And his brothers are also amazing songwriters (if you like punk and hard rock). Check out the Zeros and the Dragons.

I'll throw in another one---from the album "Cut", the Slits:

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For those who like late 80's/early 90's smart thrash metal:

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Some of the best riffing, soloing and drumming I've heard on a thrash release. Very cool and unique record.

A bit of trivia - the drummer on this record is the current Godsmack drummer, Shannon Larkin.

the life and times: suburban hymns
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oceansize: effloresce
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Echo & the Bunnymen - Reverberation.

Though the disc is the only one under the Bunnymen name to be recorded without their perennial front man, Ian McColloch, Reverberation features arguably Will Sergeant's best and most compelling guitar work and some of the most interestingly structured songs of the band's career. Practically every fan of the band skipped the album in protest of the name being used without Ian and, sadly, they missed out on one of the best albums the band ever produced.

Sennen - Widows (2005)

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I don't know about greatest albums of all time, but very good and overlooked:

Kilgore (Smudge) - Blue Collar Solitude
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Groove-oriented mid-90s metal from New England. Great songs, terrible production values courtesy of Howard Benson.

Paddy Casey - Amen (So Be It)
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Irish singer-songwriter with breakbeats and ambient noise.

Justin Warfield - My Field Trip to Planet 9
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Early 90s hiphop with spacey, psychedelic rhymes featuring production by Prince Paul (De La Soul) and QDIII (Quincey Jones' son). Warfield is now the frontman of She Wants Revenge, and was also in One Inch Punch and Super 8.

Not sure how well these are known but I'd say
Monaco-Music for Pleasure
Dot Allison-Afterglow

I haven't commented thus far because I have no clue what is "virtually unknown". I can't believe anyone would seriously think The Jam or Escovedo are unknown, but that's because I've listened to them for many years.

Here's my recommendations with a YMMV qualification to 'unknown' status:

Vulgar Boatmen - You & Your Sister

I'd recommend the Silos, but since they won Rolling Stone's Best New American Band back in the day, they must not be 'virtually unknown'?

britpop (post-britpop, whatever) rec's:

Mansun - Attack Of The Grey Lantern
Reef - Afterglow
Gomez - Bring It On
Embrace - The Good Will Out

Soul:

comps by the 'Sweet Soul Queen of New Orleans', Irma Thomas, & Candi Staton.

Powerpop:

P.Hux - Deluxe
Hummingbirds - Love Buzz

There is also a bunch of great country stuff that gets nada airplay, I'll mention Mike Ireland & Jeff Black in passing, which is well worth a listen, especially if you can get past the 'country' label.

I used to go see those guys live locally all the time (at a club that no longer exists called the Free Street), when they were still known simply as Wrathchild.

They had to add the "America" to the name when they got signed, due to a UK band called also being called Wrathchild. After their second major label album (which is the one pictured), they changed their name to Souls At Zero.

Back then, their set was about 80% covers, but they were damn good at them, too. Their big original tune was called "No Deposit, No Return".

Shannon was always amazing on drums. He could wail on double kicks like nobody else.

Oh man, I could go on with this thread for days, and as it is, I'm having difficulty on where to start. But here's some...

Starclub - Starclub
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"Brit Pop" at the dawn of the scene. This is the band's debut from slightly before the first Radiohead album came out.



From the same year, there's also the south western rock of the Sand Rubies - Sand Rubies
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And before they were the Sand Rubies, the two main members of the band had another group called the Sidewinders whose two albums were equally good. The best cuts of those albums were later issued as The Sidewinders Sessions
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Seems 1993 had a lot of really awesome and underrated albums I still like to this day, including...



Dillon Fence - Outside In
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Indie rock with a hint of power pop. This was this Chapel Hill, North Carolina band's second full length album, and still their best.





From the year before that, in 1992 we've got the rather excellent debut (and only album) form...

Arc Angels - Arc Angels
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Charlie Sexton, Doyle Bramhall II, and Stevie Ray Vaughan's old "Double Trouble" rhythm section of Tommy Shannon and Chris Layton. Just plain great (mostly) blues based rock, and some of my favorite Charlie Sexton songs.
And while we're on the subject, most of Doyle Bramhall II's solo albums are pretty decent, particularly...
Jellycream
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For some stuff in the power pop field, some of my other favorite overlooked gems would be...



Marshall Crenshaw - Life's Too Short
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Quite possibly my favorite Marshall Crenshaw release, it also contains one of his best songs in "Fantastic Planet Of Love". Ed Stasium's production on this on is super charged.






The Sighs - What Goes On
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This album was also produced by Ed Stasium. A bit more rock than power pop, but solid all the way through.






Big Car - Normal
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Before Fastball, singer/guitarist Miles Zuniga and drummer Joey Shuffield served time in this band.






The Greenberry Woods - Big Money Item
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This is this most excellent band's second album, but oh what a classic! Some of the finest modern power pop, period. They eventually broke up and formed other bands, but they left a couple of solid releases behind them.






While they may not be so unknown, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention two of the most underrated, yet best power pop albums, by one of the best bands of the scene ever...Jellyfish!

Bellybutton
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Spilt Milk
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Seriously, If you're a fan of the genre, and you don't own these two albums, get them now!

That should about do it for now, but I could easily come up with another dozen or more.

Thanx R-Dawg! I have Greenberry as well as Splitsville, really good LPs! & I know about the J-fish, but I'll be sure to check out your other suggestions.

I remembered another outstanding release today. I think I 1st heard about it in this forum...The Frank & Walters - Grand Parade.

Holy crap. Two GREAT recommendations and both of which albums I happen to own and have on my iPod as well. Nice!! :thumbsup:

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Elysian Fields - Bum Raps and Love Taps
MySpace
Amazon (France - not available except on iTunes in the US)

Jennifer Charles has the most lovely voice...I can't even begin to describe how it just goes through me.

:thumbsup: to both. I've been a Dot Allison fan since One Dove's sole release, which I suppose deserves a recommendation.
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I will also throw in a recommendation for Mojave 3's Ask Me Tomorrow, for "Tomorrow's Taken" if nothing else, a song that damn near brings me to tears every time I hear it.
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Holly Golightly - 'Truly She Is None Other'

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Fan made video featuring Holly Golightly's 'Walk A Mile'.
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I'll second this Holly Golightly. I thought for sure after her cut on one of the White Stripes albums i would see her popularity soar but it hasn't happened yet. I love just about everything she has done.

Another great "lost" album is Bram Tchaikovsky's Strange Man, Changed Man. "Girl of My Dreams" is an acknowledged power pop classic. It isn't available on CD anymore, but the album can be downloaded here (scroll halfway down).

Tally Hall - Marvin's Marvelous Mechanical Museum

I can't express enough how much I love this CD. It's the epitome of the type of music I love. I just despise how 90% of popular bands nowadays, if you buy their CD, every single song sounds the same. This is the exact opposite, every single song is so different, great musicians, brilliant song structures & just pure fun. They only did one CD & nothing since, but I dare you to go find & play the first song "Good Day" & not immediately want this CD

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The Halo Benders - God Don't Make No Junk

A side project from Calvin (Beat Happening) Johnson & Doug (Built to Spill) Martsch. I just find the CD utterly charming & brilliant.

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I don't know how unknown they are but my favorite band that none of friends ever heard of is "1000 Mona Lisas" they only released one CD back in 95 called "New Disease" and it's one of the best pop-punk discs around.
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I love Your Body Above me, but after that I thought they broke up. Will check that out for sure.

If you like blues, check out "Blue Blazes" by Sugar Blue. It's some awesome harmonica work and there's not a clunker on the album.

I'll second that those albums are all great. You can only get the latter two (as actual CDs) from the band's web site - but they're fairly cheap, and you can get an even better deal if you buy more than one album. You get also get a few free downloads there, two.
Lastly, wanted to mention that the rights to You Body Above Me have reverted back to the band, and it's now available exclusively from them in a re-mastered from, with bonus tracks.

:up: to the love shown to the sidewinders/sand rubies shown above by Rocketdog2000 - i first saw them when they were in the basement at the student union at UofA. along with his boy elroy (the original) and gila bend, sidewinders were a pretty influential tucson band. witchdoctor and auntie ramos' pool hall are both great albums from start to finish. btw, sand rubies == sidewinders. they had to change their name due to a dispute with another band (iirc a country cover band from tennessee).

my contribution to the thread is:
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this is a fabulous album from start to finish. i first saw the spinanes when they opened for the afghan whigs in austin and i was hooked from the start. their follow up albums expand a bit on the arrangements, but this album of only guitar, drum, and rebecca gates' voice is almost perfect. where did rebecca gates go?

Swell. At the very least videos for "At Long Last" and "Forget about Jesus" are on youtube. Amazing band.