Universally hated albums you love

smashing pumpkins-machina, or the only one i like

I guess my classical and baroque albums come the closest
to qualifying, I know very few people in real life who actively
listen to classical.

What is this called? I'd love to hear it.

(I almost posted about my love of the first harvey danger album in this thread, but decided [along the same lines] that most people simply thought it was nothing-special [apart from "Flagpole Sitta," which one loves or loathes].)

Some Paul McCartney albums seem to fit here for me--Wings' Wild Life, McCartney II,...

I also really love the Three O'Clock's first I.R.S. album, Arrive without Travelling--their best album!

one of my favorite albums, seriously.

Also on the solo Beatles track: the late '70s/early '80s George Harrison albums. Mystical bubblegum muzak! My favorite of these, actually, is almost always written up as THE WORST of all of these great albums. Yes, I am speaking of that super-nice, wacky '82 LP, Gone Troppo (given ONE STAR in this month's MOJO review of the Dark Horse era box set). Funny, you always see the '87 comeback album Cloud Nine being described as some kind of great triumph given his alleged inability to get anything together since the early '70s. It actually just sounds a lot like the albums from 33 1/3 through Gone Troppo! Not as good, even! (Maybe it's about as good as Somewhere in England.)

Who's with me on the GONE TROPPO RE-EVALUATION FRONT??

what kind of world do i live in if this is true?

But are you with me on the GONE TROPPO RE-EVALUATION FRONT??

On Beefheart, the only album i don't have by him is Bluejeans & Moonbeams, and that's the one that has always been especially hated, no? I like all his other records. all of them. (I've never even heard B&M.)

For instance, the pre/post Syd purist argument, which seems to turn on how the band treated each other as much as anything else, it's just another excuse people find for themselves to hate pf, i think. Is it still fashionably important for people to not like pf ? it certainly was in the '80s.
but Pf made lots of albums with at least one nice thing on them before their aesthetic & commercial crystalisation and subsequent withdrawal in 1973, and even that became another opportunity for people to draw a line at liking or disliking the band.

(i think it would be fairer to "hate" led zeppelin on grounds of consistent cynicism/ exploitation -- i've come across people that claim to "hate" lz's album "in through the out door" for instance, which i like, and i think that's a "hard" attitude somewhat bred within that musics own culture -- i think some of what The Who was about or at least acknowledged in their own music was that violent element to rock music from that time (a bit like the "mods and rockers" taking of sides earlier), which seemed to go hand in hand with the violent or thugish style that the Stones, Who and most bluntly LZ projected in their music)

OK, I'm looking at the albums here...No mention of a recording studio used on Gone Troppo or Somewhere in England. (Gone Troppo does say, however, that "this album has been a cement mix"--a joke related to the great cement mixer artwork provided by 'Legs' Larry Smith.) On the George Harrison LP it says, "recorded at F.P.S.H.O.T." I'm assuming the first part of this refers to "Friar Park," so yes, his home studio.

I would say that the albums are pretty well-produced, though, even so. Better sounding than Beach Boys Love You or (the most rinky-dink of all) McCartney II. I think part of what you're perceiving in the sound is:

1) His guitar sound. Don't know what in the heck kind of guitar and amp set-up he was using but it's VERY CLEAN and VERY BRIGHT sounding. Otherworldly, I would say.

2) The synths! Lots of wacky synth parts.

neil young's trans also has received love from ILMers.

I love pink floyd and zeppelin and so do a zillion other people so for the purposes of this thread they don't count at all.

If you're interested, I could easily rip the disc into mp3s
and post it online. There's some sweet grooves on it
that I think a DJ could capitalize.

Johnny Rotten used to wear a t-shirt that said "I hate Pink Floyd."
I suspect that this is the sole evidence that punks hated
Pink Floyd. Later he admitted that he liked Pink Floyd, he wore
it to get attention and cast himself as a noncomformist.

George, you matter-of-factly mention Pink Floyd's

"aesthetic & commercial crystalisation and subsequent withdrawal
in 1973"

Could you explain what you mean here? Are you claiming that
Pink Floyd changed their sound to achieve commercial success?
All of Pink Floyds albums released 1967-1972 made the U.K Top Ten,
and some of them charted in the U.S Top 100. They didn't NEED to streamline their sound to rake in the rubles, and I believe they
changed their sound for mainly artistic reasons.

Even as late as _The Wall_, I don't think that Floyd in any way
"sold out" ; just look at "Another Brick In The Wall." Despite
the bouncy beat, it's a right dirge, featuring a tired old
misanthrope who leads bored children in an anti-establishment moan.
Topped off with a rippin' blues solo.
Who were they imitating, really?

Still, maybe I'm attacking a strawman, and if so I recant.
Your language is oblique, and I cannot tell if you are supporting
or disagreeing with the "sellout" argument.

And more recently, I love Aina's Days Of Rising Doom - The Metal Opera, which would make most fans of Pan-European choral-based triumphant power/prog metal concept albums spit out their soup if they heard me admit it. Well, they can all go hang! I don't care. (Fave tracks:"Talon's Last Hope", "Son Of Sorvahr", and "Flight Of Torek".)

AMG on some of Letters to Cleo's albums: "... a somewhat flawed, but ultimately endearing record." "The band rocks harder than it had previously, but retains pop pureness and continues to entertain..." "...the good points of the record illustrate that the group is improving, and that alone makes Go! a successful comeback"

Seriously.

Apparently Rosebud also are also known as Discoballs, at least for this record. I'm very intrigued.

ahh yet again my stopped clock tastes have told the right time..

Just kidding, haven't even heard it!

Alla which ought to come under the category of "albums constructed around one good single" but all of which I can and do frequently listen to all the way through.

And I like it. Heck, even love it. Not as much as the others granted.

But. That's a Hated album for sure...

I have this and love this.

Tim Ellison - you are not alone re: Historia De La Musica Rock. I, too, think it is the best P. Galore.

That entire album is great - "Backslider," "Possum Kingdom," "Tyler," "Mister Love."

I didn't consider that widely hated because everyone I know loves it.

x-post

"Great live album capturing the essence of Public Image Ltd., April 12, 1999
Reviewer: An Amazon.com Customer
Well since I own a copy in VHS of the album, 2 CD's (Japanese & European version of the album) I can assure that this album is great. "

"Is a great concert, November 17, 1998
Reviewer: A music fan
Is the most powerful sound of PIL. Includes the best version of "This is not a love song" than I hear"

Hmmm...that's a bit rich. While I do quite like Live in Tokyo, one would be very hard pressed to say it was the band at their "most powerful".

that one.

This album is pure genius. That Radio track is brilhant. And the silence track? The best!

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00004WK3E/104-8128048-8135157?v=glance&s=music&vi=customer-reviews
"It is the only work he recorded that he used the word 'masterpiece' to describe, and it is just that," "This is Miles's last great work - buy it."

Personally, I love it. It's a beautiful example of what can go totally, absolutely wrong... And, it's kinda heavy to boot. Still mostly crap, but very amusing crap.

answering this qn about what i said re : pf would take more time than i have right now -- so maybe over easter

quickly -- they worked ceasely, as you point out, up to 1973/ DarkSOTM -- i think all their albums up to then had moments, but to me it's as if they're pushing for the jackpot with all their various studio/ cover art and live strategies with all preceeding outings -- in aesthetic & commercial crystalisation i don't mean cynically deliberate, but i don't mean without serious craftsmanship and calculation either, hence "jackpot" -- i mean that the aesthetic they tried for that album turned out to be the aesthetic that had the broad appeal

"withdrawal" -- tour up the successful album, play it from beginning to end whilst pretty much ignoring your extensive back-catalog -- don't release your next album for two years whilst you get new "mindblowing" sounds and reinforce your healthy record-co.-inpedpendent sounding (hippy) attitude -- WishYWH becomes the "difficult second album" with respect to your _new_ audience/ league

will talk about the punk reaction and targeting later -- except briefly, no, i don't think it's a reaction to a t-shirt as much as a reaction to something younger listeners _then_ perceived as the travelling circus or Lord Lloyd Webber production equivalent that their parents and older siblings got hypercritically smashed and shagged to (whilst rejecting the kids' latest "punk"/ "wave" stuff without really listening to it)
(ie new vs. old, irrespective of any musical "quality" then or now, either of pf or the punks)

"What's this noise you're playing? You damn kids and your
hippity-hop. He's just TALKING."

and

"What is this? Golden oldies? I refuse to listen to any album
released before I was born"
(I hear this a LOT, and a movie variation as well)

What a silly thing for the name-checkers to do, if that's true. Especially since Semisonic's great album "All About Chemistry" is more of a keyboard showcase than anything. The main problem is that the CD whence comes "Closing Time" kind of blows, and that's the song that everybody knows. Their Pleasure EP is good-to-great as well.

actually i admit it's fairly cheesy and i don't really love it.
but it's certainly hated in most circles and i'd rate it close to a 6 out of 10.