Favorite Overlooked Album of the 90s

None of the above. My vote goes to the Goo Goo Dolls' "Superstar Car Wash". Pure Pop/Punk/Rock brilliance right here.

It's a shame they changed their direction a few years later but, man, what could've been!!

 

So many records I love on this list. Adore is my favorite Pumpkins record. Trompe le Monde is my favorite Pixies record. Recovering the Satellites is my favorite Counting Crows record. New Adventures is my second favorite REM record though sometimes I think it’s their best. It took a while for me to warm up to Celebrity Skin but I love it now. The slightly different sequence on the vinyl helped!

 

I'm not sure how overlooked some these are but my picks are:
R.E.M. - New Adventures In Hi-Fi
Hole - Celebrity Skin
Lemonheads - Come On Feel The Lemonheads
Counting Crows - Recovering The Satellites
And my hometown heroes:
The Afghan Whigs - Gentlemen

 

My vote is for Angel Dust, but I also want to throw out the incredible follow up King For A Day Fool For A Lifetime.

 

I went with Verve’s ANS because IME, even a lot of Verve fans don’t appreciate it.

Other 90s records that got less notice than any of these (in the US, at least):

Butterfly Child - The Honeymoon Suite (always have to mention this one - one of my favorite records from the ‘90s)
Swervedriver - Ejector Seat Reservation
Mercury Rev - BOCES
AR Kane - New Clear Child
Telescopes - S/T (aka High’r ‘n High’r)
These Immortal Souls - Never Gonna Die Again

 

I went with Hum, Failure, and Afghan Whigs.

My own additions would be all of dada's albums post-Puzzle -- American Highway Flower, El Subliminoso, and Dada.

I remember being disappointed with American Highway Flower upon first listen, but that's because I was expecting Puzzle 2.0. Going back and listening again without that expectation, it really grew on me -- not to say it doesn't have catchy songs/melodies the way Puzzle does, but it certainly wasn't as easily accessible as Puzzle. I'm guessing a lot of others felt the same way. The next two albums were equally as good to me, but the band suffered from their first label collapsing, and then the next label being sold, and it seemed like they were just forgotten about.

I saw them during their 25th anniversary tour, and they were excellent.

 

California is one of my all-time favourites. Amazing record.

One album I would say gets overlooked often is Rush's Counterparts. It's not a perfect album, but it hits some really great highs for the band, and the production is insanely crisp.

 

I voted for

Trompe Le Monde (one of my all time favourite albums)
New Adventures In Hi Fi (in my top 5 R.E.M albums)
Last Splash
Angel Dust
Adore

Here's some other 1990's albums which I feel are slightly overlooked

David Bowie - Outside
Pavement - Brighten The Corners
Sonic Youth - Washing Machine
The Jesus and Mary Chain - Honey's Dead
Sugar - Beaster

 

I like Washing Machine more and more every year

 

I reckon it be my 2nd favourite SY album after Daydream Nation, the guitar tones on it are amazing.

 

Stereo ★ Type A — Cibo Matto

 

none of the above for me as well.

My votes:

Marty Stuart - The Pilgrim.
Ian McDonald - Driver's Eyes

 

Correct! But many of these albums no longer have any cultural cachet. These are great albums that are often (usually always) left off the requisite " best of 90s" lists. In fact, the 90s retrospectives have become as boring and homogenous as the Boomer lists for the 60s and 70s, hence the need to recognize these forgotten gems. Come on, Gen X , we are better than this. And recognize Hum. Hum f&%$ing rules.

 

I'd go with this one...

 

Wesley Willis - Mr. Magoo goes To Jail Vol. 3

 

I voted Hole, and would add:
Sugar - File Under Easy Listening
Sugar - Copper Blue (not quite as overlooked)
Big Wreck - In Loving Memory of...
Gloritone - Cup Runneth Over
Built To Spill - Keep It Like a Secret

 

Emm Gryner's Science Fair. She had some success in 1998 with her breakout album Public, but as fantastic as that album is, I always thought 1999's Science Fair was equally as good, if not better. Give it a listen - if you like talented female songwriters, she's one of the best.

By the way, Portishead's Dummy wasn't overlooked. It's sold 3.8 million copies and is in every major music publication's top albums of the 90s lists. And Tiny Music? Really? Three #1 singles and it was overlooked? I hear them on the radio all the time.

First song on the album:


Full album:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_lpPIthlahoucVPTEyPxhjCKvMfiUMsicw

 

Afghan Whigs are my favorite thing here. And they continue to release good albums, as does Dulli in other projects.

Would also highlight that excellent Screaming Trees album, and the best Faith No More album IMO.

 

Agree with Built To Spill's Keep It Like A Secret and Mr. Bungle's California. A few more I'd throw out there:

Archers of Loaf - Icky Mettle
Flaming Lips - Clouds Taste Metallic
Modest Mouse - This Is A Long Drive...
Olivia Tremor Control - Dusk at Cubist Castle
Ween - Chocolate and Cheese

 

Mark Hollis - Self-titled 1998. Overlooked by other than dedicated Talk Talk fans I think...

 

Jellyfish's Spilt Milk is always my answer.

 

Good to see another Adore fan. I bought it on release day. It makes me laugh all these years later to think I did things like this, but I was stood outside the shop waiting for the doors to open at 9am, so I could buy it as quickly as possible, go straight home and play it, as I was a massive fan of the band. The only preview I'd had to the album was the Jools Holland TV session which I'd repeatedly played back on VHS. They played rocked up versions of Ava Adore, Once Upon A Time & Daphne Descends, so I kind of expected the album to sound more like that. I had a huge surprise when I put Adore on for the first time. I'll be honest, I wasn't that much of a fan at the time, I felt (along with some other fans no doubt) like "What's happened to my favourite band?!"

I'm sure I only played it sporadically in the few years that followed. I'd say it maybe took me a decade to appreciate it. Perhaps at the time I was unaware of the enormity of what Billy had been through since MCIS. Such as the death of his Mother, a divorce, the sacking of Jimmy & death of the touring keyboard played Jonathan. I now think it's an astonishing record, I guess I was too young & impatient to take in the new direction or something at the time.

It's only in recent months I've delved into live recordings from the Adore era. I really love the live arrangements of those songs. I'm sure I saw Billy saying that in hindsight he regrets that touring lineup, for reasons such as the timing issues of having multiple drummers / percussionists, and the fact that Mike Garson's jazz improv piano parts wouldn't be the same from one night to the next. But, the Adore songs sound great live to me. Some of those versions of Bullet With Butterfly Wings were insane.