Every Thanksgiving Jim and Greg name their Turkeys--albums they had high hopes for that fell flat.
If you have any Turkeys you'd like to be shot, line them up here or email interact@soundopinions.org. We may contact you to be on the air.

Here's my top 6:

6) Paul Weller - 22 Dreams
-The fact that this is still sitting in my "to listen to" folder says a lot. Everytime I put it on, I never make it all the way through.


5) Calexico - Carried to Dust.
Garden Ruin was a fantastic album. I'm not sure why I only like the one song. Everyone else seems to like it. I feel left out.

4) Gnarls Barkly - The Odd Couple
-Not really a single song on here I like.

3) Nomo - Ghost Tones
-After their fantastic previous album, they seem to have dropped the afrobeat horns in favor of some sort of avant, spacious thing.

2) Spearhead - All Rebel Rockers
-The followup to my #1 album of 2006 (Yell Fire!), these songs are just nowhere near as good.

1) George Clinton - and His Gangsters of Love
-what the fuck is this thing? Even with members of RHCP and SOAD and Sly FUCKING Stone, this thing sounds like some lite jazz funk crap.

for being one of the biggest singles not too long ago, Gnarls Barkely dropped the ball and didnt deliver as well on the new album.

i can't think of any right now, a lot of my fav artists delivered well this year

The Peter Bjorn and John instrumental-heavy follow-up to Writer's Block.

I waited something like seven years for a new Del the Funky Homosapien album. I got 11th Hour this year which was a steaming pile of garbage. Easily the most disappointing album I've heard in years. The guy has so much talent and character and very little of that showed on this thing. Bleh. Totally forgettable.

Beck's Modern Guilt is a really boring rock record. As I wrote at the time, "[i]t's just a terribly boring, uninspired, monotonous record with little to recommend it beyond a cool production aesthetic, nice instrumentation and some moderately cool guitar tones."

Beck - Modern Guilt
My Morning Jacket - Evil Urges

wasn't Chris Walla's album a disappointment to a lot of people?

i listened to it once, so i can't remember

Keane was terrible. First two were pretty great.

I find it hard to blame B Butler for both Cajun Dance Party and Black Kids debuts but he did produce them both.

The Whip and Does It Offend You, Yeah? managed not to reproduce their live shows on record.

uhh, Weezer?

...I understand why some people love this album but it's just some really great songs backed up with some awfully mediocre songs. was a bit of a bummer for me. Otherwise this year hasn't been that big of a disappointment for me -- I even dig the Black Kids record -- and stuff that I didn't like is hard to remember because I barely listened to it in the first place.

Hmm.. Does it Offend You, Yeah? was also pretty disappointing, spot on, Mitch. I kind of don't mind Snow Patrol, and I was interested in the new album, but it's just so.. it doesn't even lean one way or the other (i.e. commercial or 'artistic'), and I'm not sure how I feel about the album as a whole, but it doesn't feel right.

Oh! Nas' S/T was terribly, terribly disappointing. Black Milk too because I heard so much hype about it (before the thread on this board)... probably some others.

Paper Trail and Made In The Dark, while both have some of the best songs of the year (Whatever You Like, No Matter What, Ready For Whatever, Ready For The Floor, Made In The Dark, Out At The Pictures, One Pure Thought), but are mired in both mediocre T.I./HC-by numbers, or even simply just utter shit (Live Your Life, Swing Ya Rag, Wrestlers, etc.)

I thought

wtf who ever heard of a forum with no edit button

Anyways, I thought Snow Patrol was pretty good. Evil Urges was great.

are you blind?

not sure if i want to call Snow Patrol a turkey

but this album does not hold to Final Straw or Eyes Open

letdown for me

Well I'm guessing it's under the arrow next to the reply button, and my browser is being an ass or something by not let me open the enclosed options.

Oh but hey, you know what's coming out just in time for turkey day? Kanye. It's gonna be WEAK.

Calexico's disc is solid for the general southwestern homage that they constantly play to. Is it that you dislike this because you've got a problem with the horns or don't care for the tejano sound that they clearly subscribe to? They've really been carrying this style since the beginning and this album differs very little in my mind. You've got to spin it again and let it sink in.

Gnarls not unlike TOTR are really delivering more RnB/Soul vibes than any of the other things that they've either respectively pumped out. I've listened to the Gnarls disc more times than maybe any other this year outside of the Malkmus, Nick Cave, Deerhoof, Ladytron, & Bob Pollard stuff and I defy the idea that it is really a dud.

Between the tracks of 'Whatever', 'Who's Gonna Save My Soul' & 'Charity Case'. If you honestly hold no love for the brilliance of Dangermouse or Cee-Lo's pipes then your just missing the forest from the trees. It's by know means the highlight of the year but it certainly qualifies to a better scale for example than say.. that Scarlet Johansson nonsense? Can't say I've got any other turkeys cause if I don't like it, I wouldn't keep it.

Although, I've also got that Jenny Lewis which I've not listened to yet and I was vastly underwhelmed by the last one despite all the praise she keeps getting.

1. CSS- Donkey
2. MMJ- Evil Urges
3. Beck- Modern Guilt

I was going to say The Streets... but it's not like it is any worse than his last album.


Honestly, I have had to pick just one, I am shocked by how little I care about the new Wolf Parade album.
I guess I have just tired of the sound... because i am feeling very ambivalent about the new Destroyer album too.

I don't see why so many people are listing Modern Guilt. To me, it's not a great record or a horrible one. Most of Beck's stuff is like that for me. He usually kicks out at least a few good songs on each release and the rest are just meh. I'm always interested in hearing what he's up to next though.

another vote for MMJ. as much as it hurts to say. i like a few songs alot but overall its not a good cd at all. i rate Z near the bottom of their cds but i still listen to it regularly. evil urges hasnt been played since a month it came out.

the new Faint album. Holy heck is it bad.

it's not as if I had expectations to the contrary (and it still has time to vanish) but the new G'n'R is the only thing I've heard this year that I'd call awful.

Based on what got bad reviews from Dero and Kot this year, I'm guessing I'll be listening this week with one middle finger hoisted toward the monitor - better start doing my arm exercises now.

Where did you hear the actual album?

I didn't. What I did hear, however, sucked.

You make a good point, though. Can't really count that, can I?

No bad albums at all this year - woo hoo!

(maybe the Sons and Daughters record...)

What songs did you hear? I'd like to find out where I can hear them. All I heard was the demo leak which was pretty damn good.

It's not that the album is bad as much as disappointing. After word got out that he was working on Modern Guilt with Dangermouse expectations ran high. I will still check out anything he does but I haven't been much impressed with anything since Sea Change.

aside from the does it offend you, yeah? which i've avoided due to terrible name asshattery, the rest of your list looks like random selections from my top twenty. and everyone beats up on that nas album, and i really like it. like really like it. dunno.

Can't believe that no one has mentioned Bloc Party. I guess I kindof expected it would be bad after Weekend, but it is awful.

I feel like the excitement over Dangermouse came from people thinking the production would be crazy like The Grey Album, forgetting that just about everything else he's been involved with sounds dark and moody.

CSS
Kings of Leon
Of Montreal
Dandy Warhols
Beyonce
The Raconteurs
Brian Wilson

Nas's self-titled was an incredibly boring record.

Black Kids, Beck, Raphael Saadiq, Drive By Truckers..... sure there are others. Not terrible, just disappointing.

I'm surprised MMJ got mentioned. Z was disappointing enough that I now expect nothing from them.

Yeah, these two for sure. God that never ending last song on DW...yuck.

How could I forget about Girl Talk?

Klimt 1918..altho I don't feel it's horrible; it just doesn't compare at all to their others.
Mt.Helium (formerly The Apex Theory)..LIGHTPOST to me gave me a ton of hope for this band, and the only tracks I really found even close to that 15min EP were the one's they uploaded to their myspace back in the Summer of 2007.
Murder By Death..they continued to use the Johnny Cash vox and also basically no piano which is one of the best things about their 1st 2 albums.
Janus...Haven't played it enough, but pretty much the same story as Mt.Helium. The myspace songs they had up the last 2 years seem to be the best and only songs that are memorable.

Mild disappointments

This Will Destroy You..mild hopes, but I got bored.
Opeth.."Lotus Eater" made me order the $40 bundle, only to cancel it after hearing the whole thing.
Margot and the Nuclear So and So's..a lot of good work on both of their releases, but I honestly bought in to the hope this would be their statement or landmark work. I guess like Oceansize, Muse, and Mew, I'm gonna have to be patient.
Cynic..too overtly prog..trying too hard..really doesn't even compare in any way to "Focus."
Russian Circles..not horrible, but not in Enter's class.
Textures
Facing New York..I thought this might be their breakthrough for me..sadly, it's probably worse than their debut which I could never get into mainly due to the softness of their singer.
Fleet Foxes..not that I expected a lot, but I was a fan of them for like 2 weeks, and then I realized how much of a 1-trick pony their album was. Not a huge disappointment since I never got too up for this album in the 1st place, but a huge disappointment how overhyped it became. I've said it before, and repeat it again, they basically are in there with your Panda Bear's and Miracle Fortress's..and they are NOT Local Natives (formerly Cavil at Rest)

that i havent seen here...

Stereophonics - Pull The Pin

After Language, Sex Violence, Other? I was hoping for another strong album, but they released the weakest album of their career. Faceless cock rock with no redeeming value. Bah. At least they are still good live.

I think this was 2007.

I'll add Guillemots and The Breeders as disappointments for me.

El Perro Del Mar's new one was pretty disappointing; her last album was one of my favorites of that year, and this took the somberness of her lyrics and threw it onto the musical palette...kind of killed what was great about the first one.

After hearing the early buzz on Hercules and Love Affair and "Blind," I was extremely disappointed in the actual album. "Blind" is pretty much the only good thing about it.

New Horse Feathers (especially second half) was also so sleepy compared to their last one.

And the usuals: Of Montreal, MMJ, Wolf Parade (only in that their first was brilliant and this one just okay).

I'd also list the Peter Moren solo disc as pretty disappointing, even though not technically a follow-up.

others, the el perro del mar one (loved the 1st one, the 2nd one kinda bores me), and possibly the beck one. it was hyped up quite a bit but i remember enjoying 'guero' quite a bit more in retrospect. but the beck one is the one i feel i need to listen to more. it's not a bad record, its just kinda 'meh'

Ryan Adams - Cardinology
Sons and Daughters - This Gift (Dero loves this record? Really?)

I like the Sons and Daughters album quite a bit actually. it will likely be in my top 20.

Same here. Maybe not top 20, but certainly list worthy. Pretty great live show as well.

I'll try to get to my disappointments this weekend. I have a few.

you know what album is God-awful? The new Annuals. I thought they were decent when they put out their first record, but I dunno what happened. It's like listening to Rascal Flatts or something.

Weezer. What a god-awful pile of human crap this album is. They've put out some marvelous rock and roll throughout their career, and these seemed to be some good hype on this one, plus they did that cool hootenanny radio tour. To me, this album panders to the giggly tween audience with its cutesy lyrics and references, and maybe that was on the band's mind as a way to stay relevant with kids. But the songs just don't sound good. It all sounds like stuff the band wrote in junior high.

Unlike most people here, I actually buy my music at the record store. Weezer owes me $16.99.

If this question was asked of me in Spanish class, I'd say, "Cuomo se dice 'this album blows' en espanol?"

I think the album is way too inconsistent to be classified as a 'turkey.' It was disappointing in one sense, yes, especially with the non-Rivers songs, but really,about half the set is top notch Weezer and did anyone really expect that in 2008?

lol..I think it's better in some ways than BE HE ME. "Springtime" is as uplifting a song as any from 2008.

Well, Be He Me isn't by any means a great record. I just kinda felt like, hey, this band, in a couple years, could make a really great record. And they made the opposite of that.

The Verve - Forth

God damn you Verve, could you have disappointed more? An anticipated comeback that was doomed to fail, and yet a glint of hope remained. Shame.

an absolute disgrace. good they've split up