"Rumours" among "Most Disappointing Albums"

[RockALittle250]

This "article" popped up on my Google Alerts, and apparently, this person who thinks they know anything about music hates "Rumours" and can't stand Stevie!!

MOST DISAPPOINTING ALBUMS
By Andy Whitman on February 3, 2009 5:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
I've been forcing myself to listen to Bruce Springsteen's latest album, Working on a Dream. I keep hoping that my initial dismay will pass. So far, it's not working. Those of you who know me know that I love Bruce Springsteen. I would hop in the car with him and drive off down Thunder Road, pushing Mary out of the front seat if I had to. I would walk through Jungleland with him, braving the gang warfare. I would go through hell and back for Bruce Springsteen. But I will not listen to this new album another time. It's too painful.

And that made me wonder about the albums that you and I might consider as the most disappointing albums we've ever heard. To be a Disappointing Album is not the same thing as to be a Horrendously Bad Album. We expect some albums to be Horrendously Bad, and they are, and we don't really care. The entire Ratt catalog comes to mind, briefly. But Disappointing Albums elicit a special pain. We like the artists who create them, and we want to like the work they create, but for whatever reasons, we can't find it within ourselves to muster much, if any, enthusiasm for the misguided mess we hear.

Here are my candidates for Most Disappointing Albums. What are yours?
-- Bruce Springsteen -- Working on a Dream

Bruce tries to croon. Bad idea. Bruce sings about finding true love at the checkout counter of the supermarket. Stupid idea. Bruce tries to write an outlaw tale that sounds like something Weird Al Yankovic would come up with if he was writing a parody of an Ennio Morricone soundtrack. Mind-numbingly misguided idea.

The Sex Pistols - The Great Rock ‘n Roll Swindle

They put it right out there in the title, but still. The concentrated venom and rage of Never Mind the Bollocks … gave way to this? A disco medley of Sex Pistols “hits”? A French version of “Anarchy in the U.K.,” complete with accordion solo? Sid Vicious’ transcendently awful rendition of Sinatra’s “My Way”? It’s hard to exaggerate just how far that middle finger was extended to the fans. This is a band that had to break up. No one would have bought a third album.

Bob Dylan - Self Portrait/Dylan/Down in the Groove/Dylan and the Dead

It’s a four-way tie for the Voice of a Generation. Bob Dylan has left more unreleased masterpieces in the can than any other songwriter has written masterpieces. But periodically he feels the need to short circuit his magnificent career by releasing tediously uninspired performances of his own songs (see that album with The Dead) and addled covers of contemporary songwriters such as Joni Mitchell and Paul Simon and easy-listening pop classics (“Let It Be Me,” “A Fool Such as I”).

The Pogues - Peace and Love

The Pogues had set the bar so high with Rum, Sodomy, and the Lash and If I Should Fall From Grace With God that a letdown was inevitable. Still, when it came, the crash was mighty. Shane MacGowan seems distant and uninvolved, the other songwriters aren’t able to pick up the slack, and the playing seems lifeless and dispirited.

Fleetwood Mac - Fleetwood Mac/Rumours

I’m being blasphemous, I know. I don’t care. I think Lindsey Buckingham is a pretty good songwriter. And I can’t stand Stevie Nicks, the Embraceable Ewe, and I’ll probably never get over the direction Buckingham and Nicks steered my favorite band. Yeah, yeah, they sold 50 million records and made a bunch of classics. Not to my ears. I loved the obscure but entirely praiseworthy Danny Kirwan/Bob Welch band that preceded this one. Check out Future Games and Bare Trees and listen to the band when they were at their peak.

http://www.pastemagazine.com/blogs/whitman/2009/02/most-disappointing-albums.html

[Nicks Fan]

What I don't get is why he disses Stevie but doesn't give any concrete reasons why he dislikes her? Sounds to me like he never got over the depature of Kirwan and Welch.

Matt

[carrie721]

embraceable ewe?? :lol:

i love rumours, but the hype surrounding it is unreal. it's not hard to be underwhelmed by any work of art under those circumstances.

[markolas]

Rumours is not and has never been my favorite FM album, but anyone who thinks Bare Trees is preferable to...well, just about anything, is probably not someone whose taste in music I'm gonna be able to appreciate too much.

I'll gladly send him my copy of Bare Trees since he likes it so much.

[Sahara]

Fleetwood Mac before and after BN joined seems to me to be like two completely different bands, playing different styles of music. I love one, I don't care for the other. :shrug: That might be over-simplistic, but it might explain why this guy feels the way he does.

[HejiraNYC]

I think the reason why Rumours was such a phenomenon back in its day was that it was one of the handful of albums from the late 1970's that did not contain a bunch of crappy filler along with the one or two hit singles- it was the rare album you could listen to all the way through and not hit any clunkers. Accordingly, I believe at the time, it was the first album in history to land four Top 10 singles. In hindsight that's not so remarkable, but it was like the 1970's version of Sgt. Pepper when it came out...

By the way, this guy is a douche.

[Ench]

and I’ll probably never get over the direction Buckingham and Nicks steered my favorite band. Yeah, yeah, they sold 50 million records and made a bunch of classics. Not to my ears. I loved the obscure but entirely praiseworthy Danny Kirwan/Bob Welch band that preceded this one. Check out Future Games and Bare Trees and listen to the band when they were at their peak.[/B]


So much for "[his/her] favorite band". Doesn't seem to have actually noticed that Christine was a member.

[Villavic]

Some critics think everybody HAVE TO HATE commercial successes. Rumours was a pop commercial success, but what's bad about it? Lot of commercial music is bad, but there are very good stuff too. I love Rumours and it's my favorite album even more than Tusk, and their songs, they are great. I see that album as a very good piece of work.

There is also the personal opinion of course. All my friends loved the MATRIX films. I always fall asleep watching Matrix. Sorry, that's the truth.

I hated lot of disco songs, but I loved others, specially Donna Summer. I loved Dark side of the moon, Wish you were here, as I loved Off the Wall, Thriller, Rumours, Tango in the Night, Mussorgsky, Beethoven's 9nth symphony.. I have different tastes! ;)

That guy doesn't explain completely why he Rumours dissapointed him, or why he doesn't like STevie. It seems he just like less popular music. There are lot of critics who think that way. Frankly they are not original at all.

[BombaySapphire3]

Anyone noitce he is not only trashing Rumours but the 1975 "white" Fleetwood Mac album as well..at least he didn't include Tusk.:laugh:

[aleuzzi]

It's easy to dismiss a classic. Some people do this to sound intelligent. I love Bare Trees and Future Games; they're underrated to be sure. But come on, they are not as consistently excellent as Fleetwood Mac, Rumors and Tusk.

It's like someone saying "I can't stand Dark Side of the Moon; it doesn't hold a candle to Meddle." While this might be a personal choice, no critic can rightfully expect such an opinion to be taken too seriously.

By the way, Doesn't Christine deserve a mention?

[GoS]

So much for "[his/her] favorite band". Doesn't seem to have actually noticed that Christine was a member.

Who's that?

[wildheart048]

I suppose everyone is entitled to his or her opinion...as someone mentioned, in retrospect, Rumours is not my favorite FM album, but it is a classic, and a great one at that...I have to say, I'm thoroughly enjoying Bruce's new cd, as well, so I guess that says something (and I LOVE the song about the supermarket queen...) I'm surprised, however, that in mentioning Outlaw Pete, he didn't mention the fact that Bruce totally stole the riff from Kiss's "I was made for loving you" :thumbsup:

[jbrownsjr]

It's easy to dismiss a classic. Some people do this to sound intelligent. I love Bare Trees and Future Games; they're underrated to be sure. But come on, they are not as consistently excellent as Fleetwood Mac, Rumors and Tusk.

It's like someone saying "I can't stand Dark Side of the Moon; it doesn't hold a candle to Meddle." While this might be a personal choice, no critic can rightfully expect such an opinion to be taken too seriously.

By the way, Doesn't Christine deserve a mention?

I will listen to Animals any day of the week over Dark Side of the Moon....
And I love Dark Side...

[chiliD]

"Popularity kills". Simple as that.

32 years ago (almost to the day) when Rumours came out, I liked it. By December 1977, I couldn't stand it...and that has remained to this day. Overkill, overkill, overkill...32 years of Rumours overkill. Had Fleetwood Mac been a SMART band, they would've just treated Rumours like any other album they'd recorded. But, no, they get this idea that everybody STILL wants to hear those songs...sure a few of them, in rotation, but not a MAJORITY of the album every concert...not a re-release every few years. They've made many other albums than Rumours most of them even BETTER musically, some prior, some later...just because an album doesn't sell 20 million copies doesn't mean its a crap album (think Lindsey's OotC)...AND, they're not giving themselves the benefit of the doubt regarding whatever their latest works are...they just took this seemingly self-defeating attitude that whatever their latest album was isn't as good as Rumours because "nobody wants to hear new songs"...didn't stop them from playing all but one song of the album 5 months after its release. If they'd done that with their subsequent albums, maybe those albums would be looked at in a better light.

So, yeah, I know EXACTLY what this guy's talking about and I agree with about 90% of what he's saying.

[skcin]

I wouldn't say it's disappointing. Definitely overplayed. Overhyped as their best album when most of us here don't agree.

[gretchen]

Whitman doesn't know his ass from his elbow!

[Villavic]

So, yeah, I know EXACTLY what this guy's talking about and I agree with about 90% of what he's saying.

Not so sure about that. Chili D has always told his opinion about Rumours and that lineup, and he detailed his reasons. Maybe some of us not agree at all, but his argument are very respectful.
But critics sometimes just easily kill a work because of popularity. And their reasons are not so strong, or at least they don't explain well. Yes I agree, popularity kills. But it shouldn't. Yes I got tired and SICK of the Bee Gees Saturday Nigh Fever songs. But, should I hate Bee Gees? Not at all! I think they were one of the greatest bands.

[Angel69]

Lets face it Rumours is, was and always will be a classic. You could love it. You may hate it. You could give a rats ass about it. Nothing will ever negate the fact that it is, was and always will be a classic. Nothing will ever change it's place or significance in the history of pop music.

Personally I love it and I have been a fan for 32 years. Is It my favorite? Hmmm dont know. It does contain my favorite song by anyone ever, that being GYOW. Is it overplayed? Yes, by the band and classic, rock and oldies stations. So what. The only control we have is to change the station or not attend a Fleetwood Mac performance, neither of which I intend to do.

[michelej1]

But critics sometimes just easily kill a work because of popularity.

I was just reading an article on musical contrarians that made that point, saying that they just like to oppose the popular for opposition's sake. In fact, it mentioned FM.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/monitormix/2009/02/au_contraire.html

Contrarians get even more infuriating when it comes to members of legendary bands, often claiming that the "genius" title has been misapplied. They'll tell you that the Buzzcocks were superior with Howard Devoto as their singer, and that Pink Floyd was at their peak with Syd Barrett. But were they? Was Fleetwood Mac actually more awesome before Stevie Nicks? Is Son Volt really a better offshoot of Uncle Tupelo than Wilco?

[aleuzzi]

I will listen to Animals any day of the week over Dark Side of the Moon....
And I love Dark Side...

I prefer Wish You Were Here to Dark Side.

Fleetwood Mac, Rumors, and Tusk are all in the same league. As are Dark Side, Animals, Wish You Were Here, and other Mega Floyd Albums. But Meddle, Atom Heart Mother, and some of the post-Barrett, pre-Dark side stuff is transitional--much like those 1971-74 albums, which are great, but on a different scale, I think.

That's what I was saying.

[jbrownsjr]

I prefer Wish You Were Here to Dark Side.

Fleetwood Mac, Rumors, and Tusk are all in the same league. As are Dark Side, Animals, Wish You Were Here, and other Mega Floyd Albums. But Meddle, Atom Heart Mother, and some of the post-Barrett, pre-Dark side stuff is transitional--much like those 1971-74 albums, which are great, but on a different scale, I think.

That's what I was saying.

Understood.. I'm not crazy about Atom Heart... but I'll love meddle..

[Bumperke]

"Popularity kills". Simple as that.

32 years ago (almost to the day) when Rumours came out, I liked it. By December 1977, I couldn't stand it...and that has remained to this day. Overkill, overkill, overkill...32 years of Rumours overkill. Had Fleetwood Mac been a SMART band, they would've just treated Rumours like any other album they'd recorded. But, no, they get this idea that everybody STILL wants to hear those songs...sure a few of them, in rotation, but not a MAJORITY of the album every concert...not a re-release every few years. They've made many other albums than Rumours most of them even BETTER musically, some prior, some later...just because an album doesn't sell 20 million copies doesn't mean its a crap album (think Lindsey's OotC)...AND, they're not giving themselves the benefit of the doubt regarding whatever their latest works are...they just took this seemingly self-defeating attitude that whatever their latest album was isn't as good as Rumours because "nobody wants to hear new songs"...didn't stop them from playing all but one song of the album 5 months after its release. If they'd done that with their subsequent albums, maybe those albums would be looked at in a better light.

So, yeah, I know EXACTLY what this guy's talking about and I agree with about 90% of what he's saying.

Actually, you do have a point,

Will

[PoetofRhiannon]

And who cares what he has to say?
Why do we want to read what he writes?
What makes his opinion so special that we have to read it and take it to heart?

He's just another person with another opinion.

[carrie721]

And who cares what he has to say?
Why do we want to read what he writes?
What makes his opinion so special that we have to read it and take it to heart?

He's just another person with another opinion.

it was posted because it relates to the band. there's nothing wrong with discussing it. nothing should be discarded merely because it doesn't exalt FM.

[fleetwood_az]

I think the hype around Rumours eventually overtook the album, but there's no doubt it is a great album, with some well written pop rock songs on there. I think the only down side to Rumours being as successful as it was, it makes people forget their other great albums, such as Tusk, Tango etc.

Definitely agree that everyone is entitled to their own opinion. It's just a shame this guys unknown hatred of Stevie seems to have warped his slightly.

[Gazza]

I've never understood the "overplayed" argument. I can understand someone hearing enough of one song or an album, but the idea that a radio station or a band constantly playing a particular song or songs from a particular album somehow devalues the song/album is nonsensical. I've had this argument with people who will say things like "Layla is overplayed". It may well be that you've heard it so often it doesn't inspire the same thing in you it did when you first heard it, but objectively it's still a great song. And Rumours is still imo, Fleetwood Mac's best album.

The problem is, it's like the child that gets all the praise. People resent it. But that's more to do with the childishness of the listener imo.

I also think when it comes to the critics, they do seem to be of this mentality that "If you're rich you only have yourself to blame". Weird pseudo-leftist types. And British critics are particularly snobbish about Americans and that West Coast scene. Especially after Fleetwood Mac had had some success as a British Blues band.

[Ench]

I've never understood the "overplayed" argument. I can understand someone hearing enough of one song or an album, but the idea that a radio station or a band constantly playing a particular song or songs from a particular album somehow devalues the song/album is nonsensical. I've had this argument with people who will say things like "Layla is overplayed". It may well be that you've heard it so often it doesn't inspire the same thing in you it did when you first heard it, but objectively it's still a great song. And Rumours is still imo, Fleetwood Mac's best album.


Some music can be boring because it's poorly written, executed, or simply uninspiring. But overplaying even great music can make it boring and uninspiring too. So I believe that overplaying can devalue an album.

[David]

And Rumours is still imo, Fleetwood Mac's best album.I think so too.

And British critics are particularly snobbish about Americans and that West Coast scene. Especially after Fleetwood Mac had had some success as a British Blues band.Yes. The British critics were particularly harsh on & uninterested in Fleetwood Mac in the late '70s. The British teenagers, too, weren't as keen about RUMOURS as we American teens were.

[Peestie]

Yes. The British critics were particularly harsh on & uninterested in Fleetwood Mac in the late '70s. The British teenagers, too, weren't as keen about RUMOURS as we American teens were.

Really? Or sarcasm? I wasn't around at the time but all the stories I've heard from my parents say that you couldn't go to a party here without being sure that Rumours would be played and that it would be played every day in their sixth form centre. Could have been the microcosm they lived in, I guess.

[David]

Really? Or sarcasm? I wasn't around at the time but all the stories I've heard from my parents say that you couldn't go to a party here without being sure that Rumours would be played and that it would be played every day in their sixth form centre.Read my post again.