Mojo's 50 Most 'Out There' Albums of All Time

The Babs inclusion is funny tho. They should've added "Elvis: Live from Hawaii" too.

47. Bongwater - Double Bummer
29. Alexander 'Skip' Spence - Oar
25. The Monks - Black Monk Time
14. The Beatles - Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
13. The Velvet Underground - White Light/White Heat
12. Os Mutantes - Os Mutantes
7. The Jimi Hendrix Experience - Axis:Bold as Love
5. Butthole Surfers - Locust Abotion Technician
4. Funkadelic - Maggot Brain

And I'd like to buy these when I have the cash:

28. Joe Meek and the Blue Men - I Hear A New World (An Outer Space Musical Fantasy)
15. The Holy Modal Rounders - The Moral Eeels Eat...
8. John Coltrane - Ascension
2. Sun Ra - Space is the Place
1. Captain Beefheart - Trout Mask Replica

Disco Inferno - D.I Go Pop

i really can't think.

The Pop Group's Y is pretty wild, and even more so Mark Stewart and the Maffia's As the Veneer of Democracy Starts to Fade...which was inspired heavily by The Missing Brazilians' Warzone. Warzone is probably one of the most out-there records I have...blending depressive dancehall with dub and glitchiness and built-in hyperdistortion...and that was recorded in 1983!

er . . . the first time I heard it, I did sort of have this response, except in a "this is the record I've always dreamed of hearing but never actually thought I would" kind of way. (and minus the Isn't Anything comparison, because I didn't know that record at the time)

xpost: I think Loveless is waaaay more fun than any JAMC I've heard, just cause it's so much more luscious sounding instead of the B&W tinniness I've always gotten off JAMC. (I like JAMC, btw, just admire them far more than adore them)

So, where was Magma's Kohntarkosz and Tim Hardin's Suite for Susan Moore? If you think Mojo got it wrong now's your chance to rectify the situation. Choose the one album that you think should have been in our 50 Out There Albums list, write a short 50 word explanation of its genius in the Mojo style and send it to the usual Mappin House address or mojo@emap.com, headed 'Get Out Of Here'.
Then we'll compile a readers' list of the Top 50 Out There albums. Let the madness commence.

this is one of the weirder things to include. it's not THAT well known, but it is becoming MORE well known as the price for the original vinyl goes up. Which is cool. I can dig it. It's a good record. It's just a weird record to single out, because it's not all that different than a zillion other krautrock albums that came out at the time. And it's not really representative of any one sound/vision in particular. Reichel made more like it. It's not all that singular in any way.

Bob Marley's on the cover

my opinion: depends on the album.

I thought the first album was almost tinny had it not been for the big ass floor tom. And Reverence is pretty damn tinny compared to the previous albums like Automatic and Barbed Wire Kisses and April Skies, etc. (haven't heard anything after Reverence)

but skip spence? he's more out there than the music is.

It's like, I haven't heard the entirety of, what is it -- last year's Comets on Fire record, but I have a tough time believing it's more wigged-out than, I dunno, the Alan Silva Celestial Communion Orchestra record or something.

Ha! I've heard more of them than that, but by my count, I also own 26 of them. weird.

They picked the PERFECT choice for number one.

Yeah but it's better. :D

i want this. i love paddy. he's such a loveable freak of nature.

I've listened to weird shit for years and trout mask STILL sounds weird to me. It's a weird record.

and i still can't get into trout mask and i've tried for about 8yrs

http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:7v8n1v7ozzpa

http://image.allmusic.com/00/amg/cov200/drg200/g200/g20050l6sv4.jpg

You know, there.

John Villemonte - This
Ghostwriters - Music From No Man's Land
Dreams & Illusions - Dreams & Illusions
Alan Burke - My Naked Soul
Go-Kart Mozart - Instant Wigwam & Igloo Mixture
Viking Crown - Banished Rhythmic Hate
Blackhouse - Holy War
Rory McEwen & Jim Dine - Songs Poems Prints
Eric Salzman - The Nude Paper Sermon
The Harmonic Choir - Hearing Solar Winds
Dion McGregor - The Dream World Of Dion McGregor
The Anti Group - The Delivery
Discordance Axis - The Inalienable Dreamless
Black Mass - Lucifer
Virgin Prunes - A New Form Of Beauty
Iannis Xenakis - Electro-Acoustic Music
The Hobbits - Down To Middle Earth
Vangelis O. Papathanassiou - Earth
The Haters - In The Shade Of Fire
Prominent Disturbance - Prominent Disturbance
Aural Exciters - Spooks In Space
Besombes/Rizet - Pole
Joyride - Friend Sound
Alastair Galbraith - Morse
Dalek - Negro, Necro, Nekros
Jandek - Shadow Of Leaves
Severed Heads - City Slab Horror
Invisbl Skratch Piklz-vs-Da Klamz Uv Deth - Furious Ostrich Tracks
Tobie Lurie - Word Music!
Bill Cosby - Badfoot Brown & The Bunions Bradford Funeral & Marching Band
V/A - Dry Lungs II
Charles Ives - Old Songs Deranged
Prince Paul - Psychoanalysis (What Is It?)
The Three Ring Circus - Groovin' On The Sunshine
The Mystic Moods - Awakening
Damon - Song Of A Gypsy
Jimmie Haskell - California '99
Ralph Lundsten - Ralph Lundsten's Universe Featuring The Andromeda All-Stars
Doctors Of Madness - Figments Of Emancipation
Womb - Womb
Stockhausen - Sirius
Tod Dockstader - Eight Electronic Pieces
Harvey Matusow's Jew's Harp Band - War Between Fats & Thins
Fred Frith - Guitar Solos
Obernkirchen Children's Choir - In Japan
Divine Styler - Spiral Walls Containing Autumns Of Light
Hans-Joachim Roedelius - Geshenk Des Augenblicks
Terence - An Eye For An Ear
Gunter Schickert - Uberfallig
Joe Byrd & The Field Hippies - The American Metaphysical Circus

It's all pretty normal,and close to my computer which is nice for a lazybones, but maybe off the beaten track a bit more than some on the Mojo list. Like, um, the Beatles. Also almost jazz-free in keeping with the spirit of the orignal. Plus, lots of older stuff like Mojo likes. Plus, nothing really too insane or too noisy which Mojo also likes.

FWIW, Mischa Barton character in "The O.C." was reading Mojo in last week's episode.

I'm, as they say, crapping you negative here.

Also, Sgt. Pepper totally belongs on the list.

-- scott seward (skotro...), December 2nd, 2004.

Especially considering how melodic Eye to Ear I was, it's crazy.

-- Al

That's definitely true, but it depends how they define "out there". The Boredoms made records a lot more noisy & random than Super Ae but the latter is much more of a mindfuck than anything else in their catalog in my opinion, and the accessibility has something to do with it.

I think this is a pretty great list, actually -- I'm going to buy it! I have 14 of the top 20 and only a handful after that.

-- Stormy Davis (electrifyingmoj...), February 4th, 2005.

So you always skip "Soon" then?

-- scott seward

Which ones? I've been meaning to explore Kenton's work.

i own or have owned:

47. Bongwater - Double Bummer
45. John Zorn - Naked City
44. AR & Machines - Echo
40. Pink Floyd - The Piper at the Gates of Dawn
39. Mercury Rev - Boces
38. Tim Buckley - Starsailor
32. Steven Jesse Bernstein - Prison
31. Scott Walker - Tilt
29. Alexander 'Skip' Spence - Oar
26. Diamanda Galas - Plague Mass
25. The Monks - Black Monk Time
21. Patty Waters - College Tour (naw but i have the s/t)
18. My Bloody Valentine - Loveless
16. The Residents - Ralph Records 10th Anniversary Special (naw but third reich n' roll)
14. The Beatles - Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
13. The Velvet Underground - White Light/White Heat
12. Os Mutantes - Os Mutantes
9. The United States of America - The United States of America
8. John Coltrane - Ascension
6. Faust - The Faust Tapes
4. Funkadelic - Maggot Brain (naw but uncle jam)
3. Miles Davis - Agharta (naw but on the corner and live evil)
2. Sun Ra - Space is the Place (nope but a couple others)
1. Captain Beefheart - Trout Mask Replica (almost all of them)

however i can't really wrap my head around "out there" as any kind of operative/enlightening category

I second hstencil's On the Corner recommendation.

You know why, don't you? Because it's *dies*

Acting Trio, s/t (BYG/Actuel, 529 314/14) LP
AMM, III – It Had Been an Ordinary Enough Day in Pueblo, Colorado (JAPO/ECM, JAPO 60031) LP
Astrobotnia, Part 01 (Rephlex, cat 123) LP
Albert Ayler, New Grass (ABC/Impulse!, A-9175) LP
AZ, Music for Scattered Brains (SG Research, SGR001) LP
John Cage, Music for Marcel Duchamp (1947), Music for Amplified Toy Pianos (1960), Radio Music (1956), 4’33” (intreparti: 30”/2’23”/1’40”) (1952), Sixty-Two Mesostics Re Merce Cunningham (frammenti) (1971) (Cramps, CRSLP 6101) LP
any Caroliner Rainbow
Carl Douglas, “Kung Fu Fighting”/”Gamblin' Man” (20th Century, TC-2140) 7"
Arthur Doyle plus 4, Alabama Feeling (Ak-Ba, AK 1030) LP
The Electric Prunes, Mass in F Minor (Reprise, 6275) LP
Roky Erickson and the Aliens, The Evil One (415 Records, 415A-0005) LP
John Fahey, Requia and Other Compositions for Guitar Solo (Vanguard, VSD-79259) LP
Harvey Sid Fisher, Astrology Songs (Amarillo, AM-585) LP
the Godz
Grandmaster Flash, “Larry's Dance Theme” (Elektra, 7-69643) 7"
The Grodeck Whipperjenny, s/t (People, PS-3000) LP
harry pussy
Joe Byrd and the Field Hippies, The American Metaphysical Circus (Columbia, MS 7317) LP
John Gavanti, s/t (Hyrax, HY-101) LP
Mauricio Kagel, 1898 (Deutsche Grammophon, 2543 007) LP
Max Tundra, Some Best Friend You Turned Out To Be (Domino) LP
Max Tundra, ”Mastered by Guy at The Exchange” (Domino, WIGLP112) LP
Musica Elettronica Viva, The Sound Pool (BYG/Actuel, 529.326/26) LP
Musica Elettronica Viva, Leave the City (BYG/Actuel, 529.335/35) LP
Mrs. Miller, Mrs. Miller's Greatest Hits (Capitol, T 2494) LP
nico, desertshore
Pale Horse Riders, Vituperate (Brokers Tip, BT-1) EP
Harry Partch, The World of Harry Partch (Columbia, MS 7207) LP
Erik Satie, The Electronic Spirit of Erik Satie (Deram, XDES 18066) LP
anything by the shadow ring
any sun city girls
S.W.A.T., Deep Inside a Cop's Mind (Amphetamine Reptile, Amphetamine Reptile 029) LP
Anal Magic & Rev. Dwight Frizzell, Beyond the Black Crack (Paradigm, PD 06) CD
The Caretaker, Selected Memories from the Haunted Ballroom (V/VM Test, OFFAL02) CD
Brion Gysin, s/t (Perdition Plastics, no number) CD
K. Curtis Lyle, The Collected Poem for Blind Lemon Jefferson (Ikef, IKEF05) CD
Men's Recovery Project, Frank Talk about Humans (Vinyl Communications, VC70) CD
Charlemagne Palestine, Karenina (Durturo, no number) 2CD
Charlemagne Palestine, Jamaica Heinekens In Brooklyn (Barooni, BAR 021) CD
the jack smith cds
To Live and Shave in L.A., The Wigmaker in 18th Century Williamsburg (Menlo Park, MPK 7020 CD) 2CD
and the byron gysin lp i have that's just construction noizes.

anyway -- So you always skip "Soon" then? -- see, my relationship to this record is such that I had to pull the thing out to even know what song you're talking about -- and I do own it. I get it -- the drum machine thing? Well, see, I guess I like my four-piece guitar-rock bands to have a little meat to their motion. Yeah, I "get" that it's all about the guitar textures, but really... I just put this thing on and I got to, what's this song? "When You Sleep"? Buncha eighth-note downstroke plodding behind with some kind of wordless wispiness on top of it? Eh, sorry I reached my limit. I just put on Monk's Dream.

but hey, we all have our own listening histories. Daydream Nation had already blown my mind the year before, so this cute little record didn't really stand a chance at that point in my life. I think when this thing came out I was trying to wrap my head around Hanatrash's 3 and Art Ensemble records and Sonny Sharrock on Tauhid and Super Nova. But I'm glad a lot of people got stuff out of the MBV thing. Good for them. I'm just sick of hearing about it. Especially on a board like this where we have to suffer through banalities like "the Beatles suck" or whatever on daily basis.

oh and yeah, Skot prolly had to put Rufus to bed but I bet dollars to donuts he had in mind the Graettinger-arranged Kenton stuff. And he's right.

Also, BIG UPS to them for putting that Dreamies album on there! I just listened to that last night (along with White Noise oddly enough.. those two albums are on my freak-out shortlist I suppose)

Tilt needs to be higher.

And lastly, scott and hstencil have convinced me to listen to that Joe Byrd and the Field Hippies album tonight.

jorel, this isn't even the same band! i mean maybe the musicians, but...

and Free Your Mind is way more fucked up to me than Maggot Brain. the whole thing is trapped in a gigantic echo chamber

That reminds me, for a short period of time, I thought that my freshman English teacher was Joe Byrd because he was this old hippie guy (who, now that I think about it, beared an uncanny resemblence to Mr. Rosso, the guidance counselor on "Freaks and Geeks," but I digress) and his name was Joseph Byrd. Anyway, I looked up Joe Byrd's whereabouts on the interweb and he IS a college professor, but not at the University of Maryland. And he teaches music, not English. Of course, I should have known, considering he was a music professor when he started the United States of America (with some of his students, right?)

This is a good example, MJQ w/ Guiffre --

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B000063NC6/qid=1107498637/sr=1-6/ref=sr_1_6/103-4204839-3895845?v=glance&s=music

This is that Kenton stuff--

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000005GZJ/qid=1107498593/sr=2-1/ref=pd_ka_b_2_1/103-4204839-3895845

I don't really dig that Joe Byrd record as much as the USA album proper, but I should listen again. He also put out this pretty bad all-synthesizer Christmas album on Fahey's Takoma label in the mid-70s!

xpost: the very beginning is cool, yeah, but the rest of the first side is BORING. Also, side two of An Electric Storm is much better Echoing-Chick-Going-"You-Will-Die" music.

the orgy song is fucking rad

http://www.cyborg.ne.jp/~akio01/cover/cherry/ECM-841124.html

Escalator came later on the label. I gotta hear that 80s Haden record too. God, you know, I just saw Paul Bley last Friday and he was kinda horrible. Overplayed, didn't listen well to the others ... I didn't get him at all.

-- Stormy Davis (electrifyingmoj...), February 4th, 2005.

Actually Carla is on half of the Mantler JCOA record, the piano stool on the other half obviously being occupied by Our Cecil. She has a nicely spikey little solo at the start of "Communications #8" and in the booklet there's a pic of her seated at the piano in an extremely short skirt just to remind us how, er, "hott" she was (still is as well! looks remarkable for 66!).

Well, I did offer my services but there was no room at the inn...

Pah!!! Wot a swizz!!!!!!!!!!

and i wonder how many mojo readers thought 'jesus daddio, i must get me some of them out there sounds for the vw golf stereo!'

they should totally do a list of the most 'in there' records. i wonder who would be no 1? the cowsills?

Bob Dylan - there's a few they could have picked from, but maybe something like Bringing It All Back Home would have been a good choice - stuff like "Subterranean Homesick Blues" must have seemed pretty out there at the time. It's at least as out there as the Hendrix and Beatles records, I think.

There's lots of weirdness from Japan that they could have included - the Boredoms are really just the tip of the iceberg:

The Gerogerigegege - He's got several albums of out there stuff. There's a pretty good summary of it here:

http://www.discogs.com/artist/Gerogerigegege,+The

Maybe something like Endless Humiliation or Singles: 1985-1993.

Then you have the noise scene: Merzbow, Masonna, that stuff is pretty out there. Also a lot of Keiji Haino's stuff. The Hanatarash and Omoide Hatoba are Boredoms-related projects that plumb some outer reaches of out-thereness.

Harry Partch - His stuff can seem pretty out there: microtonal music played on instruments he designed and built himself, with lyrics sometimes taken from ancient Chinese poetry or hobo graffiti from California highways. Especially when you consider that he was doing this stuff during the Great Depression.

Though for some reason I thought "Discordance Axis" as well.

that Gordon Jenkins record is great, it's going to be fun when that gets reissued

Note the albums with space related topical subject matter (Sun Ra, Ascension, "Astronomy Domine" on Piper, Hawkwind, Starsailor, I Hear a New World). Otherwise, it's a spatial metaphor referring to the genius or outsider being at a distance from normality (distance = space).

-- Tim Ellison

your perspective only, pal

Ground Zero: "Revolutionary Pekinese Opera"
Ariel Pink: "Lover Boy"
Lee Ranaldo: "From Here To Infinity"
John Maus: Love Letters From Hell
Um: The New Album
Stock, Hausen & Walkman: "Oh! My Bag"
Amit Lissack: The Person With The Ideas

...and maybe some Red Crayola and Pere Ubu too!