Left-field records worth checking out by musicians you wouldn't expect

Dunno if it exactly fits the thread title, but I’m a big fan of Chuck Berry’s 1968 ‘Concerto in B Goode’ LP for the title track, which is a 22min almost krautrock-y instrumental - sounds like either Chuck Berry trying to do Can or Can trying to do Chuck Berry - really odd and fun.

Adult/Child: Brian Wilson's unreleased Sinatra/Vegas-showman LP...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3EyAD2wC7uc

this thread is definitely a goldmine, lots of stuff for me to check out even if i don't always agree (adult/child is pretty much the exact album i would expect from 1977 brian wilson, i.e. batshit insane) - on the other hand "concerto in b goode" completely fits, this is great shit!

oh! how about tiny tim's australian-only 1993 album "rock", where he does a 24 minute version of "rebel yell"? this record is quite possibly the greatest rock and roll record ever recorded, and yes i know it sounds like i'm trolling by saying that.

I know artists who change genres like they change their socks shouldn’t count here but Haruomi Hosonos Cochin Moon has got to be one of these reasons right? Really wild synth stuff, unlike anything he (or anyone else) has done before or since. There were synths on his tropical records but nothing like this.

Geoffrey Downes' 1987 The Light Program, a double album of mostly side-long instrumental pieces actually released on Geffen.

Love And Rockets' Hot Trip To Heaven - total left-turn into electro/ambience in 1994 after "So Alive" was a hit. Now it's my favorite album of theirs.

""I'm not sure which Jean-Michel Jarre album belongs here, I actually think Zoolook maybe fits? It doesn't mesh with his usual style at all and despite its hardcore 80s Fairlight vibe it's really a unique record....in retrospect it sorta predicts vaporwave. And it's great of course, probably my favorite JMJ these days. ― frogbs"

I think I've said it before, but I was under the impression he had a burning desire to be taken seriously in the same way that Peter Gabriel, Brian Eno, Laurie Anderson etc were taken seriously in the early 1980s, so he made Zoolook as a self-conscious sample-based world-beat art-pop record, but it didn't sell, so he reverted back to a more accessible style for his next few records. I may have used these exact words.

From what I remember it uses a lot of elements from Music for Supermarkets, his one-off record. "Ethnicolor 2" sounds like a field recording of a train station inside a surrealist painting and "Woolloomooloo" is pure atmosphere, and the dance tracks have incredible mid-80s production, but it's a frustratingly disjointed album.

The other break from tradition was Waiting for Cousteau, which has weak synthpop on side one and an excellent ambient tune on side two that's just chilly enough to avoid being glurgy New Age. It's frustrating because if the album had come out two years later without the synthpop songs it might have been better-received - it would have fit into the same landscape as Selected Ambient Works 2 and The Orb etc.

For that matter Aphex Twin's Selected Ambient Works 2 stands out from most of the rest of his work. Unlike the first album it really is ambient music and not just a collection of odds-and-sods, and it's consistently good, verging on great. Also it got to number eleven. I learn from the official UK chart website that it entered the chart the same week Elvis Costello's Brutal Youth debuted at number two, just below Mariah Carey's Music Box.

I can't think of "Mariah Carey's music box" without having the urge to make a joke, except that it's 2019 and it would probably be bad taste.

The Walkabouts' 2002 side project i — an album of post-rock/krautrock jams that sounds like it came straight out of the mid-'90s Chicago scene. they billed themselves as an unknown act from Düsseldorf, but their cover was blown pretty quickly, and they never revisited that style.

The Cocteau Twins released a Christmas single back in 1993. It had covers of "Winter Wonderland" and "Frosty the Snowman":
https://www.discogs.com/Cocteau-Twins-Frosty-The-Snowman-Winter-Wonderland/master/13660

"Wonderland" is reggae and it's not very good although the vocals are lovely. It is the only song I know of that has been performed by both the Cocteau Twins and Julian Clary.

"Frosty the Snowman" is however terrific. On a musical level it's not a big departure from their contemporary sound but I've never associated 4AD artists with whimsy and humour. I know about it because it first appeared on Volume 5, which was one of those CD+book things, which I bought because it had The Orb on it. Technically the Cocteau Twins weren't on 4AD at the time - they had been dropped, apparently for being too popular - but you know what I mean.

Fun Fact: The single was recorded while Robin Guthrie was withdrawing from a crippling alcohol addition! Also, Julian Clary's second stand-up special was called My Glittering Passage.

There's a rather good Goldfrapp version of Winter Wonderland, too.

Bill Drummond's 'The Man' album from 1986:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hbrSzpJ1Pl4

Train Above The City by Felt

Interesting

that's some mean trolling

Sergio Mendes' psycho-prog album featuring the 18+ minute jam "The Circle Game". I've yet to hear this played in my dentist office but I do live in hope.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wyY1cW34kEQ

https://youtu.be/gG02P9j406I

In a quantum leap from his mid-80's output with Chas & Dave, ex-snooker legend Steve Davis' new Krautrock / Modular Synth project is actually well worth a listen.

I just picked that one up on Bandcamp, I had no clue what it would sound like but I like the people involved. its really nice - reminds a bit of Zombi but I like this better

Not a full LP, but 1/2 of Circle of Love by the Steve Miller Band consists of "Macho City", which nobody would have seen coming after Fly Like An Eagle and Book of Dreams.

man doug, i went through a pretty intense sergio mendes phase in the early 2000s. my favorites were stillness, crystal illusions, and definitely primal roots. if you can get past the saccharine flourishes in some of the vocal arrangements, it's pretty solid stuff.

also, hey: what about sam prekop's modular synth stuff? he first did old punch card in 2010 and it was a complete surprise, as nothing he had ever done (in either shrimp boat or the sea and cake) had ever indicated he anything besides a guitarist when it came to playing instruments. i didn't like old punch card at the time, just because it was so completely different from my expectations. i definitely like it now though. and he's actually pursued the sound further ever since. he did pavilion in 2013, which was a super limited run kind of thing (and it's good — possibly my favorite of his modular synth stuff) and then he did the republic in 2015, which is like a more refined old punch card sound. i'm not sure if this stuff counts, though, as it is a direction he has continued with. kind of awesome though, because he just keeps putting out records with the sea and cake simultaneously and the modular synth stuff has actually started to become a pretty important part of their sound. anyway, yeah: sam's dope.

OMG that Steve Davis thing is pretty great, thanx for that Willl.

Anyway, it may not be that leftfield for ILM but for The Osmands maybe a tad?

https://youtu.be/rlfrcNgT4u8

Aarrghh, try that again.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rlfrcNgT4u8

In a quantum leap from his mid-80's output with Chas & Dave, ex-snooker legend Steve Davis' new Krautrock / Modular Synth project is actually well worth a listen.

I actually went to see them live a few weeks ago and it was pretty good!

I caught a bit at Shambala festival and was pleasantly surprised too

Steve Miller has done some more interesting stuff than one would think. The second side of "Journey from Eden" is pretty good.

Saw someone bumped the Cowsills "Cocaine Drain" thread - well that one qualifies! It's a pretty good Fleetwood Mac record.

I need to spend some more time on this thread.

Is Steve Davis the snooker player who was a big fan of Magma?

One and the same.