Classic albums that weren't originally so..

[max_tranmere]

I heard recently that The Rolling Stones album 'Exile on Main Street' only got mediocre reviews when it came out, and some of the reviews were quite bad. The same is true of The Beatles' 'Abbey Road' album. This is quite surprising to learn. Both are now viewed as classics.

A case of the thing happening the other way round was 'Be Here Now' by Oasis - which got great reviews initially, then was viewed as having been crap all along by the very same music papers a few years later. It's funny how things appreciate, or depreciate, over time.

I am trying to think of something recently that was regarded as average at best but will soon be regarded as a classic, rather like the first two albums I listed have been. Any thoughts?

[crofter]

"Now That's What I Call Music 32" ... instant classic Max - check it out.

[max_tranmere]

I remember "Now Thats What I Call Music 1". I still have it somewhere I think.

[Bob Singleton]

max_tranmere wrote:

> I remember "Now Thats What I Call Music 1". I still have it
> somewhere I think.


I still have the first five on vinyl!

[Jonesy]

All that hoo-haa over the rediscoved songs from the Exile sessions, and the re-release of the album for a paltry ?9.71 at ASDA, I thought I'd take a chance.
Well, thats ?9.71 I blew!

[The Last Word]

"Not a good LP.......bland......seems to have lost his talent for turning gross into gold."

Melody Maker in '82, passing judgement on Thriller.

[max_tranmere]

Interesting comments. I am a big fan of 'Out Of The Blue' by ELO, although I do think they are scraping the barrel for lyrics and themes for songs quite often - 'big wheels turning' and 'I want to be a wild west hero' suggests they are not sure what to write about and are just 'filling'. It is a great album though and I still listen to it today.

You can always tell when writers are stretched, on the 'Yellow Brick Road' album by Elton John there is a song called 'This song has no title' and the main lyric goes 'this song has no title just words and a tune'. Bernie Taupin (Elton's lyric writer) was clearly having difficulties coming up with ideas to fill an album - the title of the song may be viewed as him being a bit differnt and quirky but I think it is genuinely because he had run out of things to write about and was scratching his head a lot. That album though is also a brilliant album.

[David Johnson]

The debut album from the Velvet Underground - the Velvet Underground with Nico had crap sales when it came out.

It is a classic with stuff like I'm waiting for the man on it - a track which still sounds fantastic to me, everytime I hear it.

Cheers
D

[max_tranmere]

Have you noticed how the music press tend to praise what is 'cool' and slate what isnt? I have always thought that is why 'Be Here Now' by Oasis got such rave reviews initially. I also remember 'Parklife' by Blur got 4 stars (out of a possible 5) in Q Magazine when released and then as Blur became regarded as being one of the best, also biggest, bands of the previous 10 years, in their round ups of 'best album of the decade', 'best band of the decade', etc, 'Parklife' was always referred to by Q Magazine as a 5 star album.