10 Most Underappreciated Rock Albums

The Manic Street Preachers’ 2007 “comeback” album, after having half a decade or so lost in a wilderness of their own making, followed hot on the heels of singer/guitarist James Dean Bradfield and bassist/lyricist Nicky Wire’s 2006 solo records (both worth a listen, themselves, incidentally). The creative and experimental freedom those albums afforded Bradfield and Wire, respectively, reportedly contributed to the Manics trio coming back together and ceasing trying to be anything but themselves, as they evidently had attempted on their previous two records.

The result is one of their best records (and, indeed, the next two followed in that tradition before they started to get experimental again throughout the 2010s) and a triumphant return to form that, purposely, brings to mind the similar success of Everything Must Go, 11 years previously.

At this stage in the band’s career, they would never hit those same giddy heights of Britpop fever again. Even though rock music was still played on the radio by the 2000s, this was the beginning of the Manics' time as a Radio 2/VH1 act. But when the work is this vital and the band members are playing at such a high level as they are on every track, do such things matter?

Standout Tracks: Send Away The Tigers, Underdogs, Your Love Alone Is Not Enough… basically the whole record, go listen to it.