Underrated or Misrepresented Musicians

The Mekons. They started as a punk band, morphed into a post-punk hand and then pioneered the Alt-Country genre. And they've been going strong ever since. They're a blast live and they've had three or four great albums and one absolute masterpiece (Fear & Whiskey).

The Gun Club. Bluesy post-punk that helped influence a broad spectrum of important bands (including the Pixies). Miami is they're best album and it's pretty incredible.

Jonathan Richman. Everybody knows the Modern Lovers first album (and if you don't, you should) but the man has had a long, unique, songwriting career since then and I feel like he never gets enough credit. Artist like Jens Lekman owe him a lot.

Exploding Hearts. Excellent punk band. Incredible energy, unbelievable hooks that you won't be able to shake out of your head for days. Tragically, most of the band died in a van accident a few years ago so they never managed to break out like I'm sure they would have. If you like solid power-punk, check out Guitar Romantic.

Super Furry Animals. They always get kind of thrown into the alternative psych-rock post 90's bin but I think their first handful of albums push pop music in exciting directions while being fun and listenable at the same time, climaxing with their greatest album, 2001's Rings Around the World. I dare you to listen to that one only once and try to shake all the songs out of your head.

This thread pretty much begins and ends for me with the Afghan Whigs.

I always thought Jimi Hendrix was an incredible vocalist, and I like his voice as much as I like his guitar-playing (though it's undisputable that his guitar-playing was more groundbreaking).

DLR-era Van Halen wasn't cock rock, and their level of songwriting craft before Hagar The Horrible jumped in on the scene was paramount.

Pearl Jam's career and importance and talent didn't end with Ten and Vs. They were one of the best bands of the 20th century and continue to be one of the best bands of the modern era.

I don't think Hendrix could sneak onto any underrated list, but he is misrepresented in one extremely significant way: modern RnB begins with Band of Gypsies, and that work serves as the functional bridge between Rock and Hip-Hop. Arguments can be made for and against this interpretation, but in my estimation, this argument doesn't come up nearly enough.

I always felt Sinead O'Connor got unfairly abandoned. Sure, it was due to her extremely outspoken opinions, but good god, that voice. She deserved better.

Also, insert the obligatory defense of ABBA here.

Richard: God help me, I'll defend ABBA with you. If you ever want to learn HOW to craft a melody, this is the band to turn to.

Also: Dio-era Black Sabbath has been severely underrated for years.

My point exactly. Andersson and Ulvaeus can construct a pop song like nobody's business. And those harmonies! Yes, sometimes the lyrics fall down a bit, but even their non-hit songs are just so well put together.

I dunno... if you guys had lived through Abba's hit-making era, you might not be quite so blase about them. Even expert craft can get friggin annoying when it's chirped out by those twits a dozen times a day.

But I digress...

I suppose I'd suggest Richard Thompson. Probably operating closer to the height of his abilities today than are any of his contemporaries (and there are darn few of those left: Thompson was already an established artist while Springsteen was still in high school), amazing songwriter and probably the only guitarist I can think of in the general "rock" field who's as important and accomplished a player on acoustic as he is on electric.

Come to think of it, people should know the work of his ex-wife Linda better than they do, too-- stunning vocalist.

I disagree. Lived through and still appreciate their musical sensibilities. On and On and On is still a great pop tune. Plus, what they did for digital recording technology can never be overstated.

As for underrated, I'll go with Marc Ribot. Stellar guitar player with great imagination. Any man who can play with Tom Waits anf Alison Krauss gets a big thumbs up in my books.

Also, as a producer you can't go wrong with Gurf Morlix.

Back-to-back posts on the Thompsons and Ribot - the thread can probably end now. Neither is exactly underrated, because not enough people acknowledge their existence to rate them at all, which is a shame.

I have to admit that the last new Richard Thompson studio album that totally floored me was Mock Tudor, but there's so much old stuff to explore, plus the 1,000 Years of Popular Music live releases and his live appearances (probably some of the best concerts I've ever seen, period). And, yeah, Linda's solo albums from the last few years have been quite good, too.

This post just reminded me to move the Thompson live box set to my iPod.

Ribot and Bill Frisell are my favorite kind of session players (though they've both released tons of their own stuff). It seems like they'll collaborate with anyone and can play up or play down their own idiosyncratic styles at will to suit the material. Thompson's done a little of this sort of "featured session guy" stuff, too, like on Rufus Wainwright's last album and Maria McKee's solo debut, which may have my favorite short Thompson solo on it.

I think that the most misrepresented artist of today is John Frusciante. He is the modern version of Syd Barrett but if you just knew him from his day job in the Red Hot Chili Peppers you would never pick it up.

Someone mentioned Dio-era Sabbath; I think that a lot of people are beginning to appreciate this era, at least more so now than in the 90s.

I'm tempted to ask "which one?" as there was the 3-disc "Watching the Dark" back in the 90's (a good assortment, oddly assembled), and the more recent 5-disc "RT", which was almost all rare, live, and/or unreleased stuff (among other things, it has his live version of "Danny Boy" which I'd been dying for since I heard him do it around '88 or so).

Actually, these days, I find that the Thompson stuff I listen to most are the "authorized bootlegs" he releases through his website, as that's where he really stretches out on guitar (and the acoustic stuff is so much better-recorded than his old "Small Town Romance" set).

I do think that much of his last studio release, "Sweet Warrior" was right up there with the best of his post-R&L work, though there's the odd clunker here and there.

I have both, but I was talking about the 5-disc, since I've already got a lot of the stuff from Watching Dark represented on the iPod via the various studio albums. Although I have to say, as compilations go, Watching the Dark is pretty fantastic, even though the chronology is thoroughly goofy and there are a few puzzling omissions ("1952 Vincent Black Lightning" being the big head-scratcher).

I really have to check more of that stuff out, especially Semi-Detached Tudor, since it has a live version of "She Twists the Knife Again." I saw him play that on the Mock Tudor tour before I owned Across a Crowded Room and was pretty disappointed when I finally heard the studio version.

For me, the prime post-R&L period is Rumour & Sigh through Mock Tudor, but it may just be that the clunkers on the last few distracted me from their better qualities.

I blame Capitol, since "I Feel So Good" and "Turning of the Tide" were also omitted. My guess is they held onto those for their own repackage.

The real stunner on "Semi-Detached" is "Hard On Me," which is hardly RT's most inspired piece of songwriting, but he and bassist Danny Thompson turn in some amazing playing.

Actually, though, my favorite of his live albums might be the one available outside his site: his "Austin City Limits" performance. The song selection doesn't stray far outside the 90's, but I love the small trio setting: him, Danny Thompson, and Michael Jerome on drums. RT plays about half the set on amplified acoustic, about half full-on electric, and wraps up with "Vincent Black Lightning." Probably easily available through Amazon or other retailers. Great DVD, too, with an extra song.

Underrated guitarists:
Buck Dharma - Blue Oyster Cult
Don Felder - The Eagles
Michael Romeo - Symphony X
Ian Crichton - Saga
Jim Matheos - Fates Warning
Ty Tabor - King's X

They Might Be Giants were one of the most interesting experimental pop groups of all time. They've dabbled in every style and sound you can think of, but because their lyrics are silly (really really intelligent and clever, but silly) people write them off as a novelty act.

Each of the members of Crosby Stills Nash sans Young (and he's definitely not underrated so doesn't apply here) has made exactly one far better record following the disbanding, then they ever released together as a band. And America's debut (often dismissed as a pale copycat) is the best CSN&Y album they never made themselves.

May have been big in the States in his time (no idea, actually), but why the hell has everybody forgotten about Lowell George and Little Feat? Hope you wouldn't mind him in yr list of underrated guitarists, Judas. Master of the slide that was.