most over rated al***s?

I agree with you about "Pet Sounds". I bought it because of the hype and although it is not a bad album, I don't think it merits its rating as one of the best of all time. My guess is God Only Knows is your favourite track.

My vote would go for "Satanic Majesty's Request" - Record Collector had this as one of the greatest albums of its type, but along side 5000 Spirits, Hangman's Beautiful Daughter, Piper At The Gates Of Dawn, SF Sorrow or any of the Beatles (Rubber Soul, Revolver, Sgt Pepper, Magical Mystery, White Album, Abbey Road) or even lesser known gems like Sallies Fforth (Rainbow Ffolly) or Tangerine Dream (Kalidescope), it just doesn't cut it. Yes - She's a Rainbow and 40,000 Light Years are great tracks, but the album as a whole just doesn't engage me - I prefer Beggars Banquet.

Isn't subjectivity a funny old thing. To these ears, Pet Sounds is the pinnacle of white, western pop. It knocks the Beatles into a cocked hat (Don't get the wrong idea, I love the Beatles). The songs and melodies are beautiful and the instrumentation and arrangements are stunning. Brian Wilson was only twenty five years old when he produced this masterpiece.

By the criteria stated at the start of this thread, I would propose Pink Floyd as massively overrated. No offence, if PF is your thing, fair enough. As a teenager with a head full of interesting substances, 'Wish You were Here' was the dog's bollox. I find it an unbearable dirge to listen to now.

Still love some of the early Barrett stuff though.

(The opportunity to troll in this thread is immense; therefore, my usual disclaimer applies: you may love the albums I'm about to slag off, and that's alright. Music is subjective.)

Van Morrison, Astral Weeks; this "classic" sounds out-of-tune and unfocused to me. Awful.

the Velvet Underground, Velvet Underground & Nico; that this band influenced thousands of indie groups of the last quarter-century is a mystery. O-o-t and depressing, at least to me. Although anything Nico sang on was amusing, ("All Tomorrow's Parties"); one could have fun imitating her in a Dieter-like fashion.

the Rolling Stones, Exile on Main Street; this would've been an alright album if edited down to one disc; as it is, it's a poorly-recorded document of the Stones at their most unravelled. This is not to say that it's without charms: "Tumbling Dice" is a classic, "Happy" an ironic gem (considering Keef's desperate situation at the time); it's just that this album still appears on so many critics' All Time Best lists, like Pet Sounds.

Fleetwood Mac, Rumours; this one gets mentioned, but never any of the Peter Green-era stuff!

Sex Pistols, Never Mind the Bollocks; people actually thought that stuff like this would change the face of music. Corporate control of things only accelerated afterwards.

A word about the Beatles: I love the Beatles as much as the next guy (as long as the next guy has all the Beatles' albums, two bookshelves full of Beatle books, and framed Beatle posters on his walls); but the continued hyping (which swells every few years when Apple/EMI/Capitol figure a new way to re-release Fab material) of a band that's been gone for more than a third of a century bothers me a bit. I'm afraid that younger generations will start dismissing them as an obsession of the Baby Boomers and not discover their many virtues and charms for themselves.

I think that 99% of the stuff you find on "charts" is over rated, overestimated and surely over priced.
People buy it because someone told them that's the best of what's around.
Fortunately that's not true.

Trout Mask Replica - Captain Beefheart (Did they make it up as they went along?)

Bitches Brew - Miles Davis (Sounds like a junior wind band warming up)

Jonathan

Lou Reed has always sounded like an oafish amateur to me.

Steve

I can think of many candidates – all with the potential to offend someone – so let’s again emphasise the subjectivity.

DOSM was a very good album of its time and still gets the odd spin here. I think that over the years it’s been hyped into something it isn’t. Frequently assisted by yet another remastered/reengineered release on who-knows-what extra special vinyl, gold CD etc. etc. While often digging more sound quality out of the material I don’t believe these tweaks have transformed the material into something that it wasn’t in the first place.

Brothers In Arms is another. Or am I being too obvious? A good album, very well recorded, an obligatory HiFi test disk in many households, but just another Dire Straits album.

Insert subjectivity disclaimer here (again).

Cheers

Harry

Nirvana - Nevermind.
I love the grunge movement and I have a huge amount of Soundgarden, Paw, FooFighters, Smashing Pumkins, Alice In Chains, etc etc, but Nevermind had a handful of great tracks, and the rest were like fillers to me. It may have been the breakthrough album for a new type of rock, but it really isn't that good. I wouldn't buy it again if I lost it.

quote:

Originally posted by Yo-yo Master:
Lou Reed has always sounded like an oafish amateur to me.

Steve

But what album of Lou's do you think was over rated? Surely the charm of the VU was the amateur sound, it's just like Sister Ray said.

Radiohead: OK Computer. Always seems to come out high on 'all time great albums' lists.

I listened to it recently after a long break, and found myself totally unmoved. It now seems a cold 'technical' album with little soul or passion. Not a dud, but overrated as an all-time classic.

Bruce

..not sure if it is fair to add these, but so many of 2005's big-news bands - the Bravery, Kaiser chiefs, etc got so much hype, and I just don't understand why - they all seem to be a (fairly small and dull) flash in the pan to my middle aged ears..
Rasher - totally agree about Nirvana and HTK - Dire stuff indeed
Coldplay anyone ?

Steve

quote:

Originally posted by Steveandkate:
..
Rasher - totally agree about Nirvana and HTK - Dire stuff indeed
Coldplay anyone ?

Steve

Totally agree

As I keeping trying to point out there are only two really great Nirvana albums



For those confused, this is not that dull nineties band from Seattle, but rather the real Nirvana - the xixties psych-pop group led by Patrick Campbell-Lyons, so don't expect anything to sound like "Teen Spirit" here, these are fine classic albums that are not over-rated IMHO, oh never mind.

Rotf

quote:

Originally posted by ROTF:
oh never mind.

Rotf

nice one ROTF

Bruce:

I am with you 100% on OK Computer. It never got me involved like some other albums do.

Matt

quote:

Originally posted by ROTF:
But what album of Lou's do you think was over rated? Surely the charm of the VU was the amateur sound, it's just like Sister Ray said.

You've put your finger on the issue: I want music to be professionally produced; a standard of excellence obtained. Revolver raised the bar for me, I couldn't go back to garage-type values after that, except for a laugh. Evidence of conservatism on my part? Perhaps. I will admit to some hypocrisy here, as I love the early Stones, Kinks, Sonics etc., some of which are pretty dire-sounding; great performances of great songs trump all.

As a Seattleite, I remain bemused by the iconic status of Nevermind as well. Although it is well-recorded.

ROTF

Sorry if my language referring to Lou Reed was a bit strong. I suppose I just don't "get" him, musically or intellectually.

Steve

Jeff Buckley - Grace.

Again not a bad album, nice cover of Hallelulah but some patchy stuff. I can think of plenty of albums I like more.

quote:

Originally posted by Yo-yo Master:
ROTF

Sorry if my language referring to Lou Reed was a bit strong. I suppose I just don't "get" him, musically or intellectually.

Steve

No apology necessary, Steve.

I was just curious if there was a specific album by Lou that you felt was over-rated: Transformer comes to mind.

I first bought the early VU albums in 1969 and would rate White Light, White Heat as the most inventive. The CD re-release of Loaded was good too, but when I first bought it in the early seventies, I was deeply disappointed. Of Lou's solo efforts I'd rate Berlin as his best, though I've not kept up to date with his work.

However, I agree Mr Reed is not to everyone's taste.

Pink Floyd - The Wall. I've never liked it, but it's the no.3 biggest selling album of all time after The Eagles Greatest Hits and Michael Jackson's Thriller. (How dare it do so well when I don't like it!!).

quote:

Originally posted by Rasher:
Pink Floyd - The Wall. I've never liked it, but it's the no.3 biggest selling album of all time after The Eagles Greatest Hits and Michael Jackson's Thriller.

I didn't know that ... still at least its better than those that came in at No.1 and No.2. Always thought Thriller was a rip-off of Alice Cooper's Welcome To Nightmare without Alice's subtle charm.

Well, you may not also know that Billy Joel's Greatest Hits Vols 1 and 2 have outsold both Fleetwood Mac's Rumours and The Beatles White Album? Amazing, but true.
The list of stinkers

Alanis Morrisette's Jagged Little Pill has sold more copies than DSOTM!!!!! Shania Twain too!!!

My choice for most overrated album goes to Smile, Rather than pet sounds.

Also, i doubt the credibility of Rashers list, how could it be possible that phil collins outsells both Bob Dylan and Bowie? It couldnt happen, not even in the States.

Mike.

On reflection it does sound a little unlikely that the soundtrack to Forest Gump has outsold Sgt Pepper!
Sorry for the duff info.

I think it's funny that someone with the moniker "Sloop John B" finds Pet Sounds overrated.

BTW, I only yesterday (believe it or don't) heard this album for the first time. I concur about its profound overratedness. Musically speaking, not their best effort IMO.

(PS - In addition to those already mentioned, many of which I agree with, I'll throw Jennifer Warnes' "Famous Blue Raincoat" into the mix.)