BAMM.tv Rundown: Five Criminally Underrated Albums

Posted on: January 22nd, 2013 by bammtv 12 Comments

There’s no particular order to this rundown, nor are we implying that these are the ‘greatest’ under-rated albums (that’s something you can tell about in the comments box, or let us know if you’d like to see more of them). Just a celebratory look at five albums that – for various reasons – never quite received the acclaim they deserved …

5. ‘Handcream For A Generation’ – Cornershop (2002)

People are primarily familiar with Cornershop thanks to the Fatboy Slim remix of ‘Brimful Of Asha’, which can still regularly be heard clogging up the background of TV commercials. This 2002 release saw them expand on their sound over a selection of irrestible pop hooks – such as ‘Lessons Learned From Rocky I to Rocky III’ – and it really, really should be more well known.

4. ‘In It For The Money’ – Supergrass (1997)

The cheeky, grinning loons who had a massive hit with 1995′s ‘Alright’ become more introspective and intelligent, and create one of the best guitar-pop albums of the 90s. Unfortunately it was buried amidst the general avalanche of sub-par rubbish which marked the tail-end of the Britpop era. Contains one of the best albums openers ever:

3. ’1965′ – The Afghan Whigs (1998)

Gregg Dulli and his band of malcontent misfits deserve wider acclaim across the board, but they excelled themselves with the dark, twisting, sleaze-funk-rock masterpiece ’1965′. ‘Somethin’ Hot’ is a particularly strutting highlight:

2. R.E.M – ‘Monster’ (1994)

For a while, R.E.M were the globe-conquering supergroup it was deemed ‘ok to like’. Then our ultra-cool critical establishment turned on them and declared ‘Monster’ to fall below requisite hipster standards. Spoiler: ‘Monster’ is infact a f**king awesome record.

1. Dandy Warhols – ‘Thirteen Tales From Urban Bohemia’ (2001)

Okay, so ‘Bohemian Like You’ has soundtracked a million phone ads and romantic comedy trailers, but the album from whence it came has been horribly, horribly overlooked. It retains a killer pop sensibility while flittering from dark introspection to wasted-drunk-on-the-bus danceability to smart, sardonic, sneaky humour. If you haven’t got it, get it. Like, now.