[kj] The most overated album ever

[Mark Kolmar]

On 3/2/07, Alex Smith <vassifer at earthlink.net> wrote:

> I mean, just to extrapolate -- when I think overrated, I think of albums

> than rock critics and arguably learned music cogniscenti continually cite as

> masterpieces (like, say, the entirety of Bob Dylan's whiney, unlistenable

> catalog), not some comparatively minute blip on the radar like BTATS.


Earlier in life I was not fond of Dylan and had little respect.  I did
not appreciate his work in a historical context (being too young for
that), but a classic by definition will speak through the ages.  Maybe
so, but it still did not speak to me.  I think part of the problem is
exactly that Dylan is overrated.  That is to say, practically no
matter how excellent any of it might be, it could not stand up next to
assertions that it's the embodiment of all things good and holy.  At
this point in my life, I can approach it on terms acceptable to me
personally and my own subjective reaction.  Maybe for you it will
still carry too much (counter-)cultural baggage.  The way that his
stock went way down for about two decades reveals an artist who can
indeed get it horribly wrong, and who had a string of really good
records about 40 years ago.  I think the early material is something
you can approach in a new context in life, that may reflect something
different back to you than it did before.

As for overrated albums, I don't know if it drops much lower than
Jethro Tull's _Aqualung_.  No, sir, I don't like it one bit.

--Mark