Contractual obligations

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Albums that the artist really, REALLY didn't want to make, but was contractually required to. What are they? Are any of them any good despite themselves?

― Douglas, Wednesday, 8 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Suggested by my picking up Van Morrison's _Brown Eyed Beginnings_, whose second disc is the infamous "Bang demos," written and recorded in basically no time with the assistance of a great deal of alcohol. Song titles include "Twist and Shake," "Shake and Roll," "Jump and Thump," "Wobble and Ball," "Blow in Your Nose," "Nose in Your Blow," "Want a Danish," "Freaky If You Got This Far," "The Big Royalty Check," "You Say France And I Whistle"...

― Douglas, Wednesday, 8 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Slick Rick's The Ruler's Back comes to mind here, though the circumstances were a lot different than what you're describing....

Dylan, probably the only out-of-print album the man's ever had out, from 1973. Leftovers from Self Portrait--as Xgau put it, "rejects from what used to be Dylan's worst album."

― M Matos, Wednesday, 8 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

oh, and O(+->'s Chaos & Disorder, which I actually like.

― M Matos, Wednesday, 8 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

That Van Morrison album is hilarious. Not an album but "Cocksucker Blues" comes to mind here.

― J Blount, Wednesday, 8 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Lou Reed's Metal Machine Music was a contractual breaker, right? (Insert huge thread about the merits or lack thereof of MMM)

Same with Aphex Twin's drukqs, methinks...

Teenage Fanclub's The King was quite worthy, as far as fuzzed out rock instrumentals went. I'm kinda sad it got stolen from me many years ago...

Didn't the Swirlies end up in a weird 7-release bind with Taaang! records that they regretted?

― Brian MacDonald, Wednesday, 8 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Moby's I Like to Score also fulfilled his contract, I believe

― M Matos, Wednesday, 8 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Monty Python's Contractual Obligation Album is the real obvious choice. Spacemen 3's Recurring could potentially count too. For that matter, every album Neil Young did for Geffen.

― Chris Barrus, Wednesday, 8 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

wasn't Royal Trux's Sweet Sixteen their contract-ender? or was it Thank You?

― M Matos, Wednesday, 8 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

it was sweet sixteen. thats the one with the vomit/toilet cover, yes?

― jess, Wednesday, 8 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Sweet Sixteen is probably the one you mean, but it actually ended their contract early rather than seeing it out. I believe they were originally contracted to Virgin for one more record.

― electric sound of jim, Wednesday, 8 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

The Beach Boys had more contractual fillers than proper albums, or so it seems... Wonder why? Considering bands like the Beatles never did officially release a "Stack-O-Tracks" or "Party!" albums (instrumental and slipshod covers respectively)... Hmmm... I suppose Yellow Submarine probably would count... actually definitely.

I really should get some sleep...

― dog latin, Wednesday, 8 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

beach boys didn't take the same control of their career -- this wasn't contractual obligation, but more they were just smacking together a product everyone knew would sell. the beach boys always wanted to sell.

Smiley Smile might be contractual though, because the label forced them to give SOMETHING.

These days it mainly seems to be best-ofs.

― Sterling Clover, Wednesday, 8 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

and at least 30% of live albums

― J Blount, Wednesday, 8 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I think Sandinista! might've been an attempt at contractual obligation, hence the dub remixes and cheesy crapola (kiddie "Career Opportunities", f'rinstance) that dragged it into Triple-LP-ville. Without all the shmutz, it'd probably make a pretty damn good double- LP.

― Nate Patrin, Wednesday, 8 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

"let's make up and be friendly" was the bonzo dog band's contractual obligation album and not terrible because 1. sir henry at rawlinson end got wheeled out for the first time 2. "flesh wound" is the nascent sound of the rutles being born 3. "the strain" is the best song ever written about constipation and 4. "waiting for the wardrobe" is only ONE NOTCH down from the genius that is "trouser press". it's a dogs dinner compared to "keynsham" or "the doughnut in granny's greenhouse" but a not undignified final fling...

― chris browning, Thursday, 9 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

one word re fulfilling contract obligations: Läther.

(Which ended up being several words -- Zappa in New York, Sleep Dirt, Studio Tan, and Orchestral Favorites.)

― Tadeusz Suchodolski, Thursday, 9 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Those Van Morrison 'contractual obligation' tracks were once re- issued on a CD called 'Garbage Van'!

― Andrew L, Thursday, 9 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

marvin gaye: "my wife who is your daughter = a total bitch from hell and i hate her and you too mr berry so-called gordy and everything ever is her fault not mine cuz she's a spoilt stuck-up cow who i shd just have fukt like a whore and kikt to the kerb sobbing, yo excuse me i have coke to do"

― mark s, Thursday, 9 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Teenage Fanclub's The King was quite worthy, as far as fuzzed out rock instrumentals went. I'm kinda sad it got stolen from me many years ago...

but that's on Creation, and they did more albums on Creation afterward, so how can it be contractual obligation?

― DV, Thursday, 9 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

The King was a contractual obligation to Matador, after they signed to Geffen in the US.

― Leigh, Thursday, 9 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Someone mentioned Neil Young above, but more specifically, his infamous "Trans" album, which I must own someday.

― pirateking, Thursday, 9 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

But Trans wasn't contractual anything, it was a record he wanted to make.

― mark s, Thursday, 9 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

The Beach Boys had more contractual fillers than proper albums, or so it seems...

As far as I know, the Beach Boys only did one album specifically as a contractual obligation, and that was 20/20. It was just a collection of scattered tracks and singles from 1968-69 (plus 2 Smile tracks), and they put it together to fulfill their contract with Capitol. And by the way, that meant they had released 20 albums in 8 years!

― dleone, Thursday, 9 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Marvin Gaye was married to Gordy's sister, not his daughter.

Although recontexting Lets Get In On as a paedophile sex anthem is a fascinating endeavor.

― mt, Friday, 10 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

that's actually not far off the mark: Gaye allegedly sang "LGIO" directly to his then-17-year-old future wife Jan while cutting the track.

― M Matos, Friday, 10 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

one year passes...

Chris Browning: IMO, "Let's Make up and be Friendly" is the match of the Bonzo Dog Band's previous great records, never mind being a dignified finale. There is not a weak track, and it flows surprisingly affectingly. Surely "Straight from my Heart", "King of Scurf" (much in the mould of so many earlier doo-wop influenced pop gems they did), "Turkeys" (moody, ambitious Innes instrumental) and "Slush" (the perfect crushing ending... see Marcello's CoM piece on this) are all further reasons of its excellence as an album?

― Tom May (Tom May), Sunday, 30 November 2003 01:12 (twenty-two years ago)

The Clash: Sandinista--because the contract was written using the language of "sides" rather than "albums" so more sides = using up the horrifying number of sides required by their shitty contract faster.

― Orbit (Orbit), Sunday, 30 November 2003 01:16 (twenty-two years ago)

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