Favorite Overlooked Album of the 90s

Here are some of my faves.

To define "overlooked," I just went with albums that have fewer than 1,000 ratings on RateYourMusic (current number of votes listed next to titles).

Aimee Mann, Whatever (845)
Bryan Ferry, Mamouna (490)
Chamberlain, Fate's Got a Driver (203)
Chapterhouse, Blood Music (441)
Christie Front Drive, s/t (850)
Curve, Cuckoo (675)
Far, Water & Solutions (568)
Handsome, s/t (331)
Iris DeMent, Infamous Angel (596)
James McMurtry, Where'd You Hide the Body (123)
Jawbox, s/t (438)
Julee Cruise, The Voice of Love (961)
Lucinda Williams, Sweet Old World (671)
Michael Penn, Resigned (95)
Old 97's, Too Far to Care (630)
Paul Westerberg, 14 Songs (560)
Rainer Maria, Look Now Look Again (831)
Rosanne Cash, The Wheel (100)
Silkworm, Firewater (474)
Steve Earle, Train a Comin' (628)
Superchunk, Foolish (851)
Tommy Keene, Isolation Party (46)

 

Revelations, by Gene

From the poll, I voted for:

Celebrity Skin
Let Me Come Over
Trompe Le Monde

... all of which had at least a couple of songs I wanted to hear again.

I know I have the Verve, Chapterhouse, Ride and Portishead. I might have the REM, Sundays and Charlatans

I liked that CD too!

 

Blind buy back in 92 John. 4ad/Oliver- art and design. It was a risk worth taking
Still a fave today

 

Yeah, I think it was a blind buy for me too. Not sure what possessed me, but it worked out!

 

Good pick. I've always been partial to Pain Makes You Beautiful.

 

The Lightning Seeds-Tilt, 1999
At least in the US.
Sony decided it wasn't worth releasing here. Payed a premium importing it, ugh

 

Introduced by an exchange student I was dating.
The Mock Turtles-Two Sides, 1991
Brush of A Butterfly's Wing

 

Afghan Whigs-Black Love

 

There’s some serious gold in here. Fate’s Got a Driver, Jawbox’s s/t, and Look Now Look Again are great. I just played Look Now the other day when it snowed. That’s a perennial winter record for me. I’m guessing the Christie Front Drive s/t is their last record? Not the first s/t? I just spun them today

 

Voted for Angel Dust, that is simply an amazing album. Breeders Last Splash was a close second

 

Symphony or Damn TTD
Vibrator TTD
Jesus Wept PM Dawn
3 Snakes and One Charm Black Crowes
One Hot Minute RHCP
Revenge Kiss
Crystal Ball O(+>
Heliocentric Paul Weller
Number Two Express Christian McBride
Static and Silence The Sundays
River of Dreams Billy Joel
Live Erykah Badu
To Venus and Back Tori Amos
Bing Bing Bing Charlie Hunter Trio
David Ryan Harris
Super 8
Fever In Fever Out Lucious Jackson
Red Hot and Rio

(FYI-90s doesn't only mean Alt-Rock)

 

I think this one was really unappreciated/overlooked:

 

Velvet Crush - Teenage Symphonies to God. I have returned to this album more frequently than any other album from the 90s. Absolutely timeless pop rock. From the style of the artwork to the title reference to the back photos to the Gene Clark cover, it could be said that it’s overwhelmingly ‘retro’ but Mitch Easter’s production is lively and fresh, the songs are great and the guitar solos absolutely rip. It’s probably not ‘the best album of the 90s’ or something, but it is certainly my favorite, and it’s dear to my heart.

 

Dust by the screaming trees

 

SURPRISED NO ONE HAS MENTIONED THIS ONE YET

 

Think we should do favourite overlooked albums if the 60s next. Will it be Pet Sounds or Sargent Pepper's?

 

2 fantastic albums!!

 

Yep! Their last from '96. The first is really good too, of course, issued on CD with four bonus tracks under the title Anthology. I think both of Christie Front Drive's albums are great winter records too, just like Rainer Maria's Look Now Look Again. A lot of that '90s midwest emo feels pretty wintery to me.

 

@americanscientist You already posted a very similar thread some time ago. I didn't think many of the artists, many of whom appear here, are overlooked, and I don't think most of these are. Portishead - seriously? It won the Mercury Music Price in 1995.

Perhaps the these records are overlooked in your household, village or state, but it doesn't mean they were/ are overlooked elsewhere. Most of them got quite a bit of attention in the UK music press at the time.

Specifying a locality (where you think they are overlooked) would make sense.

 

100%. Clarity and the Mineral/Gloria Record stuff gets a lot of winter play for me too

 

Maybe The Stone Roses Second Coming. Its much maligned and disregarded by many. Its completely different and shows how well the lads could play. John Squire is definitely one the best guitarists around.
When they took the album on the road things improved even more with some spectacular improvised jamming. Esp on the UK leg of the 95 tour.

 

From the list, I voted for the Screaming Trees and Dust which I do feel did not quite get its dues. Kind of limped out after the party was over.

Not from the list, I’d say 2 - 3 (or more) of the Royal Trux albums from the 90s stayed moored in cultsville and deserved more attention.

Porno for Pyros’s Good God’s Urge is just a glorious, unique and trippy delight. Somehow, in all the Lollapalooza hullabaloo, it seems forgotten.

For the Afghan Whigs - 1965 is their under heralded classic IMHO, rather than the more feted Gentlemen.

Similarly, for Faith No More, I think King For A Day, Fool For A Lifetime is the dark horse - Angel Dust is revered as their pinnacle these days.

I won’t mention Kyuss’ catalogue as that seems to be pretty well regarded even if it’s overshadowed by what Josh Homme did next, but Monster Magnet’s debut Spine of God is a stoner rock classic.

 

Of the list options, my favourite by some distance is Portishead's Dummy. In my opinion, not simply one of the greatest albums of the 90s, one of the greatest of any decade. Overlooked wouldn't be the correct term for it though, at least in the UK, it had significant critical reception and was a Mercury Prize Winner. It hasn't lost that validity.

I'll nominate The Gathering's 1998 album How to Measure a Planet?, a symphonic metal masterclass with an elite vocalist in Anneke van Giersbergen. Of their five albums between 1995's Mandylion and 2003's Souvenirs, four are rated between no.41-70 for their year on RYM. The other is at no.113. Who ever talks about The Gathering though?!

 

Nymphs - Nymphs
This 1991 album seems to have faded into obscurity, undeservedly.