Bands whose supposed 'worst' album is IYO actually their best

[Barking Spiders]

Going against my own nature over the last few days I've listened to Led Zep, all their albums and all the way through. In conclusion, for me In Through The Out Door is by some margin their best album and I'm not trolling for the hell of it. The reasons?

1. it features lots of tasty keyboards which flesh out their sound by some margin

2. Plant actually mostly sings with his banshee yowling/screeching that marred their other albums out of sight...kinda.

3. The production is cleaner, tighter and lighter with the plodding  heavy sound of the early albums reined in

4. I dislike Blues heavily influenced rock intensely but there's little sign of that here

 

I understand that John Paul Jones -the best musician in the band - had more input here than on the other albums so that explains the heavier keys orientation

 

So, what allegedly weak albums by well-known bands would you say are among their better, if not the best albums

 

[fretmeister]

I remember all the abuse Iron Maiden got for Seventh Son of a Seventh Son because of the keyboards.

 

I thought it was excellent. A band that was growing and wasn't afraid of trying things.

[Munurmunuh]

Here's where the bar is set

 

[Munurmunuh]

Killers is my favourite of Maiden's classic era, and some days So Far So Good So What reaches me in ways none of the other early Megadeth albums do, and I think they typical come bottom of their respective piles? 

 

Oh, I knew I could do better than that! Jane's Addiction. I love Strays to bits and I couldn't care less about any of their other albums.

[Nail Soup]

47 minutes ago, Barking Spiders said:

I understand that John Paul Jones -the best musician in the band

Sounds like a prompt for another similar thread..... bands whose supposed worst musician is actually the best

 

(OK, OK, I know nobody says JPJ is not a good musician, but he is the least celebrated member of the band I think)

[thodrik]

44 minutes ago, Ricky Rioli said:

Here's where the bar is set

 

I would offer the Lou Reed/Metallica Lulu collaboration with Metallica as a further bar.

Ian Astbury from The Cult loved it:
 

Quote

 

"Lou Reed, he's a 67-year-old man," Astbury continued. "His body of work is stellar, he is one of our greatest laureates. If you know anything about Lou Reed, he's not well right now. He's deteriorating, his body's sick, he's getting frail and fragile. He's chosen Metallica to be his muscle, to be his armor, so he can come out one more time and make a statement of what's happening in his internal life, and he's using this Weimar Republic play, Lulu, to put himself over."

"If you actually listen to the record, there's some phenomenal moments on it, by anybody's standards. 'Junior Dad' for example, I think is a flipping brilliant piece of music."

 

https://thequietus.com/articles/07865-loutallica-lulu-ian-astbury-the-cult

Frankly, there is more artistic beauty in Astbury's defence of the album than in the music itself. 

On The Cult, I actually think that Beyond Good and Evil is their best album. It was released on 2000 and they were kind of going for a harder edged sound to fit in with the nu-metal crowd. They then made a brilliant psychedelic/stoner rock album almost by accident. I still really like it. 

Edited September 9, 2022 by thodrik
Inability to type on phone

[Lozz196]

Good call, Beyond Good and Evil is great, Rise especially so

[Paul S]

I'll pitch a couple in there.

 

Metallica's Black Album, I understand it was thought to be a commercial sell out by die hard fans but I'm not keen on anything before or after.

Queen's first album.  Had a fresh rawness the subsequent offerings lacked.

Deep Purple's Fireball.  Apparently DP fans were never keen, it is my favourite.

[Cosmo Valdemar]

1 hour ago, Barking Spiders said:

Going against my own nature over the last few days I've listened to Led Zep, all their albums and all the way through. In conclusion, for me In Through The Out Door is by some margin their best album and I'm not trolling for the hell of it. The reasons?

1. it features lots of tasty keyboards which flesh out their sound by some margin

2. Plant actually mostly sings with his banshee yowling/screeching that marred their other albums out of sight...kinda.

3. The production is cleaner, tighter and lighter with the plodding  heavy sound of the early albums reined in

4. I dislike Blues heavily influenced rock intensely but there's little sign of that here

 

I understand that John Paul Jones -the best musician in the band - had more input here than on the other albums so that explains the heavier keys orientation

 

So, what allegedly weak albums by well-known bands would you say are among their better, if not the best albums

 

I don't think the problem with Coda is the use of keyboards per se, but rather the generally hideous tones JPJ saw fit to use.

Carouselambra could have been one if their masterpieces were it not for that. Particularly the clucking chicken bit.

[Paolo85]

1 hour ago, Ricky Rioli said:

Killers is my favourite of Maiden's classic era, and some days So Far So Good So What reaches me in ways none of the other early Megadeth albums do, and I think they typical come bottom of their respective piles? 

 

..well, they are at the bottom of the pile of what is considered the golden era for both bands. I remember when I was 14 going to a record shop run by a trusted old metalhead asking for the best Iron Maiden album (life pre internet was incredible, right?) and he gave me Killers.

So Far So Good So What for me was up there with Peace Sells, RIP and Killing is my business - I could not choose a favourite

Edited September 9, 2022 by Paolo85

[Doctor J]

Kreator - Renewal - they ditched thrash for something dark and unique, then lost then plot entirely

 

The Cult - s/t - Astbury moving on from pretending to be a Chief. Expansive, interesting rock in a post-grunge nu-metal wasteland

 

Living Colour - Stain - angry, aggressive, low on funk, high on character.

[Crusoe]

1 hour ago, fretmeister said:

I remember all the abuse Iron Maiden got for Seventh Son of a Seventh Son because of the keyboards.

 

I thought it was excellent. A band that was growing and wasn't afraid of trying things.

It was the first Iron Maiden album I ever owned. Loved it then and still do. Was it more that the critics who didn't like the keyboards, rather than the fans.

[Raymondo]

Family. It's only a Movie.

 

It was their attempt at cracking the American market and was quite a departure...I love it!

[Newfoundfreedom]

As already mentioned. Metallica Black, and Iron Maiden Seventh Son. My favourite album by both bands. While it's not my favourite album, I think The Spaghetti Incident by Guns N Roses was massively underrated. 

[Cato]

I don't know if anyone ever said it was their worst album but I was a huge fan of AC/DCs 'Blow Up Your Video' during my metal years, which coincided with it's release.

 

You never hear people mention it now but 'Heatseeker' and 'Thzt's the Way I Like My Rock'n'Roll' are definitely up there with my all tme favourite tracks from the band.

[Barking Spiders]

1 hour ago, Ricky Rioli said:

Killers is my favourite of Maiden's classic era, and some days So Far So Good So What reaches me in ways none of the other early Megadeth albums do, and I think they typical come bottom of their respective piles? 

 

Oh, I knew I could do better than that! Jane's Addiction. I love Strays to bits and I couldn't care less about any of their other albums.

Viz JA i fully agree. I used to have all their albums and got rid of all apart from Strays which is light years better

[Crusoe]

15 minutes ago, Cato said:

I don't know if anyone ever said it was their worst album but I was a huge fan of AC/DCs 'Blow Up Your Video' during my metal years, which coincided with it's release.

 

You never hear people mention it now but 'Heatseeker' and 'Thzt's the Way I Like My Rock'n'Roll' are definitely up there with my all tme favourite tracks from the band.

I still think of "Heatseeker" as a new Ac/DC song, as it's the first new song I can remember them releasing, even though it's over 30 years ago. 😄

[oldslapper]

Elton John “Blue Moves”.

I play that album probably once a month at least, never tire of it, hear new bits each time. Slated by “fans” as it was not “pop”. 
 

Deep Purple “Come taste the band” 

My favourite DP album, just above “Burn”. Have zero interest in what “fans” think of either album. Feckin’ love em.

David Bowie “Tonight”

Generally hated by everyone including DB. Gets played by me more than any other DB album. Again, “fans” can take a leap, I love it. 
 

Basically I have no taste 😂😂😂😂 and I don’t care😝

[BigRedX]

The Pretty Things "Emotions". Their end of contract album for Decca released in 1967 and at the time loathed by both the band and their fans mostly for the additional "orchestration" that had been added at the record label's instance. I only discovered it in the late 70s, and when I first heard it didn't know anything about its history, so for me it was just another album by a band I liked and wanted to hear more of. While it's not their best album (that's Parachute) it's also not their worst by a long shot and IMO is on a par with the two earlier Decca albums, and it does include some of my favourite songs by the band. When I finally got to hear the versions of the songs without all the additional orchestration on an early 2000s re-release, I was surprised by how little difference there was between them, and in some cases the versions without all the extra instruments sounded weak and only half-conceived. Of course that might simply be down to familiarity, but after almost 20 years I still prefer the versions that were "ruined" by the record label.

[Munurmunuh]

1 hour ago, Cato said:

I don't know if anyone ever said it was their worst album but I was a huge fan of AC/DCs 'Blow Up Your Video' during my metal years, which coincided with it's release.

 

You never hear people mention it now but 'Heatseeker' and 'Thzt's the Way I Like My Rock'n'Roll' are definitely up there with my all tme favourite tracks from the band.

 

I only had that album for about a month as someone stole it from me at school. Recently I listened through it, and found that this unusually mournful song was burnt very clearly into my memory:

 

 

[Dad3353]

1 hour ago, Cato said:

I don't know if anyone ever said it was their worst album but I was a huge fan of AC/DCs 'Blow Up Your Video' during my metal years, which coincided with it's release.

 

You never hear people mention it now but 'Heatseeker' and 'Thzt's the Way I Like My Rock'n'Roll' are definitely up there with my all tme favourite tracks from the band.

 

(... and get that keyboard repaired..! )

Edited September 9, 2022 by Dad3353

[40hz]

One Hot Minute by Red Hot Chili Peppers.

 

Dark, brooding and psychedelic and coming from a bad place, featuring, IMO, Anthony's best lyrics he's ever written, tackling some really heavy stuff (for once). Along with Uplift Mofo, it's my favourite Chili Peppers album.

 

I think it's s*** on a bit, as unfortunately, there seems to be a bit of the 'cult of Frusciante' around the band, and anything with him not playing on, (in this case Dave Navarro) seems to be derided, completely forgetting dear Hillel was the OG.

Edited September 9, 2022 by 40hz

[MacDaddy]

Power Metal, Phil's first album with Pantera.

Their best by far IMO.

[hiram.k.hackenbacker]

56 minutes ago, oldslapper said:

David Bowie “Tonight”

Generally hated by everyone including DB. Gets played by me more than any other DB album. Again, “fans” can take a leap, I love it. 
Basically I have no taste 😂😂😂😂 and I don’t care😝

When I read the thread title, ‘Tonight’ came to mind immediately. In fact, I did an interview on radio a couple of years ago, when ChangesTwoBowie was still a going concern, defending the album. The problem is that it’s up against some really stiff competition from the rest of Bowie’s oeuvre. As much as I like it, would I say it’s his best work? I don’t think I can, but it’s definitely nowhere near as bad as some would have us believe. 

[Crusoe]

I think it would have to be "The Worst of The Beatles" 😄