There r some albums that vast majority of music lovers don't know they exist or don't give the real importance. I think it's time 4 us 2 show our favorite "unknow" albums!

Here R nine:



Shakira's best album...before she dominated the airwaves with Landry Service!



Kylie's Light Years...One of the campest, gayest and most fun album I've heard! Light years better than the overplayed fever! POP divine xtravanganza!



Hikaru Utada's DEEP River...The best JPOP album ever IMO...before the flop crossover

Light Years is great, but I'd still give the edge to Fever. Fever wouldn't be caught dead with a song like "Bittersweet Goodbye".

Moonbeam said:

I see u know ur Kylie!

miguelbulcao said:

I'm at sayhey too. MoonbeamLevels is my screenname.

I'm obsessed with her. I became a fan in 2002 and I have 61 Kylie CDs, 2 tapes, 5 records, 2 songbooks, 4 DVDs and 3 books.

Moonbeam said:

Chico has over 80 Kylie cds.
He sent me a pic of his collection

Moonbeam said:

So U r moombeam...I'm use the name of LoveSexy there!

Did u like my Vanity 6, Sheila E. threads I did there?

How many times do I have to say it?

Louden Up Now by !!!

We were talking about this recently here on the org on another thread. I'm glad this one came up.


CREE SUMMER - STREET FAERIE incredible album.
SHANTE MOORE - Pretty much everything but especially her first 2 albums.

Start with these recent works.


Madvillain. Madvillainy -- MF Doom and Madlib create the greatest hip-hop album in a decade.



Jazzanova, in between -- IMHO, this album does for electronica what A Love Supreme does for jazz (caveat: not a direct comparison to ALS).




Digable Planets, Blowout Comb -- Known and marginalized as hippie-hoppers for their classic album Reachin' and the Grammy-winning "Cool Like Dat", these cats followed it up with the most overlooked masterpiece in hip-hop. The beats are flawless and the rhymes are on point.





De La Soul, Stakes Is High -- Like the Digable Planets, De La was largely ignored by audiences by the mid-90's, but they made the best protest record against the decaying hip-hop genre ever with this album. They were almost prophetic in talking about how wack hip-hop had become at the onset of the "bling"/"jiggy" era.
[Edited 4/20/05 14:43pm]

a few...


Rotary Connection: Songs/Hey Love


Hefner(Lee Jones): Residue


...and I know people are probably sick of us talkin' about this guy, but:

Absolutely. One of my favorites from high school. The care taken with rhymes and beats is amazing. In that respect it reminds me of The Love Movement by A Tribe Called Quest.

WhamBamGlamSlam said:

I was told this for MONTHS before I finally got it. Now I can;t believe I ever waited. AWESOME CD!

WhamBamGlamSlam said:

You'll find that album has a decent audience here. Myself, Moonbeam, Anxiety and Sassy are all big fans of it.

here's mine:



I'll admit it, I'm biased. The Charlatans are my favorite band and Tim has been my rock star boyfriend for over 10 years now. Still his first (and only) solo CD continues to brighten my world.

Tim keeps it poppy and simple, squeezing 11 songs into 46 minutes. As always, the songs are filled with Tim's warm and fuzzy voice. This album sees Tim venture into an almost country/southern US rock sound on some tracks. In spite of this, the CD was released in the UK in 2003 but never has had a US release. Of course, I loved it enough to buy the import...on CD...and vinyl...and the singles....

It still boggles my mind why some of the gems of the album (I Believe, Only A Boy, Years Ago) haven't become modern classics. Regardless, I continue my quest to help people find the bliss of I Believe.

miguelbulcao said:

I'm MoonbeamLevels, not Moonbeam unfortunately. That username had already been taken.

I did enjoy the Vanity and Sheila threads.

I started an identically-themed thread on another site a month or so back and received some tremendous recommendations. Who knew Roy Harper was so much more than the inspiration for a middling Led Zeppelin song? Not I...

Anyway, here are my nominations for great unheard albums:



Gene Clark - No Other

Gene Clark is basically just a rock footnote: he was one of the founding members of the Byrds, but as a solo act in the seventies he released an astonishing series of lushly produced and beautifully crafted solo albums. He reached a peak on No Other. This album is often described as being a slightly countrified version of Fleetwood Mac's Rumours, and that's fairly accurate in my opinion. The songwriting is consistently brilliant, and the backing is provided by an assortment of the most talented studio hotshots available in the early seventies. This is one of those rare albums where you can spend days losing yourself in the craft and care that went into producing it. I can't recommend it highly enough.



Grant McLennan - Horsebreaker Star

Grant McLennan was a member of the Go-Betweens, an Australian alterna-rock act from the eighties who were sporadically great, but he really came into his own on this album. Every song is a keeper, with the material ranging from pure pop to unsentimental balladry to brilliant country-tinged rock that will stick in your head for weeks. Mclennan knocked out this record in about a week with Nashville studio musicians and background vocals from Syd Straw, and I'd certainly say it's one of the most consistent and enjoyable pop albums I've ever heard.



Julian Cope - Peggy Suicide

One of the most eccentric performers rock's ever produced finally pulled himself together long enough to produce an excellent album. Cope is probably too insane to ever make a consistently good album, but the peaks on this album are amazing. Naming this album might be a bit of a cheat, because I think it was something of a hit in the UK.
[Edited 4/20/05 18:16pm]

The Pop Group - Y

Pylon - Gyrate

The Rogers Sisters - Purely Evil

Harco Pront - Jibberish

Dismembement Plan - Emergency & I

Zuco 103 - Tales of High Fever

The Suburbs - Credit In Heaven


If only folks would get their headds out of Lil' Jon's ass for a moment.
[Edited 4/21/05 16:37pm]

good calls on !!! and julian cope.

i would add:

sinead o'connor - am i not your girl?
sean lennon - into the sun
grandaddy - sumday
neneh cherry - homebrew
deee-lite - dewdrops in the garden
anything by eels
laurie anderson - bright red
lou reed - berlin (which, i know, has a bit of a cult following...but it needs MORE of a cult following)

I hardly know any of these albums

Anxiety said:

People don't like it when I say this, but I actually believe that album works best if you view it as a comedy album. Everything about it is so over-the-top and grandiose, from the children screaming on 'the kids' to the 'over the rainbow' musical quote on 'sad song' - I just think it's a perfect piece of absurdity. I certainly don't think of it as a sad or miserable album - it just seems a little too silly to be truly depressing.

Don't get me wrong, though - I love it...I just can't quite take it completely seriously.
[Edited 4/20/05 18:48pm]

Dewrede said:

hence the title of this thread!

I was trying to be funny

damosuzuki said:

oh, i agree. i think it's completely melodramatic. sometimes it's a little too heavyhanded/overbearing for me to get into, but when i'm in the mood for it...oh my GOD, i love it.

Anxiety said:

I tried REAL hard to get into this one, but it didn't happen. I kinna liked it but it never really clicked. Which made me sad cos you and Blue were SO loving the CD. I felt like there was something wrong with me...

Anxiety said:

I think the cabaret backdrop of the album serves as an effective way of "exposing" the cracks in society at the time. The album almost sounds like a play with many acts as a result. I do find it incredibly depressing, and as it sounds so exposed, it is all the more effective to me.

endorphin74 said:

i love you anyway!

Anxiety said:

WHEW!

Moonbeam said:

I'd argue about how effective it is at making its point, because I certainly think the lyrics are overwrought (that's the nice way of saying it, really). Musically, it's bombastic, but in its way it's a stronger album for being so pompous, because if the music was low-key or understated it would just expose how weak the words are.

I don't know why I'm putting so much effort into bad-mouthing an album I actually like. Berlin is a terrific time-capsule of seventies excess.
[Edited 4/20/05 19:17pm]

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[Edited 4/20/05 19:55pm]