Big Letdowns: Controversial, Disappointing, or Awful Follow-Ups to Great or Popular Albums

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by noyoucmon, May 13, 2014.

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  1. czeskleba

    czeskleba Senior Member

    Location:
    Seattle
    I'm surprised you find fault with the production and mixing on the Mats' PTMM... it's the best-sounding album in their catalog in my opinion, and certainly better sonically than Tim, which is arguably the worst-sounding album.

    But anyway, the topic of this thread is BIG Letdowns, not "albums that are pretty good but not as good as the album that came before." I don't think any of the above would qualify as "disappointing or awful." Many would dispute the opinion that they are even "not as good" (I know I would, in the case of the Mats and the Beatles and Elvis Costello anyway). Not to tee off on you alone, as several other people are stretching the criteria on this thread too (I mean c'mon, it's silly to suggest Imagine or Tommy are bad albums, even if you don't like them as much as JL/POB and Sell Out).
     
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  2. timind

    timind phorum rezident

    Or maybe it was a reduction of the ganja intake. :winkgrin:
     
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  3. InStepWithTheStars

    InStepWithTheStars It's a miracle, let it alter you

    Location:
    North Carolina
    I'm surprised people find faults in Tim and think that Pleased To Meet Me sounds great. I think that Tim sounds as raw and emotional as Let It Be. The sound of Pleased To Meet Me feels like it's full of holes. I think what it is was either too much or not enough reverb. The snare drum sounds really loud and poppy on songs like "I.O.U." and the rest of the drums aren't loud enough. It sounds dead. Songs like "Skyway" and "Nightclub Jitters" sound fine. What exactly is the problem with Tim? I think it's the best-mixed of their middle period.

    As for the others, well, I just wanted to contribute in some way. To be honest there aren't any real big letdowns in my music collection, or at least that I've heard. I don't own an album I don't like (except maybe Out Of Time, but I haven't given it enough listens). People were listing Tommy and other albums and stating that they were still good... forgive me for being misled.
     
  4. mknappe

    mknappe Well-Known Member

    Location:
    Sunnyvale, CA, USA
    Loved it when it came out, it still sounds great without the usual 80's carbon dating. Great guitar tones.

    I like Lexicon and Zillionaire a lot too, each it's own thing.
     
  5. noyoucmon

    noyoucmon Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Chicago
    Oh my god, it did?!?! I thought sure that was an '88 or '89 tune. Well, "Black Hole Sun" comes in at #2 for the '90s, then!
     
  6. noyoucmon

    noyoucmon Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Chicago
    To me those don't even count as songs.
     
  7. noyoucmon

    noyoucmon Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Chicago
    Oh, absolutely. Talk about a STEEP falloff. #kickedinthetaco
     
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  8. theshape

    theshape Forum Resident

    Location:
    Saint Joseph, MO
    While I still enjoy many of the songs from Cult of Ray, it just left me feeling like there was an album or two missing between it and Teenager of the Year.
     
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  9. dino77

    dino77 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Europe
    Teenager Of The Year is a stunner, amazingly creative. Ray has a few good tunes but feels like a compromise, like he tried to tune out the angular stuff in hope of commercial success.
     
  10. Jrr

    Jrr Forum Resident

    Funny you mention that. I loved their first album! And then I don't know what happened, maybe I let the reviews influence me too much, but I didn't even bother with the next one. Was it really bad?
     
  11. Jrr

    Jrr Forum Resident

    How about Elton John's Rock of the Westies following Captain Fantastic? I liked it, but it was no Captain! Sorry if someone already mentioned this....
     
  12. yesstiles

    yesstiles Senior Member

    I think the entire "Pendulum" album is great, and even better than "Cosmo's Factory."
     
  13. JohnnyQuest

    JohnnyQuest Forum Resident

    Location:
    Paradise
  14. notesofachord

    notesofachord Riding down the river in an old canoe

    Location:
    Mojave Desert
    ??? Those are some great records, man.
     
  15. JohnnyQuest

    JohnnyQuest Forum Resident

    Location:
    Paradise
    Yes they are but I prefer their predecessors.
     
  16. Frittenköter

    Frittenköter Forum Resident

    Location:
    Germany
    I'm An Eeeeeeeeeenglish Pop Star And I'm In Youuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu!

    Speaking Of Zappa:

    after a run of amazing albums (Hot Rats, Burnt Weeny Sandwich, Weasels Ripped My Flesh) we got Chunga's Revenge, which is not bad, but has more filler and less killer.
     
  17. Frittenköter

    Frittenköter Forum Resident

    Location:
    Germany
    i love both equally.
     
  18. Siegmund

    Siegmund Vinyl Sceptic

    Location:
    Britain, Europe

    Caribou after GYBR is a better example.

    Actually, Caribou is by no means a bad album - it just comes in the wake of a great one (and was rush-recorded), so it will always be judged harshly.

    ROTW is pretty good, too; I actually prefer it to CF..., because the former is a bit ponderous in tone and lacks uptempo material.
     
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  19. Bobby Morrow

    Bobby Morrow Senior Member

    It did seem to be Good album Bad album for Elton in the mid 70s! He was doing 2 albums per year for a good half of the decade so it's lucky they were as good as they were..

    ROTW is a much better album than people remember. Hard Luck Story and Street Kids are the poorer moments for me, but it's a surprisingly listenable LP after all these years. I like a good half of Caribou, and most of those are on side one of the album.
     
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  20. Picca

    Picca Forum Resident

    Location:
    Modena, Italy
    I was pretty disappointed by Nebraska after The River. Everybody raved and raves about it, but I have at least 100 folkie albums better, in my opinion, than Nebraska..
     
  21. Jrr

    Jrr Forum Resident

    I think it plays better now, and that might be because I had different expectations then since it followed the genious Captain album. I agree that it was amazing he could keep cranking them out two per year. He sure ran out of steam after ROTW. I was one who hated Blue Moves, and because others here like it I bought a copy recently on vinyl to revisit it. I still hate it! But he came out with more quality music in the years to come, but for me it became very spotty. Few artists will ever top the sheer genious quality that began with his first album and ended, imo, with Captain or ROTW depending on your point of view. Regarding the comments on Caribou, I really like the album but I had to put some effort into enjoying it as such when I was a teen. But I grew to love the weird songs like I've Seen the Saucers, Ticking, etc. Even as a teen I understood and appreciated the great story telling with Ticking. A lot of people, me included a lot of the time, hear the music more than the lyrics and Caribou likely would disappoint if that was how you took it in. Bernie really was a genious story teller then, and it is amazing how fluent he was in writing during that time.
     
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  22. Jrr

    Jrr Forum Resident

    Agreed!
     
  23. Bobby Morrow

    Bobby Morrow Senior Member

    I wouldn't say I hate Blue Moves, but I hardly ever play it...

    In fact, I play Leather Jackets, Victim Of Love and The Diving Board far more..
     
  24. Bobby Morrow

    Bobby Morrow Senior Member

    It's years since I heard it, but from what I remember it was really long and short on good songs.

    The debut was excellent, as you say.
     
  25. songsaboutjona

    songsaboutjona New Member

    Title TK is a total classic, completely underrated.
     
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