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

Really wish I could un-read fgti's little yarn

Might be some Piano Magic and I'd be surprised if Kozelek doesn't have something that would fit someday.

I guess this kind of doesn't count, but it's not far away. As much as I adored Yeah Yeah Yeahs in the 00's - they made 3 fucking great albums, the reviews (and cover, g'damn) of Mosquito made it so I've never actually heard it.

Maybe that's off course? They didn't come back from it. Is it worth hearing?

^Albums you have spurned

Still not sure if albums from bands that have had a significant membership change should count here. Nevertheless, the J Geils Band released an album without Peter Wolf and the results were this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=289lzL6Eit8

xp I spurned yes. Is it worth my time going there? I've literally not heard good word of it.

Really wish I could un-read fgti's little yarn

― #YABASIC (morrisp), Friday, September 13, 2019 1:33 PM (one hour ago)

rude

Nevertheless, the J Geils Band released an album without Peter Wolf and the results were this:

I remember that getting some FM airplay when it came out, for about a week. And iirc, Rolling Stone gave the album four stars, for some reason.

Piano Magic choice would probably be ‘Writers Without Homes’, except (a) i don’t really get why it is *so* bad and hated; (b) to the extent that I do get it, the complaint seems to be ‘it’s too Piano Magic’; and (c) I have no idea where its rep now sits vis a vis all the post-Disaffected albums that hardly anyone heard.

OTOH it’s a good choice in that they then rebounded with perhaps their best album in The Troubled Sleep Of..., give or take Low Birth Weight.

re: Kozelek i've gotten the impression that everything he's done after Benji has been too off course for me to bother with and the little i have heard of those records has been truly baffling

Writers is an amazing album and I think everyone likes it except Glen and that’s mostly to donate 4ad

I remember that getting some FM airplay when it came out, for about a week. And iirc, Rolling Stone gave the album four stars, for some reason.

― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat)

because they never give four or five star reviews to shitty records by "classic rock" bands obviously past their sell-by date..

Rude

Lol no it’s fine, I’ve replaced booze with weed in my life and I’m enjoying some giggly stoned late night moments

there are a fair few Sufjan albums that fit this well enough but The Age of Adz is absolutely not one of them, despite being a left-turn, and is his best work. Enjoy Your Rabbit fits in every way except it dates back to before his breakthrough with Michigan, but it's roundly ignored in his discography for more reasons than that, being an instrumental electronic album that bears no resemblance to the rest of his work and isn't that good. there's also The BQE, which is also very ignored as it's the instrumental score to a film he made. it's not as much of a departure as Enjoy Your Rabbit is and the combination of electronics and orchestration did signal the direction he went in with Age of Adz, but it still doesn't really resemble his song-based work that much.

― ufo, Thursday, September 12, 2019 10:23 PM (two days ago) bookmarkflaglink

I have tried and tried with The Age of Adz but for me it belongs in this list.

― an incoherent crustacean (MatthewK), Thursday, September 12, 2019 1:17 PM (two days ago) bookmarkflaglink

Age of Adz is my favorite Sufjan record by a longshot. It's his true masterpiece (to date) in my opinion, and it feels more fitting for these times than it did when it was initially released, not to mention having aged beautifully. For an album to begin with a song like "Futile Devices" that explodes into this fantastic odyssey, and then to not just close with a song like "Impossible Soul," but to end with album with that final movement that brings you back down to earth and closes the capsule. Beautiful stuff.

I may have scrolled too fast, but Madonna I'm Breathless fits the bill (though I'll always rep for "Hanky Panky").

Also Kevin Ayers As Close As You Think. Never reissued, hard to find, never referenced even by diehard fans, and a terrible album that sounds foisted upon him during the nadir of his addiction.

I don't know what it means that I'm Breathless is my most-listened to Madonna album (also Ciccone Youth along with the s/t EP for Sonic Youth)

Tangerine Dream's Cyclone (1978) is unusual in that it has rock drums and a vocalist. It's odd - the basic sound is similar to the band's late-70s analogue records, but the sequencers are in the background more and there are lengthy flute solos. Unfortunately the vocalist sounds like a drunk man who broke into the studio and shouted over the backing tapes.

I've always wondered how fans of Lush think of the band. They started off as a shoegazing band, but for their one big commercial success they became cheeky cockney Britpop kids, and then they broke up, and when they came back in 2016 - "Out of Control" is really good! - they were shoegazing again. I assume they switched back to their former sound because Slowdive demonstrated that shoegaze was hip once more. Do Lush fans ignore Lovelife? When I was a kid Lush was the band that did "Single Girl" and the one about the Fiat 500 and the other one, but I realise now that Britpop Lush was an aberration.

What does "Out of Control" remind me of? It sounds like something else.

In the Lush thread there was a linked piece by Miki and it suggested to me that the "cheeky" approach was at least in part a reaction to how some critics were treating their more vulnerable songs.

Also on that thread I said "Out Of Control" reminded me of some Ween songs but I don't expect anyone else to agree.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Return_to_Santa_Monica#/media/File%3AEverclear_Return_to_Santa_Monica_(album)_2011.jpg

Everclear - Return to Santa Monica

ufo and Josh I will give it more time then, because when Sufjan hits he hits hard

Killing Joke's 'Outside the Gate' album.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QDnKEk8byiY

That house album which the Style Council made just before the end. The record company refused to release it. I think it eventually turned up in the box set of their complete works some time in the late 1990s.

Morrissey's recent covers album.

The Beach Boys - s/t album from 1985 and everything thereafter

Anything from Cabaret Voltaire post-1990.

The Beach Boys - s/t album from 1985 and everything thereafter

nah there is absolutely good stuff on the last one

Frank Sinatra’s Trilogy: Past, Present, Future, but especially the “Future” disc.

That house album which the Style Council made just before the end. The record company refused to release it. I think it eventually turned up in the box set of their complete works some time in the late 1990s.
― does it look like i'm here (jon123), Friday, October 11, 2019 7:09 AM

modernism: a new decade is actually really good, for what it is. sounds nothing like tsc before they made it, but that was kind of the point.

I guess some might say that even "hardcore" fans needn't bother with the last few Black Flag albums.

Frank Sinatra’s Trilogy does have his "Theme for New York New York", which is one of those songs one forgets was recorded in the 80s.

But yes, The "Future" part is pretty wild.

Celtic Frost: Cold Lake.

How do people feel about The Burning World?

I've always thought it was perfectly fine and not the aberration that it's kinda painted as, 'Saved' is a beautiful track as is the cover of 'Can't Find My Way Home', I don't really think it's *too* overproduced.

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.