Unlike our "5 Real Solo Albums" feature, which highlights one-man-band records, these are a collection of albums ostensibly made by bands, but only due to various circumstances (binding legal agreements, commercial considerations, internal power struggles, etc.) do they bear the band's imprint, when in fact they carry the mark of a singular musical vision, sometimes forcibly so, reducing bandmates to sidemen status and invariably putting an end to whatever spirit of creative exchange was left in the band.
Here are 5 examples in alphabetical order by artist:
PAVEMENT Terror Twilight [Matador-1999]
Whether frontman Stephen Malkmus purposely decided to make Pavement’s fifth and final album a dry run for his solo career by refusing to have any songs by fellow guitarist/vocalist Scott Kannberg included on the album, is up for debate. But it’s telling that Malkmus chose Nigel Godrich (Radiohead, Beck) to produce the album, who confirmed the rest of the band’s wariness towards him by, in their estimation, producing the album as if he was working with The Stephen Malkmus Experience. (That deep into the Terror Twilight sessions Godrich did not know percussionist/keyboardist Bob Nastanovich’s name did not help matters one bit.)
A tense world tour in support of the album sealed the band’s fate and Malkmus emerged with a self-titled debut solo album in early 2001.
Here are 5 examples in alphabetical order by artist:
Whether frontman Stephen Malkmus purposely decided to make Pavement’s fifth and final album a dry run for his solo career by refusing to have any songs by fellow guitarist/vocalist Scott Kannberg included on the album, is up for debate. But it’s telling that Malkmus chose Nigel Godrich (Radiohead, Beck) to produce the album, who confirmed the rest of the band’s wariness towards him by, in their estimation, producing the album as if he was working with The Stephen Malkmus Experience. (That deep into the Terror Twilight sessions Godrich did not know percussionist/keyboardist Bob Nastanovich’s name did not help matters one bit.)
A tense world tour in support of the album sealed the band’s fate and Malkmus emerged with a self-titled debut solo album in early 2001.
PESCADO RABIOSO Artaud [Sony-1973]
A highly influential classic within the realm Spanish-language rock, Artaud was recorded with Emilio del Guercio (bass) and Rodolfo Garcia (drums), Spinetta’s former bandmates in the also seminal pre-Pescado outfit Almendra, as well as his brother Carlos Gustavo Spinetta (drums). 20 years later Soda Stereo’s Gustavo Cerati covered Artaud’s “Bajan” on his first solo album Amor Amarillo [BMG-1993].
PINK FLOYD The Final Cut [Columbia-1983]
After the themes of alienation, abandonment
and overall disconnect that informed The Wall [Columbia-1979] were rendered with a varied
palette on a wide canvas, its follow-up turned out to be a dour, homogenous
lesser version of that iconic double album, which in hindsight would be seen as
the blueprint for Roger Waters’ subsequent solo releases.
An anti-war concept album much disliked by the band’s vocalist/guitarist David Gilmour, The Final Cut is the only Pink Floyd album solely written by Waters. Gilmour’s lone lead vocals are on “Not Now John”, the only single released from the album and a pointed attack on director Alan Parker’s perceived watering down of the film version of The Wall. (The photo of a soldier with a knife in his back while carrying a film canister, which was included as part of The Final Cut's artwork, leaves no doubt of its message.) So, The Wall was too commercial, eh? Really? Man…
An anti-war concept album much disliked by the band’s vocalist/guitarist David Gilmour, The Final Cut is the only Pink Floyd album solely written by Waters. Gilmour’s lone lead vocals are on “Not Now John”, the only single released from the album and a pointed attack on director Alan Parker’s perceived watering down of the film version of The Wall. (The photo of a soldier with a knife in his back while carrying a film canister, which was included as part of The Final Cut's artwork, leaves no doubt of its message.) So, The Wall was too commercial, eh? Really? Man…
THE POLICE Synchronicity [A&M-1983]
Although Sting wrote the lion share of the
band’s material, drummer Stewart Copeland and guitarist Andy Summers—particularly
the former—saw their songwriting contributions to The Police’s albums further
reduced when Sting decided to no longer sing lead on any song not written by
him, circa Zenyatta Mondatta [A&M-1980]. (He later eased up slightly on that position
but by then the damage to egos and group morale had already been done.) So, as the
band’s main songwriter—and with a few hits under his belt by that point—Sting
began exerting his influence and power, barring Summers’ “Omegaman” from being
released as a single from Ghost in the Machine [A&M-1981]. By the time it came to make the next and final album, not only did the songs evidence less of the distinctive, reggae-influenced Police sound, favoring a more Adult Contemporary vibe—particularly on the album’s second half: “Every Breath You Take”, King of Pain”, “Wrapped Around Your Finger”, “Tea in the Sahara”—Sting was so entrenched in dictating the direction of the album and the performances of his bandmates that he came to actual blows with Copeland during the recording of “Every Breath You Take” and rendered producer Hugh Padgham practically superfluous in the process. If this is The Police album that most sounds like Sting’s solo output to you, now you know why.
THE REPLACEMENTS All Shook Down [Sire-1990]
There is absolutely no doubt this was
supposed to be a Paul Westerberg solo album: that much has been confirmed. Why
the shift from solo disc to Replacements album? Well, that has never been officially
explained. And it’s not like the battered, bruised and disillusioned
Replacements’ name was a superior commercial proposition, as the disappointing
sales for the previous release, Don’t Tell a Soul [Sire-1989], will readily attest to. Westerberg’s official solo debut would have to wait, at least in name only.
Meanwhile, a singer/songwriter album heavy on acoustic guitars and full of guest musicians, including John Cale, Johnette Napolitano, Terry Reid, and Benmont Tench, with a smattering of performances by fellow Replacements Slim Dunlap, Chris Mars and Tommy Stinson—although, pointedly, never all four on the same track—got the Mats’ moniker slapped on it and became the band’s somewhat muted send-off.
A decent album—certainly of a higher caliber than some of what Westerberg released later on as a full-fledged solo artist—yet All Shook Down comes across more as the sound of a white flag being waved than a proper goodbye.
Honorable Mention:
BLACK SABBATH
Every album
between 1986 and 1995 except Dehumanizer [Warner Bros-1992] is essentially a Tony Iommi solo
album.
[All album cover artwork courtesy of The All Music Guide.]
[All album cover artwork courtesy of The All Music Guide.]
