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Worst album from a prog band/artist?
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Psychedelic Paul View Drop Down
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    Posted: January 29 2020 at 02:16
^^ Yes, I noticed Richard Branson was enjoying seeing Tubular Bells III being performed Live on Horse Guards Parade in London when I watched the DVD again recently. Smile
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Originally posted by Mortte Mortte wrote:

Originally posted by Mirakaze Mirakaze wrote:

I got so pissed off the first time I heard TB2. You're finally free from your old restrictive record company, you make a "sequel" to your most well-known and highly acclaimed album and you just make it an inferior rewrite that follows every single cue of the original? It's probably not the worst item in his discography (he's made a lot of crap in his later days) but it's absolutely the most expendable. I don't know why he even made it, except as a quick cash-in and to troll Richard Branson.
Really donīt recommend you to listen TB3. Itīs even worse. To me TB2 has been ok, but caveman part in it is just ridiculous. To me Oldfield albums after Ommadawn seem to be indifferent. Just listened "Exposed" first time and "Incantations" in it left me quite cold. Also didnīt like much itīs version of TB, although of course lot better than TB3. Return to Ommadawn is quite great!
 

The album Incantations is so much better than the chopped in half live version. I regard that as one of my desert island discs because it's four sides and all are delicious!

Return To Ommadawn is quite nice and pleasant but well overrated considering there is not one single memorable part in it.

TB3 in the DVD (which PP refers to) is really good and there is the oddity of Richard Branson being in the audience. 

Man On The Rocks is probably the one MO album I really just can't listen to. Even worse than Heavens Open although they are both pretty dreadful imo. I don't mind some of his later albums such as Guitars , Voyager, Tres Lunas and Light + Shade . None of them are especially good but I can at least listen to them!
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Pink Floyd - the final cut
Yes - Open Your Eyes
Genesis - We can't dance
King Crimson -beat (it's still pretty good though actually)
Spock's Beard - Day for night (haven't heard it in ages though)
The Flower Kings - Adam and Eve
Rush- Vapor Trails (I just bought the remixed version and it's growing on me; my biggest complaint is the stripped down sound since I like keys and strings and miss them on this Rush release).
Gentle Giant- Giant for a day 
ELP- love beach(and even this one isn't quite as bad as some make it out to be. Still it's probably their worst or one of them(I never heard the hot seat).
Jethro Tull- Catfish rising Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz(rock island probably isn't too far behind it)
Moody Blues - Keys of the Kingdome(same as JT as far as snoozing goes).


Edited by AFlowerKingCrimson - January 28 2020 at 19:47
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Mortte View Drop Down
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Originally posted by cstack3 cstack3 wrote:

I thought "Division Bell" by PF was a very weak album, perhaps their worst.
When I heard "High Hopes" first time, I didnīt like it at all. Solo part is taken a lot from "Welcome To Machine". That time I really hated they made reunion. But after many years I have started to like Division Bell, I think itīs better than Momentary now, although donīt hate it also.
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Originally posted by Mirakaze Mirakaze wrote:

I got so pissed off the first time I heard TB2. You're finally free from your old restrictive record company, you make a "sequel" to your most well-known and highly acclaimed album and you just make it an inferior rewrite that follows every single cue of the original? It's probably not the worst item in his discography (he's made a lot of crap in his later days) but it's absolutely the most expendable. I don't know why he even made it, except as a quick cash-in and to troll Richard Branson.
Really donīt recommend you to listen TB3. Itīs even worse. To me TB2 has been ok, but caveman part in it is just ridiculous. To me Oldfield albums after Ommadawn seem to be indifferent. Just listened "Exposed" first time and "Incantations" in it left me quite cold. Also didnīt like much itīs version of TB, although of course lot better than TB3. Return to Ommadawn is quite great!
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I thought "Division Bell" by PF was a very weak album, perhaps their worst.
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Psychedelic Paul View Drop Down
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Originally posted by Mirakaze Mirakaze wrote:

I got so pissed off the first time I heard TB2. You're finally free from your old restrictive record company, you make a "sequel" to your most well-known and highly acclaimed album and you just make it an inferior rewrite that follows every single cue of the original? It's probably not the worst item in his discography (he's made a lot of crap in his later days) but it's absolutely the most expendable. I don't know why he even made it, except as a quick cash-in and to troll Richard Branson.
Shock horror! I actually prefer Tubular Bells II & III to the original. I just watched both albums performed Live over the last couple of nights.  Smile
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Points: 3539 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Mirakaze Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 28 2020 at 01:16
I got so pissed off the first time I heard TB2. You're finally free from your old restrictive record company, you make a "sequel" to your most well-known and highly acclaimed album and you just make it an inferior rewrite that follows every single cue of the original? It's probably not the worst item in his discography (he's made a lot of crap in his later days) but it's absolutely the most expendable. I don't know why he even made it, except as a quick cash-in and to troll Richard Branson.
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Points: 26107 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote richardh Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 26 2020 at 23:54
^ it's not a great album but he did take it seriously and regarded it as a culmination of the song writing strand of his career . Unfortunately it's painful but it wasn't meant to be!
TB2 is very weak to my ears. Watered down version of TB. TB3 was more interesting to me as it had nothing to do with the original album and he was beginning to incorporate his Ibiza influences and somewhat successfully imo.


Edited by richardh - January 26 2020 at 23:54
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Psychedelic Paul View Drop Down
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Points: 34694 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Psychedelic Paul Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 25 2020 at 10:41
The worst album I ever heard by Mike Oldfield was "Heaven's Open" (1991) which he only recorded to fulfil his contractual obligations to Virgin Records. He was saving his Tubular Bells II masterpiece for his new label the following year. Smile
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Jethro Tull - Too Old For Rock and Roll, too Young to Die

On paper, this should have been the next Aqualung. But in execution it was a dismal disappointment, desperately lacking in the wit, satire, or pathos we had come to expect from Ian Anderson. It just falls completely flat at first and gets annoying from there.
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Originally posted by dougmcauliffe dougmcauliffe wrote:

I think beat is the clear worst tbh


I don't think they made a bad album, although if I had to rank them, Beat would probably be my least favourite. I really like Thrak.
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God forbid Yes releases anything if its anything like Heaven and Earth
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Originally posted by Mirakaze Mirakaze wrote:

Originally posted by dougmcauliffe dougmcauliffe wrote:

I think beat is the clear worst tbh


Beat has a bunch of forgettable tunes but also a few that I really love ("Neurotica", "Neal And Jack And Me"). On the other hand, when I look at the track listing of THRAK (the thrack listing, if you will), all I think is "eh..."

I do think it's funny how everyone seems to have their own least favourite KC album LOL

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Originally posted by dougmcauliffe dougmcauliffe wrote:

I think beat is the clear worst tbh


Beat has a bunch of forgettable tunes but also a few that I really love ("Neurotica", "Neal And Jack And Me"). On the other hand, when I look at the track listing of THRAK (the thrack listing, if you will), all I think is "eh..."

I do think it's funny how everyone seems to have their own least favourite KC album LOL
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Originally posted by richardh richardh wrote:

Originally posted by Cristi Cristi wrote:

Why is Love Beach considered as ELP's worst when there's In the Hot Seat? Confused
 

The cover mainly

Love Beach is still ELP regardless of how bad it was but in The Hot Seat was not even ELP as on one track there are even session musicians playing. ITHS is definitely ELP's worst.
Love Beach has only one real stinker of a track and that is a Taste Of My Love

All I Want Is You ( decent radio type fodder)
Love Beach - ( Carl plays really well , ignore the lyrics!)
The Gambler - Female backing vocals lifts this song
A Taste Of My Love ( yep this is 100% shyte)
For You ( decent Greg Lake song , one of the better tracks)
Canario ( not a fan but generally this is quite well liked)
Memoirs Of An Officer and A Gentleman ( Starts strong but fades towards the end but not a bad end of career epic at a time when no one was doing epics)

Overall I think it rates about 2.5/5 but admittedly nothing on it gets close to the glory days



I don't think Love Beach is a bad album, I've never paid much attention to the lyrics though, I'll admit that.

But half of In the Hot Seat is unlistenable. And they cheat by playing Pictures... again, reworked.


Edited by Cristi - January 11 2020 at 06:18
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On some of the contenders:
Eloy - Ra: Good choice, terrible album. What was wrong with Frank's ears at the time?
Camel - The Single Factor: Not a top album by any standard but has a few nice songs and listening to it isn't too bad - played as random music in a pub I'd probably say "they show good taste".
Amon Düül II - Only Human. This has the amazing Kismet, which is one of the best songs ever. The rest of the album is largely forgettable, still overall there's much space below it.
King Crimson - Beat: Straight five stars if you ask me.

I've never heard Love Beach and chances are I never will. Why would I? There are some 2000 albums that I haven't heard yet and I'd be interested in listening to first.
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Originally posted by Cristi Cristi wrote:

Why is Love Beach considered as ELP's worst when there's In the Hot Seat? Confused
 

The cover mainly

Love Beach is still ELP regardless of how bad it was but in The Hot Seat was not even ELP as on one track there are even session musicians playing. ITHS is definitely ELP's worst.
Love Beach has only one real stinker of a track and that is a Taste Of My Love

All I Want Is You ( decent radio type fodder)
Love Beach - ( Carl plays really well , ignore the lyrics!)
The Gambler - Female backing vocals lifts this song
A Taste Of My Love ( yep this is 100% shyte)
For You ( decent Greg Lake song , one of the better tracks)
Canario ( not a fan but generally this is quite well liked)
Memoirs Of An Officer and A Gentleman ( Starts strong but fades towards the end but not a bad end of career epic at a time when no one was doing epics)

Overall I think it rates about 2.5/5 but admittedly nothing on it gets close to the glory days
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Originally posted by Mirakaze Mirakaze wrote:

Originally posted by Braka1 Braka1 wrote:

Triumvirat's  'Russian Roulette' is a contender.


It's not good, but it's at least self-aware and ridiculous enough to be entertaining in its own way, whereas "A La Carte" is just sappy saccharine fluff


Maybe that's the one I'm thinking of. I can remember the music but don't strongly associate it with a specific album or cover. Just that it was one of the worst cases I can remember of a formerly prog band utterly surrendering to what they evidently thought was commercial pop. Which might not have been a complete disaster, except they turned out to be truly awful at it.

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Originally posted by Braka1 Braka1 wrote:

Triumvirat's  'Russian Roulette' is a contender.


It's not good, but it's at least self-aware and ridiculous enough to be entertaining in its own way, whereas "A La Carte" is just sappy saccharine fluff
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