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

Where's StyxCollector when you need him?

 

it wasn't on the original release, and I don't think it was added until well after it had been released on Biograph.

 

Wham! I love "Wake Me Up Before You Go Go" and their other hits. No, really!

 

It was a non-album b-side, and I remember first reading in 1982 about plans to add it to the album, shortly after the album was released. But it wasn't actually added until around 1986, presumably to give them time to sell off all the old copies without it. So it wound up coming out on Biograph first.

 

Prince - Chaos and Disorder
it's a fine little rock/funk/pop album

 

...or anti-critic, if you will...

 

John Cale Comes Alive. The updated arrangements of "Evidence" and "Dr. Mudd" wipe the floor with the Sabotage versions (which I also enjoy, but only when I'm feeling particularly masochistic).

Carribean Sunset is also better than its reputation would suggest.

--Paul Curtis

 

One of the first bands that come to mind...Phish. They have never really been critics darlings although I've noticed a shift in the tide over the last few years. The bigger magazines (Entertainment Weekly and Rolling Stone) finally assigned Phish reviews to someone on their staff who seems to understand the band. In 1992, Entertainment Weekly dumped "A Picture Of Nectar" into their "worst of the year" pile (kind of funny in retrospect but sad that many people were probably turned off from the idea of ever listening to Phish because of a twisted review like that). Over the last five years or so, I don't think I've read a negative Phish review. The solo projects also receive high marks, especially Trey's.

 

Paul McCartney & Wings - Speed of Sound, Back to the Egg, London Town.
Peter Frampton - I'm In You
The Who - Who Are You, By Numbers
Stevie Wonder - Secret Life of Plants
Queen - Jazz
Elton John - Blue Moves

 

Everclear- Songs From An American Movie Vol. 1 and 2.

Don't knock 'em unless you listen to them!

 

Culture Club, Waking Up With The House On Fire

 

Put me down too for the Replacements' "All Shook Down." Now that I'm a middle-age fuddy duddy, I play it far more than the Mats' certified classics ("Let It Be" through "Pleased to Meet Me").

Also, Fairport Convention's "Gladys' Leap," which like most latter-day Fairport is dismissed as a mere shadow of the band's glory days. But I like this one just as much as, if not more than, "Liege & Lief" and "Unhalfbricking".

 

Elvis Costello's "Goodbye Cruel World" - some great songwriting, over-production doesn't bother me much.

Haircut 100 - Pelican West. Maybe the critics don't hate it, but it doesn't get much respect. Fun stuff.

Duke Ellington - Ellington Indigos. Seen as a schmaltzy sellout by some, still the Ellington I most like to hear after a hard day at work. Gorgeous, lush big-band ballads.

 

Really? Most of the posts I ever see on this one rave about it, but maybe the critics of the time lambasted it. I've got a clean 6-eye mono copy that is spectacular sounding.

John K.

 

Agree with the following:

Prince- Emancipation
I will also add the Gold Experience. I really don't understand why it's slammed so much. It's one of the very few Prince albums where all the songs are great, IMO, and maybe the only one for which I never touch the skip button while listening.

Yes- Tales from Topographic Oceans
Frankly, I could live without most of the material on the middle two tracks (their attempt at tribal rhythmic percussion is embarrassing), but the the first and last pieces are gorgeous.

And while we're on prog excess:

ELP- Tarkus, Brain Salad Surgery
I don't care what anyone says- Emerson's ridiculous keyboard histrionics are a blast.

Dream Theater- Train of Thought
It gets slammed for having a lot of solos or whatever, but the songs themselves are actually quite good and I don't understand why everyone claims they're not there.

 

Fleetwood Mac-Penguin

THe Mac get very litttle respect as it is. This album is judged rather harshly by fans and critics alike. I agree that Dave Walker was a poor choice to front the band. However, he only gets two songs. The rest are sung by either Christine MCVie or Bob Welch. Although a couple of Bob's tunes overstay their welcome lengthwise, the album, barring Walker's contributions, is quite strong as a whole and shows a band coming into its own. It gets the ball rolling for the excellent follow-up Mystery To Me.

 

The current Penguin Guide to Jazz gives it only 2.5 stars (out of 4) and doesn't really say anything nice about it...

 

These were the last two releases without Bob Stinson who was replaced with Slim Dunlap.
I like Don't Tell a Soul as a whole but All Shook Down had 4 great songs and the rest was just ok.

Joe L.

 

As I've posted elsewhere, "How I Spent My Summer Vacation" by Mitch Ryder is a great album which I think was either panned or just ignored when it was first released. This one just gets better & better.

 

Say You Will - Fleetwood Mac
This actually did prety well with critics and got many good marks. It did also get lots of bad comments on being too long of an album etc etc. I don't mind the length I would rather have 18 tracks and a nice variety instead of something scaled down to 12 tracks and be so disgustingly "slick". The mastering/mixing bothers me at times on this disc though, it sounds very compressed.

Joni Mitchell - Travelouge & Both Sides Now
I think it was a nice area of exploration.

 

Iron Butterfly - In a Gadda Da Vida

Do It, you Cod Psychedelic Pretenders!.

 

Elton John's 80's albums.

JEFF!

 

Journey with Steve Perry

Not the critics darlings at all but I love all their albums with Steve Perry.

 

Paul McCartney - Press (the song)

I'll also second The Replacements - All Shook Down
I love their ballads as much as their rockers and this is a collection with some of their best.

Oh...also like Kokomo