Write Back Weekend "Stop Me If You Think That You've Heard This One Before"
Let me start off by saying that this week's TITMT proved to be uniquely challenging. This is because there was a bit of a grey area in terms of the question I asked. For me, the most underrated albums didn't necessarily have to come from underrated artists. In fact, in my mind, underrated artists are almost a separate category altogether.
Obviously I stress out over the small things entirely too much.
For instance, there are many great artists out there that are known for their "one great album", while other equally, if not better albums, might be floating around out there. And then there are what I like to call the "monkey in the middle" type artists who most people know of, but don't know an entire album by them.
Still, for better or worse, here is the list I came up with...
1. Jude Cole- A View From 3rd Street- I am always thrilled when I hear other people equally appreciate the albums or artists that I think no one has heard of. Case in point with this question. Ms. Cornelius also posted a Jude album to her list, too. She chose Start The Car, the album released after this one, which was another great choice. Really anything by Jude didn't get the credit it deserved. Both albums are great from start to finish so really, you can't go wrong with either one.
2. Jellyfish- Bellybutton- Jellyfish was a band from the nineties, that dressed like it was the seventies. With only two albums under their belt in their short-lived career, (this and Spilt Milk) Jellyfish's music managed to leave such a lasting impression that I haven't found a band nearly as inspiring in the 15 or so years since. They took everything great about the pop sensibility of bands like The Beach Boys and Badfinger and made it into a blend that they called their own. I hear that the lead singer, Andy Sturmer, is producing bands in Japan now which unfortunately, is of no use to me. To say they were underrated and went out before their time is really underestimating what they were all about.
3. Melissa Lefton- self-titled premiere album This album above all others deserves to make a list like this because in reality, you couldn't have heard it, because I don't think it was ever really released. At the time it was supposed to come out though I was writing a slew of album reviews for online sites. This is how I received an advance copy of the album that was never meant to be. I instantly fell in love with Lefton's sugary pop with purpose. On the surface her songs seemed non sensical, but they actually were a lot deeper than most pop music out there. Lefton cheerfully sang of topics like joining a cult and producing that one hit song for the masses. If only other people could have heard them, too.
4. The Party- Self Titled- In the late eighties I was really bummed because I didn't get the Disney Channel. See at the time, you had to pay extra to watch Disney and my parents didn't want to do that. So I had to do without getting my fix of shows like Kids Incorporated and Mickey Mouse Club unless I was over a friend's house.
The next best thing to being at a friend's house was the free, 4 day weekends they would offer in an attempt to entice you to subscribe to the Disney Channel. This is when I'd get a taste of what I was missing and ultimately, how I discovered The Party. The Party was a group of good looking, talented teens taken from the money making factory known as the new Mickey Mouse Club. These teens were "spunoff" into an entity all their own called The Party. They only had one real radio "hit" called Summer Vacation, but the albums they made were surprisingly catchy and enjoyable. While I enjoyed all of their albums (I think they released four in total), the first one always holds the most special place in my heart as being the best.
5. Danielle Brisebois- Arrive All Over You- Although Danielle Brisebois never quite made it to household name status, she had a whole other life as child actress on All In The Family before she took a stab at being a pop princess in the mid nineties. Her album and image had echoes of post Martika or pre Alanis. It was full of emotionally titled songs like Welcome to Love (Now Go Home) and the tune Just Missed The Train, rerecorded by Kelly Clarkson some years later. Danielle attempted to rise from obscurity by teaming up with our next artist, but if they're also on the list, we all know how that story goes.
7. New Radicals- Maybe You've Been Brainwashed Too- The New Radicals, not unlike the Gallagher brothers from Oasis, were legends in their own minds. Actually, if we're being technical, there were really no New Radicals, just one guy, Gregg Alexander, and some background singing courtesy of Danielle Brisebois. Why he chose to take a name that signified their being a band when really he ran the whole show is just another indication of the larger than life persona he gave off. Unlike many of the albums on this list, you probably know New Radicals because they played their song Get What You Give into the ground. But Alexander had a reputation for having a big mouth and a big ego and the rest of the album never really got off the ground. It's a beautiful collection though of songs that are unique in both style and lyrical content. Unfortunately, if you only know the song Get What You Give you really are missing out on what the New Radicals were all about.
8. Michael Morales- Thump- Throughout my youth, I was notorious for hearing a song I semi-liked once and buying the whole album the next day. Sometimes I'd even browse the bargain bins and purchase cheap artists I've never heard of before, just because. At the time the local radio station was playing a song by Morales called I Don't Wanna See You that I loved. So I went out and bought the album and released I loved the whole damn thing. Of course I have no idea what happened to Morales since then. It's a bit cheesy at spots, sorta like the album Donnie Osmond never released during his Soldier of Love comeback, but it's enjoyable from start to finish. Now how many albums can you say that about, really?
9. Letters To Cleo- Wholesale Meats and Fish- The story behind this album is a unique one. This is because I purchased the album after hearing and loving the song Awake but the album itself I didn't really get into all that much. But then a few years later I went to college and Letters To Cleo was the band that was coming to our campus. So I dusted off my copy of Wholesale Meats and purchased their other releases, and realized how much I was missing. For a few years there I had misguided dreams of being a cute rocker chick. Though I knew nothing about singing, I still attibuted the kind of rock girl I wanted to be to my love affair with all things Letters To Cleo. I was thrilled to see them show up in one of my favorite movies from the nineties, Ten Things I Hate About You. I suppose you could say they "peaked" there, but for me, the beat goes on forever.
10. Athenaeum- Radiance- In my opinion, the nineties were riddled with a lot of great smaller artists that never got their fair shake. While opportunities for more artists to make it were expanding, the aveues to get your music out there were not quite on the same page yet. The download age was yet to be in full swing and the My Space revolution had yet to be information superhighwayed. This is how bands like Athenaeum got lost in the shuffle. The song that did it for me was What I Didn't Know. It was the song that was meant to be played out in every college bar across the country, but it never quite reached that status, as the album also never got the credit it deserved.
11. Expose- What You Don't Know- The inclusion of this choice was just as much for nostalgia purposes as it was for it being a great album. I was "down the shore" as we say in Jersey when I first discovered this album. What You Don't Know (not to be confused with Athenaeum's What I Didn't Know) was a hit on the radio at the time and Expose, a band that had a reputation already. But the album itself was much more than just What I Didn't Know. Most noteably for me was the beautifully sad Your Baby Never Looked Good In Blue, among others. If you've never heard the tune, you don't know what you're missing.
12. Lauren Christy- Breed- The story of how I discovered this album is not all that different from the story of how I discoved Melissa Lefton. I received this album to review, but was surprised when I gave it a listen. This was because prior to this album, Lauren Christy seemed to be going the adult contemporary route, while this album was a marked departure into alternata rock chick territory. Since she didn't really have any sort of reputation to uphold, the transformation was probably not noticed by many. Yet despite where loyalties lied, Christy never made it in either venue, which is really a shame. Breed is a great pop song along the lines of Meredith Brooks Bitch, but my favorite tune is the anthemic I Want What I Want.
13. Peter Cetera- World Falling Down- I'm bound to get hell for at least one of the choices on this list, so why not just go ahead and call myself out on it before you guys can? Say what you will about Chicago and Peter Cetera, but if you like a sappy love song every once awhile, he's one of the best. World Falling Down is a great album, but it was a quiet release from a man who spent years in the forefront.
14. Greenberry Woods- Rapple Dapple-- I first discovered The Greenberry Woods when they opened up for the one and only time I got to see Jellyfish. Looking back on it now I had no idea what a great concert I would remember that as. I remember being blown away by the short set of consistently good songs. After a second release a few years later entitled Big Money Item and a few featured songs in angst ridden moments on shows like Party of Five, Greenberry Woods eventually disappeared into the forest. At some point some or all of the boys reemerged as a new band called Splitsville, but that project didn't have the same spark as Greenberry Woods did for me.
15. Collapsis- Dirty Wake- This album will always hold a special place in my heart. This is because it is one of the last albums I can actually remember buying before I switched over to the wonderful world of downloading. I don't remember how I found them, probably from their song Automatic, but they fall into the group I was talking about earlier with Atheanaeum of great alt rock bands from the nineties that never got a fair chance.
So there you have it. Fifteen great albums from fifteen great artists, some of whom you may have once known, others you may have never known if it hadn't of been for this post. I can say with completely certainty that this list is just touching the surface of all the great, unsung musical albums of our time. For the most part, they were like the musical James Dean of their time--gone all too soon.
Obviously I stress out over the small things entirely too much.
For instance, there are many great artists out there that are known for their "one great album", while other equally, if not better albums, might be floating around out there. And then there are what I like to call the "monkey in the middle" type artists who most people know of, but don't know an entire album by them.
Still, for better or worse, here is the list I came up with...
1. Jude Cole- A View From 3rd Street- I am always thrilled when I hear other people equally appreciate the albums or artists that I think no one has heard of. Case in point with this question. Ms. Cornelius also posted a Jude album to her list, too. She chose Start The Car, the album released after this one, which was another great choice. Really anything by Jude didn't get the credit it deserved. Both albums are great from start to finish so really, you can't go wrong with either one.
2. Jellyfish- Bellybutton- Jellyfish was a band from the nineties, that dressed like it was the seventies. With only two albums under their belt in their short-lived career, (this and Spilt Milk) Jellyfish's music managed to leave such a lasting impression that I haven't found a band nearly as inspiring in the 15 or so years since. They took everything great about the pop sensibility of bands like The Beach Boys and Badfinger and made it into a blend that they called their own. I hear that the lead singer, Andy Sturmer, is producing bands in Japan now which unfortunately, is of no use to me. To say they were underrated and went out before their time is really underestimating what they were all about.
3. Melissa Lefton- self-titled premiere album This album above all others deserves to make a list like this because in reality, you couldn't have heard it, because I don't think it was ever really released. At the time it was supposed to come out though I was writing a slew of album reviews for online sites. This is how I received an advance copy of the album that was never meant to be. I instantly fell in love with Lefton's sugary pop with purpose. On the surface her songs seemed non sensical, but they actually were a lot deeper than most pop music out there. Lefton cheerfully sang of topics like joining a cult and producing that one hit song for the masses. If only other people could have heard them, too.
4. The Party- Self Titled- In the late eighties I was really bummed because I didn't get the Disney Channel. See at the time, you had to pay extra to watch Disney and my parents didn't want to do that. So I had to do without getting my fix of shows like Kids Incorporated and Mickey Mouse Club unless I was over a friend's house.
The next best thing to being at a friend's house was the free, 4 day weekends they would offer in an attempt to entice you to subscribe to the Disney Channel. This is when I'd get a taste of what I was missing and ultimately, how I discovered The Party. The Party was a group of good looking, talented teens taken from the money making factory known as the new Mickey Mouse Club. These teens were "spunoff" into an entity all their own called The Party. They only had one real radio "hit" called Summer Vacation, but the albums they made were surprisingly catchy and enjoyable. While I enjoyed all of their albums (I think they released four in total), the first one always holds the most special place in my heart as being the best.
5. Danielle Brisebois- Arrive All Over You- Although Danielle Brisebois never quite made it to household name status, she had a whole other life as child actress on All In The Family before she took a stab at being a pop princess in the mid nineties. Her album and image had echoes of post Martika or pre Alanis. It was full of emotionally titled songs like Welcome to Love (Now Go Home) and the tune Just Missed The Train, rerecorded by Kelly Clarkson some years later. Danielle attempted to rise from obscurity by teaming up with our next artist, but if they're also on the list, we all know how that story goes.
7. New Radicals- Maybe You've Been Brainwashed Too- The New Radicals, not unlike the Gallagher brothers from Oasis, were legends in their own minds. Actually, if we're being technical, there were really no New Radicals, just one guy, Gregg Alexander, and some background singing courtesy of Danielle Brisebois. Why he chose to take a name that signified their being a band when really he ran the whole show is just another indication of the larger than life persona he gave off. Unlike many of the albums on this list, you probably know New Radicals because they played their song Get What You Give into the ground. But Alexander had a reputation for having a big mouth and a big ego and the rest of the album never really got off the ground. It's a beautiful collection though of songs that are unique in both style and lyrical content. Unfortunately, if you only know the song Get What You Give you really are missing out on what the New Radicals were all about.
8. Michael Morales- Thump- Throughout my youth, I was notorious for hearing a song I semi-liked once and buying the whole album the next day. Sometimes I'd even browse the bargain bins and purchase cheap artists I've never heard of before, just because. At the time the local radio station was playing a song by Morales called I Don't Wanna See You that I loved. So I went out and bought the album and released I loved the whole damn thing. Of course I have no idea what happened to Morales since then. It's a bit cheesy at spots, sorta like the album Donnie Osmond never released during his Soldier of Love comeback, but it's enjoyable from start to finish. Now how many albums can you say that about, really?
9. Letters To Cleo- Wholesale Meats and Fish- The story behind this album is a unique one. This is because I purchased the album after hearing and loving the song Awake but the album itself I didn't really get into all that much. But then a few years later I went to college and Letters To Cleo was the band that was coming to our campus. So I dusted off my copy of Wholesale Meats and purchased their other releases, and realized how much I was missing. For a few years there I had misguided dreams of being a cute rocker chick. Though I knew nothing about singing, I still attibuted the kind of rock girl I wanted to be to my love affair with all things Letters To Cleo. I was thrilled to see them show up in one of my favorite movies from the nineties, Ten Things I Hate About You. I suppose you could say they "peaked" there, but for me, the beat goes on forever.
10. Athenaeum- Radiance- In my opinion, the nineties were riddled with a lot of great smaller artists that never got their fair shake. While opportunities for more artists to make it were expanding, the aveues to get your music out there were not quite on the same page yet. The download age was yet to be in full swing and the My Space revolution had yet to be information superhighwayed. This is how bands like Athenaeum got lost in the shuffle. The song that did it for me was What I Didn't Know. It was the song that was meant to be played out in every college bar across the country, but it never quite reached that status, as the album also never got the credit it deserved.
11. Expose- What You Don't Know- The inclusion of this choice was just as much for nostalgia purposes as it was for it being a great album. I was "down the shore" as we say in Jersey when I first discovered this album. What You Don't Know (not to be confused with Athenaeum's What I Didn't Know) was a hit on the radio at the time and Expose, a band that had a reputation already. But the album itself was much more than just What I Didn't Know. Most noteably for me was the beautifully sad Your Baby Never Looked Good In Blue, among others. If you've never heard the tune, you don't know what you're missing.
12. Lauren Christy- Breed- The story of how I discovered this album is not all that different from the story of how I discoved Melissa Lefton. I received this album to review, but was surprised when I gave it a listen. This was because prior to this album, Lauren Christy seemed to be going the adult contemporary route, while this album was a marked departure into alternata rock chick territory. Since she didn't really have any sort of reputation to uphold, the transformation was probably not noticed by many. Yet despite where loyalties lied, Christy never made it in either venue, which is really a shame. Breed is a great pop song along the lines of Meredith Brooks Bitch, but my favorite tune is the anthemic I Want What I Want.
13. Peter Cetera- World Falling Down- I'm bound to get hell for at least one of the choices on this list, so why not just go ahead and call myself out on it before you guys can? Say what you will about Chicago and Peter Cetera, but if you like a sappy love song every once awhile, he's one of the best. World Falling Down is a great album, but it was a quiet release from a man who spent years in the forefront.
14. Greenberry Woods- Rapple Dapple-- I first discovered The Greenberry Woods when they opened up for the one and only time I got to see Jellyfish. Looking back on it now I had no idea what a great concert I would remember that as. I remember being blown away by the short set of consistently good songs. After a second release a few years later entitled Big Money Item and a few featured songs in angst ridden moments on shows like Party of Five, Greenberry Woods eventually disappeared into the forest. At some point some or all of the boys reemerged as a new band called Splitsville, but that project didn't have the same spark as Greenberry Woods did for me.
15. Collapsis- Dirty Wake- This album will always hold a special place in my heart. This is because it is one of the last albums I can actually remember buying before I switched over to the wonderful world of downloading. I don't remember how I found them, probably from their song Automatic, but they fall into the group I was talking about earlier with Atheanaeum of great alt rock bands from the nineties that never got a fair chance.
So there you have it. Fifteen great albums from fifteen great artists, some of whom you may have once known, others you may have never known if it hadn't of been for this post. I can say with completely certainty that this list is just touching the surface of all the great, unsung musical albums of our time. For the most part, they were like the musical James Dean of their time--gone all too soon.
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