I don't give a fuck what anyone says. Hot Space is a beast of a record. There isn't one bad song on it.

Susan Rogers remixed a track on the CD version later on, but I don't particularly care for it. Nothing on there needs to be touched up.

I don't know how much people know about Basia's first record, Time and Tide, but I love every bit of it. The woman has a voice that reminds me of Linda Eder. The CD went platinum, but barely cracked the Top 40. It's a bit of a contemporary jazz album. There's not a bad song on Time and Tide. PS The title track was a moderate single. So yeah, the whole record there.

Frankly, "The Lady in My Life" on Thriller is still overlooked.

Jermaine's Jackson's self-titled record (often referred to as Dynamite) had a few hidden gems. "Some Things are Private" is his "P.Y.T." Actually, that whole record is an exact blueprint of Thriller, down to the 3rd track duet, 4th track spooky song, last track ballad about a woman. "Sweetest Sweetest" is the "Baby Be Mine" track.

TrivialPursuit said:

I don't give a fuck what anyone says. Hot Space is a beast of a record. There isn't one bad song on it.

Susan Rogers remixed a track on the CD version later on, but I don't particularly care for it. Nothing on there needs to be touched up.

I don't know how much people know about Basia's first record, Time and Tide, but I love every bit of it. The woman has a voice that reminds me of Linda Eder. The CD went platinum, but barely cracked the Top 40. It's a bit of a contemporary jazz album. There's not a bad song on Time and Tide. PS The title track was a moderate single. So yeah, the whole record there.

Frankly, "The Lady in My Life" on Thriller is still overlooked.

Jermaine's Jackson's self-titled record (often referred to as Dynamite) had a few hidden gems. "Some Things are Private" is his "P.Y.T." Actually, that whole record is an exact blueprint of Thriller, down to the 3rd track duet, 4th track spooky song, last track ballad about a woman. "Sweetest Sweetest" is the "Baby Be Mine" track.

But Thriller isn't an underwhelming/underperforming album?

If we're talking bout slept on hidden gems from underwhelming/underperforming MJ albums then I'd say Speechless and Unbreakable from Invincible.

Mamma Mia and SOS languished on an unsuccessful ABBA album for six months before SOS finally got some airplay and ABBA took off again. Imagine that hadn't happened and you came across a song as strong as Mamma Mia on a pile of cheap vinyl of followups by forgotten eurovision winners?

"Wobble Wobble" on the 504 Boyz Goodfellaz album

TrivialPursuit said:

Gap Band ~ Going In Circles (Gap Band VII)
Stevie Wonder ~ Race Babbling (Journey Through The Secret Life Of Plants)
Color Me Badd ~ The Bells (Time And Chance)
El DeBarge ~ Cross My Heart (Gemini)
Paul McCartney ~ Biker Like An Icon (Off The Ground)
Wings ~ Arrow Through Me (Back To The Egg)
Shaggy ~ Hookie Jookie (Lucky Day)
Tears For Fears ~ Last Days On Earth (Everybody Loves A Happy Ending)
Beastie Boys ~ A Year And A Day (Paul's Boutique)
Genesis ~ Ripples... (A Trick Of The Tail)

Jermaine Jackson ~ Castles Of Sand (Frontiers)
Jermaine Jackson ~ You Need To Be Loved (Feel The Fire)

Daryl Hall ~ I'm In A Philly Mood (Soul Alone)

Hall & Oates ~ Who Said The World Was Fair (X-Static)

Marvin Gaye ~ Praise (In Our Lifetime)

Al B. Sure! ~ Thanks For A Great Time Last Night (Sexy Versus)

Ronald Isley & Burt Bacharach ~ In Between The Heartaches (Here I Am: Isley Meets Bacharach) (this album came out during the popularity of "Mr. Biggs" and was ignored)

Fiona01 said:

But Thriller isn't an underwhelming/underperforming album?

That's my take. "The Lady in My Life" is a hidden gem on Thriller. The album's monumental performance wasn't a factor in my statement.

MotownSubdivision said:

Idk why you mentioned Thriller bro. We're talking about overlooked songs on mediocre/underachieving albums, not just simply overlooked songs.

Because I chose to. I talked about the song, not the album. That was my take on a song.

TrivialPursuit said:

MotownSubdivision said:

Topic title: Hidden gems on underwhelming/underperforming albums Is Thriller an underwhelming or a commercially underperforming album? No, it's not. Thus your take on a song from said album is a moot point. [Edited 9/21/20 13:27pm]

The Lady In My Life got lots of airplay on R&B radio anyway. It still does to this day on Adult R&B stations and the Quiet Storm show. Baby Be Mine was played on the radio too.

MickyDolenz said:

Gap Band ~ Going In Circles (Gap Band VII)
Stevie Wonder ~ Race Babbling (Journey Through The Secret Life Of Plants)
Color Me Badd ~ The Bells (Time And Chance)
El DeBarge ~ Cross My Heart (Gemini)
Paul McCartney ~ Biker Like An Icon (Off The Ground)
Wings ~ Arrow Through Me (Back To The Egg)
Shaggy ~ Hookie Jookie (Lucky Day)
Tears For Fears ~ Last Days On Earth (Everybody Loves A Happy Ending)
Beastie Boys ~ A Year And A Day (Paul's Boutique)
Genesis ~ Ripples... (A Trick Of The Tail)

Jermaine Jackson ~ Castles Of Sand (Frontiers)
Jermaine Jackson ~ You Need To Be Loved (Feel The Fire)

Daryl Hall ~ I'm In A Philly Mood (Soul Alone)

Hall & Oates ~ Who Said The World Was Fair (X-Static)

Marvin Gaye ~ Praise (In Our Lifetime)

Al B. Sure! ~ Thanks For A Great Time Last Night (Sexy Versus)

Ronald Isley & Burt Bacharach ~ In Between The Heartaches (Here I Am: Isley Meets Bacharach) (this album came out during the popularity of "Mr. Biggs" and was ignored)

I love this. Anyone who owned some of those albums be like "why am I holding on to this?" but this thread could be the key to that.

MickyDolenz said:

Hall & Oates ~ Who Said The World Was Fair (X-Static)

This album has "Wait For Me". I think that might have been the single, not sure.

Cinny said:

I love this. Anyone who owned some of those albums be like "why am I holding on to this?" but this thread could be the key to that.

I didn't mention these because I thought the albums were bad, just that they weren't commercially successful. The "underperforming" the OP mentioned. I like them. The Secret Life Of Plants is my favorite Stevie Wonder album. I guess the general public did not want to listen to an album entirely about plants. I think the movie was only shown briefly in NYC, so that probably did not help either in that its a soundtrack to the film. My copy of the record still has the perfumed scent on it.

"What Should I Do?" from Wildcard by Sananda Maitreya

Although I enjoyed the album, it went largely under the radar but this song is a beast!

The Jacksons - "2300 Jackson St" from the lp of the same name

The Jackson 5 - "All I Do Is Think Of You' - Moving Violation lp

MickyDolenz said:

My copy of the record still has the perfumed scent on it.

I didn't know that album made any scents.

alphastreet said:

X girlfriend and did I do that on Mariah’s rainbow album are hidden gems

And Crybaby the very best song in that album.

The Grass Is Green, Childhood Dreams and Picture Perfect from Folklore by Nelly Furtado.

Cinny said:

MickyDolenz said:

X-Static

This album has "Wait For Me". I think that might have been the single, not sure.

It had 2 or 3 singles. Wait For Me is one of them and the only one that became a hit, it reached the Top 20 on the pop chart. Portable Radio has a music video and was remade by an all female band called Clout.

MickyDolenz said:

Cinny said:

I love this. Anyone who owned some of those albums be like "why am I holding on to this?" but this thread could be the key to that.

I didn't mention these because I thought the albums were bad, just that they weren't commercially successful. The "underperforming" the OP mentioned. I like them. The Secret Life Of Plants is my favorite Stevie Wonder album. I guess the general public did not want to listen to an album entirely about plants. I think the movie was only shown briefly in NYC, so that probably did not help either in that its a soundtrack to the film. My copy of the record still has the perfumed scent on it.

Not to derail the thread but the bolded is an interesting statement that I've never heard from hardcore Stevie fans. Too "experimental" for me to get with other than the "Send One Your Love" joints but I'm curious as to why that's your favorite over Songs, Fulfillingness, or Innervisions.

RJOrion said:

2300 Jackson St. is WAY better than Victory.

co-sign "One More Chance", too

"One More Chance" and "One More Night" by Phil Collins needs a mashup. It's the same damn song.

Janet threw Randy some money when she covered "One More Chance" on the IF maxi.

"Be Not Always" is a gem, too. It's really a precusor to stuff like "Man in the Mirror" and "Gone Too Soon."

CoolMF said:

Not to derail the thread but the bolded is an interesting statement that I've never heard from hardcore Stevie fans. Too "experimental" for me to get with other than the "Send One Your Love" joints but I'm curious as to why that's your favorite over Songs, Fulfillingness, or Innervisions.

It's a soundtrack to a plant life documentary. I'm not sure what kind of songs you would expect for that. I've seen the movie. It also has Here Comes The Sun by The Beatles in it. There's a previous plant album by Mort Garson called Mother Earth's Plantasia. The Garson album is designed to be played to plants. Playing music for flowers or talking to them and how the plants respond is brought up in the documentary, which was based on a book by the same name. It's interesting that Here Comes The Sun is in the movie because George Harrison was into gardening as a hobby at Friar Park. Maybe that's how it got approved.

I have some Sun Ra records, now that's more out there. In a way Stevie's soundtrack is kinda like a Sun Ra record by a mainstream singer. Maybe not music wise, but Sun Ra is an influence on Funkadelic & Earth Wind & Fire, esepcially the outfits and the Mothership. He was doing all that in the 1950s & 1960s. Stevie has a song called Saturn which is also something Sun Ra always talks about. Race Babbling is sort of like an early version of techno music. Herbie Hancock has a song from 1974 called Nobu that's electronic too.