Critics be damned!!! I love the album anyway...*

U2 : Pop - a sonic and conceptual masterpiece
R.E.M: Monster - ditto
The Monkees - entire discography (most critics pretend they're familiar with the material, but they really aren't).

Among Monkees' stuff I think Changes and Justus are damn fine records.

 

I get crazed looks for saying it's my fav album of theirs. But the only one you like? That's a new level of confoundment.

Touche, sir/ma'am.

 

I'm as big a Swarb/FC fan as can be, but this album is the bottom of the list for me. I think mainly because I strongly dislike concept albums (excepting Pink Floyd).

 

Hard to live up to the debut, but Rolling My Stone is a nice summer jam.

 

Correct.

Although for my pesos the Some Enchanted Evening's version of Astronomy is the legit one.

 

Are there no mono mixes for this gem? How could the album before and after have some, but not this?

The title track is blistering.

 

I often enjoy concept albums so no points lost from me there.

 

Black Sabbath - Born Again. Some of my favorite Iommi riffs are on this record!

Black Sabbath: Revisiting Born Again – Green and Black Music

 

Windows And Walls is a lovely album from start to finish. Along with the songs you've mentioned, Sweet Magnolia & Believe In Me are two of Dan's best ballads, while the remaining three songs, Let Her Go, The Loving Cup & Gone Too Far, the latter a precursor of his later environmentally themed records, are also highly listenable.

Dan's work is amazingly consistent & W&W is right up there.

 

Personally, I love the whole album; I'm a huge fan of Dan's entire catalogue. Sweet Magnolia (And The Travelling Salesman) is another favorite from "Windows And Walls".

 

You are correct!

 

Jim Steinman's 'Bad For Good'. Heard it as a kid in about '85 along with 'Bat Out Of Hell'. Still play it now.

 

Trans is a great album IMO

 

Not sure how that one fits the "critically lambasted" concept - it got generally good reviews:

No Line On The Horizon by U2

 

That record is great

 

Dan is my favourite singer-songwriter. He covers all the bases I like: rock, folk, country, blues, classical & pop. And he does it all effortlessly. What a man!

Hard to pick a favourite album. Too many great ones to choose.

 

lulu-lou reed and metallica
greendale-neil young and crazy horse

are two that stand out.

 

The Stooges, The Stooges - Fun House, Iggy and the Stooges' Raw Power, The Dictators Go Girl Crazy!, P.F. Sloan's first two albums, etc....
I don't pay much attention what rock crickets say anymore.

 

Rolling Stones - Their Satanic Majesties Request (1967) - a much maligned album at the time but with some great classic tracks that have matured over time. Unfortunate that the cover artwork just gets worse with age, in contrast to Sgt. Pepper's which just seems to get better.

Kim Carnes - Voyeur (1982) - weaker performing follow up to the platinum selling Mistaken Identity. A much stronger and more cohesive album let down by a subpar lead single (the title track) and semi-ropey cover artwork.

The Stranglers - La Folie (1981) - not quite "lambasted" but patchy reviews on release and rarely ranked amongst their best. Always personally loved it, plus it contains the flawless "Golden Brown" and its brilliant follow-up single, the (UK) Top 40-missing title track. Tony Visconti on the knobs too.

Alphaville - The Breathtaking Blue (1989) - despite the recording sessions being difficult and fraught with inter band problems, this is undoubtedly their 2nd best album after Forever Young.

MGMT - Congratulations (2010) - far superior to Oracular Spectacular, if not as radio friendly. In my Top 3 of the 2010s.

 

Celtic Frost - Cold Lake

 

I thought Pinkerton had good reviews although not as well received as as the first album.

 

Van Morrison - A Period of Transition
Bob Dylan - Knocked Out Loaded

Both albums to me simply have this great knock em dead feel where I'd rather there weren't any attempts at great songwriting because the feel of these minor tracks is so dead on that I don't want any genius stuff.

 

Yes- Tales From Topographic Oceans
Queen - II, Hot Space and The Miracle

 

Great choices........although I like the way Dylan stuck Brownsville Girl on there in case there were any old-style fans with a hankering for some of that genius songwriting stuff.

 

OK, this is a companion thread to "Critically lauded albums you dislike". An antidote, if you will.

Rules:
- This is not about the artist, this is about particular albums. So for example, Pink Floyd's The Final Cut comes in for a lot of criticism even from Floyd fans. If you love The Final Cut and rank it highly in Pink Floyd's work, that would be a candidate for the list. If you love it simply because it's Floyd and you love everything they did, that's not really grounds for inclusion.

I think one rule is enough.


------------------------------------

My first candidate: The Clash - Sandinista!

Look, this album is what it is. Thirty-six tracks, and several of them just plain suck. However I think it also has some of the Clash's best and most interesting material, showing them as more than just another punk band - in fact some of this album barely fits into the punk category.

"Magnificent Seven" is rap, and I don't like rap as a rule but I enjoy this.
"Something About England", "Somebody got Murdered", "The Call Up", "Charlie Don't Surf", these are class songs. And there is a waltz, for heaven's sake.

I don't expect to listen to this album the way I would listen to Close to the Edge or The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway, from start to finish, lying back and taking it all in. This is an album for dipping into. It works well on shuffle - skip Mensforth Hill, maybe skip a couple of others. It's not a masterpiece from start to finish, it's just a bunch of songs, some of which work brilliantly and a few that don't, it's not meant to be a prog epic. And the Clash get credit for once again giving the finger to their record label, releasig a triple album that the company thought was going to be a double, and was priced accordingly.

Your unfairly maligned albums?