OK, This thread is for an album that was so out of character, or misunderstood, or just plain bad, that they shocked, baffled, annoyed or perplexed fans of a particular artist. I remember Rolling Stone's review of Dylan's "Self Portrait" said "what is this shit?". Other examples:

1. Trans - Neil Young
2. Metal Machine Music - Lou Reed
3. Their Satanic Majesties Request - Rolling Stones

Metal Machine Music wins this title, hands down. Check out the blu-ray version of the quadrophonic mix of MMM sometime. It'll loosen your wallpaper.

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ab
Metal Machine Music wins this title, hands down. Check out the blu-ray version of the quadrophonic mix of MMM sometime. It'll loosen your wallpaper.

I would, but I don't know if I have the courage!

The first three Lennon albums that he did with Yoko: Two Virgins, Life With the Lions and Wedding Album were pretty out there. So much so that they don't even register as regular albums, and more as art projects.

I think most people start the clock on his solo career with either Live Peace In Toronto or John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band.

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71Tele
OK, This thread is for an album that was so out of character, or misunderstood, or just plain bad, that they shocked, baffled, annoyed or perplexed fans of a particular artist. I remember Rolling Stone's review of Dylan's "Self Portrait" said "what is this shit?". Other examples:

1. Trans - Neil Young
2. Metal Machine Music - Lou Reed
3. Their Satanic Majesties Request - Rolling Stones

Yeah, I think MMM's going to win this one. I'd switch Neil's "Arc" for Trans, though I know it didn't come as a standalone. Other big letdowns or annoyances, though maybe not in MMM's class: Bowie's "Low", Eno's "Music for Airports, (Ambient 1)", Frampton's "I'm In You" after the mega-live album, the beginning-of-the-downfall records in the late 1970's for Rod, Elton, Alice and Aerosmith. Dylan going electric and later getting 'born again' shocked and disappointed or perplexed a lot of people, but I don't think his albums at those times suffered as badly as some of the ones we're talking about.

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winter
Other big letdowns or annoyances, though maybe not in MMM's class: Bowie's "Low", Eno's "Music for Airports, (Ambient 1)", Frampton's "I'm In You" after the mega-live album,

I'm In You was a letdown certainly, but it's problem that he was that he was going for a commercial pop hit, not thumbing his nose at the audience and making inaccessible music. If anything it was too accessible.

>Other big letdowns or annoyances, though maybe not in MMM's class: Bowie's "Low", Eno's "Music for Airports, (Ambient 1)",

Huh? LOW might have gotten a slightly confused reaction at the time, but Bowie was never a critics' darling back in the day anyway so it was no registerable dismissal. It was cited as the best album of the 70s just a couple of years ago by Pitchfork.

As for MUSIC FOR AIRPORTS, it seems to have been embraced as a classic from day one so I'm not sure what you're referencing here. It was certainly much more approachable than DISCREET MUSIC.

Bob Dylan's 'John Wesley Harding' is definitely one of the more groundbreaking in substance, to such an extent that the term 'country rock' thus founded.

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Good call loog droog! Lennon's first three solo albums were very inaccessable, and a complete departure from anything he was doing at the time, and anything most mainstream rock stars would even dream of doing. And yes to Bowie's LOW as well... but man, MMM has to take the prize.
Another one to consider is Electric Mud by Muddy. It was pretty savaged by the critics and quite a departure from his style.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2011-03-28 09:29 by whitem8.

Lennons 3 mentioned albums were Yoko's idea..I promise for sure...Lennon was a simple rock'n'roller in all ways....

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Van Morrison's DAYS LIKE THIS has an outstanding title track, another good song (Perferct fit), but the rest is utterly dull and boring. But he has made so many great, great albums that this is just a slipout.

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71Tele
3. Their Satanic Majesties Request - Rolling Stones

That's debatable. I know at least one person who finds Exile far more hard-going to listen to at one sitting, & I'm also inclined to agree.

Actually, Exile was considered inaccessible at the time it was released.

I haven't even dared to listen thru the whole MMM-album after I attended Lou Reeds Metal Machine Trios show in Oslo last year. That was enough for me...

Maybe Ummagumma by Pink Floyd should be considered here as well?

"Low" is not only one of Bowie's best albums, but a great album, period. It just wasn't what folks expected. "Pin-Ups" is more of a head scratcher with Bowie.
Another real good zinger was Prince putting out "Around the World in one Day". Right after he finally conquered the world with "Purple Rain", he came back with a very non commercial album. Great.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2011-03-28 12:11 by Palace Revolution 2000.

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Bliss
Actually, Exile was considered inaccessible at the time it was released.

Same with Neil Young´s Re.actor back then...if I remember correctly.

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Bliss
Actually, Exile was considered inaccessible at the time it was released.

Exactly. It's never been easy to listen to for me: I think I've only played it 2 or 3 times in it's entirety in 30 years, compared to several hundred times for all albums up to 'Let It Bleed', & dozens of times for 'Sticky Fingers'.

Muddy Waters: Electric Mud

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Palace Revolution 2000
"Low" is not only one of Bowie's best albums, but a great album, period. It just wasn't what folks expected. "Pin-Ups" is more of a head scratcher with Bowie.
Another real good zinger was Prince putting out "Around the World in one Day". Right after he finally conquered the world with "Purple Rain", he came back with a very non commercial album. Great.

I find Station to station more inacessible than Low, but it really grows on you slowly, is great

Tilt and The Drift by Scott Walker. The two most harrowing and dense pieces of music I've ever heard.

chris cornells R&B album "scream" was really weird and BAD!

Pink Floyd's Animals isn't inaccessible but given that it followed two immensely successful LPs and didn't contain any songs suitable for airplay (two are a minute and a half apiece while the others are at least 10 minutes long), it's extremely non-commercial.

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guitarbastard
chris cornells R&B album "scream" was really weird and BAD!

lord yes was that thing bad.

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Come On
Bob Dylan's 'John Wesley Harding' is definitely one of the more groundbreaking in substance, to such an extent that the term 'country rock' thus founded.

Maybe, not really on point with the thread here.

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whitem8
Good call loog droog! Lennon's first three solo albums were very inaccessable, and a complete departure from anything he was doing at the time, and anything most mainstream rock stars would even dream of doing. And yes to Bowie's LOW as well... but man, MMM has to take the prize.
Another one to consider is Electric Mud by Muddy. It was pretty savaged by the critics and quite a departure from his style.

I almost added Electric Mud...Good call.

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Sleepy City

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Bliss
Actually, Exile was considered inaccessible at the time it was released.

Exactly. It's never been easy to listen to for me: I think I've only played it 2 or 3 times in it's entirety in 30 years, compared to several hundred times for all albums up to 'Let It Bleed', & dozens of times for 'Sticky Fingers'.

Too bad for you!

Surprised nobody has mentioned Dirty Work

As far as Lou Reed goes, I was pretty taken aback by the deep dive into the "Artiste Persona" of Songs for Drella + Magic and Loss and the rest of his career after the rock and roll classic New York.

New York is a top 10 album for me and easily my favorite album by him since the Velvet Underground but I cannot listen to pretty much anything he has done since.

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Come On
Bob Dylan's 'John Wesley Harding' is definitely one of the more groundbreaking in substance, to such an extent that the term 'country rock' thus founded.

It hardly qualifies as inaccessible though - especially as it topped the UK album charts for about three months....

'Self Portrait' was the Dylan album that was deemed most inaccessible at the time, I would say.

I'm still somewhat bemused by Bowie's 'Low' being seen this way. Maybe the second side of it. It's also (rightly) now acclaimed as one of his finest. Most of his records from Tin Machine up to the late 90s would be more likely to have confounded his mainstream audience, with 'Outside' probably being the main one.

Prince? Most of the more experimental stuff he started doing in the late 90s. Especially the website-only material.

Most of Lou Reed's last few albums rival Metal Machine Music for inaccessibility. Its pretty hard to see past 2007's "The Stone - Issue Three" (a live album of improvised experimental music with John Zorn and Laurie Anderson), 2008's'Hudson River Wind Meditations' (yep, the title pretty much sums it up - Lou does meditation music for Tai Chi), and the 2009 live 'Creation of the Universe' album with the Metal Machine Trio which consists of two tracks, each around 55 minutes in length, which are described by wikipedia as "freely improvised and without vocals and song structures. It ranges from dark ambient passages to noise, free rock and electronica".

In Through The Out Door is really difficult for me to listen to.

"Sandinista" by the Clash has several genre experiments in dub and psychedelia that I originally had trouble "accessing". But, over the years I've come to really appreciate it, as a nice eclectic artistic expansion.

I agree with the references to Lou Reed. Although it sounded like a good idea, I still don't quite get what he was trying to accomplish with "The Raven. On a related note, "United States I-IV" by Laurie Anderson seemed to me like a "you had to be there" disc.