"Great" albums you read about for years that let you down when you finally heard them

Wilco - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot

Awful lyrics (the album leads off with "I am an American aquarium drinker ... I assassin down the avenue" and never really improves from there) and basic instrumentation are apparently offset by the atmospheric samples, but I just never got it. Somebody told me that critics were calling this the American "OK Computer," which is a cruel, cruel joke.

Fugazi - Red Medicine

Most consider this their peak, but I think it's a dud. The next two are better.

The Pogues' If I Should Fall from Grace with God.

Good in small doses or if you're really hammered, but damn that thing is hard to listen to straight through if you're sober.

"Nevermind" -Nirvana

Cliche after cliches. No wonder Geffen spent a ton hyping this when released. It was one way to get it in the news.

Wow -- I loved "if i should fall from grace with god"

To get back on the topic --

"Exile on Main St." -- reaffirmed my belief that the Stones are really boring

"Fun House" by the Stooges. I'm a big "Raw Power" fan, though.

Richard Thompson is terrific. If his voice bothers you, go back to the days when he was paired with his former wife Linda on "I Want To See The Bright Lights Tonight."

One album that had attained mythological status in the years it was unavailable was "Oar" by Skip Spence, who'd been a drummer in the early days of Jefferson Airplane and then became one of the singer/songwriter/guitarists of "Moby Grape"...after which he sorta went nuts. "Oar" had been written and recorded in some respite between hospitalizations, I believe, and it was allegedly a brilliant example of twisted genius. It's hardly that. It's nothing much at all, basically. It's cetrainly not worth owning.

That'so funny. I had a similar experience. The album is not bad, especially when Linda sings, but I'd read such unremittingly sterling reviews that I was expecting to be blown away. Didn't happen.

Way overrated:

Love - Forever Changes

Television - Marquee Moon

Beach Boys - Pet Sounds

Big Star - #1 Record

Everthing by Husker Du and Gram Parsons

I'm not sure if I agree with the assessment of Nevermind. It may seem a bit cliched now -- and they did borrow a riff from Boston of all bands for "Smells Like Teen Spirit" -- but at the time it came out it was pretty groundbreaking. I had been listening to "alternative" music or "underground" music for years before Nevermind came out -- and I was still pretty blown away by it. I've read a few books about Nirvana and it seems to me that it was greatly hyped by Geffen -- it actually took a few months for it to break into the charts.

That Husker Du comment cut deep, I guess we have to agree to disagree...

jhancuff wrote:

I'm not sure if I agree with the assessment of Nevermind. It may seem a bit cliched now -- and they did borrow a riff from Boston of all bands for "Smells Like Teen Spirit" -- but at the time it came out it was pretty groundbreaking.

No it wasn't. Cobain said he was trying to imitate the Pixies

No, Cobain said he hoped people didn't think they were a Pixies ripoff -- which they weren't. He was obviously influenced by the Pixies, just like the Pixies, at least Black Francis, were obviously influenced by the Gun Club. Cobain also said they really liked the sound that Steve Albini got from Dave Lovering's drums on Surfer Rosa which was a big reason why they wanted Albini to record In Utero with them.

Sex Pistols may have been a great club band when the suds were flowing freely, but not the kind of stuff you can sit and listen to

jhancuff wrote:

No, Cobain said he hoped people didn't think they were a Pixies ripoff -- which they weren't.

Not a direct quote, but if you researched you could find direct quotes from Cobain.

That is funny..I did the same thing..heard all these wonderful things about Richard Thompson..got the cd...nearly unlistenable..

"Before the dust had even settled, a band admitted they were following in the Pixies' footsteps.

Nirvana's Kurt Cobain said their breakthrough song Smells Like Teen Spirit, with its soft-loud dynamic was 'basically trying to rip off the Pixies'."

Cobain is referring to one song -- and the way he sang it. But keep in mind that Nirvana's guitar sound is nothing like the Pixies (no one has a guitar sound like the Pixies) and Cobain voice/lyrics in no way resemble Black Francis. The Pixies/Nirvana thing is one of those way too easy rock critic cliches that really doesn't hold up upon closer scrutiny. "Bleach" and "In Utero" sound nothing like the Pixies. I have been a huge Pixies fan since I first heard them in 1987 and I have also been a Nirvana fan since I first heard them in 1991 -- I just don't see the comparison standing up beyond that one song.

Presence- Led Zeppelin

Anything by Mark Knopfler

Presence- Led Zeppelin

Anything by Mark Knopfler

Critics choice wrote:

Way overrated:

Love - Forever Changes

Television - Marquee Moon

Beach Boys - Pet Sounds

Big Star - #1 Record

Everthing by Husker Du and Gram Parsons

I could not disagree more. Love, TV, BB, and GP are all fantastic. I would own it up to not being your taste.

My entry: Sex Pistols. Everyone talks about them, but I think what made them big was their extremely caustic irreverence, not their songwriting.