Top 10 Favorite Albums rated less than 3.00 on PA

ELP Works Vol II     2.45
King Crimson Earthbound   2.52
Miles Davis    Tutu    2.62
Herbie Hancock   Future Shock     2.68
Herbie Hancock   Sound System    2.88
Roxy Music    Manifesto    2.84
Roxy Music    Flesh + Blood     2.94
Robert Fripp and Andy Summers    Bewitched   2.87
Robert Fripp The League of Gentlemen   2.79
The Beatles    Help (US Version)   2.48    Indian versions of Beatles songs and more
David Bowie   Young Americans    2.85


Edited by Easy Money - May 15 2025 at 07:30

^ That Sabbath album has one of the coolest hard rock songs ever, "Trashed". Ian Gillan is in fine form on that one, Tony Iommi too.

To qualify it needed at least twenty ratings:

Roxy Music - Flesh + Blood (2:94), 1980
Kraftwerk - Electric Café (2:54), 1986
David Bowie - David Bowie (2:38), - his 1967 debut
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard - Made in Timeland (2:81), 2022
Herbie Hancock - Sunlight (2:63), 1978
Whatever Happened to Vileness Fats? (2:91), 1984, but an archival release
Vangelis - Sex Power (2:84), 1970
Led Zeppelin - "In Through The Our Door (2:97), 1979
Rush - Rush (2:96), 1974
Can - Out of Reach (2:46), 1978

I also like:

Wapassou - Wapassou (2:92), 1974
Camel - I Can See Your House From Here (2:94), 1979
Talk Talk - The Party's Over (2:88), 1982
Electric Light Orchestra - Discovery (2:89), 1979
The Incredible String Band - Changing Horses (2:83), 1969 (if only for the Creation-epic)

Saperlipopette! wrote: Finnforest wrote: BOC - Mirrors (2.62) Yeah I like that one as well. A 7/10 album for me.

Some great songs on that album. Spectres too.

wow, 95% of what I know that's been cited in this thread fully deserve their <3 average . Let's not be fanboys and try to rehabilitate mediocre albums.



Of course, it's all colours & tastes, and FWIW, here are my three choices that would derserve (according to moi, of course) to be slightly >3 (though for the VdGG, I fully understand why it's down there).

Comus - To Keep From Crying (2.87)
Roger Waters & Ron Geesin - Music from The Body (2.80)
Van der Graaf Generator - ALT (2.55)
King Crimson Earthbound - (2.52)

Edited by Sean Trane - Yesterday at 02:47

The low rating of ABACAB does surprise me. My buddy and I regularly listen to it for inspiration. Dodo / Lurker is an incredible piece of music amidst an album that is an educational experience. It is north of 4 stars on Allmusic. Don’t be coming for my PA card! I’m just giving my opinion, even though I feel like a salmon swimming upstream on this one.

Jaketejas wrote: The low rating of ABACAB does surprise me. My buddy and I regularly listen to it for inspiration. Dodo / Lurker is an incredible piece of music amidst an album that is an educational experience. It is north of 4 stars on Allmusic. Don’t be coming for my PA card! I’m just giving my opinion, even though I feel like a salmon swimming upstream on this one.

if they had kept the epic track and removed Who Dunnit then i think it would gain a rating of 3 or more in my book. It is the last Genesis album I care about because they were at least trying for something. After that it became Phil Collins + 2 dudes (and then when he left it became nothing)

Saperlipopette! wrote: Sean Trane wrote: wow, 95% of what I know that's been cited in this thread fully deserve their <3 average . Let's not be fanboys and try to rehabilitate mediocre albums. I think you're wrong. This is a thread of nothing but honest replies. I'm not a fanboy, and do not own any complete discography by anyone - or any band. Oftentimes people rate an album low because you do not get what you want from a band or an artist. It's not judged on its own merits, but from expectations. That's unfair imo. And in retrospect, or just decades later, it's easier to be fair. I wasn't there to experience I Can See Your House From Here or Electric Café being newly released and such huge disappointments. So I listen to what's actually offered instead of complaining about what isn't. Obviously none of them represent a career highlight for either band, but I think they are both good fun, and solid enough.

Who said fanboys weren't honest in their replies ??

I get what you're saying, though ; and TBH, I was thinking of retrieving the fanboy part of my post, but you quoted it, so be it.

Of course reviews are fairer with a certain retrospective and perspective, and for the classic/70's albums, 95% of PA reviews are written decades later (since the site exists only since '04). I've written my reviews (well the ones I'm not embarrassed by nowadays ) and rated them with an historical importance in mind, maybe even a tad more than my own sentiments about them.


But I do stand by my post about 95% of the albums cited in this thread deserving a below 3 average




.

richardh wrote: It felt like he was carrying the band though as well as being one of the most succesful solo artists of the decade. The hole left post WCD (which to be fair isn't as bad as its often made out to be, just needed to be a shorter album) was astounding to me. Ray Wilson is a talented song writer but it wasn't enough.

In the end, Ray was a hired gun, he wrote very little for the album, it was Tony and Mike's song-writing. Also the talented Nick D'Virgilio was reduced to a session drummer. Oh well...