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25 Unpopular Albums

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Category: Progressive Music Lounges
Forum Name: Prog Polls
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Topic: 25 Unpopular Albums
Posted By: Logan
Subject: 25 Unpopular Albums
Date Posted: October 28 2019 at 13:21
his is something of a companion poll to Lewian's "Unpopular new directions" topic covering other low-rated albums. I haven't included acts that I don't care about in this list, but of course I care about far more than is listed. I planned to included Robert Wyatt's debut as the lowest rated of his that is not collaborative or archival in a sense. His direction became more popular subsequently (but my poll is different from Lewian's poll in approach). That said, I accidentally edited out End of a Ear when re-ordering the poll. I then added another thinking I'd somehow miscounted and only had 24.

These are the lowest-rated of 25 acts according to PA (not including soundtracks, live albums, or archival releases), and various are commonly thought of as the bottom (not "rock bottom" in the case of Wyatt) of these acts studio album discographies. Whether you agree with that or not, please choose at least one that you like even if you don't know the others. Multiple choice voting is enabled.

- Amon Düül II - Only Human (1978). Rated 2.29 at PA & 2.61 at RYM
- Area - Tic & Tac (1980). Rated 2.68 at PA & 2.72 at RYM*
- Banco del Mutuo Soccorso - Il 13 (1994). Rated 2.31 at PA & 2.54 at RYM**
- Bowie, David - Never Let Me Down (1987). Rated 2.22 at PA & 2.20 at RYM
- Bush, Kate - The Red Shoes (1993). Rated 2.72 at PA & 3.15 at RYM
- Camel - The Single Factor (1982). Rated 2.64 at PA & 2.83 at RYM
- Can - Out of Reach (1978). Rated 2.40 at PA & 2.45 at RYM
- Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band - Unconditionally Guaranteed (1974).
Rated 1.93 in PA & 2.69 at RYM
- Caravan - The Album (1980). Rated 2.17 at PA & 2.65 at RYM.
- Comus - To Keep From Crying (1974). Rated 2.80 at PA & 2.72 at RYM
- Cos - Swiss Chalet (1979). Rated 2.48 at PA & 2.93 at RYM
- Focus - Mother Focus (1975). Rated 2.70 at PA & 3.07 at RYM
- Hammill, Peter - Offensichtlich Goldfisch (1993). Rated 2.32 at PA & 2.87 at RYM
- Incredible String Band, The - Hard Rope & Silken Twine (1974).   2.20 at PA & 3.25 at RYM.
- Magma - Merci (1984). Rated 2.63 at PA & 2.86 at RYM
- Orme, Le - Smogmagica (1975). Rated 2.83 at PA & 3.08 at RYM***
- Popol Vuh - Shepherd's Symphony (1997). Rated 1.80 at PA and 2.22 at RYM
- Premiata Forneria Marconi - PFM? PFM! (1984). Rated 1.98 at PA & 2.03 at RYM
- Residents, The - The Big Bubble (1985). Rated 1.77 at PA & 3.00 at RYM
- Schulze, Klaus - Totentag (1994). Rated 1.44 at PA & 2.60 at RYM
- Soft Machine - Land of Cockayne (1981). Rated 3.01 at PA & 2.71 at RYM
- Tangerine Dream - Optical Race (1987) Rated 2.70 at PA & 3.09 at RYM
- Van der Graaf Generator - ALT (2012). Rated 2.48 at PA & 2.64 at RYM
- Wakhévitch, Igor - Les fous d'or (1975). Rated 3.32 at PA & 3.25 at RYM
- Wyatt, Robert - The End of an Ear (1970). Rated 3.18 at PA & 3.41 at RYM (not included in the poll)
- Zappa, Frank - Thing-Fish (1985). Rated 2.45 at PA & 2.52 at RYM

With Tangerine Dream, as said I left off soundtracks and I thought it would be Tyger that is lowest rated here. A few of these would be debatable as lowest-point (I love To Keep From Crying but I am in the minority, and I really like that Wyatt album, but then it still has a fair rating). Rate Your Music is not in complete agreement with PA as to lowest-rated as one can see in my list above. I didn't include Wakhévitch's collaborative albums, or any archival releases.

* In the case of Area, I didn't go with quite the lowest rated according to PA, although it is at Rate Your Music, as I went with the first album without Demetrio Stratos. I felt it to be a more significant one to mention.

** With Banco del Mutuo Soccorso's Il 13, it is not one of the very lowest rated albums under its PA discography, but I chose not to include ones released under the name Banco, nor an archival release that has a lower rating (Donna Plautilla).

*** Similarly to BdSM, with Le Orme I opted not to include albums released as Orme, and I discounted the slightly lower rated remake, Felona e/and Sorona from 2016. I haven't heard that anyway, unlike Smogmagica, which is the more significant album.

This took me longer to prepare than I planned, and sorry if your favourite low rated albums are not on the list. Feel free to mention anything else -- I do polls as complementary to discussion and am happy if takes new directions as long as there's some conversation.

So, feel free to vote for as few or many as you like based on whatever your familiarity is with the album (obviously one is not really voting for an act, but the album itself). There are a few albums in the list that I have not heard. I'm hoping this be turn out to be more than just a poll, but discussion about albums and anything related (be it how much more you enjoy any of these more than most, how much you dislike certain albums, your worst choice from the acts etc.)

And please excuse any errors, with such long polls, not to mention this post, which require some research, they are easy to make.

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https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXcp9fYc6K4IKuxIZkenfvukL_Y8VBqzK" rel="nofollow - Various music I am very into: a youtube playlist with two tracks per act



Replies:
Posted By: tamijo_II
Date Posted: October 28 2019 at 13:35
Zappa - Thing-Fish

Thing-Fish is not a great FZ album, but the completely screwed story line is hilarious




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Same person as this profile:
http://www.progarchives.com/forum/member_profile.asp?PF=22524" rel="nofollow - Tamijo


Posted By: Psychedelic Paul
Date Posted: October 28 2019 at 14:03
I chose Kate Bush, Caravan & Tangerine Dream.


Posted By: Logan
Date Posted: October 28 2019 at 14:07
Thanks, I just noticed that I missed including Wyatt, I was going through it to see errors in my listing. I don't think it fit that well anyway.

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https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXcp9fYc6K4IKuxIZkenfvukL_Y8VBqzK" rel="nofollow - Various music I am very into: a youtube playlist with two tracks per act


Posted By: TCat
Date Posted: October 28 2019 at 14:11
The only one that I like out of these is Kate Bush "The Red Shoes", but I tend to like all of Kate Bush's albums.

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https://ibb.co/8x0xjR0" rel="nofollow">


Posted By: Psychedelic Paul
Date Posted: October 28 2019 at 14:14
Originally posted by TCat TCat wrote:

The only one that I like out of these is Kate Bush "The Red Shoes", but I tend to like all of Kate Bush's albums.
I like all of Kate Bush's albums apart from The Dreaming and the single from the album "Experiment #4", which was just too experimental for my taste. Smile


Posted By: Cristi
Date Posted: October 28 2019 at 14:17
Camel
Caravan
Focus


Posted By: Man With Hat
Date Posted: October 28 2019 at 14:19
Alt certainly doesn't belong with the majority of this list (of the ones I know). But given your criteria I understand it's inclusion. 

I will vote for Alt over Thing Fish. I would have voted for The End Of An Ear if it was included. 


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Dig me...But don't...Bury me
I'm running still, I shall until, one day, I hope that I'll arrive
Warning: Listening to jazz excessively can cause a laxative effect.


Posted By: Psychedelic Paul
Date Posted: October 28 2019 at 14:21
Originally posted by Cristi Cristi wrote:

Camel
Caravan
Focus
Seeing your vote just now, has  reminded me to vote for Camel's album too. The Single Factor is not one of their best albums but it's not bad standing on its own merits. Smile


Posted By: kenethlevine
Date Posted: October 28 2019 at 14:24
A Single Factor may be Camel's worse album but hey, this is Camel we are talking about.  I enjoy quite a few of the songs on it.  It's in the same league as Steve Hackett's "Cured", which is not much liked around here
I enjoyed Optical Race by Tangerine Dream at the time and perhaps one of my fave concerts ever was TD on the Optical Race tour but I don't listen to it anymore.  Marakkesh is fantastic though.
I also voted for Le Orme.  It's not one of their better ones but I prefer it to Contrappunti


Posted By: Logan
Date Posted: October 28 2019 at 14:26
^ I like Smogmagica, and love "Laserium Floyd", but I much prefer Contrappunti. That to me sits well amongst Le Orme's very best.

I love Kate Bush, and I like The Red Shoes, but not as much as various other albums of hers. I actually haven't listened to it in many years. I don;t like to vote in my own polls, but my favurite of these would be Igor Wakhévitch's Les fous d'or followed by To Keep From Crying, which I gave a three with my review, but is more like a four in terms of my enjoyment ("Children of the Universe" and the track "To Keep From Crying" rank amongst my favourite Comus songs). And I like Magma's Merci especially for the B-side (at one time I loved the album, even for music that many find risible, but to me was both fun and different for Magma -- "Ooh, ooh Baby" made the absurdist in me smile. I found it all the funnier because I think it was done in all seriousness with hopes of commercial success.

End of an Ear would have been my favourite had I included it. I think every Wyatt studio/ non-archival album has been very strong.

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https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXcp9fYc6K4IKuxIZkenfvukL_Y8VBqzK" rel="nofollow - Various music I am very into: a youtube playlist with two tracks per act


Posted By: Cristi
Date Posted: October 28 2019 at 14:29
also another vote for Le Orme, missed it somehow... Embarrassed


Posted By: omphaloskepsis
Date Posted: October 28 2019 at 14:39
I chose Can and Le Orme and I would have picked Big Generator too. 


Posted By: Logan
Date Posted: October 28 2019 at 14:49
Had I included a Yes representative (I didn't want to duplicate any bands in Lewian's "Unpopular..." poll, though I did do Camel), it would have been Open Your Eyes (2.05 rating at PA and 2.33 at RYM).

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https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXcp9fYc6K4IKuxIZkenfvukL_Y8VBqzK" rel="nofollow - Various music I am very into: a youtube playlist with two tracks per act


Posted By: Manuel
Date Posted: October 28 2019 at 15:52
For me is Camel, followed very close by Rank Zappa.


Posted By: progmatic
Date Posted: October 28 2019 at 15:57
Focus, Kate Bush, Camel.  I remember when I bought Caravan's "The Album" when it came out. I was so excited with hopes of return to form. Man, what a letdown. Rarely have I been so disappointed. It was almost as bad as when Elton John went pop and abandoned serious music. (His first four albums are incredible if you haven't heard them.)

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PROGMATIC


Posted By: Lewian
Date Posted: October 28 2019 at 16:35
Haha, I like this take on the "unpopular" idea. Difficulty with "as many as I want" votings is where to draw a line. Of those I know, ALT is clearly the best and quite a number are OK. I think Kate Bush comes second, and then it becomes hard to differentiate, so I'll vote for these two. Offensichtlich Goldfisch is a strange case because there are some good songs on that album and it wouldn't be bad at all if it wasn't for the screwed up mix. Peter did it himself and probably he misjudged the level that the lyrics need because they're German and probably exciting to him but harder to follow than English ones, so he turned them up too much and that killed the album. I know where he was coming from because I made the same mixing mistake in the past.
Of those I know the only one that is really awful is Optical Race... and that one actually already has four votes!


Posted By: AFlowerKingCrimson
Date Posted: October 28 2019 at 17:02
I haven't heard much Kate Bush at all but I have heard the red shoes and always thought it was good. I could never understand why so many seem to dislike it. If that's the case her other albums must all be masterpieces or something. Anyway, that's the one I voted for. The single factor was good too. I'm not familiar with most of the others though.


Posted By: kenethlevine
Date Posted: October 28 2019 at 17:15
I like this thread because it's at least positive


Posted By: Psychedelic Paul
Date Posted: October 28 2019 at 17:24
I thought Tangerine Dream's "Optical Race" was much better than their first three albums, "Alpha Centauri", "Zeit" & "Atem".


Posted By: twosteves
Date Posted: October 28 2019 at 18:37
I like the Focus album---especially-- I need a bathroomTongue


Posted By: Logan
Date Posted: October 28 2019 at 19:32
Bennie held 'er soft vanilla, my sweetheart, and she, in turn, graciously held his hard vanilla.

Originally posted by twosteves twosteves wrote:

I like the Focus album---especially-- I need a bathroomTongue


All together! ..... oh that! It took this mother some focus to get it.

No hang ups here, I need a bathroom, expect soft vanilla-like results. ;) {EDIT, that came out worse than I thought, and not in the way one might think, just been referencing song titles throughout the post}

I like that album very much.

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https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXcp9fYc6K4IKuxIZkenfvukL_Y8VBqzK" rel="nofollow - Various music I am very into: a youtube playlist with two tracks per act


Posted By: YESESIS
Date Posted: October 28 2019 at 20:25
The only one's of these that I know are The Album, Merci(both of which I legitimately like, especially Merci).. And the pretty bad(imo) Thing-Fish. 


Posted By: HackettFan
Date Posted: October 28 2019 at 23:16
Mother Focus was a nice album. I went for that one.

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A curse upon the heads of those who seek their fortunes in a lie. The truth is always waiting when there's nothing left to try. - Colin Henson, Jade Warrior (Now)


Posted By: iluvmarillion
Date Posted: October 29 2019 at 00:14
If you could have named any Camel album except that one, I would have liked it. Can't find anything else to like either.


Posted By: richardh
Date Posted: October 29 2019 at 01:01
I only know 1 maybe 2 of those albums. Red Shoes has a great song Moments Of Pleasure but mostly I don't care much for it. I have a ton of Tangerine Dream albums ( a whole shelf + dedicated to them) but not even sure I own Optical Race. The Paul Haslinger era was not exactly memorable. No Vote.


Posted By: Neu!mann
Date Posted: October 29 2019 at 06:31
"Le Orme find magic in the land of smog!"


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"we can change the world without anyone noticing the difference" - Franco Falsini


Posted By: kenethlevine
Date Posted: October 29 2019 at 07:16
Originally posted by Neu!mann Neu!mann wrote:

"Le Orme find magic in the land of smog!"

yeah!


Posted By: Meltdowner
Date Posted: October 29 2019 at 07:47
First vote for Merci, much better than all I've heard from that list. I wonder if that album would be more accepted if it was released by someone else.


Posted By: Barbu
Date Posted: October 29 2019 at 07:52
Have not heard the majority of them but thing fish is quite horrible.

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Posted By: Progosopher
Date Posted: October 29 2019 at 11:16
I listen to most of the artists and bands on this list, but I am only familiar with one of these albums, which I do not enjoy at all. That is Magma's Merci. If the vocals were removed it would be good, but Vander's singing is unlistenable. Thus, no vote. Unhappy

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The world of sound is certainly capable of infinite variety and, were our sense developed, of infinite extensions. -- George Santayana, "The Sense of Beauty"


Posted By: questionsneverknown
Date Posted: October 29 2019 at 12:37
Went with The Residents The Big Bubble. I tend to link Big Bubble and Zappa's Thing Fish as albums usually only the most hardcore of fans will stick up for. I try to give Thing Fish a listen every few years, but I'll admit to finding it a tough slog to get through, whereas I genuinely like The Big Bubble. It is extreme, no doubt, but the story around it is marvelously elaborate and the mock-rock band format is both funny and evocative. A risky experiment but one that works for me.

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The damage that we do is just so powerfully strong we call it love

The damage that we do just goes on and on and on but not long enough.

--Robyn Hitchcock


Posted By: Logan
Date Posted: October 29 2019 at 13:16
^ I'm glad to see that The Residents album get a vote.

Originally posted by Meltdowner Meltdowner wrote:

First vote for Merci, much better than all I've heard from that list. I wonder if that album would be more accepted if it was released by someone else.


Sometimes I've thought people don't get past the opening track. I like Merci considerably (the B side was easier to initially appreciate).

That's exactly how I've felt about Comus' To Keep From Crying. People's expectations can get in the way of enjoyment, but I'm happy for bands to try different things (and some were revolted by the dark themes of the conceptual First Utterance and because of that won't give To Keep From Crying a chance)

I said, I don't usually vote in my own polls, but I'm giving votes to Igor Wakhevitch (good atmosphere for Halloween) and Comus (wish I could access the track "To Keep From Crying" from youtube).





Ad no votes for the Klaus Schulze opera. ;) I actually enjoy it, but it wouldn't be for most tastes:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LgeX98G8sj0" rel="nofollow - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LgeX98G8sj0

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Posted By: someone_else
Date Posted: October 29 2019 at 14:38
To Keep from Crying is not bad at all and the non-crap parts of ALT are also quite enjoyable.

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Posted By: patrickq
Date Posted: October 29 2019 at 20:35
I’ve heard of some of these, but have never actually heard any of them. I guess I owe the Camel album a listen since so many of you think there are at least 24 worse albums...


Posted By: jamesbaldwin
Date Posted: October 29 2019 at 21:17
Personally, I consider RYM's ranking to be completely arbitrary and worthless. When I read the chart of RYM's top 20 (or top 120) albums, the only thought I have is that it lacks any logic, other than representing fan groups, starting with Radiohead. Incidentally, I would like to point out that the Italian groups are completely absent

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"Happiness is real only when shared"


Posted By: Logan
Date Posted: October 29 2019 at 22:28
Originally posted by jamesbaldwin jamesbaldwin wrote:

Personally, I consider RYM's ranking to be completely arbitrary and worthless. When I read the chart of RYM's top 20 (or top 120) albums, the only thought I have is that it lacks any logic, other than representing fan groups, starting with Radiohead. Incidentally, I would like to point out that the Italian groups are completely absent.


It represents a collection of individual opinions based on what the raters know and like (it's rate YOUR music). The logic is that it is calculated based on an amalgamation of user's ratings (and it has many, many users). Of course it's going to attract some kinds of users more than others.

Whatever you think of Radiohead (and many at PA have loved Radiohaead), many people do love the band's albums, and of course that is the general music chart. I happen to like OK Computer a lot as well, and love the fifth choice, The Velvet Underground & Nico. What I find rather interesting is how well progressive music is represented in the general music chart (in the top 20, I have heard all of those but three and own most of that 17). What would you expect in such a list which collates ratings from users? And I guess it just doesn't have a strong Italian user-base, but whatever the general ranking, that database still contains way more Italian music than this site does as it is a general music site, and I have found way more Italian albums that I wanted to look into there than here, and I don't even visit there that often (nor am I member), but I am more likely to use their database as a resource than PA's.

Just in case it's not clear, while I decided to add the ratings for these albums in my original post, rateyourmusic played no part in my choosing these acts. I decided on them, then used PA to determine which albums to include of the acts I had opted for -- quite a few I knew were the lowest rated already at PA (while discounting some according to my criteria). Then decided to check and those ratings with RYM (I was interested to see how PA and RYM compare when it comes to the ratings and ranking of the albums of each act in this list of mine). I would trust the rankings/ overall ratings at RYM on those as much as PA. But such comparison wasn't the purpose of the poll (just thought some might find it interesting).

I find RYM to be a useful resource, and I have for a long time. It has been useful as a resource when suggesting and adding bands and albums to PA (in coordination with some other sites). I like the multi-genre album tagging, and find the custom chart useful because of the way I can search genres, and there are so many more tags at RYM for music of interest to me (it is a more general music site). PA has the limitation of categorising all albums by a band in one category. It's easier for me to discover "psychedelic folk" albums from the 60s and 70s at RYM, for instance, so that will be of more use to me than trying to find those at PA. And if you're interested in Italian acts, you can search for those. I don't care much about PA's top 100 general chart (with no filters of my own) or RYM's, in both cases, the charts I care about are customised. Since my tastes extend beyond Prog music, I wouldn't want to limit myself to a Prog-based site.

By the way, looking up the progressive rock chart at RYM, Italian Prog does not fare as well as in PA, Storia di un Minuto is the first Italian one in the list at number 71. What fares much better at RYM is Krautrock. Can's Tago Mago is at number 7 at RYM, and at PA it doesn't make the top 250. Wyatt's Rock Bottom is at number 19 at RYM and at 61 at PA in the all-time progressive rock charts.

What about when comparing the ranking for PFMs album on the album page at PA and RYM. Well it places Storia di un Minuto as the number one album at a 3.85 average with 2, 392 ratings and 51 reviews. PA puts Per un Amico at number one with 4.41 and 1648 ratings. I prefer Storia di un Minuto. I find RYM average ratings and rankings for acts to be no less valuable than ProgArchives, in fact for my general music research purposes, I find RYM's more valuable. And when it comes to their Progressive Music chart, it actually fits my tastes better.

The general audiences are rather different, and as someone said here, RYM tends to attract more hipsters. t will have attracted many who do share similar tastes. I suppose if you spent time in their forums, you'd get a better idea of people there (I haven't).

For me the RYM charts has been a useful reference tool, but it depends what one is using it for. I've discovered quite a lot of new-to-me albums thanks to going through custom charts at RYM and have found it more useful as a research tool than PA's charts for quite a few years (I prefer its search engines, prefer the interfaces, and find it more stable).

I also like the list that people come up with at RYM, such as this, which just came up with a google search: https://rateyourmusic.com/list/Edward_Kelly/italian_albums_in_rym_top_5000/%20" rel="nofollow - https://rateyourmusic.com/list/Edward_Kelly/italian_albums_in_rym_top_5000/

EDIT: there is something of a learning curve when it comes to using the charts effectively, as well as other aspects of the site, as a means to discover many types of music. There are a huge number of genre tags to choose from when customising the charts to find the kinds of music you are most interested in. Be it Vietnamese Classical music, Algerian chaabi, or Italo-disco, and I have found it to be a useful guide (especially since I am interested in much more than the music we have in PA). I've used it for looking up electroacoustic progressive electronic music, for instance. The top ranked one of any genre/genres may not be my taste, but I will find ones that will interest me if I put some time into it.

I personally wouldn't see much point in focusing on the general music chart list because I use it as a research tool to look for specific kinds of music, sometimes also from specific years and countries. I like its filters more than PA for discovering albums, and as I said, that it categorises by the album.
Rather than how albums are ranked, what's more important to me at RYM is if the albums have been tagged well with multiple genres.

Anyway, interesting though such discussion is, and I'm happy to go off on any tangents (I care most about the conversation even when making polls), how RYM rates music was not what this topic was about, nor did RYM determine my choices (it was a little helpful in discounting some albums though, since their discography list may offer more info than there). That said, I would like to better understand the logic behind your post as I feel I must be missing something in your thought process.

It might seem disloyal for me to be extolling what are to me the virtues and advantages of RYM, especially as a collab here, and I've put plenty of work into this site and none there, but what I like best about PA is the community and the fora.

I'm guessing you didn't know or like any album off my list enough to choose one. Shame I missed the Robert Wyatt when making my list, perhaps you would have voted for that.

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Posted By: dougmcauliffe
Date Posted: October 29 2019 at 22:45
I do love Camel but man the single factor is a stinker! It was simply released to fulfill contract obligations after the band had disbanded. Not familiar enough with any to vote tbh.


Posted By: chopper
Date Posted: October 30 2019 at 05:22
Originally posted by AFlowerKingCrimson AFlowerKingCrimson wrote:

I haven't heard much Kate Bush at all but I have heard the red shoes and always thought it was good. I could never understand why so many seem to dislike it. If that's the case her other albums must all be masterpieces or something.
 
Well most of her albums are masterpieces but I may be slightly biased. I've never understood the dislike for the Red Shoes either, I think it's a good album. I rate it below Hounds of Love but well above Lionheart.
 
 


Posted By: Lewian
Date Posted: October 30 2019 at 07:07
Originally posted by dougmcauliffe dougmcauliffe wrote:

I do love Camel but man the single factor is a stinker! It was simply released to fulfill contract obligations after the band had disbanded. Not familiar enough with any to vote tbh.

I saw them on the tour for Single Factor for the first time and they were great, including proudly playing a good number of songs from that album. They used guest musicians but surely had not completely disbanded. Camel's website states: "The promotional tour for 'THE SINGLE FACTOR' turned out to be just the breath of fresh air Latimer needed. The mix of personalities was magical with a ceaseless, positive energy from Chris Rainbow who, with Paton and Tosh (Scotsmen, all three) maintained a flow of laughter from start to finish of the tour. http://www.kitwatkins.com" rel="nofollow - Kit Watkins had returned for his third CAMEL tour and the level of musicianship delighted audiences. Latimer would call it "the funniest tour I've ever been on"."
Contract obligations or not, there are some pretty good songs on that album, at least if you can enjoy a good pop song. That said, I can understand why some don't like the album. There's surely more substance to be found elsewhere.


Posted By: kenethlevine
Date Posted: October 30 2019 at 08:10
Originally posted by Lewian Lewian wrote:

Originally posted by dougmcauliffe dougmcauliffe wrote:

I do love Camel but man the single factor is a stinker! It was simply released to fulfill contract obligations after the band had disbanded. Not familiar enough with any to vote tbh.

I saw them on the tour for Single Factor for the first time and they were great, including proudly playing a good number of songs from that album. They used guest musicians but surely had not completely disbanded. Camel's website states: "The promotional tour for 'THE SINGLE FACTOR' turned out to be just the breath of fresh air Latimer needed. The mix of personalities was magical with a ceaseless, positive energy from Chris Rainbow who, with Paton and Tosh (Scotsmen, all three) maintained a flow of laughter from start to finish of the tour. http://www.kitwatkins.com" rel="nofollow - Kit Watkins had returned for his third CAMEL tour and the level of musicianship delighted audiences. Latimer would call it "the funniest tour I've ever been on"."
Contract obligations or not, there are some pretty good songs on that album, at least if you can enjoy a good pop song. That said, I can understand why some don't like the album. There's surely more substance to be found elsewhere.

agreed, far from a stinker, and far from a classic

But it had sentimental value for me.  I used to drive my school mates crazy by singing/humming the build up to the "You are the One" chorus.  When they finally heard the actual song they thought it was pretty good.
The Camel on the Road 1982 live album is a decent document of the tour


Posted By: richardh
Date Posted: October 31 2019 at 01:18
Originally posted by chopper chopper wrote:

Originally posted by AFlowerKingCrimson AFlowerKingCrimson wrote:

I haven't heard much Kate Bush at all but I have heard the red shoes and always thought it was good. I could never understand why so many seem to dislike it. If that's the case her other albums must all be masterpieces or something.
 
Well most of her albums are masterpieces but I may be slightly biased. I've never understood the dislike for the Red Shoes either, I think it's a good album. I rate it below Hounds of Love but well above Lionheart.
 
 
 

Yes that is the problem . She took up the offers that were flooding in from other artists to work with her and naturally it diluted her normally very cohesive approach I think. Lionheart was indeed her other potentially weak album as it was essentially a 'cash in' album to benefit from her early (unexpected perhaps) success . That said I still prefer it marginally over The Red Shoes. If we are to have a Trilogy of not great Kate Bush albums then 50 Words For Snow must be added. Just a little bit dull imo. The other studio albums are great and HOL is my favourite by her.


Posted By: geekfreak
Date Posted: April 15 2020 at 11:15
The Red Shoes 

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Posted By: Mortte
Date Posted: April 15 2020 at 11:30
Comus and Magma. Red Shoes and Out Of Reach are not bad too.



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