Worst album by your favourite artists (1 Viewer)

[Rachael B]

...and I think DEAD LETTER OFFICE is R.E.M.'s best album. I like'em doing Lou Reed songs and the intrumental songs are nice. A couple of the songs are off-beat, even for them, they appeal to me...

CEREMONY by Spooky Tooth is awful.
Todd Rundgren's Capella album is a bore
Boz Scaggs' OTHER ROADS to nowhere!
Todd Rundgren's WITH A TWIST

 

[Daniel J.S.]

About "Magical Mystery Tour," all of the really good stuff (except for "I am the Walrus") is on the second side. The rest I can live without. The Beatles didn't put out any bad records, but this and "Sgt. Pepper's" are the only ones that are showing their age. I prefer the earlier albums over the later ones (I think the White Album has its share of filler).

For those that said "Dead Letter Office" doesn't count, how about "Reveal"? Sure it's a really good record, but it is pretty much a rehash of better material. I picked "Dead Letter Office" because I'm of the belief that songs that are left off an album are left off for a reason.

 

[Jason_H]

I strongly disagree. These are the kinds of threads I dispise. I disagree with many of the choices here, and find little value to this kind of thread. I wasn't going to post this at all, but then saw a number of others that I just can't understand.

I see your point, but there is a fine line (between stupid and clever, if you are Spinal Tap). I don't like it when everyone is bashing bands and records they hate, but this is all coming from fans of the bands discussed. Everything a band outputs is not equally good. They have their highs and lows even if the lows may be far superior to other bands' highs.

 

[Peter Mazur]

Great point Jason.

 

[Ken_McAlinden]

Usually, it's the "thrown together by the record companies" stuff that really stinks.

The Who - Magic Bus The Who on Tour
Bob Dylan - Self Portrait


Regards,

 

[Danny Tse]

Paul stole my choice....

I tried....I really tried to like it....but Van Halen's 3 sucks big time.

 

[Larry Geller]

Bob Dylan - Self Portrait

Bob himself "threw" this one together. Dylan (1973) was the one Columbia compiled.

 

[Ken_McAlinden]

Bob himself "threw" this one together. Dylan (1973) was the one Columbia compiled.

Your right. I was confused. I think one was a case of spite towards his record company and the other one, in an ironic twist, was a case of record company spite (after he jumped to another label, they released the outtakes from the terrible album he delivered to them years earlier).

Regards,

 

[Rob Gillespie]

The last two Rush albums were pretty poor to my ears, VP being the worst. I got into the band around time of Hold Your Fire, though I also love the Moving Pictures, Signals and Hemishpheres type stuff. Both Vapour Trails and Test For Echo are too hard-edged in their sound. The lads aren't hard rockers. I wish they wouldn't try to be.

 

[Daniel J.S.]

I think your preferences for Rush are in the minority; most people (myself included) HATE the synth heavy direction they took in the 80's after "Signals." They were at their best when they were a heavy rock band with progressive leanings like they were in the 70's. "Vapor Trails" is a return to that sound.

 

[Rob Gillespie]

They were at their best when they were a heavy rock band with progressive leanings like they were in the 70's. "Vapor Trails" is a return to that sound.

Well, we're just talking subjective opinions aren't we. The Hold Your Fire album is to me a stunning achievement. The playing, lyrics, arrangements and overall attitude of the album seems to have been a pinnacle from which the only way is down. There's real maturity on that record and no pretentiousness. I liked Presto, Roll Your Bones but Counterparts again was just wonderful - but not in the same way as HYF. Here the band dropped the synths and went back to playing more guitar-based music - superb songs and possibly the best production values of any of their albums. But then Test For Echo came along and was as if they said "OK so we rock again now, let's push it further" but instead of progressing what they achieved with Counterparts the music just seemed to get heavier without any real reasoning behind it. It has some good songs but I just didn't feel the album 'gelled' at all. Vapour Trails took that yet another step in the 'heavy' direction, but they've been there, done that, so why retread the same ground but with bigger boots? I understand that Neil had a lot of anger he wanted to release on that album, but I couldn't hum you a single tune whereas I could for just about every song from their prior ones.

It just comes down to our own taste and I'm in no way saying anyone is misguided for liking VP. I guess I just don't 'get it'. Times have moved on and it just seems to me that they're trying to stay 'young' when there's really no need to.

 

[Mark Cappelletty]

Ooh, Rush-fan cat fight.

As I hate the band with a passion, I'll stay out of this one...


Worst:
Peter Gabriel, Up
Queen, Hot Space
Guided By Voices, Mag Earwhig!
Liz Phair, whitechocolatespaceegg (though I hear that her upcoming record is infinitely worse)

 

[Javier_Huerta]

Pink Floyd: The Final Cut
Queen: Hot Space
The Police: uh... they don't have any bad albums!
The Alan Parsons Project: Eye in the Sky (no, really!)
Sting: Brand New Day
Pet Shop Boys: Very

 

[Andrew 'Ange Hamm' Hamm]

Elvis Costello: Mighty Like a Rose
Joe Jackson: Night and Day II

Ha ha ha ha! Both of these are my favorite albums by the respective artists. Just goes to show how weird a topic this is...

 

[Colin Jacobson]

As with others, I won't uniformly refer to my selections as bad albums. Some I like parts of but are simply my least favorites. If I REALLY don't like them, however, I'll state that:

Beatles: Beatles For Sale

Stones: Goat's Head Soup

Elvis Costello: Goodbye Cruel World (though I once REALLY liked this album)

U2: Zooropa

Prince: Rainbow Children - an utter, complete disaster

Bowie: Never Let Me Down

Springsteen: The Ghost of Tom Joad

Pearl Jam: No Code

McCartney: Wild Life

Madonna: I'm Breathless

Big Country: Why the Long Face

 

[Daniel J.S.]

Yeah, he did this kind of album MUCH better with Nebraska. Still, I like this one. The version of "Youngstown" on Live in New York City kicks all kinds of ass.

 

[MikeH1]

1993's Full Moon Dirty Hearts by Inxs. A couple good tracks but overall I wish they would have went on tour instead of releasing this pile.

 

[Stacie]

Tori Amos: To Venus and Back (Ho-hum)

Indigo Girls: Shaming of the Sun (a couple of great songs, especially "Leeds," but otherwise just okay)

Steely Dan: Gaucho (love "Babylon Sisters" and "Gaucho," but otherwise, I don't find much here)

R.E.M.: Monster (I hate to say it, since I think I like it more than most people, but it is probably their weakest effort despite great songs like "What's the Frequency, Kenneth?" and "Strange Currencies")

Radiohead: Pablo Honey (I like it okay, but it pales in comparison to everything else they've done.)

Beck: Midnite Vultures (again, this is a pretty good album, but not nearly as good as everything else he's done).

 

[Mike Broadman]

Daniel and Rob, you're both wrong- everything Rush has done is brilliant!

 

[Daniel J.S.]

I wonder why Monster gets so much grief these days. Critics and fans alike loved the record when it first came out, but opinion seems to have reversed. I still love the record myself (maybe that's because I'm a sucker for all out rock and roll), and I actually like "Strange Currencies" more than "Everybody Hurts" (which it closely resembles).