Unheard and Unmissable
Firstly, I fully acknowledge that with any list exploring forgotten, overlooked, or unfairly buried albums, there will always be people who don’t agree with the inclusions. And that’s fine. It’s all subjective and this is by no means intended to be a definitive list– it’s just a handful of decent records that don’t get the love they deserve.
I do hope, fingers crossed, that even the most avid music listener walks away with at least one record listed here that they haven’t come across before or, at the very least, feels inspired to relisten to something that they haven’t touched in many years.
Malachai - Ugly Side of Love
I’d bet money that you’ve never heard of Malachai. I only came across them as I was looking for music that sounds awesome whilst influenced by the devil’s lettuce… but that was a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away.
Discovered by Geoff Barrow of Portishead and praised by Sergio Pizzorno from Kasabian, Malachai’s 2010 debut, Ugly Side of Love, feels like it was dug up from a post-apocalyptic vinyl bin stored at the back of a boarded-up Andy’s Records. Twisted and dust-covered, this is music bristling with an unusual energy.
Across 32 minutes, Malachai hammers us with a dirty, grimy, scrappy, lo-fi trip-hop sound that has crashed headfirst into psychedelic garage rock. Ugly Side of Love never got the recognition it deserved– too weird and genre-blending for its time. But if you like Danger Mouse, Beck, or King Khan & The Shrines, this is a forgotten gem that is well worth your attention.
Acid Casuals - Omni
Acid Casuals is the side project of Super Furry Animals keyboardist Cian Ciárán and Big Leaves bassist Kev Tame. In 2006, they released Omni, their only album to date. Strangely, the record now only sits on Ciárán’s streaming profiles. Spanning 43 minutes across 10 tracks, the album blends neo-psychedelia, left-field electronic, and ambient to create something hypnotic and highly cinematic. While this one slipped under the radar of most people, Omni still holds up as a beautifully strange detour from the early-2000s.
U2 - Pop
The first time I came across Pop was when I plundered my older sister’s CD collection, seeing what I could burn copies of just before the millennium hit. I hadn’t even heard The Joshua Tree yet, as I was still just a youngster. So, you can imagine my surprise as I discovered their other records… and disappointment with what came after.
It’s the lowest-selling album in U2’s catalogue. They rarely play the songs live. In their Best of 1990–2000 compilation, we were given some reworked versions of the originals, which sound half-baked. Bono has even expressed his desire to completely rework the whole album at some point… Please don’t Bono… go back to driving your car naked.
But their ninth album is the last time U2 really tried to push the envelope with their sound. As they dabbled with techno, electronica, dance music and sampling, we got some genuinely interesting compositions like “Miami” and “Mofo.” This album does not sound like U2 and, for that, you have to give them merit.
Since, U2 has mostly coasted in a kind of ‘dad rock’ groove. A bit of a shame, considering these guys had only just left their thirties. Pop is inconsistent, yes… but so is All That You Can’t Leave Behind, which ends poorly and is supported by some dismal B-sides. And arguably, so are their other albums… the pretentious mess of Rattle and Hum comes to mind.
The album swings sharply in mood, likely due to the rushed nature of its creation, still tweaking tracks right up to the last minute. But sonically, Pop has aged exceptionally well. This isn’t a dated record and, in my opinion, would be more commercially successful if it was released today. It is my favourite in U2’s catalogue… though I’ll admit, it takes a fair few plays to really get into its messed-up groove.
Kim Jung Mi - Now
Kim Jung Mi is a forgotten pioneer of South Korea’s psychedelic music scene. Sadly, and tragically, her masterpiece, Now, was released during Park Chung Hee’s military dictatorship. Deemed vulgar, anti-social, decadent, and Western-influenced by the regime, Kim Jung Mi was caught in a severe cultural crackdown that saw her (and many other artists) as an existential threat to Korean values.
Now was censored, confiscated, and nearly erased from the historical record. Kim Jung Mi was also banned from performing, which ended her music career. Thankfully, a handful of copies survived and the streaming upload has the endearing crackle of vinyl across it. Every music lover should listen to Now, an album that is awash with floaty, dreamy, melancholic, and deeply evocative sounds.
Longpigs - The Sun Is Often Out
You can be forgiven for missing this album… especially if you’re under or over a certain age, or from a part of the world that didn’t quite get hit by the mid-90s Britpop wave. Even within the UK, Longpigs never quite broke through in the same way as Blur, Oasis or Pulp, despite a string of UK Top 40 singles and critical acclaim. Even I’m shamefully a newcomer to this act, only getting around to listening this year.
The Sun Is Often Out is definitely not Britpop in the sense of Union Jack Epiphone guitars, Camden pubs or Adidas tracksuits… this is more battered poetry notebooks and council estate kitchens. It is emotionally complex, ugly, beautiful, anthemic, fractured, and cathartic. Simply underrated in every sense of the word. At the heart of this record are Crispin Hunt’s soaring vocals and sentimental, surreal-tinged songwriting, and the thoughtful guitar work of Richard Hawley. If you have not heard this record you need to make it a top priority.
Family - Fearless
Family are one of those bands that maybe never made it big simply because they were just too weird and too musically restless. That’s why I love them. The odd ball vibe was likely given rocket boosters by the constant rotation of band members between 1966 and 1973. Yep, its Spinal Tap levels of eleven different musicians coming and going in seven years.
Fearless, their fifth album, released in 1971, is arguably their most accessible but that’s not to say it isn’t still idiosyncratic British rock. It often dips into multiple genres within a single track. While it reached a respectable No. 14 in the UK album charts, it’s far less known across the pond, peaking at only No. 177 in the USA. I am not sure how big they are in the UK if honest only meeting two people so far that are familiar with their output and judging by their 18k listeners on Spotify. I only discovered the album around 2004 when I borrowed it from the library just to see if it was any good.
Family gives us folk-rock, a pinch of jazz, loose jams, proto-prog, and then some full-blown vaudeville theatrics for good measure. Fearless is simply fearless. It should be a total mess, but, somehow, it’s all elegantly cohesive. This is definitely a record to play on repeat.
The Verve - A Storm in Heaven
The Verve will always be remembered for Urban Hymns and the inescapable anthem, “Bittersweet Symphony.” But scratch beyond the stadium-ready bangers that we all know and love and there is a very different band under the surface. I could have just as easily listed the turbulent A Northern Soul here, but the biggest surprise is when we go back to the very beginning.
Back in 1993, The Verve… or ‘Verve’ back then, were druggy space cadets, floating in a haze of what can only be described as shoegaze, psych, and sprawling space rock. A Storm in Heaven, notably produced by John Leckie, is vividly trippy and dominated by the criminally underrated axe sorcerer Nick McCabe. Once you hear this album’s guitar textures, you will realise how pivotal he was in subtly shaping the sonics of Urban Hymns.
Richard Ashcroft hadn’t yet found that soulful timbre he is famous for. Instead, he sounds like a reverb-drenched shaman who is mesmerised by images from another dimension. If you’ve never heard it before, it’s a real surprise. Along with the 1992 The Verve EP, it’s a beautiful, cosmic outlier in their catalogue… and in the Britpop era as a whole.
Honourable mentions from the top of my head:
Linda Perhacs – Parallelograms
Black Moth Super Rainbow – Dandelion Gum