Which album have you given the most chances but still ended up disliking?

This is probably the best song cycle review I've yet read....

Were it not for the Brian Wilson connection VDP would have been properly lost in time...

He overworked Newman's debut album--ruining the bulk of those songs until they were covered later...then he latched onto Nilsson just in time for Harry's permanent decline....which may have been 75% Harry but I'm so Van Dyke's touch magnified it...

 

Difficult subject as time is limited and there are only so many albums one can listen to. A lot of the albums listed here I've never even got round to. I can't say any of the musicians I like have made albums I dislike except for John Coltrane with Ascension and Om. Oh and the Band's Islands which I think except for one song is degrading to their status.

 

Any Rolling Stones post Brian - I just don't care for the sound after Brian
Beatles White Album - A few songs I love but overall a bunch of fluff
I've tried many times to get into the above albums, but they just don't connect with me.

 

I could've put it better myself.

 

For me...in rainbows is the Radiohead revered album that leaves me cold--I still own it and I continue to try occasionally but after easily 30 plus listens (granted over what 5-6 yrs) I still am not excited by it....

Quadrophenia to me is overworked and poorly recorded (Entwistle's bass is normally a highlight on the who but on songs like the real me it's a distraction, Roger debuts the over-sing, and Pete is lost a little too much on the other end of that fine line he treads with his pretentions. It has moments of greatness but could've been better shorter and better recorded....

 

...I'll tell you this much--while Brian only released it in mono and has stated as hearing it in mono is the way to go, for me it's much more natural sounding in stereo....it really pops....

 

The King Of Limbs - I wanted to like it so badly. That might have been why it was such a disappointment. I enjoyed The Basement versions more but I just cannot like this album.

 

Van Morrison Duets.

He's my favorite vocal artist, but his time has come and gone.
I prefer to remember the good times.

 

I kind of feel bad that "Pet Sounds" seems to be the album that the most people have a hard time getting into. I realize that album is much like another personal favorite of mine, "The Genuine Imitation Life Gazette", by The Four Seasons, where it's extremely hard for a fan of either The Beach Boys and/or The Four Seasons, most likely asking "what the hell is going on here?". Neither album is usual fare from these bands and you have to want to appreciate the direction that each album took or all bets are off. Since I was only 6 years old when "Pet Sounds" was first released, I naturally missed that album as a whole, but I heard all of the singles through the years. Eventually I sat down with the album as a whole and I certainly didn't fall right in love with it, as there are some serious oddities with the music and lyrics of this album. Now that I'm older and understand better, I realize that "Pet Sounds" is part Beach Boys sunshine and part Brian in deep depression. To allow those two things to work together, during a casual playback of the album, almost requires that you as a person have felt sunshine and then immediate disappointment, in your own life. Much like when you were young and you had this beautiful girlfriend and everything was great and then she suddenly dumped you for the quarterback of the football team. That's the feeling I get when I listen to "Pet Sounds" and I HAVE to be in the mood for all of that or otherwise, that album can disappoint me, as well.

Another reason that I fear many dislike "Pet Sounds" is the way that it sounds. When I think about the Beach Boys, I really don't think of songs with bicycle bells and toy horns, so when the end of "You Still Believe In Me" comes on (and it's only the second song on the album), you start to scratch your head, thinking "what crazy sh#$ is this?" I still have a hard time getting over that small hump, but in the end, Brian almost tries to be a little too clever on this album. Some call it "Genius", but I call it "inspired inspiration" that later got a bit out of control, in my opinion. But we can all talk about "SmiLe" at another time ...

 

I felt the same way about The Wall until I heard it on vinyl. Listening to it on vinyl compared to CD adds so much to the listening experience and makes the whole album enjoyable, rather than a few select tracks.

 

Sorry...Fillmore East

 

Disliking Pet Sounds has earned me the highest number of likes per posts ratio ever, so I think I'll mention once again how much I don't get this LP. I have it on record, DVD-A, HDCD, Japanese mono SHM-CD and STILL don't get it.....

 

I feel bad for those that "don't get" Pet Sounds

 

David Sylvian post-Japan.

 

Blue Cheer's Vincebus Eruptum. I actually liked it at first, and listened to it a lot, but then grew to dislike it (except for "Summertime Blues"). I ended up seeing much of it as tasteless noise, especially the assault of machine gun guitar freakout at the end of "Second Time Around." Highly influential, though, on heavy metal.

 

I LOVE this album! For me it's like a kindergarten field recording of Captain Beefheart's Trout Mask Replica (which I also love, although I have to be in the mood for it).

 

Aha, that's the one with Wayne Shorter's last gig, recorded a little too hot. Not a fave of mine either.

 

For me, too personal, and pretentious. I played it twice and traded it off. It may resonate heavily with people who have been through messy divorces. I haven't, so it didn't click with me. I love What's Goin' On and Let's Get It On.

 

I've never felt unhappy about that . I also don't think there's anything to 'get'; either you like that kind of pretty music or you don't.

 

It's just that Pet Sounds has probably been purchased dutifully, out of a sense of obligation to maintain a well-rounded collection, by more rock fans than any other album. It's a unique album... nothing else quite like it, and very un-rock-like for the most part. It's no surprise that a lot of people will try and try with the album and not connect with what they hear.

 

The instrument is an electric jug. I think the guy invented it.

 

I LOVE Deep Purple and have all their albums and every odd track I can get my hands on but 'Abandon' leaves me cold.
When it came out I had just quit my job by telling my boss where to stick it and received 'Abandon' as a goodbye-gift from the people I had worked with.
The cover shows a guy jumping into the great big open from a skyscraper and that was just what I did as I had no other job on hand.
I had simply abandoned the whole thing so even the album title was apt.
Therefore this album means a lot to me and I would really love to like it.
But despite I have tried and tried and tried I still cannot get into it.
I find the album so forgettable that I have forgotten it even before it is over.
Luckily there is a re-make of 'Bloodsucker' at the end that wakes me up so I can take it off the CD player.
I guess I have given up on it by now...

P.S.
This is written from work so apparently life went on....

 

If that's the case, make sure to never listen to "Here, My Dear".

 

I played The Wall once. It was worth hearing once, but I just couldn't see sitting through it a second time, so I traded it off. However, I've seen and enjoyed the movie more than once. It makes more sense to me with the visual element.

 

I have had both the vinyl and CD and listened to both several times. Neither worked for me.