What are those albums that are so off-course even the hardcore fans needn't bother

Also, its hard to totally dismiss the Smooth Noodle Maps era of Devo because this is such a jam

can't believe I've never seen the video, that's such a perfect ending for the group. still every time I hear that song I can't help but think it was written specifically to get radio play which is something they hadn't really done before. of course their comeback album in 2011 was pretty much all about that and it turned out pretty good

Music From 'The Elder' by Kiss used to be in this category I guess? Nowadays it sounds like the album that kicked off the epic fantasy metal genre so probably ripe for reassessment.

Jean-Michel Jarre made several of these in the 00's, he pretty much traded in his entire set up for Pro Tools/Fruity Loops type software and put out some pretty bland downtempo/trance stuff that sounds like royalty-free background music to me. Maybe Metamorphosis doesn't count (because it's actually kinda good) but the other ones - Sessions 2000, Geometry of Love, Teo & Tea - all seem to have been written out of his history already.

I actually kinda like CCR's Mardi Gras, but it would have been better for the other guys to write their songs and have John sing them

i feel like mardi gras definitely fits the thread but ^^this otm

"Someday.." and "Sweet Hitchhiker" pretty top tier CCR for me

According to Wikipedia, Fogerty refused to sing on Doug's and Stu's songs. I bet those were fun sessions.

yeah him refusing to sing was a total dick move. otoh the other guys really didn't seem to have a clue about how much Fogerty was carrying the band. So he opted to show them in the most publicly humiliating way possible.

omar little at 11:19 10 Sep 19

i did have an image in my head of UMS seeing Neil on the street and yelling, "Neil! Landing on Water! I liked it!"

I WON'T BE SILENCED BY THE MAN!!!

Not that I've even heard any of these (fitting I suppose) but the first two pre-Debut Bjork albums and the Underworld Mk1 albums

this should apply to most of weezer's discography, but doesn't

Dunno if it’s “off course” but I never hear much talk about the very first Sleater-Kinney record

Iggy Pop has several of these - Avenue B, Aprés, Preliminaires, and apparently his new one Free is another.

That 90's YMO reunion album called Technodon fits; sounds nothing like their previous stuff and you get the impression none of them really wanted to make it. Alfa went bankrupt but still had the rights to the YMO name so it came out as "Not YMO". Apparently it was supposed to be sample-heavy but the fallout from Paul's Boutique made that impossible. Even though YMO's stuff gets reappraised and compiled all the time these days you pretty much never hear about this album. I kinda forgot it exists. It's not that bad, but the songwriting isn't really there and it sounds dated in a way their classic stuff doesn't.

The first Ministry album

'No Talking, Just Head', perhaps?

Moby “Animal Rights”. the old ipod it’s on that’s constantly on shuffle tries to play something from it each time we sit down for breakfast. i totally forgot it had some great ambient tracks until it played one recently - was so disappointed in spending my limited budget on it back when it came out i don’t think i ever listened to it all the way through since then.

yeah that's a good one especially since it comes in the midst of his 'classic period'

Yes arguably have a bunch of these...first one that comes to mind is Open Your Eyes but I think the new one (Heaven & Earth) is even more useless

Do most Blondie fans think this about The Hunter? I think it has a number of good songs, and a number that, uh, aren't good.

Discharge's Grave New World, their infamous foray into something vaguely resembling hair metal, might be an example of this. I think that album is due for critical reappraisal, though. Not because it's all that good, but just because that seems like something that would happen.

there's a couple of Discharge clone bands that have sort of taken Grave New World as inspiration, but not quite - Thisclose is the main one, but they just sing like Cal on that album, the music is more like trad Discharge

the first Ministry album is different to their other stuff, but is actually good not bad

was going to say Genesis' Calling All Stations but someone beat me to it. Also Yes's last one, Heaven and Earth; that has fewer defenders than CAS.

Michael Jackson's Invincible fits even though it would be by far the highest selling album in this thread. even after he died and all his music was playing everywhere all the time you never heard anything from this besides maybe "You Rock My World" once in a blue moon. I don't remember if it's bad or good, in fact I don't remember anything about it

you could probably include all his pre-Off the Wall solo albums too but that's an entirely different situation

I don't mean the bad albums, since I assume most fans will at least want to hear bad versions of their favorite artists (especially since you don't actually have to pay anything to do so these days), I mean the ones which just have nothing to do with the artist's classic style

invincible would not fit

yeah you're right, I wasn't thinking in terms of sound (again, I can't remember a damn thing about it outside of the single even though I'm sure I've heard it a dozen times) but rather the impact. it was kind of weird that this goliath of pop died which prompted a huge reappraisal of all his work, except for the one album he'd actually put out in the last 15 years

instead let me offer the 80's albums from the fairly successful progressive symphonic rock group Renaissance (Camera Camera & Time Line), in which the group (now a trio) tries their hand at ABBA-style synthpop. I actually thought both albums were okay but I will probably never listen to them again.

final two Gentle Giant albums are in the same boat. Civilian is actually quite decent...as a Cars album. Missing Piece at least had some proggy stuff on it.

Starcastle's Real to Reel, basically a bad Styx album, but even less proggy than that. Basically killed the band.

Triumvirat's final two also seem to fit though I haven't heard them

A bunch of those were discussed in a 'prog dinos go wave' thread. ELP, Gentle Giant, Renaissance et al disappointed quite a few hippies with their commercial attempts.

1981 = year of 70s dino rockers w modren/wavo comeback LPs

1981 = year of 70s dino rockers w modren/wavo comeback LPs

Train Above the City?

Scott Walker's phoned a couple in, Stretch and We Had It All for example. They're blandly pleasant-enough country and western, but given what he's capable of they may as well be screeching white noise. I've tried and failed to find a way into them.

Behind the Mask

Time

oops meant to italicize

Pat Boone "In a Metal Mood"

gtfo, that's his one totally essential lp.

I was going to say Jewel's 0304, the album where she went dance pop, but apparently it wasn't received badly enough by the fans or public to be outright forgotten.

Do most Blondie fans think this about The Hunter? I think it has a number of good songs, and a number that, uh, aren't good.

First one that came to mind, though it should be noted they've been playing the first track "Orchid Club" at most of their shows this year. As a Blondie fan I have to admit I don't often think about The Hunter at all.

That’s cool! I’ve put “Orchid Club” on a couple mixtapes.

So, there’s a number of ways this seems to happen:

Artist moves on rapidly from early work (Ministry)

Artist makes a late period artistic shift (Love Beach)

Band continues without guiding force (Mott)

Are there examples where the artist/band, at the height of their fame, just releases a completely different product that totally backfires?

Garth Brooks in ... The Life of Chris Gaines

Metal Machine Music too

Fourth option to add to above: Band is simply out of gas, releases crap record. Examples too numerous to list.

Black Sabbath’s ‘Seventh Star’?

Chris Gaines OTM, I thought of that one as I was typing.

Goodbye Cruel World?

What about when Sinatra had a hit with "My Way" and then came back with an album where half of it was him reciting tone poems by Rod McKuen

Are there examples where the artist/band, at the height of their fame, just releases a completely different product that totally backfires?

This is the most interesting category I think. Animal Rights does seem like the closest fit that comes to mind. Obviously Moby would become more famous later, but circa Everything Is Wrong he was about as well-known as it was possible for a dance music producer to be in the US, then Animal Rights killed any momentum completely.

In Australia it was released with a bonus disc of instrumentals called Little Idiot that I remember being quite good.

Oh, City Raga by Popol Vuh! I actually like that one, though I think it’s dismissed/hated.

Speaking of Sinatra, Tone Poems of Color (his effort conducting specially commissioned instrumentals from '56) probably fits here.

Todd Terry releasing a drum & bass album in 1999 as his big and heavily promoted post-"Missing" splash might fit, except i've never heard it so maybe it's amazing.

Black Sabbath’s ‘Seventh Star’?

This was supposed to be Tony Iommi's solo album, but the label demanded he slap the BS name on it.

The jazz album Björk made with a piano trio is well liked by many of her fans, I think?

Interesting, I've never seen anyone rep for it. Maybe I'll check it out then

There was also Barbra Streisand...and other musical instruments, her weird "world music" album from 1973, a total sales dud in the middle of a hugely successful phase in her career

http://i.imgur.com/jhKgR.png

It's one of my favorite Swans albums.

I feel like most of Lovelife could’ve easily fit on Split, obv not Ciao or 500.

Would Mott The Hoople's "Wild Life" count?

It's not a bad album, but imagine if thin lizzys third album sounded more like The Eagles. You wouldn't prefer that if you liked the other albums..

I think The Burning World is the best Swans album. That might make me a pussy, whatever.

Never heard the whole record, but that synth pop record that Jack Bruce made that was only released in Germany is definitely an outlier.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-siie-F4DY&list=OLAK5uy_my9jydYfDlS8BGpdfs7dQTwaEiW1hXA9c

Anything from Cabaret Voltaire post-1990.