# Contractual Obligation Albums **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 31, 2006, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/contractual-obligation-albums/370940 "2006-08-31T16:48:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2006, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/contractual-obligation-albums/370940/1 "2006-08-31T16:48:44Z")
From time to time, a musician is forced to record an album to fulfill his contract, despite the fact he or she dispises his record company and doesn’t want them to make any additional money. The albums are often terrible. Sometimes this is deliberate; other times, it’s because the record company releases outtakes or third-rate live sets in order to fill the contract. Let’s see about listing the best and worst of these. **Worst** Lou Reed’s **Metal Machine Music**. Over an hour of musical droning that even Reed thinks is stupid. **Best** **Welcome to the Canteen** by Steve Winwood, Jim Capaldi, Dave Mason, Chris Wood, Rick Grech, Rebop Kwaku Baah, and Jim Gordon. The billing was so that “Traffic” wasn’t mentioned. They had switched record companies, but didn’t want to lose momentum from “John Barleycorn.” The result was a release of a live album of Traffic/Dave Mason hits from a series of live concerts (I think they were raising money for some charity, which is why Mason rejoined). Honorable Mention: **John B. Sebastian** by John Sebastian. His best album; Sebastian recorded it for Reprise Records after leaving Kama Sutra/MGM. MGM released the same tracks under the same name, claiming he owed them the album. It was later withdrawn. What other examples are there? ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2006, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/contractual-obligation-albums/370940/2 "2006-08-31T16:52:16Z")
Well, Monty Python’s Contractual Obligation Album springs to mind. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2006, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/contractual-obligation-albums/370940/3 "2006-08-31T16:59:10Z")
Willie’s album he did for the IRS. ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2006, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/contractual-obligation-albums/370940/4 "2006-08-31T17:08:24Z")
Van Morrison’s kiss-off to Bang Records. [Check out the song titles.](http://www.cduniverse.com/productinfo.asp?pid=6639096) (And note that Morrison’s real first name is George.) ---
**Author:** ![Labdad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/439d5e/32.png) [@Labdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labdad)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2006, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/contractual-obligation-albums/370940/5 "2006-08-31T17:15:05Z")
[QUOTE=RealityChuck] **Best** **Welcome to the Canteen** by Steve Winwood, Jim Capaldi, Dave Mason, Chris Wood, Rick Grech, Rebop Kwaku Baah, and Jim Gordon. The billing was so that “Traffic” wasn’t mentioned. They had switched record companies, but didn’t want to lose momentum from “John Barleycorn.” The result was a release of a live album of Traffic/Dave Mason hits from a series of live concerts (I think they were raising money for some charity, which is why Mason rejoined). [/QUOTE] I’ll second this. It’s one of the best Traffic albums ever made. If I recall correctly, the concerts were to raise funds for the defense in the _Oz_ magazine obscenity trial. ---
**Author:** ![Labdad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/439d5e/32.png) [@Labdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labdad)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2006, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/contractual-obligation-albums/370940/6 "2006-08-31T17:21:11Z")
Oops! Meant to put in a link about [_Oz_.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oz_%28magazine%29#Oz_in_the_UK) ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2006, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/contractual-obligation-albums/370940/7 "2006-08-31T21:12:32Z")
Marvin Gaye’s entree in this genre is the definition of a contractual obligation album, even if it’s also unique in that regard: the obligation was to his wife, Anna Gordy. Gaye knew that all the proceeds of his next record would go toward her divorce settlement, so he titled the album, a chronicle of the marriage and its bitter breakup, _[Here, My Dear](http://allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&token=&sql=10:qtduak5k5m3m)_. It’s a masterpiece. Shawn Cassidy’s _[Wasp](http://allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:cne097qkkrrt)_ (produced by Todd Rundgren) is actually a decent album, in part because he didn’t feel obliged (according to the talk of the day) to make it a commercial success. Mitch Ryder’s _[How I Spent My Vacation](http://allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:809sa9ugb23k)_, is totally uncharacteristic of his more well known albums (apparently he had a lot of gay sex on his vacation), was rumored at the time of its release to be a contractual obligation album. Also something of a masterpiece. ---
**Author:** ![ouryL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ouryl/32/6067_2.png) [@ouryL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ouryL)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2006, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/contractual-obligation-albums/370940/8 "2006-09-01T01:19:12Z")
John Lennon’s _Rock 'n Roll_ was recorded to satisfy a lawsuit over some possible plagerism over the song _Come Together_ He did a neato version of _Stand By Me_ ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2006, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/contractual-obligation-albums/370940/9 "2006-09-01T02:10:19Z")
I don’t know if this counts, but “Weird Al” Yankovic did two compilation albums, _The TV Album_ and _The Food Album_, on the insistance of his record company, much to his disappointment. ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2006, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/contractual-obligation-albums/370940/10 "2006-09-01T02:13:02Z")
Emerson, Lake, and Palmer’s Love Beach. I don’t hate it as much as others do. ---
**Author:** ![DfrntBreign](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f6c823/32.png) [@DfrntBreign](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DfrntBreign)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2006, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/contractual-obligation-albums/370940/11 "2006-09-01T04:24:50Z")
**Band of Gypsys** ---
**Author:** ![bienville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@bienville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bienville)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2006, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/contractual-obligation-albums/370940/12 "2006-09-01T05:41:39Z")
[QUOTE=RealityChuck] Honorable Mention: **John B. Sebastian** by John Sebastian. His best album; Sebastian recorded it for Reprise Records after leaving Kama Sutra/MGM. MGM released the same tracks under the same name, claiming he owed them the album. It was later withdrawn. [/QUOTE] Oh, if you’re going to mention the usually excelent John Sebastian in a Thread about Contractual Obligation albums, we must mention _Welcome Back_. Sebastian knew he owed his record company one more album, but was also aware that it had gotten to the point that they didn’t like him anymore than he liked them. He fully expected that he’d be able to get them to release him from his contract with a minimum penalty. So, he made a point of not writing any new material- for fear that the record company would lay claim to anything he had written under contract. Things were going his was and it looked like he’d be let go just as he wanted. Then it happened. A friend in T.V. land asked Sebastian to write a theme song for a T.V. show. The result, _Welcome Back_, theme to “Welcome Back, Kotter”, became a hit. With a big hit like that the record company now wanted an album to sell- and they wanted it _yesterday_. Sebastian didn’t have any other material because he had been making a point of not writing anything. He was forced to write and record an entire album in very little time- the consequence was that the album sucked. ---
**Author:** ![Dahnlor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dahnlor/32/533_2.png) [@Dahnlor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dahnlor)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2006, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/contractual-obligation-albums/370940/13 "2006-09-01T06:37:05Z")
I would think that **Voivod** ’s newest album _Katorz_ would qualify as one of the better positive examples here, and a rather inspirational story to go with it. Voivod’s guitarist, Piggy, died last year of colon cancer. A few days before he died, he revealed to the band’s drummer Away that [he had a considerable amount of material saved on his laptop](http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1521667/20060126/story.jhtml) that he had recorded so that the band would be able to fulfill their recording contract. The rest of the band recorded the remaining parts of Piggy’s songs, and the resulting album is excellent. Apparently there’s enough material for three more albums. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2006, 9:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/contractual-obligation-albums/370940/14 "2006-09-01T09:15:09Z")
[Mercury Poise](http://www.amazon.com/Mercury-Poise-1988-1995-Michelle-Shocked/dp/B000001EOQ/sr=1-1/qid=1157101443/ref=pd_bbs_1/002-5488594-9315238?ie=UTF8&s=music) by Michelle Shocked, a “best of” album (She hasn’t had any hits, exactly) was recorded/compiled explicitly to close the books on her contract with Mercury Records (The title is an oblique reference to mercury poisoning). It’s a decent album, but she’s at her best with concept/theme works, like **Good Hearted Woman** (a nod to gospel music) and **Arkansas Traveler** , a primer on the history of Southern music. With no unifying focus, this album foundered a little, but it’s a fun listen. ---
**Author:** ![Sean\_Factotum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/50afbb/32.png) [@Sean\_Factotum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sean_Factotum)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2006, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/contractual-obligation-albums/370940/15 "2006-09-01T13:03:54Z")
We’re talking contractual obligations and no one has mentioned _Led Zepplin_? Jimmy Page was left holding the bag from the Yardbirds contract, and had to put something together fast. ---
**Author:** ![Labdad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/439d5e/32.png) [@Labdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labdad)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2006, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/contractual-obligation-albums/370940/16 "2006-09-01T13:22:29Z")
[QUOTE=Sean Factotum] We’re talking contractual obligations and no one has mentioned _Led Zepplin_? Jimmy Page was left holding the bag from the Yardbirds contract, and had to put something together fast. [/QUOTE] Really? I’d never heard this before. Interesting, since my Yardbirds albums are on Epic, and my Led Zepplin albums are on Atlantic. (Yes, I’m old enough to have the original issue LPs!) Of course, these are all US releases, so I know nothing about the UK label situation. I’d love further details about this story! ---
**Author:** ![Labdad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/439d5e/32.png) [@Labdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labdad)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2006, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/contractual-obligation-albums/370940/17 "2006-09-01T13:31:45Z")
Just to be clear, I know how the group was originally formed as “The New Yardbirds,” and toured under that name to fulfill touring obligations, but had no idea the first Led Zepplin album was to fulfill an album contract. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2006, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/contractual-obligation-albums/370940/18 "2006-09-01T13:52:32Z")
Not an album, but the Beatle’s movie “Let It Be.” They had agreed to a three picture deal and thought the animated “Yellow Submarine” would satisfy it (after “A Hard Day’s Night” and “Help.” When the movie company argued that it didn’t, the group filmed the “Get Sessions” and released them as the third movie. ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2006, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/contractual-obligation-albums/370940/19 "2006-09-01T14:28:07Z")
[QUOTE=lissener] Marvin Gaye’s entree in this genre is the definition of a contractual obligation album, even if it’s also unique in that regard: the obligation was to his wife, Anna Gordy. Gaye knew that all the proceeds of his next record would go toward her divorce settlement. [/QUOTE] Wrong. Urban Legend > **[Did Marvin Gaye Deliberately Record a Bad Album to Cheat His Ex-Wife Out of...](https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/here-my-dear/)** > > Did Marvin Gaye deliberately record a bad album to cheat his ex-wife out of royalties? Back To The OP Rolling Stones Cocksucker’s Blues ---
**Author:** ![Sean\_Factotum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/50afbb/32.png) [@Sean\_Factotum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sean_Factotum)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2006, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/contractual-obligation-albums/370940/20 "2006-09-01T15:24:58Z")
[QUOTE=Labdad] Just to be clear, I know how the group was originally formed as “The New Yardbirds,” and toured under that name to fulfill touring obligations, but had no idea the first Led Zepplin album was to fulfill an album contract. [/QUOTE] Yes, The New Yardbirds was the contractual obligation part, and they just continued after that as Led Zep. Technically, then, not contractual ob, but it effectively was (and maybe that explains the label differences.) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/contractual-obligation-albums/370940.md?page=2)