Cream was one of the greatest super group ever. With Eric Clapton, Ginger Baker, and Jack Bruce, Cream were nearly unstoppable. Nearly. Disraeli Gears is considered by some to be their greatest album. Unfortunately, I believe that it is given too much credit because it is Cream and it has one of the greatest albums covers ever, rather than on the basis of the songs. Now before some call me a Clapton or a Cream hater, or a blinded Jimi Hendrix fan, let it be known that I actually love Cream's Wheels of Fire, and many things Clapton. No. Instead, this is about an album not being what it's cracked up to be. There are great songs on Disraeli Gears (Sunshine of Your Love, Tales of Brave Ulysses, Strange Brew), but there are also some songs which are quite frankly sub-par (World of Pain, Blue Condition, Take It Back). Three sub-par songs are just too many for an album to be considered truly amazing.
9. If You Can Believe Your Eyes And Ears - The Mama and The Papas
What can be said about the Mamas and the Papas that has not been said already. An amazing group, with amazing harmonies, and great songs, but what has not been said is that their one seminal album is overrated. If You Can Believe Your Eyes And Ears is a good album, but it is not the #127 Greatest album of all-time (as listed by Rolling Stone Magazine). Once one gets past the hits, (Monday, Monday, Straight Shooter, Go Where You Wanna Go, and California Dreaming), everything else is basically filler material. Some would argue Spanish Harlem, but to me Spanish Harlem is just a bit too dull for my taste. With these type of albums it always seems as if people see the hits and think that "this has to be an amazing album", but the measure of an album is not its singles or hits, but the supporting tracks. And unfortunately, the supporting tracks on this album just are not good enough.
8. Off The Wall - Michael Jackson
This album by the late great Michael Jackson, basically comes down to math. There are 10 songs, 5 are great, but 5 are sub-par fillers. Don't Stop Till You Get Enough, Rock With You, Off The Wall, She's Out of My League. Off The Wall suffers from single-itis. The singles are alone on this album. Such as the case with the above mentioned If You Can Believe You Eyes And Ears, the supporting tracks on Off The Wall do not support very well. They fall very short in fact. (Burn The Disco Out, It's The Falling In Love, Workin' Day And Night, and Get Off The Floor).
7. Please Please Me - The Beatles
I am sure there are people who are reading this right now who are shocked that the Beatles could be anywhere near this list. Well they're actually on here twice. So get your shock out of the way. Please Please Me was the debut album for the Beatles, and is often put on almost every greatest albums list. I have listened to this album many times, and quite frankly, I can't find anything special. Some of the songs on this album are cringe worthy. Don't get me wrong, I Saw Here Standing There, Please Please Me, Love Me Do, and Twist And Shout, are all really good songs, but the rest of the album is quite literally cringe worthy. I can not describe how bad of a song Chains is. Misery, Anna (Go To Him), Boys, Baby It's You, and A Taste of Honey, are no better. Now some will argue that you can not fault the Beatles because most of those songs are covers. True. But I'm not faulting the Beatles, I'm faulting the people who rank this album so highly.
6. Desire - Bob Dylan
If you were shocked to find the Beatles on here, I bet that you're really shocked now. Yes there is such a thing as an overrated Bob Dylan album, and Desire is it. There are nine song contained within this album, I would say that three are listenable. Again, before anyone calls me an Dylan hater, I'm actually an extremely big Dylan fan. I have listened to just about of all his album, at least twice. But Desire is extremely overrated, especially when compared to his other great albums. Which is where this album is usually placed among. Hurricane, Sara, and Isis are three amazing songs that show Dylan's classic genius, but Mozambigue, One More Cup of Coffee, Oh, Sister, and Joey, are not that good. Overrated does not mean it is bad. It just means that it's not as good as people say it is. Desire is not as good as the company that it is placed among.
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