What think y'all of this show topic: albums that are pretty much universally recognized as great, yet that you (Jim/Greg, guests, whoever) don't really care for all that much for whatever reason?

If I were to list a few of my own...

Beatles "Sgt. Pepper" - yes, I know why it's groundbreaking and important and all that; I just wouldn't pull it from the stack given my choice. Maybe I've heard all those songs too much already or maybe they sound a bit too much like Sesame Street singalongs, I dunno. (I'm actually kind of like that with most Beatles, except for the White Album which I will always love, and the odd tune here & there like Eleanor Rigby, She Said, Ticket To Ride, I Am the Walrus, etc. Call me weird, I plead guilty.)

Beach Boys "Pet Sounds" - I just plain don't like the Beach Boys (with the exception of "Good Vibrations" which I'd put on the list of Perfect Pop Songs - maybe that's another show topic.) And that's pretty much it. "God Only Knows" is timeless, I'll give them that, but again I wouldn't grab this to listen to given my choice.

Dylan "Blonde on Blonde" - I have tried, folks. Really I have. But with one or two exceptions, this album has never done a lot for me. It always sounded, I dunno, really dated. Hard to describe, and maybe I just don't "get it." Highway 61 and Blood on the Tracks blow my dress up, Blonde doesn't.

Let's move into recent years...

Prince "Purple Rain" - I was a commercial radio DJ in the 80's and have heard every song on this (overrated to begin with) album at least 47,500 times each. And the cover art is hideous. Prince is a remarkable talent but he has much better material.

The Feelies "Crazy Rhythms" - I like the Feelies a lot, but this is my least favorite record of theirs by a long shot, and I've never been able to figure out why so many people worship it, especially over Only Life and Time for a Witness (both of which I think are fantastic) and about 2/3 of The Good Earth.

Sonic Youth "Daydream Nation" - again, I love SY but this just isn't one of their better albums in my book. Yet it's worshipped as well (I think they even did one of those "we play our classic album ______ in its entirety" shows around it a while back. ) Sister - absolute classic. Dirty and Goo - also great. EVOL - the best of their early stuff. The Eternal - their best in years. But this one - I mean, there's a "Candle" or "Silver Rocket" here & there, but I'd pick Daydream over Experimental Jet Set and not much else in the SY canon.

Flaming Lips "The Soft Bulletin" - Hey! Who blew my speakers? Wait, it's only the bass lines on The Soft Bulletin. I'm a fan of the older, guitar-driven Lips records (I saw them circa "Telepathic Surgery" in a small bar in my old college town and that's still one of my all-time favorite shows to this day) and despite all the critical hosannas I was never all that into this album. In fact, it kicked off a series of 3 or 4 Lips yawn-fests, broken only recently by Embryonic which is their best in a while, and the "Dark Side of the Moon" cover which is just plain fun. Give me all 28 minutes of "Hell's Angels Cracker Factory" over Soft Bulletin any day.

Thoughts? Suggestions? Verbal abuse?

Dark Side of the Moon.

who's with me???

Guns and Roses- "Appetite for Destruction"

It just ain't all that...

OP is looking for "Great Albums," Arkin.

amen brother.

Although, he does say universally recognized as great. Which, you know, if Rolling Stone says it's great...

anything by U2 pre-Achtung Baby.

I like all great albums and nothing else.