Year End 2017: Top 5 Disappointing Albums

So, in continuing in my year end lists, I have produced a handful of albums that in my opinion (not yours) were disappointments. They don't even necessarily have to be bad records; just ones that didn't live up to my unrealistic expectations. This will be a ranked list, with decreasing numbers indicating increasing magnitude of disappointment.

5. Beck- Colors
With this record being toted as the album where Modern Guilt left off, I was pretty excited. Morning Phase was a pretty mellow affair, but I was looking more for the upbeat, crazy experimental side of Beck again. With the singles and those one off 12 inch records, I was pretty hype, but then the record comes out and its pretty middle of the road pop stuff. Not terrible, but I was looking for a little bit more weirdness here. Hopefully, this was just an experiment for Beck, and one he won't revisit for a while, at least until he puts out some more weird stuff.

4. Kendrick Lamar- DAMN.
Coming off of To Pimp a Butterfly, I was super excited to hear Kendrick's next album. What we got was a good album, maybe even a great one, but not what I was looking for. Here, Kendrick embraced a lot of trap elements, and while not losing his lyrical ability, I feel like his previous record was so much more ambitious and sweeping in scope. I was hoping he would double down and churn out another progressive rap epic, but alas. Also, the rumors of a second album that never materialized didn't help things (the backwards version doesn't count!)




3. The Flaming Lips- Oczy Mlody
I honestly don't even know what to say about this record. The Flaming Lips followed up The Terror with some pretty weird covers records and a companion to Dark Side of the Moon as an April Fool's joke (one I actually fell for and still think is awesome), but on their first legit album since, I feel like they were really out to paint the town beige. I'm honestly just confused. The Flaming Lips have been a lot of things, but boring was never one of them. Now that Kesha's off the hook with her recording contract, maybe that Lip$ha collab record could inject some life into this band.




2. St. Vincent- MASSEDUCTION
St. Vincent's 2014 self titled record was one of my favorites of that year, and I thought it was so awesome that a female artist so close to the mainstream didn't play the game and do the typical crap that comes along with it. If this was supposed to be ironic, it was lost on me. She can do whatever she wants (who am I to tell her otherwise), but it didn't make the product any less disappointing.

1. Father John Misty- Pure Comedy

I saw a meme somewhere of this album cover with the caption "reads Infinite Jest once", and couldn't think of anything more fitting. I was never the most die hard Father John Misty fan (I much more prefer his work as J. Tillman or with Fleet Foxes), but when I heard the amazing hype for this record and the glowing recommendations, I had to check it out. What I heard was the most pretentious Elton John/ Randy Newman cast offs I've ever heard. The lyrical content comes across as super preachy, as if coming from some omnipotent demigod, and the piano ballad sonic wallpaper is about as listless as boring as regular wallpaper. Criminally overrated.

So that's my list of last year's disappointments. Were there any 2017 records that really let you down? Stay tuned for my year end top 10 albums list.

"Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use."