Interesting post, proving once again, if there was any doubt, that "List" posts are prime Comment fodder. Disagreement, snarkiness, cluelessness and "hipper than thou" in abundance... But, as I said, an interesting selection, some I know quite well, and some I either haven't considered exploring or have forgotten about. Choosing underappreciated albums depends on the context of the listener, but it's cool to see Tull's "Passion Play" mentioned fleetingly. I agree it's an excellent concept album, and I think the Rolling Stone Record Guide gives it one star, two tops!
Glad to see a few people, at least, enjoy Tin Machine. I think it came along at the wrong time. Had it come out mid-90s, it would have been heralded.
Harrison's final album, Brainwashed, is deserving of a LOT more attention than it seems to get. It's like his somewhat lacking solo career in between was somehow bookended by two absolutely incredible albums. They're both so good that they completely blow away anything the other ex-Beatles did and make him my favorite Beatle - regardless of so many albums worth of music that I simply cannot get into.
And I even like Pete Townshend's Psychoderelict. Get beyond the annoying story and there's some killer music (or just buy the music-only version.) I'm a sucker for Townshend's style of song-writing.
Yes, good to see notice of Tin Machine. There is a song on that album entitled "Under the Gods" I think. That is a chorus at least. that tune shreds.
But my question is does Zappa's Mothers of Invention, Live at the Fillmore East ('69, I think) qualify as underrated? I dunno what the consensus is on that album. But if it rates low, it deserves a good rating. Otherwise a great album.
peaceloveguidance
37 -
nugget
Jul 13, 2005 at 12:50 am
does this mean i have to go buy all of these crappy albumns that no one has ever heard of just so I can comment on how i like a couple of the songs on the Kink's one for the road? Does this mean that I have to pretend like I think those albumns are underrated, or think that I should care to type another letter as if i wanted to? well? do any of you +30 year-old hipster flower power drug abusers understand that rock and roll DIED? what's with the nostalgia? you ALL need reevaluate who you are and that you havn't shaved and that you shouldn't have cheated on your first wife.
38 -
nugget
Jul 13, 2005 at 1:01 am
i have an idea. How about everyone here learn to tie your shoes in double knots, start enjoying your lives for a change, and kick-start a new existance with meaning and influence. alas i'm sure your parents (who surely distanced themselves from you and your puerile obsession with baseless social mutiny because you hate religious syntax from the ignorant masses) would be overjoyed at the site of you divulging your adolescent affinities and actually stop drinking cheap beer.
39 -
confused
Jul 13, 2005 at 1:21 am
Hey nugget, here's a suggestion, try decaf and just a skosh less hatin'
meth kills, n00b
40 -
nugget
Jul 13, 2005 at 1:34 am
confused: i'm trying to save your miserable British subsistence, and you bite the valiant hand that feeds you the grace your parents could never afford to give! repent and don't look back...life itself is a purgatory for post rocknroll loyalists who saw the light. Just because physical growth manifested itself in you to look as if you were the same age mentally as everyone else doesn't mean that your mind is not stuck in 9th grade.
41 -
zeke
Jul 13, 2005 at 1:41 am
Your parenthetical list of great concept albums should have included the wondrously melodic and empathetic "Arthur" by the Kinks. It was, sadly and unjustly, overshadowed by the subsequent release of the Who's "Tommy."
As for underrated albums, how about "Veedon Fleece" by Van Morrison?
Cool list; I actually have most of these. But Tin Machine? Dunno about that. And I imagine many if not most serious rock connoisseurs do have All Things Must Pass; George Harrison's passing no doubt inspired many to pick up a copy if they didn't have it already. A lot of critics consider ATMP the best of all the Beatle solo albums.
43 -
LostSok
Jul 13, 2005 at 3:21 am
The Who - Sell Out
Bob Dylan - Street Legal
Leonard Cohen - New Skins For The Old Ceremony
Todd Snider - Happy To Be Here
John Hiatt - Walk On
Bruce Springsteen - The Wild, The Innocent & The E-Street Shuffle
Be Bop Deluxe - Ax Victim
Jim Croce - The Faces I've Been
Steppenwolf - Steppenwolf 7
Aerosmith - Done With Mirrors
Roger Daltrey - Ride a Rock Horse
Scarlett Rivera - Scarlett Rivera
Ooh, yes, the John Hiatt you mention is soooo good. And the Springsteen you mention happens to be my favorite of all of the E-Street Band LPs. Spousal Unit wants me to mention the Grateful Dead's Anthem of the Sun, which he considers shamefully underrated.
Good list. I agree with many of your choices, esp. "Rumor and Sigh" and "The Next Hundred Years." I loathe post-Syd Barrett Pink Floyd, but on a good day I will make an exception for "Animals" (which must mean it's either their best record, or their worst). I hate the Tin Machine record, but I can certainly understand why one might love it.
Two major quibbles - first, I'm not sure that "White City" is a comment on South Africa (not primarily, anyway - Townshend often works on multiple levels). Have you seen the movie? You should - I think it would change your interpretation of the album.
Finally, you must have suffered a huge brain fart when you wrote that "If this list was created in the mid-eighties, there is no way [the Kinks' "One For the Road] would be included as it was the biggest live album of that time. Well, with the exception of Frampton Comes Alive." Wrong on so many levels: The record was not a hit, not even a minor one; "Cheap Trick at Budokan" was far and away the biggest live album of the relevant era (late 70's/early 80's, not the mid-80's, given that "One For the Road" came out in 1980); and Frampton Comes Alive was actually released in the mid-70's (1974, IIRC).
My pick for this list: Husker Du, "New Day Rising."
Okay, on reflection, I guess that "One For the Road" was probably a middling hit - but nowhere near as huge as you imply. By the way, I do like that record - it was current the first time I actually saw the Kinks, on my 21st birthday. Fond memories and all that.
Small style correction: Remove the word "the" from the front of "Fairport Convention", and deploy it to correctly render the title of I Want To See the Bright Lights Tonight.
50 -
crooked spine
Jul 13, 2005 at 6:21 pm
My $0.02:
Stacked Deck - The Amazing Rhythm Aces
Hymn of the Seventh Galaxy - Return to Forever
Takin' My Time - Bonnie Raitt
The J Geils Band - their first album from 1970
Devotion + Doubt - Richard Buckner
51 -
ashley larimore
Jul 13, 2005 at 8:36 pm
you're right; Hold Me Up by the Goo Goo Dolls is underrated. i disagree with why you think it is underrated though. i strongly disagree with your opinion of the Goo Goo Dolls. i think they're the greatest rock band out there today and they always will be.
Unrequested? Yes. Unappreciated? Not a chance. Thanks for sharing; Pat Travers rocks.
57 -
Bennett
Jul 13, 2005 at 11:18 pm
Thanks Ms. Davis. The whole album is incredible. The only song that got air play (SF/Oakland) was "Boom Boom Out Go The Lights", but holy moly what a misrepresentation of the musicianship that is!
One of the top three live albums I've ever heard.
58 -
LostSok
Jul 14, 2005 at 4:33 am
Okay, two more:
Alice Cooper - Muscle of Love
Boomtown Rats - The Fine Art of Surfacing (especially in light of Live8)
1) The Who: By Numbers (1975) - guilt, sadness, rage, fear of irrelevance; what happens when you don't die before you get old. (Pete T. was all of 30 at the time!)
2) Gary Moore: Wild Frontier (1987) - ala U2, another view of 1980's Irish life but told in his own distinct voice & guitar.
3) The Professionals: I Didn't See It Coming (1981) - Enthusiastic post Sex-Pistols stomp from Steve Jones, Paul Cook, and 2 other guys whose names I can't remember. Great party album.
61 -
Douglas
Aug 26, 2005 at 3:29 am
Hey, somebody else likes the later goo goo dolls stuff too? Yeah, I like songs like "Name" and "Here is Gone" and I think they have made many solid contributions to Modern Rock. Just because they're popular doesn't make them bad.
And most of the albums you all list are by huge, famous bands who made boatloads of money. I don't think anyone can say that "Thriller" and "Born in the USA," two of the highest-selling albums of the 80s and EVER, are underrated by anyone.
That is all.
64 -
Mark Movagh
Nov 05, 2005 at 3:28 pm
Thanks for standing up for Tin machine.
I'm a huge Bowie fan, and I always felt that the critics were stupid and unecessarily cyncial about this group. I loved it back then and still do. Watch the video for "Under the God" there's some great energy and stage presence.... I agree about working class hero, but the rest has stood the test of time.
Good list. I'm with you on Stone Roses and Sting.
I'd add Liz Phair's first album.
66 -
Derek Stone
Nov 30, 2005 at 8:30 pm
I'd agree with Liz Phair's "Exile in Guyville"..Fucking beautiful record.
67 -
Wagner
Mar 25, 2006 at 8:03 am
Pink Floyd's "Meddle",is just passed over and basically ignored,even though it's the album that influenced all Floyd's following album's with the epic track "Echoe's"
underrated
Ayreon,"The Human Equation",Arjeon lucassen's recent masterpiece of progressive rock opera,is massive,music does'nt get any more spectacular than this.
68 -
Andrew Elt
Jun 21, 2006 at 12:06 pm
It should be here a band called Bad Way with their album "From Zero to Hero". This guys will be massive in few years.
69 -
Gord Cowie
Aug 22, 2006 at 9:48 am
Am I too late to put in my vote for Brian Eno's Taking Tiger Mountain by Strategy.
A great album from start to finish..
70 -
mike
Aug 24, 2006 at 5:19 am
The best album never played is zepps Presence. Man that must have been some great heroin
71 -
Steve Froehlich
Sep 10, 2006 at 3:48 pm
Pink Floyd's album "Obscured by Clouds" is far more obscure than Animals or Meddle. It is just as good.
72 -
regal begal
Oct 06, 2006 at 8:40 am
ok,another list,cool,here goes.10 in no particular order and reasons,who cares
1.blind melon-blind melon
2.dream theater-train of thought
3.robert cray-some rainy morning
4.paul rodgers-now
5.salmonella dub-inside he dub plates
6.iron maiden-dance of death
7.orange goblin-frequencies from planet ten
8.coda-there is a way to fly
9.infectious grooves-the plague that makes your booty move
10.joe satrianni-crystal planet
73 -
ben culbertson
Nov 07, 2006 at 2:00 am
pretty nice list. the harder they come film is cool too. One of the most underated albums ever would be from the Cavedogs."rooms for shut inns" check it out, if u can find it!!!!not to be missed
74 -
Robert Garner
Feb 01, 2007 at 6:52 pm
How short is our collective memory. The most overlooked, and forgotten treasure is Sinatra's "In the Wee Small Hours" from the fifties. An early "concept" album, way before the Beatles' "Sgt. Pepper," it contains some of the finest American music ever.
75 -
Burritobrother
Mar 15, 2007 at 8:00 pm
There's a lot of under appreciated albums. Here are ten that immediately come to mind, in no order.
====================
* Canned Heat: "Blues Band" (1996)
Popular belief is that Canned Heat were only vital during the '60's. This rock-solid electric blues effort from the '90's proves otherwise - I have them all, and this is the Heat's finest, most authentic hour.
* Mayhem: "Chimera" (2004)
The most musically inventive but still utterly
vicious black metal full-length ever, an extreme metal masterpiece that should appeal to music
fanatics of every variety.
* Passport: "Blue Tattoo" (1982)
Not nearly as progressive as the earlier Passport jazz albums, but far more memorable. Stellar playing, beautiful melodies; a largely
misunderstood classic.
* Ringo Starr: "Choose Love" (2005)
One of the greatest Beatles solo albums. Enough said?
* Asia: "Arena" (1996)
Few people ever took Asia seriously, but they never heard this brilliant gem. The Downes-Payne era produced the band's finest work, of which this particular release is the very best.
* Elvis Presley: "From Elvis Presley Blvd" (1976)
For whatever reason, Presley's later work is
continually ignored. But this - his final all-new
studio album - proves he was the King until the end. Perfect '70's country and pop.
* Smoky Babe: "Hottest Brand Goin" (1961)
Very obscure country blues, mostly known only by intensive blues historians. But this is tremendous
music by a tremendous bluesman.
* Tangerine Dream: "Mota Atma" (2003)
Another obscure TD soundtrack, but this time out
it's all ethereal soundscapes. Eerie and highly
progressive stuff from this awesomely consistent
German outfit.
* Flying Burrito Brothers: "California Jukebox" (1997)
With all the constant Gram Parsons worship going
on, the Burrito's vast catalog beyond their fallen
leader is denigrated if acknowledged at all. Too bad, as this may very well be the band's finest
hour.
* Charley Patton: "Complete Recordings"
Ok, everyone with even a passing knowledge of blues history will call Patton the Father of the Delta Blues. Which he was. Plus, he was the greatest of the early bluesmen. Johnson learned at his knee. But how many people have actually listened to his entire recorded work? Under appreciated indeed.
Article comments
— go to most recent comments26 - godoggo
The album in my collection that I think best fits the criteria is Richard Hell's Destiny Street.
27 - godoggo
I'd say the Harrison album stopped being underrated when he died.
28 - Rodney Welch
I'd say it stopped being underrated the day it left the pressing plant.
29 - Hazy Dave
David,
Interesting post, proving once again, if there was any doubt, that "List" posts are prime Comment fodder. Disagreement, snarkiness, cluelessness and "hipper than thou" in abundance... But, as I said, an interesting selection, some I know quite well, and some I either haven't considered exploring or have forgotten about. Choosing underappreciated albums depends on the context of the listener, but it's cool to see Tull's "Passion Play" mentioned fleetingly. I agree it's an excellent concept album, and I think the Rolling Stone Record Guide gives it one star, two tops!
30 - Triniman
I also could not stand Tin Machine. Where are the good tunes?
31 - Marty Dodge
Yeah can't see Tin Machine...agree on Dream of the Blue Turtles however. I love 'Moon Over Bourbon Street".
32 - godoggo
Moon Over Bourbon Street is pretty enough, but just a little too close to the old jam session standard Autumn Leaves.
33 - Tom Johnson
Glad to see a few people, at least, enjoy Tin Machine. I think it came along at the wrong time. Had it come out mid-90s, it would have been heralded.
Harrison's final album, Brainwashed, is deserving of a LOT more attention than it seems to get. It's like his somewhat lacking solo career in between was somehow bookended by two absolutely incredible albums. They're both so good that they completely blow away anything the other ex-Beatles did and make him my favorite Beatle - regardless of so many albums worth of music that I simply cannot get into.
And I even like Pete Townshend's Psychoderelict. Get beyond the annoying story and there's some killer music (or just buy the music-only version.) I'm a sucker for Townshend's style of song-writing.
34 - Joe Battista
Jayhawks Rainy Day Music
Blue Rodeo Casino
The Benjamin Gate Untitled
Meat Beat Manifesto Storm the Studio
Kris Kristofferson Kristofferson
35 - godoggo
Continuing my last comment: leastwise that's my recollection; it's been ages since I heard it last.
36 - Douglas Mays
Yes, good to see notice of Tin Machine. There is a song on that album entitled "Under the Gods" I think. That is a chorus at least. that tune shreds.
But my question is does Zappa's Mothers of Invention, Live at the Fillmore East ('69, I think) qualify as underrated? I dunno what the consensus is on that album. But if it rates low, it deserves a good rating. Otherwise a great album.
peaceloveguidance
37 - nugget
does this mean i have to go buy all of these crappy albumns that no one has ever heard of just so I can comment on how i like a couple of the songs on the Kink's one for the road? Does this mean that I have to pretend like I think those albumns are underrated, or think that I should care to type another letter as if i wanted to? well? do any of you +30 year-old hipster flower power drug abusers understand that rock and roll DIED? what's with the nostalgia? you ALL need reevaluate who you are and that you havn't shaved and that you shouldn't have cheated on your first wife.
38 - nugget
i have an idea. How about everyone here learn to tie your shoes in double knots, start enjoying your lives for a change, and kick-start a new existance with meaning and influence. alas i'm sure your parents (who surely distanced themselves from you and your puerile obsession with baseless social mutiny because you hate religious syntax from the ignorant masses) would be overjoyed at the site of you divulging your adolescent affinities and actually stop drinking cheap beer.
39 - confused
Hey nugget, here's a suggestion, try decaf and just a skosh less hatin'
meth kills, n00b
40 - nugget
confused: i'm trying to save your miserable British subsistence, and you bite the valiant hand that feeds you the grace your parents could never afford to give! repent and don't look back...life itself is a purgatory for post rocknroll loyalists who saw the light. Just because physical growth manifested itself in you to look as if you were the same age mentally as everyone else doesn't mean that your mind is not stuck in 9th grade.
41 - zeke
Your parenthetical list of great concept albums should have included the wondrously melodic and empathetic "Arthur" by the Kinks. It was, sadly and unjustly, overshadowed by the subsequent release of the Who's "Tommy."
As for underrated albums, how about "Veedon Fleece" by Van Morrison?
42 - Natalie Davis
Cool list; I actually have most of these. But Tin Machine? Dunno about that. And I imagine many if not most serious rock connoisseurs do have All Things Must Pass; George Harrison's passing no doubt inspired many to pick up a copy if they didn't have it already. A lot of critics consider ATMP the best of all the Beatle solo albums.
43 - LostSok
The Who - Sell Out
Bob Dylan - Street Legal
Leonard Cohen - New Skins For The Old Ceremony
Todd Snider - Happy To Be Here
John Hiatt - Walk On
Bruce Springsteen - The Wild, The Innocent & The E-Street Shuffle
Be Bop Deluxe - Ax Victim
Jim Croce - The Faces I've Been
Steppenwolf - Steppenwolf 7
Aerosmith - Done With Mirrors
Roger Daltrey - Ride a Rock Horse
Scarlett Rivera - Scarlett Rivera
Just to name a few....
44 - Natalie Davis
Ooh, yes, the John Hiatt you mention is soooo good. And the Springsteen you mention happens to be my favorite of all of the E-Street Band LPs. Spousal Unit wants me to mention the Grateful Dead's Anthem of the Sun, which he considers shamefully underrated.
45 - rod
Good list. I agree with many of your choices, esp. "Rumor and Sigh" and "The Next Hundred Years." I loathe post-Syd Barrett Pink Floyd, but on a good day I will make an exception for "Animals" (which must mean it's either their best record, or their worst). I hate the Tin Machine record, but I can certainly understand why one might love it.
Two major quibbles - first, I'm not sure that "White City" is a comment on South Africa (not primarily, anyway - Townshend often works on multiple levels). Have you seen the movie? You should - I think it would change your interpretation of the album.
Finally, you must have suffered a huge brain fart when you wrote that "If this list was created in the mid-eighties, there is no way [the Kinks' "One For the Road] would be included as it was the biggest live album of that time. Well, with the exception of Frampton Comes Alive." Wrong on so many levels: The record was not a hit, not even a minor one; "Cheap Trick at Budokan" was far and away the biggest live album of the relevant era (late 70's/early 80's, not the mid-80's, given that "One For the Road" came out in 1980); and Frampton Comes Alive was actually released in the mid-70's (1974, IIRC).
My pick for this list: Husker Du, "New Day Rising."
46 - rod
Okay, on reflection, I guess that "One For the Road" was probably a middling hit - but nowhere near as huge as you imply. By the way, I do like that record - it was current the first time I actually saw the Kinks, on my 21st birthday. Fond memories and all that.
47 - Mike
Soul Coughing - "Ruby Vroom"
48 - Vern Halen
I thought this list had a lot of odd choices, but it's a more interesting read that a list with the obvious choices.
IMHO, add an obscure Guess Who album from the mid 70's, Artificial Paradise.
49 - Patrick Nielsen Hayden
Small style correction: Remove the word "the" from the front of "Fairport Convention", and deploy it to correctly render the title of I Want To See the Bright Lights Tonight.
50 - crooked spine
My $0.02:
Stacked Deck - The Amazing Rhythm Aces
Hymn of the Seventh Galaxy - Return to Forever
Takin' My Time - Bonnie Raitt
The J Geils Band - their first album from 1970
Devotion + Doubt - Richard Buckner
51 - ashley larimore
you're right; Hold Me Up by the Goo Goo Dolls is underrated. i disagree with why you think it is underrated though. i strongly disagree with your opinion of the Goo Goo Dolls. i think they're the greatest rock band out there today and they always will be.
52 - Douglas Mays
This is a very interesting thread. I find myself asking the question "Is it underated? I'm not sure if it meets criterea..."
53 - Al Barger
Oh, I could do this all day long! How's about I'm the Man by Joe Jackson? Consider just the title track and "It's Different for Girls" for starters.
54 - Natalie Davis
Yes, and I would add his Night and Day for good measure. Joe Jackson rules!
55 - Bennett
Great list, fun reading! My unrequested addition to the "under rated" album list:
Pat Travers - Go For What You Know
"Stevie" is brilliant.
56 - Natalie Davis
Unrequested? Yes. Unappreciated? Not a chance. Thanks for sharing; Pat Travers rocks.
57 - Bennett
Thanks Ms. Davis. The whole album is incredible. The only song that got air play (SF/Oakland) was "Boom Boom Out Go The Lights", but holy moly what a misrepresentation of the musicianship that is!
One of the top three live albums I've ever heard.
58 - LostSok
Okay, two more:
Alice Cooper - Muscle of Love
Boomtown Rats - The Fine Art of Surfacing (especially in light of Live8)
59 - Andrew Ian Dodge
Enuff Z'Nuff s/t
60 - sheldon
1) The Who: By Numbers (1975) - guilt, sadness, rage, fear of irrelevance; what happens when you don't die before you get old. (Pete T. was all of 30 at the time!)
2) Gary Moore: Wild Frontier (1987) - ala U2, another view of 1980's Irish life but told in his own distinct voice & guitar.
3) The Professionals: I Didn't See It Coming (1981) - Enthusiastic post Sex-Pistols stomp from Steve Jones, Paul Cook, and 2 other guys whose names I can't remember. Great party album.
61 - Douglas
Hey, somebody else likes the later goo goo dolls stuff too? Yeah, I like songs like "Name" and "Here is Gone" and I think they have made many solid contributions to Modern Rock. Just because they're popular doesn't make them bad.
62 - John Bill
Here is one you forgot, "Meet The Partridge Family."
63 - Bob A. Booey
I don't like any of these albums.
And most of the albums you all list are by huge, famous bands who made boatloads of money. I don't think anyone can say that "Thriller" and "Born in the USA," two of the highest-selling albums of the 80s and EVER, are underrated by anyone.
That is all.
64 - Mark Movagh
Thanks for standing up for Tin machine.
I'm a huge Bowie fan, and I always felt that the critics were stupid and unecessarily cyncial about this group. I loved it back then and still do. Watch the video for "Under the God" there's some great energy and stage presence.... I agree about working class hero, but the rest has stood the test of time.
65 - Scott Butki
Good list. I'm with you on Stone Roses and Sting.
I'd add Liz Phair's first album.
66 - Derek Stone
I'd agree with Liz Phair's "Exile in Guyville"..Fucking beautiful record.
67 - Wagner
Pink Floyd's "Meddle",is just passed over and basically ignored,even though it's the album that influenced all Floyd's following album's with the epic track "Echoe's"
underrated
Ayreon,"The Human Equation",Arjeon lucassen's recent masterpiece of progressive rock opera,is massive,music does'nt get any more spectacular than this.
68 - Andrew Elt
It should be here a band called Bad Way with their album "From Zero to Hero". This guys will be massive in few years.
69 - Gord Cowie
Am I too late to put in my vote for Brian Eno's Taking Tiger Mountain by Strategy.
A great album from start to finish..
70 - mike
The best album never played is zepps Presence. Man that must have been some great heroin
71 - Steve Froehlich
Pink Floyd's album "Obscured by Clouds" is far more obscure than Animals or Meddle. It is just as good.
72 - regal begal
ok,another list,cool,here goes.10 in no particular order and reasons,who cares
1.blind melon-blind melon
2.dream theater-train of thought
3.robert cray-some rainy morning
4.paul rodgers-now
5.salmonella dub-inside he dub plates
6.iron maiden-dance of death
7.orange goblin-frequencies from planet ten
8.coda-there is a way to fly
9.infectious grooves-the plague that makes your booty move
10.joe satrianni-crystal planet
73 - ben culbertson
pretty nice list. the harder they come film is cool too. One of the most underated albums ever would be from the Cavedogs."rooms for shut inns" check it out, if u can find it!!!!not to be missed
74 - Robert Garner
How short is our collective memory. The most overlooked, and forgotten treasure is Sinatra's "In the Wee Small Hours" from the fifties. An early "concept" album, way before the Beatles' "Sgt. Pepper," it contains some of the finest American music ever.
75 - Burritobrother
There's a lot of under appreciated albums. Here are ten that immediately come to mind, in no order.
====================
* Canned Heat: "Blues Band" (1996)
Popular belief is that Canned Heat were only vital during the '60's. This rock-solid electric blues effort from the '90's proves otherwise - I have them all, and this is the Heat's finest, most authentic hour.
* Mayhem: "Chimera" (2004)
The most musically inventive but still utterly
vicious black metal full-length ever, an extreme metal masterpiece that should appeal to music
fanatics of every variety.
* Passport: "Blue Tattoo" (1982)
Not nearly as progressive as the earlier Passport jazz albums, but far more memorable. Stellar playing, beautiful melodies; a largely
misunderstood classic.
* Ringo Starr: "Choose Love" (2005)
One of the greatest Beatles solo albums. Enough said?
* Asia: "Arena" (1996)
Few people ever took Asia seriously, but they never heard this brilliant gem. The Downes-Payne era produced the band's finest work, of which this particular release is the very best.
* Elvis Presley: "From Elvis Presley Blvd" (1976)
For whatever reason, Presley's later work is
continually ignored. But this - his final all-new
studio album - proves he was the King until the end. Perfect '70's country and pop.
* Smoky Babe: "Hottest Brand Goin" (1961)
Very obscure country blues, mostly known only by intensive blues historians. But this is tremendous
music by a tremendous bluesman.
* Tangerine Dream: "Mota Atma" (2003)
Another obscure TD soundtrack, but this time out
it's all ethereal soundscapes. Eerie and highly
progressive stuff from this awesomely consistent
German outfit.
* Flying Burrito Brothers: "California Jukebox" (1997)
With all the constant Gram Parsons worship going
on, the Burrito's vast catalog beyond their fallen
leader is denigrated if acknowledged at all. Too bad, as this may very well be the band's finest
hour.
* Charley Patton: "Complete Recordings"
Ok, everyone with even a passing knowledge of blues history will call Patton the Father of the Delta Blues. Which he was. Plus, he was the greatest of the early bluesmen. Johnson learned at his knee. But how many people have actually listened to his entire recorded work? Under appreciated indeed.