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I'm interested in albums that are very good if not great, but yet get no respect. One reason is that their predecessors may have been so groundbreaking.
Here are some suggestions:
Santana Inner Secrets--on the verge of the 80's sound, which wasn't great for Santana, but still with good grooves and solos. One of the best versions of It's All Right out there. Even very enjoyable disco. The last of the great lineups from the 70's--after this it was a long slide til the '00's.
Weather Report Mr. Gone--after Heavy Weather anything would probably be a letdown to critics, but no way to explain the very negative reaction. Some seriously GREAT tunes, such as River People, with seriously great grooves. It marked a move away from electric chamber jazz toward a more ambient/world music approach, which ticked some people off.
The Rolling Stones--Goat's Head Soup. If you think that's Mick on the cover, you are probably already hating the album. It didn't mark the start of the Stones' slide into decadence, but it was pretty much the apotheosis of it, which actually made for some good music. Keef seems to have discovered the way-wah pedal, which made their sound quite interesting.
Elvis Costello--Almost Blue. The country album. Not the best song selection, IMO, but still pretty good. Great punk, Poguesish version of "Why Don't You Love Me Like You Used to Do". Very short in length--I think if he had done the song "Almost Blue" on this record and one or 2 others it might have fleshed it out more. It does show how influenced Elvis was by country and rockabilly, which he would explore even more in the future.
A couple of other contenders:
Herbie Hancock--Thrust
Miles Davis--Live Evil
John McLaughlin--Electric Dreams
Lou Reed--Coney Island Baby
Bruce Springsteen--Tunnel of Love
Bob Dylan--Desire (though I HATE the song Joey)
Any others out there I missed?
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01-14-2017 01:13 PM
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I think that I have, or had, everything that you listed except for the Herbie Hancock. If you haven't seen the documentary of how Elvis Costello and the Attractions made Almost Blue you might want to check it out. It should be on YouTube. You can also check out Gram Parsons original version of "How Much I Lied." Really beautiful song IMHO and greatly covered by Elvis and the Attractions.
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Funny you should mention 'Thrust'. I have been checking it out the last couple of days and it sounds just as good as Headhunters, I'm probably going to get it.
Hank Mobley's Blue Note records all sound great to me, but he seems to get overlooked a bit in favour of other 'bigger' names.
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It's not jazz, but Rory Gallagher's "Calling Card" was a great album.
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Boxcar Willie's "Last Train to Heaven" album is totally underrated.
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I've been listening to some of those records Chet Baker made in the mid-60s e.g. 'Boppin' with the CB quintet' etc (I think there were 5 records with similar titles). Chet is on pretty good form on flugelhorn and also has Kirk Lightsey and George Coleman pulling no punches. Good stuff with lots of original tunes and up-tempo numbers.
The sad fact though is that Chet knocked these out for a quick hit of drug cash and made no further income from them. The whole thing was set up by a dubious guy called Richard Carpenter who assigned all rights to himself and took the composer credits for the tunes (which I believe were written by the arranger Jimmy Mundy).
Exactly what Carpenter did with the tune 'Walkin' as made famous by Miles, it was really written by Jimmy Mundy according to various people.
Anyway here's one of the Chet Baker tracks:
Last edited by grahambop; 01-15-2017 at 06:43 AM.
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Not a well known name even among many who call themselves country music fans but I've heard that Boxcar Willie could hold an audience in the palm of his hand like no other.
Originally Posted by cosmic gumbo
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Stan Ridgway's things. He has got more underrated "hits" than most.
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Maybe we are getting into different categories. I suppose an "underrated" album should be well-known enough to have an undeserved reputation. Some stuff is just underappreciated: if people knew about it, they would like it, but they don't for whatever reason.
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Yeah, I appreciate all the suggestions, but what I had in mind was more along the lines of the Chet Baker post above--a famous artist whose less-well known albums are underrated compared to their more famous stuff. Originally Posted by Binyomin
If there isn't a thread on albums that are unknown but shouldn't be, someone should start one. Boxcar Willie would fit right in.
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I would say all the Red Garland trios albums are underrated. Garland itself is way underrated, some have criticized his refusal to change his approach but come on...he was playing with the "evolving" horn player par excellence. He is one of those players that don't revolutionize but synthetise a style. His vocabulary is so tasty and classy...love it.
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you say undercurrent??? hah
cheers
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Lee Morgan's The Sidewinder. The title song became a big hit. Everyone was surprised and almost embarrassed that it did.
There was a later semi-satirical piece patterned on it called "Everything I Play is Funky", put out on Blue Note.
But the song "Sidewinder" is OK to listen to, and the other cuts on the album are very good.
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Lightsey is underrated in general...or just not well known. Great player. Originally Posted by grahambop
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I think you'll see The Sidewinder often referred to as a great classic essential album, though. Maybe The Rumproller is the underrated one. It actually was an unsuccessful attempt to get another Sidewinder-style crossover hit--but that doesn't mean it wasn't good. Originally Posted by goldenwave77
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Kirk Lightsey: Another jazz cat from the Motor City.
People know MoTown Records, but so, so many great musicians came out of Detroit.
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I put Lee Morgan in the same category as Kenny Burrell: When they are on, they are out of this world.
And they never seem to play badly...can't find a bad record by either one. Just very, very consistent...true pros.
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Yes Kirk is great. He plays the flute as well as piano. I was lucky to see him twice with Dexter Gordon, also with the 'Leaders' (Chico Freeman and Arthur Blythe). Originally Posted by goldenwave77
When he played at Peter Ind's Tenor Clef club, we stood at the bar with him while he told us stories of life on the road with Dexter, it was great! He did a brilliant impersonation of Dexter.
I think Kirk must hang out in Europe a lot, he often plays in the U.K. Once a friend of mine saw him playing for free in a bar on Brighton Pier of all places! I think Kirk said he had friends in the town who he was staying with.Last edited by grahambop; 01-16-2017 at 04:12 PM.
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Well if we're getting into that category of underrated, did any of Howard Roberts' muzak supremo albums get any respect? If not, I'll vote for a bunch of them. Originally Posted by gcb
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One Santana album I really enjoy, and at points love, is Blues for Salvador, released in 1987. The title track is a haunting duet with Carlos and keyboardist Chester Thompson, and there are other great tracks on it too ... and it fits the bill for your thread nicely. Originally Posted by Doctor Jeff
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That's a good album. Last year I listened to all of Santana's albums in order. Except for a couple in the 80's and his overly poppy collaborations in the 90's, he has had some great stuff, with varying commercial success. Originally Posted by Thumpalumpacus
I thought of coming up with a formula for rating a Santana song: in Spanish, +1. Female or rap singer, -1. Heavy AfroCuban percussion, +1. 80's bionic drums, -1. Greg Walker lead vox, +1. Alex Ligterwood, -1. +1 for Tom Coster on keys. And so on.
I wasn't too impressed with his album Guitar Heaven surprisingly. Kind of pro forma solos. And worst version of Riders on the Storm ever.
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No, I'm sure Joe P. probably loved his grandchildren, and they loved him back. They wouldn't draw this picture of this balloon-head figure who kinda, sorta looks like Grandpa Joe.
Maybe the grandchild of the record company bigwig had a bad dream about this album, and this was the result.
(KInd of reminds me of the last bad, installment in the Star Wars saga....they had a young villain who HAD to be related to one of the studio heads....the character was laughable...like an apprentice Darth Vader who had self-confidence issues. I understand "suspension of disbelief" in drama, but this was ridiculous. Another sequel that would have been better left unmade.)
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Originally Posted by Doctor Jeff
You forgot "Cheesy DX-7 string pads, -1 per track".
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That goes without saying, maybe -2... Originally Posted by Thumpalumpacus
You forgot "Cheesy DX-7 string pads, -1 per track".
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Barry Galbraith: Guitar and the Wind
Gerry Mulligan: Concert Jazz Band
O Donel Levy: Black Velvet, Windows
Al Haig/Jimmy Raney: Strings Attached
The Mastersounds: Kismet (or was it another musical?)
Montgomery Brothers: MontgomeryLand, Groove Yard (twofer)
Also, you never said it HAD to be 'jazz', so:
Stevie Wonder: Music of my Mind, Talking Book, Secret Life of Plants, Innervisions, Fulfillingness's First Finale---etc.
Johnny Cash: Anything
Patsy Cline: Anything
Natalie Cole: Ask a Woman Who Knows--or anything
Carmen MacCrae: Portrait of Carmen---many many others
Sinatra Sings For Only the Lonely
Nat Cole: Can't remember. has Midnight in the title (tunes are: paper moon, Sweet Lorraine, etc.
OK, that's fer openers...
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Grant Green, What is This Thing
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