Hidden Treasures - Where it all went wrong

[Scott]

Hind Sight is always 20/20

In a succesful bands career there are those head-scratcher albums. Albums that represent the beginning of troubled times ahead. But at the time they made them, they made total sense.  You know those albums where your favorite rock band scored a hit with a disco beat, incorporated keyboards, or changed something about their previous success.

These are the ones that came to my mind, take a listen, let me know what you think and what albums messed up a good thing from your perspective!

 

PLAYLIST --> http://snack.to/atk5b3nu

	RUSH - Grace Under Pressure 1984 1 - Red Sector A Might as well start with the more arguable album in this post. Some may say Permanent Waves, others Signals. In fact even Wikipedia says that Signals was the major shift. But for me this album was the beginning of a major shift into keyboardville for Rush because it was also a big stylistic change as well. They brought in the same Producer who had worked with Simple Minds and U2, which failed miserably when he ran out on them during the recording sessions to work with Simple Minds. We should probably be thankful he took off and Peter Henderson finished this as a co-producer with the band or this may have been even more weird. Today the album sounds much better than when it first came out, its actually a very decent album with some great songs but it took me years to reconcile my feelings about this album and give it a place of respect in the Rush catalog.
	JUDAS PRIEST - Turbo 1986 2 - Private Property Following the success of Screaming for Vengeance and Defenders of the Faith (AKA Screaming For Vengeance II) the band curiously added Guitar Synthesizers. Halford has said the band was into new technologies and experimenting with new sounds. Whatever the reason, the fans have a Love/Hate relationship with the album. For me its one of those albums I received very well when it came out but as time has passed it hasnt held up as well. I like about half of the tunes still, while the other half are just OK.
	VAN HALEN - Best of Van Halen, Vol. 1 1996 3 - Me Wise Magic So why limit our scope to albums when theres songs that have similar or even bigger impacts. Did this song make everything spiral out of control  with Van Halen or did it start them on the right path? It started the argument with Hagar, and then Roth was in then got kicked out again after acting like a fool on Mtv, and then we got Gary Cherone. UGH!!! Thankfully they came back last year with Roth and got it right! The future is bright ... or is it!

[Niels (Mod)]

A couple of examples:

For me, it went wrong with Cheap Trick when they released "Next Position Please". "One on One" might not be a classic today, but in 1982 it was a good record, with good tunes and a modern sound, so I was really looking forward to NPP, and I was very dissapointed. Even though "Standing On The Edge" had a few great tracks, it was never the same with Cheap Trick for me after NPP.

 

I was a big U2-fan around 1983-1993, but when they released "Zooropa" in 1993, which I don't really consider a "real" album, it really went wrong. Since it wasn't a real album for me, I was looking forward to "Pop", but it only had 1 great track, and the rest was crap, and after that it REALLY went downhill for U2.   

 

[Jon]

I was thinking about Cheap Trick too. "The Doctor" kinda sucks but they truly 100% lost it with "Lap Of Luxury" and "Busted". Thank goodness they got out of that crap-rut.

[Scott]

Its weird that we don't have hardly see any Cheap Trick posts on here given how much some people talk about them.  I haven't been able to get into them beyond Dream Police, which I still like.  Most people will say their first 2 or 3 albums are great, Ive never heard them (except for I Want You To Want Me and Surrender)

I recall RJ's post of Standing on the Edge which was OK...

[RJhog (Admin)]

Noted (Scott has not heard any of the first 3 CT albums).  In Color was AOTW # 5 but that was when we were using FileFactory, which is defunct.  So, I'll try to update the player for that post and post a link for you when I do.  You may have also helped me make a decision on an album for AOTW #141.

[Scott]

#5, wow!  Totally forgot about it....  Theres probably a ton of cool stuff that's buried deep on the site.  We should consider revisiting some of these, because I suspect that a lot of the best we have to offer was some of the first things we posted and none of them work any more

[RJhog (Admin)]

AOTW # 5 has been updated HERE.  Click the album cover to listen.

[Jon]

Hmm...you don't say? Well then...wait. "Woke Up With A Monster" was #21 and can be found HERE!

I'm thinking Scott needs more post "Dream Police". I can do "The Doctor" and you'll see what I'm saying. Plus I've got more just to please Scotty!

[Scandal 2000]

This is a good topic. I will cover a few of my favorite bands.

1-Alice Cooper-Lace and Whiskey. People forget how big Alice was in the early and mid 70's. Some of his work with the original band was epic. School's Out went to Number 2 on the charts and Billion Dollar Babies was Number 1 in the United States and UK. After the original group disbanded and Alice became an official solo artist, Welcome To My Nightmare and to a lesser extent Goes To Hell were very successful albums. The WTMN tour set the standard for all stageshows in the future. Then it went downhill fast for quite a while. Alice's alcoholism didn't help but Lace and Whiskey was a bad album. There were only a couple of truly hard rockers and I think it alienated a lot of the fan base. After that, his sales dwindled quickly and the albums had a run of inconsistency. From the Inside was a masterpiece and the tour was good, but then he put out four poorly promoted albums that were a bit out there (though I love the Special Forces and Dada albums). It took the mid 80's hair metal scene really to make him prominent again and the Trash album was what put him back on the map. Since that time he has put out several really good albums (like The Last Temptation and Brutal Planet) and has a good diehard fanbase but some poor decisions, alcoholism and a few clunkers starting with Lace and Whiskey, really hurt his career. I consider Alice one of the all-time greats, but sometimes his name gets left out of the conversation. I know trends change in music but I think he could have stayed at the top of the charts for a few more years if he had gone back to a more hard rocking style during the late 70's.

 

2)Judas Priest-Turbo. I agree on this one. Priest were the second most relevant metal band in the 70's and early 80's outside of Black Sabbath. This album was nothing but a bunch of guitar synthizers and basically a pop album. This alienated the fanbase and then they followed it with Ram It Down which was a little bit heavier but still was way too polished. By the time, Painkiller came out which was a return to form, many fans had went away and then Halford left the band for a while.

3)Guns N Roses-Lies. I think this was a real misstep. Appetitite For Destruction was a masterpiece and they needed to follow it up with another killer album. Instead they recorded Lies which did do well but I think they made that album too quick. They then waited a few years later before they released Use Your Illusion I & II which were decent, but they were overindulgent and the band often acted unprofessional but starting gigs three and four hours late. I really think Lies was the first of many mistakes. They could have been the biggest band ever.

[Scott]

Good call on Alice!  Good thing he has forgiving fans, he's had second, third and fourth chances and come out on top each time.  One of my favorites of his that you never hear about is Muscle of Love.  Cool album!!  But my very favorite is - by a wide margin, From the Inside!  Best packaging ever, but the music is just way killer! 

[Scott]

Maybe its just me but Aerosmith hasn't entered this conversation yet, and I think they deserve a dishonorable mention.  For me they went stale and off the radar with Draw The Line...  Then according to sales and popularity they didn't show back up until Permanent Vacation, however, there are those of us who love Night In The Ruts...

[Gordon Williams]

I am really suprised that so many KISS fans do not like Sonic Boom and Monster. I think they are both very good, a close return to their hey-day of the 70's. Nothing will ever beat the music on KISS Alive, which all came from the first 3 albums, but these last two are still good listens for me.

It's funny how people can be huge fans of the same band, but have major differences of opinions on their album releases. Makes for great conversation!

[RJhog (Admin)]

The vast majority of those fans can't accept the imposters (Tommy and Eric).  I guarantee you that the majority (not all) of those fans would like both albums better if there was no makeup.  It's a mental thing.  I didn't care for Monster at all at first, but I have warmed to it a bit.  I don't think it's anywhere in the same ball park as any Kiss album through Dynasty, including the two live albums and the solo albums.  Other than that, it's not bad for what it is.