Anything by Tangerine Dream.

Nothing about George Harrisons 'Electronic Sounds'.. not exactly the bloody 'here comes the sun'...

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YANKEE HOTEL FOXTROT is a masterpiece and was lauded in the press as such even before its release.

(Another thread that has me scratching my head...)

Yes Come On, Electronic Sound was his second solo album and not like anything he, or they had done, and very different for a rock star during the mid 60s.

Cool thread and many great examples -- most I thought of were listed! I am taking "inaccessible" not just as hard to digest but something of a change of form in the perception of the artists' audience (but not necessarily a bad thing artistically). In that regard, Lou Reed and Neil Young built a career on curve balls. I would add "Berlin" by Reed-- one of my favorite works by him btw, It followed the commercial and popular "Transformer" and bombed -- I got my copy in the $1.99 bargain bin. Of course it and pretty much every record mentioned falls way behind "Metal Machine Music!" (I had a copy on 8 track tape -- again from the bargain bin -- and it was funny to switch from track to track and hear the same noise!)

I also want to mention the string of albums by the Beach Boys starting with "Pet Sounds" and going through "Friends" or "20/20". Of course "Pet Sounds" is considered one of the handful of greatest LPs ever,but it was received relatively coldly at first, particularly by most of the audience expecting surf and sun. But especially the strange "Smiley Smile" and quaint "Wild Honey" and quirky "Friends" -- albums I and many other Beach Boy nuts consider holding some of their best work, but absolutely rejected by a nonplussed record buying public. And then there is "Love You"....

I had a copy on 8 track tape -- again from the bargain bin -- and it was funny to switch from track to track and hear the same noise!


Me too! However I had a different impression: I was struck by the *differences* when one switched from track to track.

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Glam Descendant
I had a copy on 8 track tape -- again from the bargain bin -- and it was funny to switch from track to track and hear the same noise!


Me too! However I had a different impression: I was struck by the *differences* when one switched from track to track.

Guess I shoulda listened more closely! Sadly though, I think it virtually impossible to replicate the experience....

It has been awhile since I have heard Neil Young's Shocking Pinks, but they may qualify.

I think his record label even sued him at the time because it was 'a non-commercial' release.

Bowie's Outside is a hard listening masterpiec. It took me several hours of listening to begin to love this marvellous album.
The same for Mike Oldfield's Amarok

Did anyone mention ARC by Neil Young? That's up there w/MMM.

Nobody mentioned Scott Walker's comeback album Tilt yet. If you want to clear the party then put that one on. Works everytime!

Metal Machine Music and Lennon's three experimental turkeys are also up there.

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Silver Dagger
Nobody mentioned Scott Walker's comeback album Tilt yet.

Actually at least two other people have mentioned it.

Don't forget "Just Push Play" by Aerosmith. Horrible album

A lot of people have trouble with Tim Buckley's Starsailor with the exception of the beautiful Song To The Siren.

I actually love the album but there's some really whigged out moments on there where he tried to vocalise a kind of cross between Pharoah Saunders and Roland Rahsaan Kirk's sax playing style.

Elvis Costello's North ! Quite Inaccesible...

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After looking at all of these great suggestions and given the definition of "inaccesible", I think hands down the most "inaccesible" album of all time has to be Lou Reed's "Metal Machine Music". You really can't listen to the whole thing through unless you really don't like yourself. I am not sure why I bought the cd (I'm OK with myself!), it just seemed like something that should be in the collection!

Followed closely by the early Lennon/Yoko "projects". There are bad albums, and then there are unlistenable (therefore inaccesible) albums.

Ross

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Ross
After looking at all of these great suggestions and given the definition of "inaccesible", I think hands down the most "inaccesible" album of all time has to be Lou Reed's "Metal Machine Music". You really can't listen to the whole thing through unless you really don't like yourself. I am not sure why I bought the cd (I'm OK with myself!), it just seemed like something that should be in the collection!

Followed closely by the early Lennon/Yoko "projects". There are bad albums, and then there are unlistenable (therefore inaccesible) albums.

Ross

Most inaccessible albums can be made accessible by taking the right drugs. Well, that's what I've heard anyway. You know the scene, 'oh wow, man, I've never heard it like this before'.

But hats off to Lou, he made an album for which there is no drug that will make it sound good.

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Come On
Elvis Costello's North ! Quite Inaccesible...

Good one. And how about his Juliet Letters? I'm a huge EC fan and after one listen I wanted to hurl the CD across the room. Torture.

The first CD I ever heard of John Coltrane's music.

i have a few thousand cds packed away in storage - all of them inaccessible. many of them by well-known artists.

Ha! Excuse the fragment I posted above, folks. What a horror for an English teacher!

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milliondollarsad
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.

What was the second "immensely successful" LP other than The Wall?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2011-03-30 21:12 by skipstone.

I have this. I found it at a yard sale for FIFTY CENTS. I was floored. It's not very good other than the hilarious Bob George.

Animals came out before The Wall. i would consider Dark Side Of The Moon immensely successful. Wish You Were Here perhaps as well?

Oh duh, that Animals followed two successful LPs. Got it.

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skipstone
I have this. I found it at a yard sale for FIFTY CENTS. I was floored. It's not very good other than the hilarious Bob George.

Possibly my favourite Prince album after "Sign O The Times"

Emotional Rescue was considered pretty "inaccesible" when it first came out.

I loved it, but most of the Some Girls era converts went back to disco or whatever it was they were listening to.

The Black Rider by Tom Waits. Truly a dance with the Devil. Wiliam Burroughs even appears and replays his dark past. A millon miles from Ol 55

Gazza, what about Prince's black album do you like so much? I've listened to it a few times and just could never get into it somehow.

I like it because its superfunkacalifragisexi....