Yeah, well a lot of releases get on the covers of magazines and get called
'breakthroughs' and fall short of all expectations. And, I don't think this
album did do as well in sales as you might think (though I'm just basing this on
how it sold in my store, which wasn't that well). Where I see the album as
underrated though is as a musical achievement... some of the tracks on this are
spellbinding in their complexity and beauty. This is unfortunately rare for
musical arrangements in the hip hop world. And, a lot of this was done with
loops and samplers, as well as a mixture of well done sparse live instruments.
Of course, lyrically the album is also an amazing work. But, kids still come in
my shop and buy the first album, kids (of all races) still request the hit song
from that album when we do Phat N Jazzy, and already, no one seems to remember
what an album 'Blowout Comb' was. It may have had a visible 'push' in promotion
at the onset (like all big major label releases) but now this incredible record
is totally forgotten. Underrated, yes sir.
PEACE + KISSES
Michael
"Q-Burn's Abstract Message"