Under-rated Albums/Bands

This is the introduction for a series of blogs that I will be posting about albums that have either been criminally over-looked (in my humble opinion, as always), under-rated or just plain ignored for no justifiable reason that I can think of. In this first part, I will be trying to understand the reasons why albums may have sold badly on release, and I will be listing some of the things that I believe may have contributed to this.

I think one major factor used to be (back in the days when people didn’t file share as much as is commonplace now), that many albums just were not freely available in many local record shops, and would have to be ordered. I myself, have been guilty of looking for a record, and when I can’t find it, I will just buy something else instead. These days, unfortunately, it is almost the opposite problem...Many people just don’t buy music, and instead choose to download. I have no real problem with this, as I am no innocent in this respect, but people should always make sure they see a band on tour and/or buy merchandise to ensure the future of the bands they claim to be fans of. The problem that merely downloading music as files, is that the music becomes devalued and almost disposable. Before this very modern phenomenon (before anyone shouts “tape-trading”, that was very different on so many levels), you would go out and spend time looking in record shops, before deciding on the albums to purchase, you would then go home, put on the CD (tape, or vinyl) and look through the sleeve-notes. Often, said album would be played constantly for weeks, giving the listener time to digest the music (and artwork) fully. This would ensure that the music would become imprinted in your mind, and would often become a part of your life and the memories of that time. These days, however, people will download an album and listen to it once (if that), before moving on to the next album, and so on.

Of course, the flip-side argument to this is one I happen to strongly agree with. Namely that a lot of smaller bands now have the opportunity to get their music out to a new audience and the consumer (if they can still be called that) has access to many bands they may never have heard of, if it wasn’t for MySpace or various online forums. For this reason, the days of bands selling millions of albums are fast becoming a place in history, but live music has become more prominent, so I can live with that. Anyway, I seem to have gone a bit off-topic there (maybe the download “culture” is worthy of a blog of it’s own).

Ok....a few more possible reasons. Albums often appear to fail due to poor promotion on behalf of the record label, and/or by not obtaining support slots on European tours with bands of a similar style. On saying that, I have seen great opening bands that have disappeared back into obscurity as well as many that went on to be headliners in their own right, so this may not be a huge factor...although I can’t help but think that it is often a definite deciding one. Reputations of bands can be made or broken in the live arena, so a well-timed tour can do wonders for an up-and-coming band with a new album to promote. It is certainly a baffling thing for me, when an album gets great reviews throughout the music press, but then just doesn’t sell at all. But this can often go back to the point above where the record label just fails to promote properly.

Another major factor, if a slightly controversial one, maybe that of common attitudes and behaviour patterns among metalheads...namely those of watching channels such as Scuzz or Kerrang! for new music, only buying albums by the "in" bands or just sticking to bands and albums they know (often just those from their teenage years). This unwillingness or inability to try something new, or to move forward and to grow musically has always baffled me, and I suppose it always will as metal/hard rock continues to evolve, and in my opinion, improve as younger bands often feel they have something to prove and want to improve on what has come before and/or to make their mark in the world, and many existing bands continue to grow and experiment. Now, this is not an attempt by me to claim I am better than other people, or I that I know more...I am merely just stating what I perceive as a fact, from my personal experiences over the years. There have been many occasions where I will mention a band, for example Paradise Lost, to somebody and they will say “are they still going?”. It is a strange phenomenon where people seem to think because the last album they bought by a band was released when they were 16 in 1995, that the band no longer exist, whereas the truth is often that the band are still regularly releasing albums and touring the UK/Europe.

So, as you can see, it isn’t just new bands that suffer from the “over-looked factor”, as many existing bands seem to, rather strangely, be forgotten about from between their “big” album to the follow up. Of course, this can be explained to some degree, by the very nature of the “fair-weather” fan. People will hear a song they like, either on the radio or on a music TV channel, and will then go and buy the album/single, creating the illusion of popularity. I say illusion, as many of these people will never buy anything released by the band, and will perceive the band in their minds as a “one-hit wonder”. The band will, in reality, go back to being where they were before...playing to the (often only slightly) more modest number of fans and selling fewer records. Sometimes this can be frustrating as albums released years after the “big” one can be far better musically and be performed by a much more seasoned and experienced band.

I’m sure there are other factors that I haven’t thought about, and to be honest, my head hurts from thinking so much about this, so please share your thoughts in the comments section...if you have any, that is.

Ok, so, that was just the introduction to my little series of reviews/comments on under-rated bands and/or albums. Sorry if I got a bit side-tracked. The first real part will be up as soon as I have finished it (obviously), and will be a look at the album, “ Volvere” by the Finnish band Fall Of The Leafe.