Polutting The Mainstream

All this talk of "classic rock" pro and con has re-awakened an interest I've had for a while - the most unlikely deep album cuts by otherwise thoroughly mainstream acts. Turn out that plenty of pop schlockmeisters have a "Revolution No. 9" or two in their closet, e.g.:

- Cat Stevens "Was Dog A Doughnut" - techno-pop instro from 1977 (!); said to be one of New Orders' inspirations

- Hall & Oates "Alley Katz" - darn good late '70s punk/wave tune featuring Rick Neilson from Cheap Trick, and Robert Fripp; unlikely? Well, Fripp produced a Daryl Hall solo album (haven't heard it yet), and Hall guested on Fripp albums; how the hell did those two hook up?!

- Chicago "Free Form Guitar" - six minutes of Hendrixy guitar noise, from their debut

- Toto "Dune soundtrack" - pretty decent ambient/electro instros; see, they weren't always evil.

- Cher "Click Song" - Missus Bono sings in Zulu, complete with tongue clicks; based on Miriam Makeba's recording but - shocker! - not nearly as good.

- The Police "Mother" - the only Police/Sting song I ever really liked; has a Birthday Party-like level of hysteria, in a 5/4 time signature perhaps influenced by Andy Summers' work with Robert Fripp (him again?)

- Styx "Plexiglass Toilet" - utterly ridiculous psuedo-calypso; inane, but in an entertainingly Dr Demento-ish way

- Van Halen "Strung Out" - one-and-a-half minutes of a piano being destroyed.

- the early ABBA album with "Mamma Mia" on it also features "Rock Me," a heavy glam-rock stomper that features the boys singing, also: a classical-by-way-of-Broadway instro with the suitably pretentious title "Intermezzo No. 1,"; and a hilariously kitschy medley of American folk songs

- Fleetwood Mac "Someone's Gonna Get Their Head Kicked In" - a pretty cool late '60s b-side, sung by a guy doing an Elvis impersonation; and Mick Fleetwood's 1981 solo album "The Visitor" was recorded in Ghana, Africa and has some great stuff that should have been embraced by the hep-cats who were currently digging Taking Heads and Pete Gabriels' similar explorations.

- Nirvana "Montage of Heck" - sound-collage experiments from 1986

- Bob Dylan actually rapped on hip-hop pioneer Kurtis Blow's song "Street Rock."

What else? Did Madonna ever work with Foetus? Springsteen goes Afro-beat? What's Prince's weirdest moment?

Nice round-up, Fab! "Was Dog a Donut" has always fascinated me. I was blissfully ignorant of Cher's "Click Song," though. I sometimes wonder if Kurt had listened to that first Faust album before doing the montage.

Dylan's "Self Portrait" album doesn't quite fit this conversation--but it springs to mind as I contemplate these. (I'm thinking of his version of Simon/Garfunkel's "The Boxer" right now.)



Post Edited (09-21-10 18:02)

Sacred Songs, the Daryl Hall album Fripp produced, is pretty good. Hall also sings on Fripp's Exposure, which is better.

It's a trilogy, along with Peter Gabriel's second album. I have no idea what the trilogy is "about". I just read these things.

This is a great list.

How about "Computer Blue" from Purple Rain?

The Rainbow Children has plenty of tunes on it that are weirder than "Computer Blue" or "Darling Nikki." Nowhere near as good, mind you, but weirder. And given Prince's commercial profile at the time, that album doesn't pollute the mainstream so much as ... well, it just stinks up the place.

chicago-stones of sisyphus - this whole cd was recorded in 1993 a little bit after their commercial sucess in the mid to late 80s i believe.
warner brothers heard this album and refused to release it cause it didnt sound like a chicago album.
the music is eclectic. some songs are a return to the old jazz sound, others incorporate funk,rock n roll and even rap, avant garde stuff.
chicago tried heard to get it released and it was shelved it got bootleged and a lot of critical acclaim. it finally saw its release in 2008.

toto - A few years ago put out a album of cover songs its a mixed bag but its not commercial or that bland sound that they have.
weirdest song- version of watching the dtectives.
heard it was in response to hearing a interview where elvis costello put them down

Quote

- Toto "Dune soundtrack" - pretty decent ambient/electro instros; see, they weren't always evil.

I must not hear Toto.
Toto is the mind-killer.
Toto is the little-death that brings total obliteration.
I will face Toto.
I will permit it to pass over me and through me.
And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path.
Where Toto has gone there will be nothing.
Only I will remain.

...

Or sumthin' like that.

> warner brothers heard this album and refused to release it cause it didnt sound like a
> chicago album.

Actually, Warner may never have heard the album at all. The suits may just have balked at the notion that Chicago would give the album an actual title. A jinx in the making, if you ask me!

The Osmonds' psychedelic freak-out "Crazy Horses." And it actually became a hit.

I remember reading about that Chicago album right here on these pages, and went on-line to listen to the rap song. WOW.

Buddy Holly did a version of Little Richard's "Slipin & Slidin" with his voice sped up like the Chipmunks.

Any number of Elvis songs from his '60s movie days: "Yoga Is As Yoga Does," "Do The Clam," "No Room To Rhumba In A Sportscar" (some of his greatest work, if ya ask me)

Disk 3 of Sinatra's "Trilogy" with the side-long science-fiction suite. Prog-lounge? ("...Uranus is heaven...")

"Barbra Streisand and Other Musical Instruments": ethnic instruments (Babs with bagpipes!), electronics, kitchen appliances; unfortunately, she still sings in her usual style. The one album of hers my Streisand-worshiping sister-in-law doesn't like; the only one of hers I have.

[www.youtube.com]

Whoa, I hadn't thought about "Crazy Horses" in decades. I'll have to hunt that out. Thanks, Reno!

I have that Sinatra album. What a case for a single album -- the middle one, which is a pretty amazing then-contemporary stuff collection. ("New York, New York" comes from this one". The first album's a pretty boring set of older standards, and the third is just bad. Yes, weird, but not listenable weird.

ABC's Beauty Stab sounds like Martin Fry fronting a new-Romantic Tin Machine at times, but it's aged extremely well. One of the best "cult" albums out there. (cult in that it has never developed that much of a critical reputation, but its defenders are mighty passionate)



Post Edited (09-22-10 14:55)

I watched the Made in Sheffield documentary recently and was surprised to find out that the members of ABC had been in an earlier, more Factory Records inspired post-punk band. Can't remember the name of that band.

Was amused to also discover that the Human League and Def Leppard were apparently on the same bill a few times in their early days in Sheffield.

They were called Vice Versa.

For some reason, I've just hit a serious ABC kick. Their latest, Traffic, isn't half bad at all. "The Very First Time" is a damned fine Brit-by-way-of-Philly commercially viable single, and Martin Fry's lyrics are better than they have been in a long while: "I'm not arrogant enough/ To suffer for my art".

Thought of this thread after encountering this...thing..("song" isn't quite the right word) by a band I have rarely given much thought to, Heart:

[www.youtube.com]

Oh, and re: Prince, I nominate "Bob George" from "The Black Album"



Post Edited (04-26-12 19:02)