An artist's worst album with some of their best songs

Good catch. Don't think there's anything else on that album I'd care to re-visit. The Cream cover I Feel Free features Mick Ronson, but it still sounds like Eurodance.

 

Even the official liner notes to the SACD reissue acknowledge the obvious similarity: "It's preceded by Don't Say No, which is effectively a gently shuffling return to the Moonshake groove, a dub version, if you like, with Reebop singing instead of Damo. . . " I've seen several other reviews online which have noted this as well. (https://rateyourmusic.com/release/album/can/saw_delight/reviews/1/)

 

The Band's 'Cahoots' is in my opinion their worst album, but it does contain one of their best songs 'Life is a Carnival'.

 

Good choices, and I mostly agree about Hot Space. However, I would add the awesome "Calling all girls" to the list of great songs from that album.

 

Doesn't make it any lesser of a song ..... Unless I'm just hearing something completely different, the vibe of the two tracks are pretty dissimilar. But so what? How many great songs does AC/DC have that are pretty much the same song?

 

Two words: Chuck Berry.

 

My first thought was CCR and Mardis Gras. The song Sweet Hitch Hiker is one of my favorites. Someday Never Comes is pretty good too.

 

Which reminds me... "Flesh + Blood" has "My Only Love" and "No Strange Delight".

Actually, "Flesh + Blood" is one of my few least favorite albums by an artist which I still rate quite highly.

 

Dark Horse by George Harrison has "Simply Shady" which I love

 

Exactly. It's a good record, but something has to be the "worst" album in the catalog.

 

Thankfully for me, Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits III fills in the cracks since my albums jump from Infidels to Oh Mercy.

 

The title track, "Flesh and Blood" is one of my favorite Roxy Music songs! I also like the other songs you mentioned and "Oh Yeah" and "Same Old Scene."

It has a cool cover too!

 

Slow Rivers and I Fall Apart from Elton John's Leather Jackets
Got to Begin Again from Billy Joel's Cold Spring Harbor
Brownsville Girl (already mentioned) from Bob Dylan's Knocked Out Loaded (personally I think Down in the Groove or Dylan (1973) is his worst)
A Hard Road from Black Sabbath's Never Say Die
Getting to the Point from Electric Light Orchestra's Balance of Power
Time Stand Still from Rush's Hold Your Fire
Running Wild and Same Old Scene from Roxy Music's Flesh + Blood
Tearing Us Apart and Behind the Mask from Eric Clapton's August

I'm not sure what most people consider artists' worst albums, but these are my bids.

 

I think Emotional Rescue is the worst Rolling Stones album, but I love "All About You" and finally decided to buy it for that one song. "She's So Cold" is good too (but I really hate the title track).

Pink Floyd - although I doubt anybody would agree with my pick for their worst album (The Wall), I don't think anyone will argue that More is not one of their prouder moments. However, that album does have "Cymbaline" and "Green Is The Colour", both indespensible early Floyd tracks.

 

Agreed, Keith had a handful of good, low-key album closers, e.g. Sleep Tonight from Dirty Work, Thru and Thru from Voodoo Lounge, How Can I Stop from Bridges to Babylon... Really good songs. All About You is a terrific song and to me also the best from that album.

 

To me, that's a Side A disaster with a fine Side B. I wouldn't dismiss "Cool Cat" and the Lennon tribute one either - all second side.

Randy Newman's Born Again from 1979 is generally considered his worst.

However it contains these incredible tracks:

"Its Money That I Love"
"The Girls in My Life, Part I"
"Ghosts"
"The Story of Rock and Roll Band" (taking the piss out of ELO specifically)
"They Just Got Married"

But it also has "Spies" and "Pants" on it, which if you're Randy die-hard, is still fun because it's him going off the deep end and just going "nuts" an doubling down on that synthy production vibe. So if you want to hear some CLASSIC tracks mixed in with Randy screaming over and over he's gonna take off his pants and NO ONE CAN STOP HIM... this album is for you!

Here's a recent article on the album that explains the confusion, and the genius...

http://ultimateclassicrock.com/randy-newman-born-again/

What it doesn't mention is that the lead single, "It's Money That I Love" could not be played on radio due to lyrical content (cocaine, 16 year old girls, Jesus, etc. - all great words to include in a single that follows "Short People"'s record IMO). The single mix has not seen the light of day since original flop - it's the worst lyrical rewrite in history and the single version is never used - not on comps - nothing. It was almost self-sabotage that he had to rewrite the whole damn thing into a G-Rated, hence pointless song.

Jeff

 

I avoided Emotional Rescue for the same reason - and it's not like you can start the record on Track 2 and go forward like I can with Some Girls when I want to skip "Miss You" and then get into a REALLY GREAT ALBUM.

I did go for the SHM of this album to be a completest - and I forgot how much I loved the first cut off it ("Dance Pt.1"). And then the rest of the album is decent to good! But I agree about the title track. Yeesh. But it got played on the radio - smart guys those Stones so it moved some records...

Jeff

 

It's looking like I might be the only one who thinks Emotional Rescue is under rated. I like it quite a bit, and I've always loved the title track. It was probably the first song from them that made me aware of the band. I was probably 8 years old when it came out.

 

A controversial opinion I'm sure since The Game is Queen's biggest selling album, but I think it's also their worst. "Save Me" from this album is one of their finest though.

 

One of Elvis' lesser 60's soundtracks,"Clambake"(which had two of his worst soundtrack songs on it,
"Hey, Hey Hey" and the horrible"Confidence") had the great "Guitar Man" as a lead off "bonus" track.
When I bought and first heard it, that showed me that Elvis had decided to go off in a new direction, which
eventually led to his classic "From Elvis In Memphis" album.

 

The Ecstatic Static

 

"On the Turning Away" is a great song, but I think the highlight of A Momentary Lapse of Reason would have to be "Learning to Fly."

This appears to be the consensus according to RateYourMusic, their lowest-rated album if we don't include The Endless River.

I personally consider "Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast" the worst song on Atom Heart Mother, however, it is a great album regardless.

 

While Dark Horse is far from one of my favourite Harrison albums, it does have a handful of songs I really enjoy ("Simply Shady," "Dark Horse," "Ding Dong, Ding Dong," "Far East Man," "So Sad")

On the topic of Harrison, the album which is generally considered his worst (unfairly, in my opinion), Gone Troppo has a few very notable songs that are hardly among his worst: "That's the Way It Goes," "Mystical One" and "Dream Away."

Somewhere in England and Extra Texture seem to fit more into the niche of bottom-of-the-barrel albums with one or two arguably great songs: "All Those Years Ago" and "You" respectfully, while you could also make strong cases for "Life Itself," "This Guitar" and "The Answer's at the End."

 

Bob Dylan's "Every Grain of Sand" from Shot of Love, "Knockin' on Heaven's Door" from Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid.

 

"Hey Bulldog" on Yellow Submarine