Best Ever Albums

Re: Well known artists with "hidden surprises"

Chemical Smile — Wed, 7 Dec 2011 05:47:38 GMT

Author: Chemical Smile

Posted: 12/07/2011 10:47

Not so much a 'hidden surprise' but more an 'unusual musical direction' is the band The Bronx releasing 3 albums of Hardcore/Punk then under their alter-egos Mariachi El Bronx not releasing 1, but 2 albums of mariachi music. What was even more surprising was how good it was!

For those who don't know them, The Bronx:

Link

and Mariachi El Bronx:

Link

Re: Well known artists with "hidden surprises"

Chemical Smile — Wed, 7 Dec 2011 05:37:59 GMT

Author: Chemical Smile

Posted: 12/07/2011 10:37

Norman Bates wrote:

Jackwc wrote:

Oh man, Trans... the album most Niel Young fans would hope to forget...

I didn't think it was half as bad as most people say it is.

Even "We R In Control" ? I actually like Trans. It's more than half-missed, but I don't know, I find it interesting. And I also like "Computer Cowboy".

I always thought that he recorded 'Trans' & 'Everybody's Rockin'' to finish his contract with Geffen? 🤔

Interesting bit from wikipedia on those 2 albums:

"Trans, along with Young's next Geffen release Everybody's Rockin', formed the basis of a 1983 lawsuit filed against Young by Geffen on the grounds that he had produced deliberately uncommercial and unrepresentative work."

Re: Well known artists with "hidden surprises"

SquishypuffDave — Wed, 7 Dec 2011 00:44:04 GMT

Author: SquishypuffDave

Posted: 12/07/2011 05:44

Mind Movie wrote:

Porcupine Tree have lot of compilation albums/EP's/other releases with some very weird psychedelic trance like music. It's very opposed to their very professional studio sound.

This is by far my favourite old Porcupine Tree absurdity. A creepy-as-hell sci-fi monologue from Steve's debut, "On the Sunday of Life".

Link

The Passenger's Soundtrack by U2

RoundTheBend — Wed, 7 Dec 2011 00:36:30 GMT

Author: RoundTheBend

Posted: 12/07/2011 05:36

I know U2 are always going from the worst sellouts in the history of the world to the greatest band of the last 25 years, and Passengers helps me believe in the latter. I really wish they would have released this "mainstream." This was way before Radiohead got super artsy on us with Kid A, and is arguably more artsy. I love the opening track, the electronic experiments, Your Blue Room, Elvis Ate America and Miss Sarajevo. How many bands can say they have done a duet with Luciano Pavarotti?

From Wiki:
Original Soundtracks 1 (also known as Original Soundtracks) is a 1995 album recorded by U2 and Brian Eno, as a side project, under the pseudonym Passengers. It is a collection of songs written for mostly imaginary movies (the exclusions being songs for Ghost in the Shell, Miss Sarajevo, and Beyond the Clouds).

Re: Well known artists with "hidden surprises"

weedygonsalez — Wed, 7 Dec 2011 00:16:45 GMT

Author: weedygonsalez

Posted: 12/07/2011 05:16

Frank Zappa's catalog is absolutely loaded with surprises, good and bad. One of his earliest albums, Cruising with Ruben and the Jets, is an interesting straight foray into pure doo-wop soul. The strangest album, I think, is probably Thing-Fish, a fake soundtrack album about a play within a play about government-sponsored genocide.

Re: Well known artists with "hidden surprises"

Anonymous — Tue, 6 Dec 2011 18:32:57 GMT

Author: Anonymous

Posted: 12/06/2011 23:32

Porcupine Tree have lot of compilation albums/EP's/other releases with some very weird psychedelic trance like music. It's very opposed to their very professional studio sound.

Re: Well known artists with "hidden surprises"

Norman Bates — Tue, 6 Dec 2011 17:54:09 GMT

Author: Norman Bates

Posted: 12/06/2011 22:54

Mind Movie wrote:

Norman Bates wrote:

There is that McCartney album, McCartney II, that is totally hated by hardcore Macca fans, and which is very entertaining. It's Mc doing fun stuff at home, sort of a "wtf" album : nothing to prove, I'm having fun, if you don't like it, I sincerely don't care.

And it's got that little gem, "Temporary Secretary", which is McCartney having a go at synthpop. Very funny.

Link

Fuck man, this chorus is stucked inside my brain forever now :shock:

Ha ha, it had the same effect on me. Totally silly, yet unforgettable. I love it when the big names leave their righteous looks in the locker room and unleash the stupidest in them.

Re: Well known artists with "hidden surprises"

Anonymous — Tue, 6 Dec 2011 17:01:15 GMT

Author: Anonymous

Posted: 12/06/2011 22:01

Norman Bates wrote:

Fuck man, this chorus is stucked inside my brain forever now 😲

Re: Well known artists with "hidden surprises"

Norman Bates — Tue, 6 Dec 2011 16:55:45 GMT

Author: Norman Bates

Posted: 12/06/2011 21:55

Jackwc wrote:

Oh man, Trans... the album most Niel Young fans would hope to forget...

I didn't think it was half as bad as most people say it is.

Even "We R In Control" ? I actually like Trans. It's more than half-missed, but I don't know, I find it interesting. And I also like "Computer Cowboy".

Re: Well known artists with "hidden surprises"

Anonymous — Tue, 6 Dec 2011 16:53:09 GMT

Author: Anonymous

Posted: 12/06/2011 21:53

Also "Having Fun with Elvis on Stage" by Elvis Presley is slighty funny, as it's an album consisting of nothing but Elvis goofing around with his audience. On the other hand, this was may the only way to experience your idol on the slack rope before YouTube, so maybe the release wasn't as stupid as its reputation often tell.

Re: Well known artists with "hidden surprises"

Norman Bates — Tue, 6 Dec 2011 16:45:07 GMT

Author: Norman Bates

Posted: 12/06/2011 21:45

There is that McCartney album, McCartney II, that is totally hated by hardcore Macca fans, and which is very entertaining. It's Mc doing fun stuff at home, sort of a "wtf" album : nothing to prove, I'm having fun, if you don't like it, I sincerely don't care.

And it's got that little gem, "Temporary Secretary", which is McCartney having a go at synthpop. Very funny.

Link

Re: Well known artists with "hidden surprises"

Jackwc — Tue, 6 Dec 2011 16:44:09 GMT

Author: Jackwc

Posted: 12/06/2011 21:44

Oh man, Trans... the album most Niel Young fans would hope to forget...

I didn't think it was half as bad as most people say it is.

One great gem is the oft-overlooked hi-larious Arcade Fire Christmas album, "A Very Arcade X-Mas".

And just to list a few others:
Queensryche - Tribe (TOTALLY underrated, too)
Smashing Pumpkins - Machina Acoustic Demos
Isis - Oceanic Remixes (Volume I; vinyl)

Well known artists with "hidden surprises"

Anonymous — Tue, 6 Dec 2011 16:28:14 GMT

Author: Anonymous

Posted: 12/06/2011 21:28

Since I've been a long time fan of Neil Young's well known albums, I finally took the initiative to dig deeper in his catalogue. And now I know that many of his albums is weird as hell. Some of his most obscure albums include:

Arc: Might be the weirdest album in his catalogue, consisting of only one (over a half hour) composition based on cacophonic sound collages. I think he created it of bits of various live recordings from his hard rocking 90's period by the initiative of Thurston Moore (from Sonic Youth).
Dead Man: A film soundtrack. This album is totally free improvisation, creating an almost full instrumental and very atmospheric album - it's almost post-rock like.
Trans: I think Neil Young liked Kraftwerk, since this sounds like he's trying hardly to sound like them.
Everybody's Rockin': To me, this ties with Arc as his most bizarre album. This is very conventional though, but this is so extremely awful compared to any of his other releases, filled with kitsch and clichés. Here, in search of his inner Carl Perkins, Neil Young goes totally rockabilly. And he totally fails.

To me, this truely adds some very interesting perspectives to Neil Young's music, and though I'd still rather listen to his more well known albums, these discoveries have made like Neil Young even more.

Do you guys know any other well known artists with "hidden surprises"?