When a Bad Album Isn't a Bad Album

[Benji]

A fair amount I've heard people ragging on Avenged Sevenfold's latest release. Before this album I'd never paid much attention to the band, they were good, but nothing regularly listen worthy, but in comparison to their other stuff this stuff is gold to me, it's not a blow away album, but I certainly like every track on there and it's got a good amount of variance, so is peoples dislike for the album purely an "it doesn't sound like them" thing, or do they genuinely not like it?

The same goes for "One Hot Minute" by RHCP, to me the album is very primal and tribal, it's a great quasi-metal/funk album that blends some wonderfully lilted tunes like Aeroplane with anthemic tunes like "One Big Mob", but it doesn't sound so much like the Chilli's, it's not a bad album, in fact I'd probably put it quite high if it weren't for a few very off songs, but the ones that are good are damn fucking good.

So yeah, what other albums do you like but, for your own interpretation, the masses didn't?

[Liam]

When you say masses, with my selections it kinda depends what you mean. In Flames albums, from 'Reroute To Remain' to 'Come Clarity' are roundly hated by the trOO metal masses, and a fair amount of people who used to like In Flames output. On the other hand, there's a reasonable amount of fans who like all thier output, and thier newer stuff appeals to different fans, it would seem.

'Reroute To Remain' to me is probably thier best album outside of 'Clayman'.

[ROC]

To go for the super-mainstream selections:

I really liked Light Grenades by Incubus. It was a solid record with a great mix of the experimental elements of A Crow Left of the Murder and the great songwriting the band had on Morning View.

And a more recent one, I dug Kelly Clarkson's last album My December a hell of a lot more than anyone else seemed to dig it. Even critics supporting her argument of being able to go her own direction were against her, which is kind of shit because the record totally works in Clarkson channeling her best Pat Benatar.

[Fire Storm]

For the Avenged Sevenfold album, at first I thought "this is a huge let down other than for Almost Easy and Critical Acclaim", but then I started listening more and I picked up more on the songs on it and now its really grown on me. Nowhere near the standard of City of Evil but I have to say its definitely a good album, they mixed it up as always just this time a larger range of music, rather than being in a Alternative/Metal/Ballad bubble, they just broke out and experimented, and to do that is extremely brave because some fans could hate it, but those are the fickle people just liking bands for the extra band they can name as one of their favourites on Myspace.

They worked their asses off self producing the album and they really deserve credit for doing so.

[lari]

Iron Maiden's The X-Factor.

One of my all-time favourite albums, but it was certainly not well-received by the general audience. The biggest reasons must have been the change of vocalists (Blaze Bayley replaced Bruce Dickinson), and that it didn't sound like what people knew to expect from Maiden. It was slow, brooding and with long intros. Very difficult to approach. But to me, the X-Factor is a dark masterpiece, a work of art with some of the best ever Maiden tracks, such as the Edge of Darkness, Fortunes of War, Look for the Truth, the Aftermath and Sign of the Cross. A brilliant album. A+.

[Evil Chase K]

Metallica - St. Anger

It was doomed from the start by blatantly false reviews from the media. Metallica themselves continually described their new music as "ugly" and "brutal" but it was magazine and website reviews that described it as a return to Metallica's roots. It was destined to be a disappointment.

It's a very hard album to wrap your head around, I understand that. The minimal production, the long and repetitive songs, and that damn snare sound make for a very abrasive record, but it was exactly what Metallica needed to do. They were purging themselves musically.

To me there is only one, maybe two songs on the record that I dislike or skip when I'm listening to it. Those are Invisible Kid (I listen to probably half of the song), and St. Anger. But the rest of the album, in my opinion is solid. Sweet Amber, All Within My Hands, Some Kind Of Monster, and Dirty Window stand out to me as the highlights.

[thuganomic]

I liked Gravity by Our Lady Peace, although most of the OLP fans hated the new mainstream sound they went for. I thought that it combined the best of both worlds, as I still heard OLP in there, but it was a lot catchier than some of their old stuff.

[supergrass]

I'd nominate Be Here Now and SOTSOG by Oasis. Starting with Be Here Now, this was released to general acclaim and "Oasis have done it again!" from most, only for opinion to shift shortly after when this wasn't the case, it now supposedly being where Oasis were derailed and from which they never recovered. Putting it into perspective, was it the best album? No. Was it a fitting follow up to Definitely Maybe and What's The Story? No. But it's not that bad. It's the work of a band perhaps a bit coked up and buying into the hype that surrounded them, but it's got enough good songs on it to make it worth a listen to any Oasis.

SOTSOG is very similar, a mixed bag. Regarded as another of the albums that finished Oasis for good, it's got some good songs on it (Go Let It Out, Fucking In The Bushes - sampled in a million film and tv soundtracks, Gas Panic etc) which are unfortunately pulled down by some bad and some lazy efforts. However, as with before, the good songs make it worth a listen and take it from a bad album, to an okay album. Little James is often mentioned as the worst offender (it's nothing to be proud of), but I like having it on the CD, it's good to chart the progression Liam has made as a songwriter.

[Nerf]

[METALMAN]

Down In Albion - Babyshambles.

I know this album has got a lot of fans but I was astounded when I found out how low-rated it is by critics. I've seen this album being rated as low as 2 or 3 out of 10. I'd probably agree with the main gripe that there are too many songs, as I find "Pentonville" and "Merry Go Round" abonimable to be frank, and "Up The Morning" is not that much better. However, that leaves 13 absolutely fantastic songs. That's an album's worth right there. "A'rebours", "32nd of December" and "What Katy Did Next" are some of my favourite songs ever.

[RPS]

Daft Punk - Human After All.

It was HATED by the critics when it first came out (its score on Metacritic is in the 50's) but I think many have gone on to realise that its really a piece of brilliance. Especially in reference to Alive 2007, you kind of get a sense that the album was created to be heard live.

[Colly]

I'd nominate Be Here Now and SOTSOG by Oasis. Starting with Be Here Now, this was released to general acclaim and "Oasis have done it again!" from most, only for opinion to shift shortly after when this wasn't the case, it now supposedly being where Oasis were derailed and from which they never recovered. Putting it into perspective, was it the best album? No. Was it a fitting follow up to Definitely Maybe and What's The Story? No. But it's not that bad. It's the work of a band perhaps a bit coked up and buying into the hype that surrounded them, but it's got enough good songs on it to make it worth a listen to any Oasis.

SOTSOG is very similar, a mixed bag. Regarded as another of the albums that finished Oasis for good, it's got some good songs on it (Go Let It Out, Fucking In The Bushes - sampled in a million film and tv soundtracks, Gas Panic etc) which are unfortunately pulled down by some bad and some lazy efforts. However, as with before, the good songs make it worth a listen and take it from a bad album, to an okay album. Little James is often mentioned as the worst offender (it's nothing to be proud of), but I like having it on the CD, it's good to chart the progression Liam has made as a songwriter.

I actually relistened to Be Here Now the other week and it really is pretty good. You can tell why Noel thinks its a bit Bon Jovi (I always think the title track is going to be Bad Medicine from the intro...), but there are some top tunes on there, some of which weren't singles. I Hope, I Think, I Know is up there with my fave Oasis tracks, and Magic Pie has its bizarre charm.

I can't say much of SOTSOG, but defo Gas Panic, and Where Did it All Go Wrong has a cool Wellerness about it. I've now not actually bought an Oasis album since Heathen Chemistry now though, and even that was a 'this is your last chance' purchase.

Down In Albion - Babyshambles.

I know this album has got a lot of fans but I was astounded when I found out how low-rated it is by critics. I've seen this album being rated as low as 2 or 3 out of 10. I'd probably agree with the main gripe that there are too many songs, as I find "Pentonville" and "Merry Go Round" abonimable to be frank, and "Up The Morning" is not that much better. However, that leaves 13 absolutely fantastic songs. That's an album's worth right there. "A'rebours", "32nd of December" and "What Katy Did Next" are some of my favourite songs ever.

I heart that album. A'rebours sounds better if you sing it Haribo's though.

[YI]

I swear Metalman and I might be the same person. Although I do like "Up The Morning" and "Merry Go Round"...although, they are probably two of the 'weakest' tracks on their, besides "Pentonville", but I still like them. "Pentonville" is fucking terrible...although me and my mate do enjoy a good drunken sing of "A WING! B WING! C WING! AND G WING!" I Babyshambles...I'd say that both "Down In Albion" and "Shotter's Nation" are easily better albums than the self-titled 'tines release. Nothing touched "Up The Bracket" though...for those who were wondering (nobody), that would have been my 6th favourite album.

"Crimson" by Alkaline Trio springs straight to mind. Lots of fans shat all over it because it was 'slow', and more emo-y...but the songs are basically all top notch. Stuff like "Deathbed", "Sadie", "Burn", "The Poison", "Mercy Me"...fuck it, everything's awesome, besides maybe "Back To Hell", which sounds like a total poor man's version of "We've Had Enough" off "Good Mourning". Although they should have kept the piano riff from the demo version of "Your Neck" in the final song, that was awesome.

Edited April 2, 2008 by YI

[DMN in the House]

'Untouchables' by KoRn. I remember when it came out, everyone and their brother thought it sucked, but its actually a really solid, if not awesome, album.

[supergrass]

I swear Metalman and I might be the same person. Although I do like "Up The Morning" and "Merry Go Round"...although, they are probably two of the 'weakest' tracks on their, besides "Pentonville", but I still like them. "Pentonville" is fucking terrible...although me and my mate do enjoy a good drunken sing of "A WING! B WING! C WING! AND G WING!" I Babyshambles...I'd say that both "Down In Albion" and "Shotter's Nation" are easily better albums than the self-titled 'tines release. Nothing touched "Up The Bracket" though...for those who were wondering (nobody), that would have been my 6th favourite album.

The only thing that disappointed me with Down In Albion were the "original/new" tracks Pete put forward for it. Most of the better songs were floating around on the earliest Libs demos - although that's not to say some of the new songs weren't bad.

But Shotter's Nation better than The Libertines? It isn't for me, while the second half lags a little - up until Likely Lads - I think the first half is largely on par with anything Up The Bracket had to offer, sadly they just couldn't keep it up. If Babyshambles had held back on The Blinding release and combined that with Shotter's Nation it would've been an amazing album from start to finish and would've pipped The Libertines for me. Beg, Steal Or Borrow and I Wish are two of my favourite songs by anyone, let alone Babyshambles.

Edited April 2, 2008 by supergrass

[YI]

Personally I don't find there's a bad track on "Shotter's Nation". Although "Beg, Steal & Borrow" is genius, and when they busted it out live I was like . "The Libertines" I find a bit...I dunno. I mean it's good, but, it's not a patch on "Up The Bracket". I'd probably rate it around an 7-8/10...whilst the 2 Babyshambles albums would be more 9/10, with "up The Bracket" being an 11/10.

[nWoHollywood]

Nothing 

Edited April 17, 2018 by nWoHollywood

[METALMAN]

I loved the Blinding EP. Every song on it was brilliant. Shotter's Nation was a great release too. I'd agree every song on it is really strong. I was a bit iffy on "Baddies Boogie" for a while but now I love it. It was amazing live.

[YI]

"Baddies Boogie" was one of the first ones that jumped out at me. I loved it. If you're ever in the viscinity of Newcastle and hear the chorus screamed...follow the noise...it will be me.

[supergrass]

I agree that there isn't a bad song on it, but at the same time some songs just don't strike me as partically amazing either. I haven't made a final decision on it yet, I picked it up a few weeks after it was released and consider it still to be growing on me. Same with The Blinding EP, I really went off Pete and Babyshambles when it looked like Pete had pretty much lost it. Shotter's Nation was a timely reminder he can still write a song or two. I'll give it time anyway, I remember Radio America took a long time for me to love.

I was the same with the live version of Beg Steal Of Borrow, or rather the full band version. I had only known Pete's acoustic version that he'd been playing for a while, when I went to see them do the NME award show announcement thingy - just a mini-gig with The Wombats and Joe Lean... Only Drew and Adam turned up, but the version they did together was still pretty good.

On a side note, though this is probably another thread/discussion all together: Libertines reunion? Or let Babyshambles and Dirty Pretty Things be? I'm happy with what they have now, perhaps doing the occasional collaberation as with their cover of A Day In The Life. DPTs second album sounds realy good from the demos and live stuff I've seen.