Radical, even by their normally radical standards

[Rooster_Ties]

I'm thinking primarily about Jazz in this thread, although this very same discussion could be had with Rock music too -- and maybe that's appropriate here too, perhaps. (The parallels are valid, I think.)

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I was thinking today about Miles' "On the Corner" - and how it really wasn't like anything ever before, or really anything ever since -- in the entire Miles catalog. And how it took years (probably 20 years) for most people to catch up with that LP (if they ever did catch up with it at all).

And Ornette's "Skies of America" (the one with an orchestra) was a little like this too. Probably the most "different" title in Ornette's entire catalog - and one that many people scratch their heads over to this very day.

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So, what other "radical" albums stand out almost like islands in the middle of the sea, as compared to the rest of the artist's catalog??? And in particular, this would be most interesting to discuss for artists who really broke new ground with one or more of their other releases --- on the theory that these "islands in the sea" possibly represented new ground that was otherwise never really explored again - after that one release. (Miles surely could have gone farther down that "On the Corner" road, but didn't (for various reasons, yeah - not all of them artistic)

Edited October 30, 2003 by Rooster_Ties

[Rooster_Ties]

I've never heard this (save for one time, borrowing it from a friend many, many years ago). But from what little I remember, and what I've read here and elsewhere -- is "Barcelona" possibly as "unlike anything else" and "different" a release as you're likely to find in the entire Joe Henderosn catalog???

[Rooster_Ties]

There are definitely a few specific cuts on "Other Aspects" that are TOTALLY unlike anything else in the entire Dolphy catalog. The tune "Jim Crow" in particular ( - when I'm in the right mood), along with "Improvisations and Tukras" to a lesser extent.

[Simon Weil]

Two non-Jazz things:

[Pat Metheny - Zero Tolerance For Silence]

[Rooster_Ties]

This Lee Morgan album (his last studio date as leader), is quite unique in the Lee Morgan catalog. Would that were not the case, but alas - it was the beginning of a new direction for Lee – and sadly, one not fulfilled.

[Rooster_Ties]

There might have been a very small few Sun Ra albums in this category (all from the very late 70's), but they represent such a small percentage of his total output - I think these nearly qualify for this thread (in terms of a direction hinted at, but not really taken).

(From 1978 and 1980, respectively) - Both of these albums feature electric bass (at least on several cuts each), and sometimes even an electric guitar (credited to one "Disco Kid" - ???) - and the overall vibe is decidedly more 'goovy' than anything Ra had recorded before, or after.

One other Sun Ra release also fits this mold - a very obscure Saturn record called "On Jupiter" (from 1978) - best known for the all-out funky "U.F.O." (and I do mean funky).

Edited October 30, 2003 by Rooster_Ties

[jacman]