Albums that should have been huge but weren't

[Jubal]

My first thought on this was Nektar's Down To Earth. After doing a little research, I came to realize that Remember The Future really didn't sell that well either. RTF was their major opus, but I felt DTE was a great follow up. When Nektar finally started touring the U.S., they chose the club circuit. I feel like they would have gotten much better exposure as opening act for some major Prog acts like Yes, ELP, Genesis and King Crimson.

[Koreabruce]

I'll add a couple since I only recently discovered them myself and wonder why they didn't do a lot better than they did.

Sir Lord Baltimore - Kingdom Come (1971) Their first of only two albums, they were a power trio with the drummer as lead singer playing hard rock/proto metal in a style similar to Black Sabbath. Pretty cool sound they had going on:



Armageddon - s/t (1975) a "supergroup" featuring Keith Relf (Yardbirds, Renaissance) on vocals, Martin Pugh (Steamhammer) on guitars, former Captain Beyond drummer Bobby Caldwell, and bassist Louis Cennamo (Renaissance, Steamhammer). Relf and Pugh apparently were deep into heroin around this time, and Relf sadly died the following year after accidentally electrocuting himself at home. Too bad, as this is a totally killer album! I'd honestly never heard it until a couple of weeks ago. Parts of it pick up where Steamhammer's Speech album left off, which is not really surprising as Relf was also involved with production and backing vocals on that one. Some of the same riffs are even reused between the two albums. Track 2 on Armageddon, "Silver Tightrope" (starts around 8:19) is a hauntingly beautiful song and really the only place where this album's relentless energy lets up.

[Chain]

[zombywoof]

Just an opinion, but I think the issue with Budgie, Lucifer's Friend, and some others was not-very-marketable band names,,,,Thoughts? it certainly wasnt the music

Yeah, I was thinking the same thing. Horrible band names that don't make me want to listen.

[arturs]

I'll add a couple since I only recently discovered them myself and wonder why they didn't do a lot better than they did.
Armageddon - s/t (1975) a "supergroup" featuring Keith Relf (Yardbirds, Renaissance) on vocals, Martin Pugh (Steamhammer) on guitars, former Captain Beyond drummer Bobby Caldwell, and bassist Louis Cennamo (Renaissance, Steamhammer). Relf and Pugh apparently were deep into heroin around this time, and Relf sadly died the following year after accidentally electrocuting himself at home. Too bad, as this is a totally killer album! I'd honestly never heard it until a couple of weeks ago. Parts of it pick up where Steamhammer's Speech album left off, which is not really surprising as Relf was also involved with production and backing vocals on that one. Some of the same riffs are even reused between the two albums. Track 2 on Armageddon, "Silver Tightrope" (starts around 8:19) is a hauntingly beautiful song and really the only place where this album's relentless energy lets up.

As much as I love the Armageddon album, don't you think it was a little outdated by 1975? I think had this come out in 1971 or even 1970 it could have put a nice dent in the charts.

Baker Gurvitz Army is another group like that, with a similar sound: they could have been huge in 1971. By 1975 I think the public had moved on to different things.

[Koreabruce]

As much as I love the Armageddon album, don't you think it was a little outdated by 1975? I think had this come out in 1971 or even 1970 it could have put a nice dent in the charts.

Baker Gurvitz Army is another group like that, with a similar sound: they could have been huge in 1971. By 1975 I think the public had moved on to different things.

True enough, though I think if Armageddon had been able to keep going, they may well have stayed vital and cultivated a solid core of devoted followers. Of course, this goes against what the OP was asking; they could've done all that and STILL not ever become huge. As it stands, they supposedly only played live twice, but apparently they were quite something to behold.

I see them as one of those bands whose attitude is "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" that feature a raw and direct signature sound with few production frills or sweeteners that showcases their member's abilities AND that they stick to defiantly (see: AC/DC). I'm willing to bet there'd be a similar long-term support base for such a group along the lines of, say, Rush.