@BlankSlate I never even heard that album, because Reveal turned me off R.E.M. so much. One brilliant single and the rest all blended together into one song for me. For years I’d been running out to buy their new album the day of release. Reveal ended that.
It kind of reminded me of Fables of the Reconstruction, my least favorite I.R.S.-era album, which had the same problem.
I’m not sure I’d call it “middle of the road pop/rock” but I agree that it’s missing the edge the band’s earlier work had. That’s what happens when musicians get older. Still really like it.
Probably “Cool Water” here, although “(Nothing But) Flowers” is pretty offbeat too by dint of 1) being extremely catchy and 2) advocating for less “nature” and more parking lots. Take that, Joni Mitchell!
Heh. Fun fact: I transcribed VH’s a cappella version of “Happy Trails” off Diver Down and got some of my friends to sing it at the end of our wedding as we left the church.
I’m going to add Jackson Browne’s Lawyers in Love to the list - despite the success of the title track it was an album utterly devoid of any interesting songs at all. Mind you, that was the point I stopped listening to Browne so if you want to tell me that his subsequent albums were even worse I won’t quibble.
I loved Fables and still do. For me, the first album that was slightly disappointing was Document.
Me, too! It didn’t click with me instantly like Reckoning or Murmur, but over time it surpassed them (in my mind, anyway) in depth and daring.
I am the definitive Tull fan, but some of their material is weak. Roots to Branches and Rock Island were disappointments, signs of a weary muse facing contractual obligations, but, oddly enough, their biggest selling album, A Passion Play, was a great big dud for me (and I do like long songs). Unlike many people, while A did catch me off-guard, it was able to reach me more than thos others. But may have been due to my acid days.
I fully agree with that. It’s funny because if you look around online the consensus seems to be that Never Say Die is their worst, yet I think it is way better than Technical Ecstasy. Though both were produced when the band was blowing up ISTM that TE is an appalling minimal effort cheese factory (“Rock 'n Roll Doctor”, really? What on earth were they thinking?), while NSD, though very un-Sabbath-like, was also very different and interesting. I still listen to it from time to time.
I really enjoyed Presto; for me it was Test for Echoes. That was hugely disappointing for me and basically finished off my love of Rush.
Not a shocker, but Chinese Democracy is complete shit. Totally out of touch and terrible in every possible respect. I don’t even consider it GnR; when your last remaining original member is the least talented of them all, it’s time to quit.
Is it fair to cite a first album? Like, I love Hüsker Dü, but “Land Speed Record” is unlistenable, and they only (to my mind) became great with the next record and you could truly hear the melody within the noise. Staying in the Twin Cities, “Sorry Ma, Forgot To Take Out The Trash” is sporadically fun but can’t hold a candle to anything else the 'mats would release, even the super glossy final records. Both were awesome bands just finding their feet when they recorded those, so it’s not like they were badly faltering mid-career.
I was thinking about Radiohead in the same light. Pablo Honey is an OK mid-90s arty-rock album, but it was utterly eclipsed by the group’s next few releases.
(Agreed on Hüsker Dü and the Replacements, too.)
I like End of the Century too. Spectors gun-wielding aside, he did a great job with the Ramones.
I love The Cure, but Bloodflowers is dreck.
Has anyone brought up Neil Young yet? He is in my personal elite tier, overall, but he did poop the bed on a handful of albums:
mmm
You forgot Everybodies Rockin with the Shocking Pinks.
And “Landing On Water”. That was the worst of the batch.
For me it’s just basically Land Speed Record and Zen Arcade, which are both smokin’ awesome.
Could not stand Flip Your Wig - watered-down pop.
The thing about guys like Neil Young and Paul Simon is they have such Enormous Nuts to release stuff from wildly different genres, that ain’t no way everybody gone like it all.
I imagine right now, somewhere in the world is the Biggest Fan of This Note’s For You who just got a first listen to Harvest and is thinking 'What the Hell is this Crap???"
That’s true at least for Neil Young (Paul Simon’s output is significantly smaller than Neil’s, and I don’t know his work as well, so I can’t quite comment on him). Neil Young has, I’ve never counted, about 50 solo and collaborate (with Buffalo Springfield, CSN&Y and others) studio albums, and a bunch of important live albums, and IMHO about 20 of them are top notch, and many others are at least decent, so you can forgive him for four or five stinkers. Same for Zappa. Or for Dylan.
Well my thoughts back in the 80s was that Neil paid his dues and could out out what ever he wanted.
Maybe. Heck, David Geffen sued him for putting out “noncommercial music” . 