Not a place for Beetle lovers who loathed the arrival of Glam Rock, or Hip Hop lovers who hate Indie music. This is those bands you loved, grew up on, and suddenly either lost it completely, or decided they just wanted a number 1 álbum and turned out something unbearable (Stand up Coldplay)
I'll offer my five, mostly from my youth when I used to take my music very seriously (still do really).
1. Ultravox - UVOX. Even band member Billie Currie described this album as 'U-BEND'. I bought it new and to this day haven't managed to finish listening to it as it was such a let down.
2. Adam and the Ants - Prince Charming. featuring the naff Ant Rap, and the horrible title track, and sadly the more than half decent Stand and Deliver
3. OMD - Pacific Age They split shortly afterwards, and this one shows the lack of ideas and general weariness, which is sad given what a breath of fresh air they were when they arrived
4. Depeche Mode - Construction Time Again. Funnily enough, they went on to achieve real greatness after this non event, but I found it totally unlistenable
5. Queen - The Game. The title track should have been warning enough
Special shout out to James - Greatest Hits. 2 hits and about 14 B-sides.
Okay, over to anyone else who can do better, or who thinks I have attacked good music undeservedly.
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Comments
The Beach Boys - 15 Big Ones - Out of ideas and inspiration the group desperately try to force a mentally ill Brian Wilson back into action.
The Rolling Stones - Dirty Work - It eventually dawned on me that the group were treading water and have really just been going through the motions since 1975.
John Lennon - Some time in New York City - A true great becomes rank ordinary before our very eyes.
Lou Reed - Metal Machine Music - A deliberate anti-fan insult imo
Yes - Tales of the Topographic Ocean
R.E.M - Monster
Michael Jackson - Invincible
Oasis - Standing on the Shoulder of Giants
Toploader - Magic Hotel
Queen - The Miracle
Springsteen - Human Touch (and about 80% of everything after)
Rolling Stones - Undercover (and every single crappy thing since)
Peter Gabriel - Up (and what little he has released since)
U2 - All That You Can't Leave Behind (and every smelly turd since)
Prince - Symbol Love Album (and everything since)
Yes, Beatles for Sale is a bit of a filler album, issued by a tired band who had to release material to satisfy their record company. I imagine there must be albums by the Stones and Beach Boys from that period in a similar vein
U2 - Zooropa .Spectacularly poor..Nothwithstanding his fixation with re inventing the group from " heart on the sleeve earnest rockers " into laughable "art project "purveyors of "oh so trendy dance music " this rates as an utter "Bono at his narcissistic worst " piece of garbage .A bit like Clint Eastwood suddenly getting bored with spaghetti Westerns and deciding for reasons known only to him to become involved with a Ben Stiller / Owen Wilson type shallow formulaic comedy film .Zoolander springs to mind for obvious reasons given the album title .What were they thinking of except perhaps taxing severely a fast dwindling audience . But Tax and U2 ? Time to move on probably ....
The Eagles - The Long Run In the city and the Sad Cafe are acceptable songs but the rest of it is tired and boring and serves as a soundtrack to the demise of a great band who had had enough of each other by the time that this was thrown together That pair of control freaks Henley and Fry who were never overburdened with false modesty at the best of times still bigged it up unrepentantly and inexplicably on its release , Also , in their moments of mutual " me headed " mania somehow they allowed the other bloke with long hair , and who generally wasn't allowed to do anything apart from strum guitar a bit like a session musician on their monster hits , to get the truly horrible " I can't tell you why " onto the album . I can't tell you why either and to tell you the truth .
Hall and Oates - Along the Red ledge . So so albums and a couple of cracking singles to this point in 1978 they had run out of ideas and decided it might be a good idea to rope in George Harrison and a selection of other big names who weren't doing very much at he time to ham it up with them in the studio .Not a good idea at all. Cue a load of rubbish that they were forunate to see not being turned down by their label on grounds of being turgid and dull if not totally bereft of discernible musical quality .How they then went on from this excruciating low point to become the best selling duo of all time , MTV staples and with no 1 hit after the other ( at least in the US ) is unfathomable when this record is admitted into evidence . Should have signalled the end of their careers but the complete opposite then occurred .
Rolling Stones - Under cover . Fresh from being turned away from New Romantic " hotspots " Billy''s / The Blitz for being old , boring and , well frankly , Mick Jagger , Mick and mates then forced this out of date number onto a reluctant public . The best thing about this pile of poo is the fact that when interviewed on its release by some " nippy sweety " chippy Scottish cow of a journalist ( whose name escapes me but who should otherwise have received a clip around the ear for getting above herself and showing lack of respect to Mick and Keef ) Jagger had no answer to her question how much he intended to give from the proceeds of the record to alleviate the condition of those suffering from persecution in South America . Earlier in the interview he had been banging on in a terribly earnest and ( for him ) ironically " cool " way about how the title track had been inspired by events in Nicaragua. Speechless he then was , and indeed should also have been if he had wished to do himself and everyone else a favour when delivering vocals to this low point of proceedings.
Next up - the Style Council's Confessions of a pop group and Simple Minds' Neapolis .
Best Regards
Lester Bangs .
Yes - Tales Of The Topographic Oceans
Fleetwood Mac - Tusk
After two great records this self-indulgent sack of shit killed a musical movement they had created.
Agree Monster by REM wasnt great either.
Tormato by Yes, apart from "Dont kill the whale" which is excellent.
Any album after "Magicians Birthday" by Uriah Heep...they kinda fell off a cliff after this album
A couple of good pop songs couldn't make up for the mediocre dross, and the abomination that was "Love is the Answer".
If you watch the Let It Be film it falls into place, especially with the impromptu live session on the roof of the studio building high above the street - where passers-by were forming a crowd and the copper trying to get the band to stop. The album's got a raw energy about it, a bit of a jam session with songs stripped of all the commercial over-production which you find on Abbey Road.
If the album had been a painting, perhaps you'd call it 'Impressionist' rather than 'Pre-Raphaelite'.
Worst thing was he played Shephers Bush with the Attractions and after a couple of numbers virtually pushed them to the back of stage so he could welcome his new best mates who had played on said album. These were admittedly superb musicians but it was like watching a self indulgent private rave up.
2. My Chemical Romance - Danger Days. loved the emo early albums and even the over produced Black Parade but this was such a turn away from all that. showed real promise a year before when they did a punk version of Desolation Row by Bob Dylan but that prove to be a false dawn.
3. Eminem - Encore. He lost it.
4. The Refused - Freedom. similar to the "Slim Shady LP" "The shape of Punk to come" was a huge album for me growing up. the much awaited follow up disappointed.
5. Bruce Springsteen - The River. apart from the track with the same title its one of his worst from his best period of music. this has been made worse as recently it seems its the go to album for fans of him. so I went back to it to see if i missed something but sadly not. nothing compared to Asbury park, the wild the innocent, Nebraska, Darkness and born to run.
2. Amnesiac - Radiohead. Not clever enough to understand it.
3. Kid A - Radiohead. As above.
4. In This Light and On This Evening - Editors. After 'An End Has a Start' this was a massive let down.
5. Embrace - Embrace. Reflection of a band in decline.