Mostly abysmal solo careers that get a pass based almost entirely on past successes with respective bands and / or good will

Iggy Pop
George Harrison

Mick Jagger

Adam Ant

whoa whoa whoa, iggy pop was undeniably awesome until he started sucking in the 80s, just like pretty much everyone else.

and mick jagger's abysmal solo career does NOT get a pass

Rod Stewart

Joe Strummer

and mick jagger's abysmal solo career does NOT get a pass

if your name doesn't ride with Ron Benner.

Idiot (n) 1. One of the Iggy Pop albums that disproves your claim 2. Expression of strong disagreement.

do people not get "mostly"? Iggy has a couple of solid records and hours and hours of crap.

The Postal Service

John Lennon

I was debating Lennon. Think you're right though.

Irmin Schmidt

Yeah, I'll rep for both The Idiot and Lust For Life (though the latter is about three good songs and a shit ton of filler), the same way I'd rep for about 50% of All Things Must Pass. But, God, after these, woof.

post-70s Rundgren, maybe

Iggy Pop solo albums that are better than you think: New Values, Soldier, Party, Instinct, American Caesar, Beat 'Em Up.

New Values is, well, kind of my favorite Iggy solo album.

Foo Fighters

I don't get the appeal of John Cale.

Do you really think that's why people are buying Foo Fighters albums?
xpost

I believe they did for several years.

I bought the first one because of Sunny Day Real Estate

I don't get the appeal of John Cale.

― wk, Monday, February 4, 2013 9:45 AM (12 minutes ago)

John Cale solo >>>> Lou Reed solo

truth

Robert Fripp

Morrissey

I can believe that they did for several years but it seems unlikely that e.g. the Foo Fighters were topping charts in 2011 because of Dave Grohl's role as Nirvana's drummer 20 years earlier.

xpost re Foo Fighters

John Cale solo >>>> Lou Reed solo

^^^there's a funny ILM poll about this

Morrissey is a good answer, though I enjoy his first few solo albums.

Brian Wilson (discounting Smile, which is a reworking of a BB album anyway)

was thinking about saying Ian Brown but nobody seems to give him a pass for anything these days

Rod Stewart? No! Christgau gave some late Pete Townshend albums abysmal grades, but I haven't heard them--Who Came First is good.

Christgau's never struck me as much of a Who fan. And I suspect his middling Townshend reviews were done as much to get under Dave Marsh's skin (and/or as retaliation for Marsh's zero-star reviews of Christgau's beloved X).

Empty Glass is great, All the Best Cowboys less so (but not as bad as Christgau says), White City better than Cowboys, and Psychoderelict is pretty much worthless.

ilxors otm, fucking Lou embodies this thread. You couldn't make a worse string of records on a dare.

Henry Rollins

Yeah, Cale was a bad example because it's not like his fans give him a pass because of VU, they just have shitty taste in music.

Rod Stewart and John Lennon are wrong answers

Lou Reed

Robert Fripp

Really? I found the first few solo Fripps (Exposure, Under Heavy Manners, League of Gentlemen) to be outstanding. Far more interesting to me than the Crims' pre-Larks' Tongue lps.

Also Rollins' stand-up routine has merit.

The Fripp/Eno projects were obviously great too.

Lou Reed did not get a "pass" in this poll fwiw

Don't know if he truly gets a pass, but Frank Black.

John Cale solo >>>> Lou Reed solo

john cale solo >>> lou reed solo, the velvet underground

Paul Westerberg

There. I said it.

David Lee Roth

I love some Paul solo stuff, but yeah.

Roger Daltrey

I do too, but mostly abysmal.

I dunno, dude wasn't exactly a solo hit machine (or critical darling).

xp

As much as I love Lou Reed I guess he's a good answer, depending on your definition of "mostly." Out of everything he's recorded post-VU, maybe 20% of it is classic and I guess it's surprising that his career continued so consistently for so many decades even after seemingly doing everything he could to fuck it up.

otoh LULU

I'd argue that Morrissey, Fripp and, err, David Lee Roth are the opposite of this - to me, their solo work is at least as good as that of their previous bands.

Westerberg otm, unfortunately

Mike Watt (including fIREHOSE)

steve shasta

i haven't listened to enough of his solo stuff to make an informed slam here, but whatever:

bryan ferry

Yeah solo westerberg sucks. I don't even like late Replacements if I'm honest.

In the realm of unpopular opinions: Bob Mould (including Sugar)

otm. I love Husker Du, but actively dislike all Mould solo/Sugar I've heard.

John Cale solo >>>> Lou Reed solo

john cale solo >>> lou reed solo, the velvet underground

― iatee, Monday, February 4, 2013 1:34 PM (14 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

otm

Does Bob Mould get a pass?

xp I guess not (but I do like Sugar)

In the realm of unpopular opinions: Bob Mould (including Sugar)

― EZ Snappin, Monday, February 4, 2013 1:52 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

otm. I love Husker Du, but actively dislike all Mould solo/Sugar I've heard.

― Tarfumes The Escape Goat, Monday, February 4, 2013 1:53 PM (19 seconds ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

+1

Tarfumes, you're now my pal. I get the dirtiest looks when I say Sugar is Mould watered down into pap. Heck, I think it's Bob's favorite stuff.

Jon, we're already bronies.

I liked some solo Bob, but it's got that same super dull three-note quality of his late Du songs and Black Sheets of rain is so depressing that it's kind of funny (although I like a couple of songs on it, even still)

Sugar is fine, but not thrilling. At least not to me.

Westerberg really gets the stink eye for just giving people way too much of what he thought they wanted -- clever wordplay in particular.

in the UK I have the impression that Sugar were popular in a way that functioned at least somewhat independently of Husker Du. these days w/ Mould it's a different story, sure

Oh and if anyone says Grant Hart, instant stink eye.

Suicaine Gratifaction indeed.

xpost

that!! ^^^ that's what i'm talking about
that's fucking AWFUL

Iggy's great up through Party imo though Soldier is horrible

I played the Copper Blue reissue twice yesterday, it's great, you guys are nuts

in the UK I have the impression that Sugar were popular in a way that functioned at least somewhat independently of Husker Du. these days w/ Mould it's a different story, sure

― ima go (DJ Mencap), Monday, February 4, 2013 1:58 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I think they were in the US too. I once played Zen Arcade for coworkers who were huge Sugar fans (this was 1993-94). They hadn't heard of Husker Du, and had to be convinced that it was in fact Mould singing. They also hated it.

Oh and if anyone says Grant Hart, instant stink eye.

― this customer is a jerk (La Lechera), Monday, February 4, 2013 1:59 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

On a similar note, I have my trigger finger over the FP button for the first savage who says Tom Verlaine

Copper Blew, now and then.

God, the post-Britpop landscape is littered with twats like this. Ian Brown, Richard Ashcroft, Noel Gallagher, Tim Burgess, endless Damon Albarn side-projects. Even when they're really bad they seldom get slated and get more attention that however many hundreds of more deserving acts.

I dunno, Copper Blue is kinda frozen in time for me. I like it, I guess. I challenge anyone to listen to Black Sheets of Rain twice in the same day.

ha. his voice on something like 'Never Talking To You Again' and x Sugar song from 8-10 years later doesn't seem *that* different to me xp to Tarfumes

God, the post-Britpop landscape is littered with twats like this. Ian Brown, Richard Ashcroft, Noel Gallagher, Tim Burgess, endless Damon Albarn side-projects.

in fairness, none of these dudes' main bands were any good either

xp Yeah, it wasn't until a few songs in that they realized it *could* be Mould. But "Something I Learned Today" and "Broken Home, Broken Heart," forget it.

With a couple exceptions (i.e. the Eno collabs), David Byrne.

Robert Plant

Steve Malkmus was the first name I thought off actually, I mean I don't think he's 'abysmal' fwiw but I can't think of a single person I know who actively reps for any of his solo music

Phil Collins

Ringo

Jarvis

xp Yeah, it wasn't until a few songs in that they realized it *could* be Mould. But "Something I Learned Today" and "Broken Home, Broken Heart," forget it.

that's sad.

I'll rep for Plant. His solo career has a surprisingly high ratio of hits to misses. But the covers of the albums? Exact opposite ratio.

There are some rly interesting deep cuts on the first P Collins joint, I dunno if that's true of the later ones

shorter list would be people whose solo careers eclipse their band careers, methinks

kidding?

Steve Malkmus was the first name I thought off actually, I mean I don't think he's 'abysmal' fwiw but I can't think of a single person I know who actively reps for any of his solo music

Plenty of people seem to enjoy his solo music, but I'm not sure I've ever heard someone say they prefer it to Pavement.

Rod Stewart

― EZ Snappin, Monday, February 4, 2013 11:02 AM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

??? rod's early output is fucking classic as hell

Yeah solo westerberg sucks. I don't even like late Replacements if I'm honest.

PW is the definition of not getting a pass (also see Sting). I've never heard anyone praise his solo stuff.

Maybe he doesn't get a pass around here but Elvis Costello fits, in the sense that people wildly overrate almost any new album and then forget it entirely.

Robert Plant

― Tarfumes The Escape Goat, Monday, February 4, 2013 1:08 PM (13 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

disagree on the whole, but also raising sand didn't become a mini-phenomenon because he was the guy "from led zeppelin" & his early 80s output might have been underrated because he was the guy from led zeppelin

Malkmus absolutely

Has Rod done anything worthwhile post-1976? Genuine q.

ilm loves young turks

E-Cost is kinda pushing it

shorter list would be people whose solo careers eclipse their band careers, methinks

neil young
van morrison
michael jackson
brian eno
paul simon

there are a lot of cases of that!! but in many of those cases the bands aren't ones you would really hear much of

Buyers of No Jacket Required in '85 likely newbies; it's quite likely he became a Genesis fan as a result of NJR.

Rod Stewart

― EZ Snappin, Monday, February 4, 2013 11:02 AM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

??? rod's early output is fucking classic as hell

Yes it is. But he's been mostly horrible for nearly 40 years.

Bryan Ferry 's solo career at worst redundant, not abysmal

PW is the definition of not getting a pass (also see Sting). I've never heard anyone praise his solo stuff

Apparently someone gave him a pass because he was allowed/encouraged by SOMEONE to release some incredibly shitty stuff. I like a few songs on the first solo album, even the RIDICULOUSLY corny "Runaway Wind", but someone must have been out there encouraging him to "do what he does best" and that didn't turn out so well on the whole imo.

Steve Malkmus was the first name I thought off actually, I mean I don't think he's 'abysmal' fwiw but I can't think of a single person I know who actively reps for any of his solo music

prefer Malkmus solo to Pavement tbh. I didn't follow Pavement at all when they were a thing though

Never heard anything I liked by solo David Byrne. Didn't enven try Love the Giant.

I think Eric Clapton and Jeff Back probably qualify but I'm not actually going to explore their solo albums in enough depth to find out if I'm right.

I don't like solo Malkmus at all but it's def foregrounded his chops/guitar skillz, which are admirable

Alex Chilton

No, Jeff Beck fucking rules.

Christ

if Rod Stewart is getting a pass it's because of Every Picture Tells a Story not "past successes with respective bands" so he can't be an answer here. no disrespect to the Faces of course.

The Beck-Stewart "People Get Ready" a near classic

OTM. And how are you classifying Truth?

xpost re Jeff Beck ruling

I wasn't really counting Jeff Beck Group as solo but I guess it is.

Chick Corea

lennon is an insane answer

clapton's a good answer, he was in two great bands and then churned out MOR hackwork for decades

Art Garfunkel.

Solo Byrne is really, really bad. "Now and then I get horny." Ugh.

Lennon's not really that much of an insane answer... I'll give him Imagine, John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band a small handful of his songs from Double Fantasty and Milk And Honey, plus '#9 Dream' and 'Mind Games' (the song)... rest of his stuff, and I include the rock'n'roll covers record and his early collaborations with Yoko here, is mostly gash.

Does Clapton get a pass though? I get the feeling a lot of Clapton fans genuinely like MOR hackwork rather than just yearning for the good old days.

Lou Reed's made some dreck but there are at least half a dozen albums that do a lot more than trade on post-VU goodwill.

xpost:

*Double Fantasy, even.

I like Clapton's work with Cream and I love the Derek & The Dominos record, yet absolutely can't stand his solo work.

I was specifically thinking of my uncle when I wrote that about Clapton fans.

Yeah, it's not totally defined who's giving the pass. Is it fans, critics, or labels? I think a lot of the people mentioned in this thread were lucky to be able to consistently release records in the '70s and '80s even though they weren't selling a lot, so they got a pass in that sense.

I don't like solo Malkmus at all but it's def foregrounded his chops/guitar skillz, which are admirable

― Welcome to my world of proses (Shakey Mo Collier), Monday, February 4, 2013 7:40 PM (50 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

yeah I'll agree w/ this based on seeing him a few years ago, that is to say I put up with some not especially interesting songs for the sake of some of his guitar parts (and Janet Weiss actually)

I think the original thread question has too many moving parts -- judgment calls on abysmalness, passes, opinion of original bands. In Garfunkel's case, did he ever really "get a pass"?

Suicaine Gratifaction...god

suicaine gratifaction is a pretty awesome record actually

i think ppl forget how SHORT lennon's solo career was -- he was really only active till 1975 then made one half-album (kinda unfair to hold posthumous stuff against him IMO). in that time you've got the first two (great) solo albums, a handful of excellent singles, and some weird standout stuff like 'meat city.' not bad at all for like a 5-and-a-half year span.

Phil C. was inspired to do solo LPs by the example of Robert Wyatt.

Really?

lennon is an insane answer

^^^this. his most famous/signature song is not a Beatles tune

Yeah, but that still doesn't excuse the majority of Mind Games and Walls And Bridges...

Phil Collins is the really insane answer, not because of the quality of the output but because he's one of the most critically maligned artists I can think of.

Yeah he did not get a pass, at all.

all those people that bought No Jacket Required were really just loyal early Genesis fans dontchaknow

Challopy answer ahead:

Ozzy Osbourne. I always think I like those early 80s solo jams, especially the Rhoads ones, more than I actually do. When I hear them, I go all meh. Moving into The Ultimate Sin and beyond, the dude was just living on name recognition alone.

Sting is another good example of someone who would qualify for the opposite

Alan Vega

iggy was cool up to and including zombie birdhouse (talk about an underrated album, it's so much fun!) and then it was all coasting on name alone. and that's a long time to coast on yer name.

yeah sheesh bob mould whenever i've been unlucky enough to hear his solo stuff i have a hard time believing that he was ever a part of something that i loved. and even that love is an old love. i bought candy apple grey when it came out and hated it. and i didn't even listen to flip your wig that much. so, NDR was the last thing i loved. that was a while ago.

i think lou reed just got old. and when he got old he got boring. and he's been a solo artist for way longer than he was ever in a band. lots of people only know him as a solo artist. but he has definitely been taken way more seriously for way longer than a lot of people. and often undeservedly. new sensations the last thing i really liked by HIM. and that was long ago for sure.

i'm gonna say nick cave too. in a pretty cool band. got more deadly boring/tedious/lazy with every album and people treat him like an art installation.

love New Sensations.

wanna be positive and ask: who was once a member of a popular/respected/etc band who made really great solo albums that are underheard/underrated? i guess john cale fans have already spoken here. most people have never heard his solo stuff. in the 70's people listened to him more.

i DO love those early 80's rockabilly alan vega albums. think they're really cool. nobody listens to them.

Stewart Copeland's Rumblefish soundtrack comes to mind.

Those first three Phil Collins solo albums are still underrated.

i'm gonna say nick cave too. in a pretty cool band. got more deadly boring/tedious/lazy with every album and people treat him like an art installation.

Nick Cave does do art installations though. heh

PAUL MCCARTNEY! Holy shit. That's the best answer to this, and I am astounded that no one has mentioned this.

wut? I wouldn't call most of McCartney's solo career (at least the first 15-20 years of it) "abysmal" at all.

and at their peak Wings fans were too young to know the damn Beatles.

Yeah, I don't agree with McCartney whatsoever. The guy was still having BIG hit singles well into the '80s.

In fact, McCartney is the one "solo Beatle" who I feel doesn't deserve to be in this category.

Oh hell no. His solo career is full of total crap that no one would be talking about without his Beatles career behind him.

SIMPLY HAVING A WONDERFUL CHRISTMAS TIIIIIIMMEEEEEEE

I have the two albums John Fogerty did in the '70s, but not the two from the mid-'80s (I know "Centerfield" and a couple of other songs). Not abysmal by any means, but they might count as coasting or getting a pass. Centerfield finished Top 10 in Pazz & Jop, with two double-sided singles in the Top 15. A bit much? "Centerfield" the song is pretty ordinary.

His solo catalog is vast enough to contain garbage that's not contingent on Beatlemania.

and at their peak Wings fans were too young to know the damn Beatles

Their peak was probably Speed of Sound/Over America...I'm sure they had some really young fans, but just don't think is true at all.

If you were the age of the teens in Dazed and Confused listening to "Silly Love Songs" dominate the summer, it was your music in a way The Beatles weren't.

That was me: 15 in 1976, a Wings fan. And the Beatles meant a hundred times more.

"I've Had Enough" would have sent me scurrying back to my older bro's copy of "Eleanor Rigby" to hear what I missed.

I don't know enough about The Mars Volta to say "The Mars Volta" but don't even Mars Volta fans old ATDI in higher regard?

*hold not old

James Jackson Toth

Nick Cave does do art installations though. heh

― pun lovin criminal (polyphonic), Monday, February 4, 2013 4:25 PM (31 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

not the nick cave who was in the birthday party...

wanna be positive and ask: who was once a member of a popular/respected/etc band who made really great solo albums that are underheard/underrated?

Martin Rev. Michael Nesmith.

not the nick cave who was in the birthday party...

I said "heh"

Johnny Fever otm re Ozzy -- anything after Rhoads is fucking dire, he was just trading on the name.

Chris Cornell belongs here.
Euphoria Morning was a fine 'hey guess what I really dig the beatles' album and had a few nice tracks but after that it was just GO THE FUCK AWAY and that billie jean cover should never have been a thing.

Rob Halford - bleh to both Fight and Halford.
but I dunno how popular that stuff was or what kind of a pass it got, if any.

that billie jean cover

excuse me?

159th response hall of fame xpost to AG

What else - Weiland covering "Smooth Criminal"?

for better or worse I think The Mars Volta evolved into their own thing

wanna be positive and ask: who was once a member of a popular/respected/etc band who made really great solo albums that are underheard/underrated?

Roger Daltrey's first (Daltrey) is reasonably solid, but also has some of his most amazing vocal moments. I'd listened to the Who for 25 years before I heard Daltrey, and it increased my appreciation of his approach exponentially.

John Entwistle's first two solo records (Smash Your Head Against the Wall and Wistle Rymes) are great, but after that he ran out of ideas. Unfortunately, he still made four more solo records.

If you were the age of the teens in Dazed and Confused listening to "Silly Love Songs" dominate the summer, it was your music in a way The Beatles weren't.

― the little prince of inane false binary hype (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, February 4, 2013 5:49 PM (23 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

That was me: 15 in 1976, a Wings fan. And the Beatles meant a hundred times more.

― clemenza, Monday, February 4, 2013 5:52 PM (20 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

A good parallel would be Justin Timberlake, no? A lot of the youngs love him, but really don't remember or have purposely forgotten N*Sync as best they could.

Nothing against 'N Sync, and I know they had a couple of huge albums, but I don't think they quite blanketed the culture the way the Beatles did. The Beatles were still a very immediate presence to me in 1976, and their music was still heard on the radio all the time. (That may have been the year Lorne Michaels made big news with his fake offer to reunite.) Were 'N Sync still a big deal in 2006? Maybe they were, I don't know.

Just remembering that the first (of countless) Beatles revivals happened in the mid-'70s. The Red and Blue albums came out in '73, then Rock 'n' Roll Music in '76 (in conjunction with "Got to Get You Into My Life" making it into the Top 10). They were anything but a distant memory.

shorter list would be people whose solo careers eclipse their band careers, methinks

neil young
van morrison
michael jackson
brian eno
paul simon

+ Peter Hammill

James Jackson Toth

― pfunkboy (Algerian Goalkeeper), Monday, February 4, 2013 6:00 PM (32 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Hardy har har. I'll never top The Blood Group I guess. ;)

This probably makes your point for you, but what band was Peter Hammill in?

Van der Graaf Generator

xpost in 1976 less time had passed since the last new Beatles album was released than has now since the last Timberlake album.

Yeah, I'll rep for both The Idiot and Lust For Life (though the latter is about three good songs and a shit ton of filler), the same way I'd rep for about 50% of All Things Must Pass. But, God, after these, woof.

What he said ^^

i dunno man van der graaf owns the zone dogg

many xposts to Alfred:

re Cornell's billie jean - avail yourself of the complimentary vomit bag at any time
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c2MgwAJrfXo

And Jon Spencer, maybe.

OTM re VdGG.

Also

I don't know enough about The Mars Volta to say "The Mars Volta" but don't even Mars Volta fans old ATDI in higher regard?

No way.

Ozzy and Chris Cornell are two answers that really make sense to me. I really doubt that e.g. "Tears in Heaven" was charting because of Clapton's history with Cream and the Bluesbreakers.

Cornell should do Nothing Else Matters in the style of Billie Jean to balance things out

I dunno, Clapton seems solid to me.

It's no so much him being part of Cream but that whole 'Guitar God' thing that started around then gave him sooooooooooooooo much license after he left Cream. That's why people gobbled up his terrible solo stuff. His name may as well have been a brand by the time that godawful Unplugged thing came out

solid as in yes his solo output was horrible and got a pass for blah blah

after he left cream? dominos. ugh. I need to go to bed.

I don't mind his Phil Collins-produced shit:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0XQwazkx10

yeah that's the 'mostly' qualifier of the abysmal career. I love that

my feeling is he's classic for yardbirds and cream and kinda dud for everything else. even as a 15-year-old classic rock fiend the 'layla' album always put me to sleep.

I want those of you who don't rep for Iggy's Party to know that you are dead to me

in the Ginger Baker documentary Clapton presents himself as the sanest, most benevolent man in rock and it's a fucking chore and I don't believe it for a second.

there's a live version of 'i shot the sheriff' on the clapton box that sounds fierce-ish, but other than that it's a rough last 2.5 discs

he took the wrong drugs i guess

Fuck Clapton forever for this fucking shit:

"I used to be into dope, now I’m into racism. It’s much heavier, man. Fucking wogs, man. Fucking Saudis taking over London. Bastard wogs. Britain is becoming overcrowded and Enoch will stop it and send them all back. The black wogs and coons and Arabs and fucking Jamaicans and fucking [indecipherable] don’t belong here, we don’t want them here. This is England, this is a white country, we don’t want any black wogs and coons living here. We need to make clear to them they are not welcome. England is for white people, man. We are a white country. I don’t want fucking wogs living next to me with their standards. This is Great Britain, a white country, what is happening to us, for fuck's sake? We need to vote for Enoch Powell, he’s a great man, speaking truth. Vote for Enoch, he’s our man, he’s on our side, he’ll look after us. I want all of you here to vote for Enoch, support him, he’s on our side. Enoch for Prime Minister! Throw the wogs out! Keep Britain white!"[116]

wow, i knew he'd said something along those lines but had never actually seen the quote. that's pretty fucking rank. i can't believe we don't hear more about that.

In an interview from October 1976 with Sounds magazine, Clapton remarked, "I thought it was quite funny actually. I don't know much about politics. I don't even know if it would be good or bad for him to get in. I don't even know who the Prime Minister is now. I just don't know what came over me that night. It must have been something that happened in the day but it came out in this garbled thing... I thought the whole thing was like Monty Python. There's this rock group playing on-stage and the singer starts talking about politics. It's so stupid. Those people who paid their money sittin' listening to this madman dribbling on and the band meanwhile getting fidgety thinking 'oh dear'."

So that's ok then.

Can someone please explain to me why that quote didn't kill his god awful career?

no youtube

Lennon's not really that much of an insane answer... I'll give him Imagine, John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band a small handful of his songs from Double Fantasty and Milk And Honey, plus '#9 Dream' and 'Mind Games' (the song)... rest of his stuff, and I include the rock'n'roll covers record and his early collaborations with Yoko here, is mostly gash.

I'll give him "Imagine", plus his half of "Double Fantasy". "Mind Games" and "Walls and Bridges" had their moments.

"Plastic Ono Band" was horrible. Period.

Yoko Ono/Plastic Ono Band is the best record of either of their (post-Beatles) careers. By far his (and damn near Ringo's) best playing.

Tarfumes I don't wanna tell you how to live but if I were to say to you Moo Mot Meed the Mroll you'd catch my drift n'est-pas

lennon contributed some awesome guitar work to yoko's 'walking on thin ice,' which turned out to be the last thing he ever did in the studio.

jesus, we woke geir up!

speaking of ringo...

you'd catch my drift n'est-pas

Oh, I know. It's just that it's been a while. It's like when you haven't seen a whack-a-mole game in years, and then you walk past one and can't help but give it a sentimental whack.

I don't mind some selections from Yoko Ono/Plastic Ono Band and Fly, but I see those more as Yoko solo records, even if Lennon does have a hand in them. It's the Unfinished Music stuff that I can't really get on board with.

lol aero

I listened to the 12/12/12 Sandy Concert on the radio driving home from work, not really knowing exactly the order of who was playing when or who had already played, etc. Jon Stewart was doing this impassioned intro about the Jersey Shore and gives this big wind up and I'm thinking 'oh cool I haven't missed Springsteen' - and then Stewart says 'And who better to play for you now than the great man...' (me: YAY!)"...old Slowhand himself, ERIC CLAPTON!'

*NEEDLE SCRATCH*

I nearly crashed the fucking car I was so mad. I actually yelled at the radio 'GO FUCK YOURSELF SLOWHAND YOU C---'

Clapton video upthread takes me back to a time when videos of songs from soundtracks peppered in, err, sounds from the movie. Boy, that was a weird era, man. Try hearing that tune without the cue ball being struck = impossible now.

"Plastic Ono Band" was horrible. Period.

― The GeirBot (Geir Hongro), Tuesday, February 5, 2013 1:36 AM (3 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

pretty much a flawless album

my feeling is he's classic for yardbirds and cream and kinda dud for everything else. even as a 15-year-old classic rock fiend the 'layla' album always put me to sleep.

but even derek & the dominos is not really "solo" maybe. isn't most of the guitar goddery there Duane Allman anyway?

peter hammill solo >>>>>> vdgg

Did Colin Blunstone get a pass in the UK? That dude's solo stuff is pretty bad besides One Year.

Any Wu-Tang clan member solo career, except for Ghostface and Method Man.

Richard Thompson. Some of those early solo albums are pretty great, but outside of the Grizzly Man soundtrack the past 20 years seem pretty dire.

hmm but I would say most of his reputation rests on those solo albums (and the Linda stuff) rather than on Fairport which was always more of a collective group thing

With richard thompson we're falling into the "artists with long careers who got less good after a decade or so" which is nearly everyone who doesn't die/retire young.

@ fadanuf I'd say Rod Argent got more post-Zombies goodwill, but at the couple of recent Zombies concerts I've been to, the crowd has been clearly divided into Colin-lovers and Argent-lovers

Nobody mentioned Sting yet?

It's been a while but I seem to recall his very early solo stuff to not be horrific, but certainly not befitting the genius that was The Police. And then he became a New Age wanker and I haven't cared since.

Sting doesn't get a pass, or at least hasn't since around 1990.

even Sting's good solo stuff never seemed to get much of a pass. maybe his first solo album but people have torn this dude to shreds for nearly 3 decades now!

Yet he still is constantly one of the top grossing touring artists every year he hits the road. So some people sure give him a pass.

co-signing Jarvis Cocker.

the list of people who were in good/popular bands who went on to make shitty solo albums is kinda endless. lotsa people think they were the genius of the group and then they are stuck in a studio with don was and its 4 a.m. and the riffs just sound really shitty and kenny aronoff is begging to go home so that he can feed his dogs.

Karl Bartos

if you are dave mason you create good will for decades with one single song!

wanna be positive and ask: who was once a member of a popular/respected/etc band who made really great solo albums that are underheard/underrated?

Not really solo albums but the two of them are practically inseparable so it's close enough, but anyway those Flo & Eddie solo records are pretty underrated.

Yet he still is constantly one of the top grossing touring artists every year he hits the road. So some people sure give him a pass.

At this point though there are probably as many people who are there to hear Sting songs as ones who want to see the guy from the Police

So at least half of his top-grossing audience gives him a pass then!

yeah but the "based entirely upon past successes with respective bands" part doesn't fit

depends on what your definition of "get a pass" is. I mean Phil Collins sold a zillion albums too. as did Clapton.

"Richard Thompson. Some of those early solo albums are pretty great, but outside of the Grizzly Man soundtrack the past 20 years seem pretty dire."

don't understand this at all. the guy's live performance continue to be amazing and as a guitarist he's just not normal.

Karl Bartos

who gives this guy a pass

hes only done like two albums too, and one of them was alright (Communication??)

depends on what your definition of "get a pass" is. I mean Phil Collins sold a zillion albums too. as did Clapton.

― frogbs, Tuesday, February 5, 2013 10:09 AM

Whereas Sting was always billed as the Police guy and while still remaining commercially successful, he is still known for his work and accomplishments in The Police. I still see solo Sting dates touted as "from The Police." I don't think Collins solo gigs mention him as "the guy from Genesis" or Clapton as "former Yardbird" or whatever.

maybe worth mentioning that I could not really tell Phil's Genesis hits apart from his solo ones, while the Police/Sting were totally different entities

as I said upthread, Collins may be one of the few artists whose solo career changed the band's sound.

^great thread idea

surely anagram, you'd mention Pete Hammill there?

nick cave is a goofy answer, sorry scott, unless this thread is "artists whose solo work isnt as good as their work in bands." he was a critical phenom, not just a dude who got a pass because of the birthday party.

Same with Clapton to a lesser degree, I think.

This is what I was getting at: I doubt the people who made "Tears in Heaven" #1 on the AC charts were all Yardbirds or Cream fans or even aware of early Yardbirds. Did the Yardbirds even score any big hits before Beck replaced Clapton?

Unless "get a pass" refers to critical acclaim, not to popular appeal.

for your love was a big hit!

I kind of agree on Nick Cave, tho, not so much as "he gets a free pass" as his badass history let him get away with a lot of balladeering

it was their biggest u.s. hit by far. and its kinda why clapton left the group. he didn't want to be a "pop" star.

I love the idea that Nick Cave is just "former Birthday Party frontman Nick Cave". That's like saying Neil Young is best known as an ex-member of Buffalo Springfield.

surely anagram, you'd mention Pete Hammill there?

mos def. the three post-reunion albums all sound like PH-plus-organ to me (or PH-plus-organ-and-sax in the case of Present) in a way that the 70s albums certainly don't.

I thought Jeff Beck played on "For Your Love", probably because it sounds more pop and less blues than most Clapton-era Yardbirds. My mistake, sorry.

also I'd say the 3 Hammill albums after Pawn Hearts seemed to hint at what was to come with Godbluff

I know he has his fans, but ... Bob Mould.

we've already been down the mould route up top.