It seems like the days of flipping through vast vinyl, cassette, or CD collections is a thing of the past. And while there’s no denying the convenience of having all your favorite albums on a mobile device, it’s becoming more common for recordings to get lost in the shuffle and/or completely forgotten about.
Author/journalist Greg Prato is willing to provide some assistance, with his 12th book overall, Overlooked/Underappreciated: 354 Recordings That Demand Your Attention. Inside, you will find countless albums that you may have completely forgotten about or perhaps have never even heard of before.
Starting with AC/DC’s Flick of the Switch and wrapping up with Zombi’s Surface to Air, countless styles of music are represented in between – rock n’ roll, hard rock, heavy metal, alternative, new wave, punk, hardcore, grunge, jazz, fusion, psychedelic, prog, folk, blues, funk, soul, rap, spoken word, power pop, big band, glam, experimental, instrumental, soundtracks…the list goes on and on. But the selections stay strong!
Greg Prato is a Long Island, New York-based journalist, whose writing has appearing in Rolling Stone, among other outlets. He is also the author of several acclaimed books, including Grunge is Dead: The Oral History of Seattle Rock Music, A Devil on One Shoulder and an Angel on the Other: The Story of Shannon Hoon and Blind Melon, The Eric Carr Story, and MTV Ruled the World: The Early Years of Music Video, among others.
Now available as paperback ($12.99, 256 pages), Kindle ($9.99, 287 pages), and Nook.
($9.99, 256 pages) versions.
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SAVATAGE – Hall of the Mountain King
WARRIOR SOUL – Last Decade Dead Century
GRIM REAPER – See you in Hell
HELLOWEEN – Keeper of the Seven Keys, pt. 1
SUICIDAL TENDENCIES – Lights, Camera, Revolution
MERCYFUL FATE – Don’t Break the Oath
ROCK CANDY – Sucker for a Pretty Face
STRYPER – Soldiers Under Command
Anything by Y&T
LIZZY BORDEN – Love you to Pieces
BADLANDS – debut album (RIP one of, if not THE finest voice in hard rock and metal, Ray Gillen)
How about metal Church, Blessing in Disguise!
on a scale of 1 to ten Badlands debut rates infinity billion trillion million +1!!! Jake was at his absolute peak and yes-RAY GILLEN POSSESSED SOME GOLDEN PIPES!!! R.I.P. RAY!
here’s a couple of other highly overlooked albums:
Autograph – Loud And Clear
Blue Tears – Blue Tears ( Have you heard this one Eddie? incredible album in a Def Leppard vibe)
Heavens Edge – Heavens Edge
Giuffria – Giuffria
Just a few…
Blue Murder…should have been huge. Still holds up today somewhat. This is the band Sykes needs to revisit with the original members.
Rough Cutt…both albums. Frankly these albums were notches above your standard LA hair metal stuff. And if you don’t own them…own them.
Metal Heart – Accept. Again, should have been the album that put them over the top.
Youthanasia – Megadeth…a brilliant album. Should have been the biggest of their career.
Dog Eat Dog – Warrant. A little to late, the movement was over by this point.
Thunder & Lightning…not enough to save Lizzy, the band was simply to far down the rabbit hole at this point but with Sykes on board they went out blazing.
CHEAP TRICK – All Shook Up, hands down! George Martin producing! “I Love You Honey But I Hate Your Friends”, “Baby Loves To Rock”, “Stop This Game”, incredible!
L.A. Guns – Cocked and loaded
Lita Ford – Dancing on the edge
W.A.S.P. – The last command
Bang Tango – Psycho cafe
Joan Jett – Album
Warlock – Triumph and agony
Dio – Dream evil
Fastway – Trick or treat
Whitesnake – Slide it in
Quiet Riot – Condition critical
Condition Critical just got killed by the critics when it came out. I remember buying it and thinking it was better than Metal Health. I almost felt ashamed to admit I had bought it. Glad I’m not the only one who thinks it was a good record. I’ll add Headless Children to your Last Command.
Great job on Bang Tango. I was waving the BT flag as soon as I saw “Someone Like You” on Headbangers Ball. Dancin’ on Coals was a great album too. Another band that may have been ahead of their time.