News: As Cities Burn post new song... Terror announce tour dates for... For The Fallen Dreams post ... Features: Web Exclusive: A conversation... THE LIST ON AP: 8 Movies You...

"Dissappointing" Albums

Posted by Rob Ortenzi on 26-Aug-08 @ 01:05 PM

Selected by Ed Masley. In a perfect world, a great band drops a classic album and the payoff is immediate. It rocks the charts. The critics love it. Fans are shouting from the rooftops, texting wildly in the streets. But sometimes people have a hard time warming up to greatness. Every album on this list was seen as somehow disappointing in its day. That's just how wrong we sometimes are.

The Ramones End Of The Century (Sire,1980) The Ramones and producer Phil Spector were practically begging for a backlash, kicking off things with a horn-driven tribute to Rock ’n’ Roll Radio that throws its lot in with the oldies. But what really messed with people’s heads was the string-laden cover of “Baby, I Love You,” when, in truth, that cheeseball early ’60s orchestration was a perfect fit for Joey’s vocal treatment. And the other big production number, “Danny Says,” is even better.

Elvis Costello Almost Blue (Columbia,1981) Elvis Costello seemed infallible in 1980 after following Armed Forces with his strongest effort yet, Get Happy. He’d started 1981 in style with Trust, a fifth straight triumph. Then, came Almost Blue, a straight-up country album cut in Nashville, Tennessee, with producer Billy Sherrill completing the mood. He’d never had a poorer showing on the U.S. album charts, but his affinity for the material produces undeniable, aching performances of several stone-cold country classics.

X More Fun In The New World (Elektra,1983) Some longtime fans were sorely disappointed by the slicker, more commercial sound the band were chasing on More Fun In The New World, but critics didn’t seem to mind. When you factor in what else was going on in 1983-or even now-it’s hard to write off this album as polished; not with highlights as impassioned as “The New World,” with its pointed jabs at Reaganomics, or their trash-rocking swagger through Jerry Lee Lewis’ “Breathless.”

R.E.M. Fables Of The Reconstruction (I.R.S.,1985) Bill Berry thought this album sucked. So did many fans. But looking back on Fables Of The Reconstruction now, it’s hard to say what could have caused that level of rejection. Sure, R.E.M. had ditched Don Dixon and Mitch Easter, the production team behind the first two albums, to record in England. Sure, the new producer added horns to “Can’t Get There From Here.” But it’s a seamless evolution. Plus, the horns sound great.

Green Day Insomniac (Reprise,1985) If any band were riding for a fall in 1995, they were Green Day. All that hype surrounding Dookie as the biggest-selling album in the history of punk was bound to cause a backlash, and the band responded quickly with a darker, more aggressive effort-a preemptive strike that didn’t even try to match the numbers Dookie sold. But Green Day’s never made a stronger, more consistent case for the infectious side of punk.

Wilco A.M. (Sire/Reprise,1995) In the race to see which guy from Uncle Tupelo would be the next Americana Idol, A.M. choked on Son Volt’s dust. Wilco didn’t help this album’s standing any when it followed up with Being There, the first of several big artistic statements the band would release. But there’s something to be said for simpler pleasures, too, and A.M.’s got that scrappy post-Replacements country thing down to a science, especially “Passenger Side,” an oddly touching DUI lament.

Pavement Wowee Zowee (Matador,1995) The mainstream rock press heard schizophrenic mess, and Wowee Zowee wasn’t as big with the kids as the previous year’s Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain. But the album’s more experimental edge was, for many, a welcome retreat from the poppier ground of Crooked Rain. That’s not to say Pavement turned their backs on pop. The hooks are just more likely to be offset by outbursts of noisy guitar and shouting-maybe less so on the ballads.

Weezer Pinkerton (DGC,1996) A huge commercial disappointment, Pinkerton was voted one of 1996’s three worst albums by Rolling Stone readers. By the time the band returned to active duty four years later, though, a cult had formed around a record many people now consider Weezer’s finest hour. It’s a darker, more abrasive effort than the Blue Album, with a concept loosely based on Madame Butterfly (which somehow doesn’t stop the songs from feeling like there’s more at stake).

The Mr. T Experience Alcatraz (Lookout!,1999) Dr. Frank was hoping this would freak people out: That’s exactly what it did, moving on from the pop-punk perfection of recent releases to expand the boundaries of the Mr. T Experience with horns, baroque piano, walls of harmonies and other more sophisticated touches. But it’s also blessed with any number of his more infectious rockers, including a spirited swipe at snooty music writers that may be his cleverest lyrics.

Ben Folds Five The Unauthorized Biography Of Reinhold Messner (550 Music,1999) After two albums spent balancing smarty-pants humor with moments of heartbreaking character insight, Ben Folds took a more sophisticated turn on this, his final album with the power trio known as Ben Folds Five. Some fans wished he hadn’t. But for those who put the effort in, it paid off big-a loosely structured concept album taking stock in life’s big issues while the trio’s classic pop appeal is reinforced with strings and horns.