Lowly regarded early and/or late albums you like

The Present by The Moody Blues is, for me, an enjoyable and naturally resonant album from the band’s later period featuring Patrick Moraz. I found the tracks to be melodious, emotionally impactful, and well-structured. There are no disco elements that could disrupt the delightful harmony of this album; it maintains a consistent quality and is filled with intelligent, expertly crafted art rock music. In my opinion, The Present, although in its own style, is on a level with the classic seven albums by The Moody Blues. The arrangements are notably rich and inviting in the typical style of the band. The combination of Justin Hayward's smooth vocals with Moraz's amazing synth contributions results in a highly successful presentation. The Present is outstanding and represents their final superb album, imo.

Logan wrote: David Bowie is one that I thought about mentioning too. I really like the debut, and actually like the second too quite a lot (I love, say, Cygnet Committee off it). Pinups and Young Americans get neglected by me. I do love The Man Who Sold the World and the B side of Let's Dance. And actually, like The Next Day and heathen quite a lot. Much as I love lost of Bowie's 70's work, I adore Hunky Dory for instance, here's a case where his last, Blackstar, became my favourite of his. And I would rather listen to Genesis debut than anything after at least and Then There Were Three. And "The Serpent" off it is one of my favourite songs. Still, I way prefer the immediately subsequent albums to it. Trespass is a huge step-up for me.

I too think Bowie's second album is pretty good and I love most of The Man Who Sold the World. I like Let's Dance, Heathen and The Next Day too. The "comparison" to all of these (including the "classic" Station to Station and Diamond Dogs) were only in regards to how many times I've actually listened to them. There was a period of time shortly after I discovered the first Bowie album - and his earliest non-album tracks (as in The London Boys, In The Heat of the Morning, Let Me Sleep Beside You, Karma Man... all great) I listened to it almost daily. Something similar goes for that first Genesis album (but I still prefer every single Gabriel-era album over it). I know both albums were considered crappy non-starters. But I found these "the artist as a young man" releases - while still searching for their own voice(s) - enchanting - and adored both.

Valdez wrote: Am I wrong for simply loving Amon Duuls HIJACK?  lol. Not their most popular album...  Sometimes I just put 'De Guadaloop' on a loop all day!

Edited by moshkito - 18 hours 14 minutes ago at 20:52

richardh wrote: I'm not sure what counts as 'lowly regarded'? For instance Glass Hammer - Arise is rated at 3.82 and Eloy - Inside is 3.78. Neither are bad ratings. Eloy's debut however is 2.92 but that seems fair to me. I could throw in VDGG - Do Not Disturb. That has a rating of 3.57 which could be a bit higher for me (at least a 4). I like the Yes debut album and at 3.30 seems a tad low. Vangelis last album Juno To Jupiter is rated at 3.18 which seems a bit low, I would put it higher at 4. His early albums are rated low but then they are quite experimental so I don't think they are underrated.

I think it's quite relative and subjective, and I hope for flexibility in such topics. In and of itself, normally I would consider a 3.78 out of five to be a very good rating (Inside is my favourite Eloy album, by the way, and I would give it four) but if the following ones are all nearly five, and maybe much less interest, then it is clearly not so generally well-regarded. I would call that more lower regarded than lowly probably. I tend to think of less than three as being poor and about 3.0 to say 3.3 as mediocre. I also would take not just numbers but opinions I have heard and reviews I have read into account. The idea anyway is early or late albums you like/love where you get the sense that it is not generally held in much esteem compared to the subsequent or previous works. You hold it in significantly more esteem than others seem to generally.

My example was Sufjan Stevens first two albums compared to later ones. From RYM:

- A Sun Came (2000) average rating is 2.86 with 3,215 ratings and 52 reviews
- Enjoy Your Rabbit (2001) 2.90 average rating with 3,582 ratings and 48 reviews

As compared to the three subsequent ones:

- Michigan (2003) 3.84 average rating, 15,538 ratings and 127 reviews
- Seven Swans (2004) 3.75 average rating, 12,969 ratings and 126 reviews
- Illinois (2005) 4.14 average rating, 40,774 ratings and 477 reviews.

That is a significant increase in rating as well as number of ratings. Actually, the reviews tend to be more positive than the ratings-only. I only like to review that which I like. And many only like to leave reviews for that which is very positive experience or a very negative experience (like with restaurant reviews). I get people not liking those first two as much and would not complain about the rating, but I like those albums more. That said, much as I like the first two albums, I would rate Michigan, Seven Swans and Illinois higher as well.

What is overrated or underrated is, commonly (as I can think of examples where things are held in too high or too low esteem due to factually incorrect assessments) very subjective. And the term is not even used in quite the same way by everyone, and I often think it's not used descriptively enough, but that's another topic.

I prefer having a good time listening to David Bowie's self titled 1967 debut (2:37 at PA, 2:30 at RYM) over his self titled follow-up David Bowie (Space Oddity), Pinups and Young Americans. I'll even admit I've listened to it way more often than The Man Who Sold the World, Diamond Dogs, Station to Station + every single album released in between Scary Monsters - Blackstar.

Some days Dead Can Dance 1984 debut which with it's 3:32 has their lowest ratings at PA (3:60 at RYM), is my favorite album of theirs. It sits at 9/10-10/10 for me.

I enjoy From Genesis to Revelation more than anything the band released post W&W*. It's not that I hate ATTWT or 1980's Genesis, I just really like their charmingly youthful debut. *I think I know it better than both that one and Trick...

-And hey, I love Can's Saw Delight (but it doesn't mean I actually prefer it to their seven first studio albums. It's up there with Landed, I guess)

To my ears (and soul), throughout his two decades and 14 studio album long career, Robbie Basho never released anything less than wonderfully great. His last, the cassette only release Twilight Peaks, (and not available on streaming services) from 1984 is no exception. Sold or packaged as an "The art of relaxation" tape.

progaardvark wrote: VDGG - A Grounding in Numbers

The first and last albums by Genesis - both better than they're often given credit for (and both rated a lowly 2.5 on PA), although I may be in a minority of one again with that opinion. 

Early Yes with Peter Banks. 

Edited by Cristi - March 15 2025 at 06:43

For some reason these click with me, but don't do well compared to their other albums (per PA/RYM ratings):

Edited by progaardvark - March 14 2025 at 15:18

^ Interview is the last GG I really liked, but I do like music off that album. I especially enjoy the first few albums by GG. I love Acquiring the Taste. Yummy.

^^ I love Led Zeppelin's In Through the Out Door and much prefer it to the subsequent Coda, and I prefer to the preceding Presence. It has "Carouselambra" which I adore, and I do love "All of My Love" off it. I love John Paul Jones in those. As for Saga, the self-titled debut is easily my favourite by the band, and I actually thought it was very well-regarded in its discography (at least by Prog fans, maybe not compared to many other bands). I love APP's first two album especially but have not heard the post Eye in the Sky albums.

Valdez wrote: Sometimes sufjan seems to repeat only because he's stuck in a spot and cant get out. (if that makes any sense) I love repetition if its done well.  This is on the extreme end of the subject but one of my favorites.

Gotta admit, now that Sufjan Stevens music sounds too repetitive to me. I kind of feel like he's doing some Nirvana meets Radiohead thing in that first song. It's hardly a favourite track of mine by him. And I do get what you're saying.

Edited by Logan - March 14 2025 at 14:17