Worst albums in rock history?

[Kristy]

They've structured a lot of great discs and the one you posted looks interesting.

I'll give them credit in that the people at Rhino seem to be knowing what they are doing by simply loving all genres of music and bringing out tunes that have not been heard in decades. They did this 70's "funk anthem" 4-disc set that I almost bought. Bonus tracks material can be all right if it's not too superfluous or embarrassing to listen to. I'm still waiting on The Smith's remasters that Rhino claimed that had a right to but I think there are some unresolved internal legal issues with that band to see it as a possibility any time soon.

[CROWBAR]

Isn't that more accurately a description of Brian Johnson's singing voice. Not that I don't love Ac/Dc, but it's true. And he didn't sing like that on the Geordie records.

Well, his voice is an acquired taste I'd say. I think he was merely singing in a style he thought fit the Angus Bros music. I can certainly think of other singers who I like less than his voice though.

[sadaist]

Motley Crue? Pretty much anything after their first two albums was worthless. Maybe Dr. Feelgood had a few high points, ironically enough because the band wasn't.

High, that is.

I mostly agree with you except I kinda like Theatre Of Pain. Definitely not their best by a long shot, but it came out at the perfect age for me when I was just getting into music and Motley Crue. That tour was my first concert ever. I musta played that tape 1,000 times in my Walkman. Shout At The Devil 5,000 times. So I have a soft sentimental spot for Theatre Of Pain mainly due to the timing.

[chefcraig]

I'm still waiting on The Smith's remasters that Rhino claimed that had a right to but I think there are some unresolved internal legal issues with that band to see it as a possibility any time soon.

Yeah, what happened with that? There was supposed to be a British series of reissues with at least a couple of the studio albums on vinyl, and then the rest of the catalogue would follow on CD. This was something like two or three years ago, and nothing ever showed up in the U.S. Hell, at least they should reissue the Hatful of Hollow and Louder Than Bombs compilations, which for many Americans was their first taste of the band on imports.

[Kristy]

It must have worked because they had a following. However, the music played so poorly didn't really coincide with their anger.

If you're talking production value then yeah, you won't get much of an argument from me on that recording. It was for the most part piss-poor and yet Chris Thomas was hailed a genius because of it going on to produce The Pretenders and INXS. The first VH was a marvel in that is came out of nowhere and not only that, it was something ORIGINAL in that Eddie completely re-wrote how rock guitar was to be played (unfortunately, he did spawn a lot of copy cats who didn't measure up). There is a lot of fire power on the first VH record and really, they didn't put out a bad album at all within the Roth-era six pack (although I did think Diver Down was the weakest link). And unlike the Pistols, the production on the first VH record is superb and the Warner remasters did an excellent job without it sounding too compressed.

So I can agree with you that a record may be good in theory so to say but if the production is bad or over the top (see: Steely Dan) then all the effort thrown into it becomes meaningless.

[FORD]

Yeah, what happened with that? There was supposed to be a British series of reissues with at least a couple of the studio albums on vinyl, and then the rest of the catalogue would follow on CD. This was something like two or three years ago, and nothing ever showed up in the U.S. Hell, at least they should reissue the Hatful of Hollow and Louder Than Bombs compilations, which for many Americans was their first taste of the band on imports.

Rhino can do remasters right when they want to. I think it falls more to the artists and what they want included than it does the label, really. For example, you can have Black Sabbath's "Black Box", which sounds great, but has absolutely NO "new" material on any of the albums & just one short DVD of unreleased video. Or you can have The Grateful Dead box "The Golden Road" which extends most of their albums to twice the original length with outtakes, alt mixes, and live material, plus a 2 disc set of demos and live stuff from the band's early days. Their Ramones reissues are stellar too, with a decent amount of bonus material on each disc. My favorite out of that one has to be the version of "Howling At The Moon" on the Too Tough To Die remaster, which actually sounds like a Ramones song, instead of just Joey singing over a bunch of video game noises like the "original" version. And the pre-Spectorized songs on End of the Century are great too.

[Nitro Express]

The first Van Halen album was great because it brought rock and roll back and it was fresh and new at the same time. Everything and I mean everything was disco then. You had to live through that to appreciate the painful experience it was and how relieving it was to hear that Van Halen for the first time. We were stuck in disco and K-Tel grade pop music. It was a horrible time.

[Kristy]

Yeah, what happened with that? There was supposed to be a British series of reissues with at least a couple of the studio albums on vinyl, and then the rest of the catalogue would follow on CD. This was something like two or three years ago, and nothing ever showed up in the U.S. Hell, at least they should reissue the Hatful of Hollow and Louder Than Bombs compilations, which for many Americans was their first taste of the band on imports.

In a Uncut Magazine 2006 interview with Johnny Marr on the 20th Anniversary of 'The Queen Is Dead' he said he was approached by Sire Records to oversee the "remastering process" of The Smith's catalog since Sire scored big on the Ramones remasters. Marr said he personally wanted have a hand in the process with people like Brain May, The Edge, Lindsay Buckingham having control over the remastering process of their group's efforts and then it was halted. My best guess is that prick Morrisey either filing an injunction or doing something to halt the process. Morrisey is one bitter asshole claiming it was the drummer Mike Joyce's heroin addiction the split The Smiths up (pay no mind that Morrisey was already working on a solo effort before 'Strangeways' was released in 87) and that bass player Andy Rourke was far more of a junkie at this time. And apart from Morrisey and his pre-emo utterings I still say The Smiths were probably one of the best casted bands to ever come along. Marr was a riff-writing genius in those days - even Keith Richards praised him.

Marr said there are no bonus tracks and pretty much what they recorded it what's out there. Some remastering process can be great or it can suck (like those Ozzy scab albums and Billy Idol's catalog) but I would personally like to hear a cleaner version of 'The Queen Is Dead' and so would Marr saying he doesn't remember much of the recording process of that album because he was stoned out of his mind most of the way through it where he would go into a tiny room in the house where it was recorded, toke for hours, write a guitar riff, 4-track it, bring it to the band, play it and write another. Almost like a Bob Dylan way of doing things.

[chefcraig]

Or you can have The Grateful Dead box "The Golden Road" which extends most of their albums to twice the original length with outtakes, alt mixes, and live material, plus a 2 disc set of demos and live stuff from the band's early days.

Get ready for the 60+ disc set covering the 1972 European tour. No, I'm not kidding, it will come out later this year.

Europe '72: The Complete Recordings

[FORD]

Get ready for the 60+ disc set covering the 1972 European tour. No, I'm not kidding, it will come out later this year.

Europe '72: The Complete Recordings

Holy shit!

The shows from that tour are fantastic, but that may be a bit much even for me!

[Kristy]

The first Van Halen album was great because it brought rock and roll back and it was fresh and new at the same time. Everything and I mean everything was disco then. You had to live through that to appreciate the painful experience it was and how relieving it was to hear that Van Halen for the first time. We were stuck in disco and K-Tel grade pop music. It was a horrible time.

I also think the first VH record slapped a lot of pretentious punk in the face as well. Though I don't think they purposefully set out to do that.

[Diamondjimi]

Pink Floyd is sleepy time music.

More like fuck time music. I have personally shagged the arse off many a hottie with Dark Side of the Moon as the soundtrack. Pink Floyd is amazing!

[ThrillsNSpills]

The first Van Halen album was great because it brought rock and roll back and it was fresh and new at the same time. Everything and I mean everything was disco then. You had to live through that to appreciate the painful experience it was and how relieving it was to hear that Van Halen for the first time. We were stuck in disco and K-Tel grade pop music. It was a horrible time.

By K-Tel grade I'm assuming you mean the compilations sold on TV that didn't feel it necessary to have the original artists on the songs.

[Nitro Express]

Van Halen was like getting punched in the face hard by a left hook you didn't see coming. All those awful late 80 bands like Poison that were just bad copies of Van Halen didn't exist. It was disco or The Captain & Tennille singing Muskrat Love. It was just awful. Even KISS degraded to the disco thing. All the bands like Led Zeppelin had broken up or were so high they sucked. The Ramones weren't given the time of day and nobody knew who they were.

I think 1978 was when what exploded in the 80's was starting to hatch. The punk, the new wave, the return of rock. It all was percolating then and then it exploded and we all went holy shit and lapped it all up like thirsty dogs. The 70's wee gone. That whole hippie/Vietnam/Watergate/Nixon/Jimmy Carter shit was gone and AIDS hadn't reared it's ugly head yet.

[Nitro Express]

By K-Tel grade I'm assuming you mean the compilations sold on TV that didn't feel it necessary to have the original artists on the songs.

It was just all those shitty songs you heard on the K-Tel commercials. Honestly, who bought those records or 8 track tapes anyways but they were selling the shit hard. Those commercial were always on.