Albums that were panned by critics or spurned by fanbases... yet given the chance, these albums offer as much if not more to appreciate as their more traditionally praised counterparts.
Three of my favorite examples:
Radiohead - Amnesiac
This first one I can understand why someone wouldn't like it. Especially coming off of Ok Computer and Kid A, Amnesiac is clunky, blunt, and abrasive. I saw an interview with Thom Yorke where he said it just sounds like someone shaking their car keys which isn't terribly far off.
Yet I think this is my favorite Radiohead album behind only OK Computer. The sound is so incredibly distinctive and mysterious in a non-traditional way. It contains maybe their best song ever in Pyramid Song, but beyond that the clashing, jangling production effects throughout this create a shocking atmosphere that I have never heard duplicated.
What's more - the b-sides for Amnesiac are absolutely god tier. Thom Yorke is maybe my favorite musician, but if I have one criticism for him it's that he sucks at arranging a track list. Amnesiac era tracks have all the material to be Radiohead's best album (and consequently my favorite album of all time) if only songs like Hunting Bears and Morning Bell had been removed in favor of songs like Amazing Sounds of Orgy, Cuttooth, and Transatlantic Drawl.
Tool - 10,000 Days
When this album released many saw it as inferior to Lateralus and Ænima... and I just don't get it. Those albums are both really good but 10k is greatness. This is easily the peak for Tool in terms of tone - guitar, vocals, percussion, everything. Not to mention it has Tool's best song ever - Wings for Marie 1 & 2.
The only problem I have with this album is that it lacks a good closer. I like ambient music - Viginti Tres isn't very good. They needed a good closer heavy on the atmosphere to put the cap on this one.
Coldplay - Mylo Xyloto
This album came right after Viva la Vida, which is probably the high point for Coldplay in terms of achieving both chart success in combination with critical recognition. The follow up had fairly high expectations as Coldplay was proving their interest in stretching their artistic capabilities, but Mylo Xyloto was not what people had in mind. If anything this album doubles down on the pop. It is colorful, glittering, and has this pseudo-world influence where it sounds like they have aspirations of uniting the planet - with a result that is completely artificial.
That sounds damning, and I guess in a way it is, but it resulted in a sound that I genuinely love (probably not in the way they intended). The combined vibrancy and fakeness of it in a strange way reminds me of modern PC Music adjacent artists, but with the infused stadium production that only a band like Coldplay would be able to provide. I will grant that the lead single ("Paradise") is maybe the worst song on the album which got things off on the wrong foot for critical reception. But with very minor blunders aside, this is probably my favorite Coldplay album... along with X&Y, which I also could have easily highlighted in this group.
Curious to hear yours, Era!
Three of my favorite examples:
Radiohead - Amnesiac
This first one I can understand why someone wouldn't like it. Especially coming off of Ok Computer and Kid A, Amnesiac is clunky, blunt, and abrasive. I saw an interview with Thom Yorke where he said it just sounds like someone shaking their car keys which isn't terribly far off.
Yet I think this is my favorite Radiohead album behind only OK Computer. The sound is so incredibly distinctive and mysterious in a non-traditional way. It contains maybe their best song ever in Pyramid Song, but beyond that the clashing, jangling production effects throughout this create a shocking atmosphere that I have never heard duplicated.
What's more - the b-sides for Amnesiac are absolutely god tier. Thom Yorke is maybe my favorite musician, but if I have one criticism for him it's that he sucks at arranging a track list. Amnesiac era tracks have all the material to be Radiohead's best album (and consequently my favorite album of all time) if only songs like Hunting Bears and Morning Bell had been removed in favor of songs like Amazing Sounds of Orgy, Cuttooth, and Transatlantic Drawl.
Tool - 10,000 Days
When this album released many saw it as inferior to Lateralus and Ænima... and I just don't get it. Those albums are both really good but 10k is greatness. This is easily the peak for Tool in terms of tone - guitar, vocals, percussion, everything. Not to mention it has Tool's best song ever - Wings for Marie 1 & 2.
The only problem I have with this album is that it lacks a good closer. I like ambient music - Viginti Tres isn't very good. They needed a good closer heavy on the atmosphere to put the cap on this one.
Coldplay - Mylo Xyloto
This album came right after Viva la Vida, which is probably the high point for Coldplay in terms of achieving both chart success in combination with critical recognition. The follow up had fairly high expectations as Coldplay was proving their interest in stretching their artistic capabilities, but Mylo Xyloto was not what people had in mind. If anything this album doubles down on the pop. It is colorful, glittering, and has this pseudo-world influence where it sounds like they have aspirations of uniting the planet - with a result that is completely artificial.
That sounds damning, and I guess in a way it is, but it resulted in a sound that I genuinely love (probably not in the way they intended). The combined vibrancy and fakeness of it in a strange way reminds me of modern PC Music adjacent artists, but with the infused stadium production that only a band like Coldplay would be able to provide. I will grant that the lead single ("Paradise") is maybe the worst song on the album which got things off on the wrong foot for critical reception. But with very minor blunders aside, this is probably my favorite Coldplay album... along with X&Y, which I also could have easily highlighted in this group.
Curious to hear yours, Era!
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