seen it being given its proper due. NOW the hipsters claim to "get it". Ho hum.

Also got them bounced off of Virgin for too many reasons to go into. My cd of this went missing a little while back, and I went into slight panic mode over that. Fortunately I stumbled across a cutout copy for 4 bucks. Grab it used while you can (and while it's still relatively cheap), as this thing left such a bitter taste in Virgin's mouth I bet this will never be reissued or even licensed out to interested parties.

I don't agree. I thought at the time that their songwriting was starting to show signs of becoming somewhat hack on Thank You. I like Thank You, but I think the problem became more pronounced on Sweet Sixteen.

R.E.M. - "New Adventures in Hi-Fi"

Most fans and critics still smarting from the disappointment of "Monster" wrongly pointed to "Hi-Fi" as proof that R.E.M. were drifting into a tailspin. Though it certainly didn't help that the album was represented by the decidedly mopey single, "E-bow the Letter", I've always thought that this album was unfairly overlooked. As far as I'm concerned this was their last 'great' album. Bill Berry had the right idea when he made this album his last.

This is relatively new, but I've heard nothing but praise for the Shins "Chutes Too Narrow" and I can't get into it at all.

I was that way with the first Shins album, in fact, I still don't get it. "Chutes.." is pretty good (esp "So Says I", & "Pink Bullets"), though I still can't quite get what it is that makes them so gush-worthy.

Summer Sun by Yo La Tengo got okay reviews, but I feel it's probably the second best album of their career, behind And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside Out. After I heard it, I went back and slowly realized I didn't really like their old stuff that much to begin with.

Alien 3, totally unappreciated! The extended cut is even better!

Oh albums.

right.

Walkmen - Bows & Arrows notice how quickly the tide o hype receded on this one?

Everyone thinks Faith No More's 'King for a Day' is merely great when it is in fact excellent, same with Olivia Newton John's 'Totally Hot'

Everyone seems to feel that Saint Etienne's album Good Humor is their weakest, but I feel it might be their strongest. Also, Gaucho by Steely Dan is usually dismissed but I find it to be really not much lesser than the likes of Aja. And Pop by U2 is pretty tremendous.

Alex.. I won't argue that its not exactly the greatest, but I dunno... something about the use of the various choirs, Paul Stanley singing falcetto on "Just a Boy", and the sheer ridiculous nature of the album makes it so much different than the rest of their stuff that I cant' help but enjoy it. Perhaps for me it is simply a novelty that hasn't warn off in 6 years, but I really can't complain.

mere words cannot describe the utter ridiculousness of music from the elder's "odyssey." though "a world w/t heroes" is seriously kinda good.

American Music Club's San Francisco is much better than the critical backlash at the time would have had you believe. It's like that swoony stage of being drunk when you're feeling omnipotent, just before you lose your shit and do something unforgiveable to a loved one/close friend.