# Genuinely Weird Albums You Love **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 7, 2009, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/genuinely-weird-albums-you-love/495686 "2009-05-07T20:43:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Contrapuntal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e274bd/32.png) [@Contrapuntal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Contrapuntal)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2009, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/genuinely-weird-albums-you-love/495686/61 "2009-05-09T13:38:54Z")
> [@Oslo\_Ostragoth](#): > > :eek: [Voila!](http://www.amazon.com/Girl-Tiny-Tim-Brave-Combo/dp/B0000003L7) ---
**Author:** ![flodnak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/838e76/32.png) [@flodnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flodnak)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2009, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/genuinely-weird-albums-you-love/495686/62 "2009-05-09T13:50:18Z")
If Peter Gabriel’s first solo album doesn’t qualify as weird, then I don’t know what would. And I love it. ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2009, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/genuinely-weird-albums-you-love/495686/63 "2009-05-09T15:25:50Z")
> [@Meeko](#): > > I am going to go ahead and asssume that > > Weird Al > > They Might Be Giants > > Bob Rivers > > And more of their kind are somew0 stuff.hat excluded from this list. Would that be a correct Assumption? Yeah. Dull (hey, music for cloth-eared virgins !) stuff. ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2009, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/genuinely-weird-albums-you-love/495686/64 "2009-05-09T15:32:54Z")
See also Dream Theatre and Rush, if you want to find anti-music. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2009, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/genuinely-weird-albums-you-love/495686/65 "2009-05-09T16:43:22Z")
> [@ruadh](#): > > _Beware of the Piano_ by DJ Lebowitz. > > Includes instrumental solo piano versions of Dead Kennedys, Ramones and Seven Seconds songs, as well as a classic called “Airplane” with vocals that I just can’t do justice in describing. Utter genius. This sounds great. Anywhere in Dublin stock this do you know? ---
**Author:** ![ruadh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d2c977/32.png) [@ruadh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ruadh)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2009, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/genuinely-weird-albums-you-love/495686/66 "2009-05-09T17:10:58Z")
> [@An\_Gadai](#): > > This sounds great. Anywhere in Dublin stock this do you know? Not a chance in hell I’m afraid. And unfortunately I don’t know what happened to my copy either. But I can get on to some old friends who might be able to rapidshare it 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2009, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/genuinely-weird-albums-you-love/495686/67 "2009-05-09T18:42:48Z")
Another Zappa fave (but I suppose it only counts as \*half \*of an album): [Billy The Mountain.](http://www.science.uva.nl/~robbert/zappa/albums/Just_Another_Band_From_L.A./01.html) The tale of Billy and his wife Ethel the tree (who lives on his shoulder). They decide to go on vacation, which results in major havoc. Jerry Lewis launches a telethon to help the victims. A bizarre superhero, Studebacher Hoch, is called to save the day, and he uses an unconventional method of flight to come to the “rescue”. ---
**Author:** ![bufftabby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/77aa72/32.png) [@bufftabby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bufftabby)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2009, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/genuinely-weird-albums-you-love/495686/68 "2009-05-09T22:03:58Z")
I’m surprised that **Ween** hasn’t made the list yet. Their albums are all quite strange, but _God Ween Satan_ is a masterpiece of oddness. It’s what happens when Zappa fiends ingest large quantities of mind-altering substances. ---
**Author:** ![mkecane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9e8a1a/32.png) [@mkecane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mkecane)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2009, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/genuinely-weird-albums-you-love/495686/69 "2009-05-09T22:26:54Z")
Animal Collective: their last few records are more accessible, but their records “Spirit They’ve Gone, Spirit They’ve Vanished,” “Here Comes the Indian,” and “Danse Manatee” are albums I truly love, and would probably be considered weird. I don’t have much of their music, but Acid Mothers Temple probably qualifies. I’m glad someone mentioned Cabaret Voltaire. I’ve been meaning to check them out for awhile, but never remember. Now’s the time! ---
**Author:** ![Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a9a28c/32.png) [@Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oslo_Ostragoth)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2009, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/genuinely-weird-albums-you-love/495686/70 "2009-05-09T23:26:56Z")
> [@Contrapuntal](#): > > [Voila!](http://www.amazon.com/Girl-Tiny-Tim-Brave-Combo/dp/B0000003L7) :smack: I meant to post the link - my senses must have been in too much shock to follow through. ---
**Author:** ![Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/le_ministre_de_l_au-dela/32/12181_2.png) [@Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Le_Ministre_de_l_au-dela)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2009, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/genuinely-weird-albums-you-love/495686/71 "2009-05-10T00:26:03Z")
Some very different classical pieces to mention - not weird in a jolly, joking sense, not weird because they are trying to be, but certainly following their own muse, who doesn’t inspire just anyone… [Eight Songs for a Mad King](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eight_songs_for_a_mad_king), by [Peter Maxwell Davies](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Maxwell_Davies). The mad king in question is King George III, and the singer has to scream, bark, growl, howl, moan, groan and shout his way through this ~40 minute work. The music freely quotes Handel, Purcell as well as being wildly contemporary. The piece brilliantly captures the sense of King George’s madness. [Ancient Voices of Children](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_voices_of_children), by [George Crumb](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Crumb). There are many pieces by Crumb, all to text of Federico Garcia Lorca. This is the best known piece of his, and it is beautifully evocative. [Harry Partch](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Partch) - anything of his music is interesting, but Barstow is probably the most accessible piece of his. The text comes from hitchhikers’ graffiti from a highway railing near Barstow, California. (Partch was himself a hobo for a time.) Partch invented a system of tuning that divided the octave into 41 unequal intervals, and built his own instruments to be able to realize his musical vision. [Charles Ives](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Ives) - again, any of his stuff is worth exploring, but I’m particularly fond of the songs, which are just wild in their far-reaching explorations, and the three quarter tone piano pieces. The latter are duets for two pianos tuned a quarter-tone apart. A fascinating composer, more so because he was so far ahead of his time. And then there’s Frankenstein, by [HK Gruber](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heinz_Karl_Gruber), a setting of poems by H C Artmann on various comic book and horror themes. The orchestra plays on slide whistles, sirens, kazoos, and the singer has to vary wildly. There exists a fabulous recording with the composer singing in his excellent mad scientist German accent… ---
**Author:** ![Covered\_In\_Bees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7ab992/32.png) [@Covered\_In\_Bees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Covered_In_Bees)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2009, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/genuinely-weird-albums-you-love/495686/72 "2009-05-10T01:50:20Z")
> [@Meeko](#): > > **The Best of Nicktoons** : Including Ren and Stimpy’s Happy Happy Joy Joy, The Log Commercial and 38 or so other songs from Old School Nicktoons. (CatDog has just the Theme Song on the disc, as a sneak peak at the Newest Nicktoon. Copyright 1998. - Spongebob was yet to be created.) Where did you get this and where could someone get it today? Preferably without that annoying Spongebob shiat. I grew up with all those old school Nickolodean (This does not at all look spelled correctly) cartoons. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2009, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/genuinely-weird-albums-you-love/495686/73 "2009-05-10T01:52:06Z")
Second for Trout Mask Replica and Zapped (which has two Beefheart songs from Trout Mask on it.) I’ll add [Voobaha](http://www.amazon.com/Voobaha-Barnes/dp/B000IAZND6/ref=pd_sim_m_2#moreAboutThisProduct) by Barnes and Barnes - Billy Mumy and Robert Haimer contains Fishheads, and also classics like Boogie Woogie Amputee and Party in My Pants. They seem to have gotten a bit more serious in later work. ---
**Author:** ![tds1273](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/df705f/32.png) [@tds1273](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tds1273)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2009, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/genuinely-weird-albums-you-love/495686/74 "2009-05-10T05:24:46Z")
Decided to dig up some songs from _Circle_. While as admittedly pretentious as the album can get, this is still only a small sample of the different sounds to be found on it. Imagine Dr.Seuss captaining Willy Wonka’s paddle boat of doom. [“Art Saved My Life '71”](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tKDRsMQMz3A), out of album order but at the 1:30 mark it goes into “Square”, an 80’s rap with flute backings. [Square(live version)](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FCmsog4KjSg). Uh yeah, well that’s Doseone for ya… [“Slight”](http://www.last.fm/music/Boom%2BBip%2B%2526%2BDoseone/_/Slight). For those that are into a more hard rock sound, check this one out; it’s what the nu-metal groups wish they could have made.(whisper not optional) [“The Birdcatcher’s Return.”](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2A88_E_cJOA) The only official video from the album. [“Viewfinder”](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1jBzAO1vvCo). A very well made fan video of a short spoken word track. [“The Birdcatcher’s Oath”](http://www.last.fm/music/Boom%2BBip%2B%2526%2BDoseone/_/The+Birdcatcher%27s+Oath) Minus the few lyrics at the beginning, this one is a very chill ambient/instrumental track. Last.fm has the [whole album](http://www.last.fm/music/Boom%2BBip%2B%2526%2BDoseone/+tracks), but it really is one that pays to listen to from start to finish in one sitting, especially with the way one song flows into the next. That said, also worth checking out as actual songs, not spoken-words/skits(in order of appearance): “The Birdcatcher”, “Questions Over Coffee”, “Ironish”, “Town Crier’s Walk”(an instrumental), “Goddamn Telephone”, “Me and People”, and “Square…No Corners”. Some of those are real stand-out favorites, but I didn’t want to overload the list of links above. Oh, and here are the [lyrics](http://www.hiphop-lyrics.com/album/83/Circle-Lyrics); they might come in handy. > [@](#): > > and don’t tell anybody now but aaa… > “i’m making this up as i go along…” > “and it feels good…” > its unleavened profundity loaf bread… > ya know? > i’m no leader > i just can’t see myself following you… > and that’s not in a “heavy” way you… > to phrase a dying wish quasi-question threely… > not you personally but… > you personally… > …i just “brought some of the words i write > the way i write them…” > > so watch me do the funky dead butterfly > and smile my lost ass found… > perfect… > here’s to lightning up the uncola… > the special magic treat… > the “relative end”… > signed, yours truly… > will open dot, dot, dot > whisper optional I love this album. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Scrivener](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@The\_Scrivener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Scrivener)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2009, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/genuinely-weird-albums-you-love/495686/75 "2009-05-10T22:19:46Z")
Ben Folds’ Fear of Pop (with guest vocalist William Shatner doing his spoken-word thing, plus various guest musicians contributing theremin, djembe, chamberlain, and vocoder, as well as a variety of more conventional orchestral instruments) is probably the weirdest album I actually love and listen to a lot these days. Other contenders from bygone days: Eno/Fripp’s No Pussyfooting (but no, I don’t have the remastered version recently released with a backwards version of “Swastika Girls” as an extra track), The Golden Palominos’ percussive, eponymous debut, and XTC’s Explode Together: the Dub Experiments, 1978-1980(Andy Partridge’s mashup dub reworkings of their early output; he was twenty years ahead of his time). ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2009, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/genuinely-weird-albums-you-love/495686/76 "2009-05-11T01:04:08Z")
> [@Soul\_Brother\_Number\_Two](#): > > Kate Bush’s The Dreaming. Maybe the most psychedelic album ever. > > I love The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway too. A lot. **The Dreaming** is not just my favorite Kate album, it’s my favorite album by anybody, ever. **The Lamb** is my favorite Genesis album, but I also love the ones that came before (Foxtrot was my first, and I’d say the whole of “Supper’s Ready” is my favorite “song” by them) [QUOTE=flodnak] If Peter Gabriel’s first solo album doesn’t qualify as weird, then I don’t know what would. And I love it. [/QUOTE] Oh my, Peter’s first 4 solo albums are all weird, wonderfully, wonderfully weird. **PG IV** (aka Security) is my favorite. Other weird albums I love: **Nunsexmonkrock** by Nina Hagen. **My Life in the Bush of Ghosts** by Brian Eno and David Byrne. **The Walking** and **When I Was A Boy** by Jane Siberry. [This one](http://rhodesongs.com/music/manyworlds/index.html). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/genuinely-weird-albums-you-love/495686.md?page=3)