The Top 5 Albums You’ve Never Listened to

I hate the radio. MTV too. Not all of it, just most of the mainstream music that they feed us. The mainstream is no longer ruled by Dylan, Zeppelin, or even Nirvana. Music now, more than ever, follows the guidelines of pretty faces, simple, catchy, 3 minute songs, and complete overexposure. Mainstream music has become a sad, sad thing.

If there are those that feel my sadness, I offer you a solution. Listen to something else. Don’t know anything else? Don’t worry, it’s understandable, especially when the radio force feeds us music till we have no choice but to like it. To those looking to escape radio hell I offer, “The Top 5 Best Albums You’re Never Listened To.”

5. Jimmy Eat World “Clarity” – This name might sound familiar to some of you. Jimmy Eat World has experienced real mainstream success. Their song “The Middle” broke them a few years ago with heavy rotation on radio and MTV.. It’s from their 3rd album titled “American” released in the summer of 2001. With the support of mainstream favorites, Blink 182, their future gets bigger and brighter. While I do think you should buy “American”, the J.E.W album to buy is “Clarity.”

This album is Jimmy Eat World at their finest. Right from the opening track, they set a tone for the album and move with effortless transition from one track to the next. While the album displays a consistent style, each track switches its focus through the different layers of their infectious sound.

Songs like “Crush” and “Blister” put it’s emphasis on the their solid guitar work, while “Lucky Denver Mint” focuses on their percussion. Perhaps the most appealing quality to the J.E.W. sound is their vocal melodies. “Tables For Glasses” and “12.23.95” work beautifully on a vocal level alone.

The high mark for their melodic sound is “Goodbye Sky Harbor” the last track of the album which lasts sixteen minutes. Here, the band, led by the two lead singers Jim Adkins and Tom Linton take the last seven or eight minutes of the song and strip it down to a simple vocal melody. Lyrically, “Clarity” is more obscure then “American” touching on thoughts, feelings, and images without delving into the specific.

This album has a lot of mass appeal, but it must definitely be picked up by those that have “American”. It displays a raw and more inspired sound, and clearly shows their transition from an “emo” driven sound to one that has more mainstream appeal. “Clarity” is reflective of a time when Jimmy Eat World made music just for themselves.

4. Elliot Smith “Either/Or”- This native from Portland, Oregon made a small name for himself in 1997 when he was asked to put a couple tracks from “Either/Or” onto the “Good Will Hunting” soundtrack. Smith agreed, adding “Miss Misery,” a song composed for the film. The song went on to be nominated for an Oscar. Though he never stood a shot at winning, with it having been the year of “Titanic” and Celine Dion’s largely annoying “My Heart Will Go On,” he did make his impression before fading back into obscurity.

This album is similar to any other Smith record. His albums are praised by critics, and ignored by the mainstream. Smith’s sound is anything but mainstream. His sound is raw in most songs. It’s stripped of all the bells and whistles that clutter so much of mainstream rock.

While “Either/Or” is no exception to his format, it’s special because it’s as raw as he gets, and as good too. Most of the album is done with only a guitar, and Smith produces some of the finest acoustic guitar work. He demonstrates the idea that you don’t need to be electric to create amazing sound. The music flows with a New York coffee house feel, only with twice the talent, and none of the pretentiousness.

While Smith’s sound is beautiful, the power of that album comes down to his lyrics. His lyrics are far removed from fluff and desperate attempts to be catchy. Instead they’re honest and powerful. “Either/Or” is written from a place where Smith feels disillusioned, jaded, and with a slight change into apathy.

In “Alameda”, “Big Nothing”, and “2:45 a.m” Smith is bitter, lashing out at the phoniness he sees in people. The contrast to those songs of pain and anger are the bitter sweet confessionals of a man pouring his heart out. “Between the Bars” and “Say Yes” have him lamenting over a girl who he has foolishly chased away.

Regardless of which feeling Smith attempts to convey from one track to the next, it’s certain that Smith isn’t pulling any punches. “Either/Or” is Elliot Smith stripping down both his music and his soul, until there’s nothing left to bare.

What may make this album even more important is that in 2003 Elliot Smith took his own life. He was a jewel amongst artists relegated to underground adoration. His music is beautiful and timeless and deserves to be appreciated by new people each and every day.

3. Neutral Milk Hotel “In The Aeroplane Over The Sea” – In what some speculate to be an album written in part as a love song to Anne Frank, the second album and final album from this now disbanded Canadian band is both emotional and unique.
Neutral Milk hotel describes their sound as “Folk Fuzz” (don’t worry, no one else has any idea what the hell that is either), so anyone’s best guess is that they’ve achieved it here.

Many of the tracks on the album intertwine to work as one song, still each track sounding singular and incorporating a wide array of sound. The album consists largely of transitions from more experimental songs to straight acoustic folk. “Holland, 1945” is the closest the album gets to a conventional rock song.

“Track 10” is reminiscent of a funeral hymn. Though the music is innovative, it’s at best a compliment to the lyrics, provided by lead singer Jeff Mangum, which are the backbone of Neutral Milk’s appeal.

As said earlier, there is a strong emphasis on his love letter to Anne Frank through most of the album. “Holland, 1945” and “O’Comely” seem to revolve around that idea. In these tracks he makes attempts to connect with her life, wishing so hard he could be near to her.

“Two Headed Boy,” parts 1&2 deal with the loss of a brother it seems. In the first part, the narrator is dealing with the idea of having lost a brother, where as in part 2 he makes a desperate plea to his father to give him a brother he so desperately wants. These tracks make for the most personal material on the album. It is often difficult to decipher what Jeff Magnum is really saying. His lyrics are vague and can be misleading but the the emotion he puts into every syllable he sings allows the audience to connect with every word.

It’s difficult to compare this album with any other that I’ve heard. It’s the kind of album that just grows on you the more you listen.

2. Self “Breakfast With Girls”- “Your loves, better then, aliens tonight”. Nothing is a clearer indication of Self then that line. They are the talented quintet always known for keeping their faithful wondering what they might do next. Self, headed by Matt Mahaffey, is constantly pushing the sound envelope, and “Breakfast With Girls” is no exception. It is their best work to date.

Self does a great job of keeping the album constantly fresh. Each track is such a jump from the last. It incorporates so many different musical styles. To allow a better idea of exactly how diverse their sound is, some instruments used on “Breakfast With Girls”: Guitar, drums, piano, xylophone, clarinet, toy piano, B-3, and vox. “The End of It All”, the opening track dealing with a main who dies of LSD poisoning on a plane, is a “space rock” feel. “Suzie Q Sailaway” is more along the lines of conventional rock, but even that is a far cry from the norm.

“Sucker” is unusual because while lyrically it’s straightforward, the music has almost this game show theme song sound. “Breakfast With Girls” flows with a evident R&B feel to it. And “Placing The Blame” is the most serious track on the album, both musically and lyrically. It’s a ballad of sorts where Matt Mahaffey shows his most personal reflection of a love coming to a devastating end. There remains that Self feel on the track, with the strange arrangement of instruments, but is definitely the defining soulful moment.

Just like Neutral Milk Hotel, it would be tough for me to suggest a group to compare it to. It can be said, however, that if you’re looking for something conventional, look elsewhere. Lyrically the album is a bit soft, putting much more emphasis on sound, but overall this album takes music to places very few dare to go, and they do it well.

1. Failure “Fantastic Planet”- Of all the albums mentioned here, Fantastic Planet was the easiest to place. The brain child of guitarist Greg Edwards and guitarist/lead vocalist Ken Andrews, is simply ahead of its time.

The album may be best described as an experience. Fantastic Planet needs to be appreciated as a whole. Any track added or deleted from the album would damage what is easily a modern masterpiece.

Each track is complete, lacking nothing in its sound quality or innovation. Those that have heard this album would agree that in many respects Failure picks up where Pink Floyd left off. From the first track “Saturday Savior”, a somber confession in which Andrews vows to never let the girl in emotionally, that she serves a quick fix, all the way to “Daylight” which builds musically to the point where the sunlight first breaks.

Each track contains its own catch, from the sexual pattern of “The Nurse Who Loved Me,” to the heroin high in “Dirty Blue Balloons”, the album leaves no gaps. Lyrically the album is strong, it may not be on the level of some of the other albums mentioned here, but it certainly makes its mark.

I have to admit that my first listening of the album wasn’t stellar. I appreciated it, but was not hooked. I was told to give it another shot, and I found that with each listen I pick up something I didn’t see before. Their willingness to experiment with their sound was a risk that paid off.

Fantastic Planet makes for one of the most complete albums of the nineties. They stretched their limitations and made a work of pure genius. It’s only a shame that Failure has since split up, but after listening to Fantastic Planet, you realize that there was no place left for them to go.

And there you have it, “The Top 5 Best Albums You’ve Never Listened To.” Pick these albums up, see if you like them. You may agree or disagree, either way, anything is better than the radio.