A couple I can think of:
Bat Out of Hell by Meat Loaf. It was more of a Jim Steinman album than a Meat Loaf (Marvin Aday) album. Subsequent albums by Meat Loaf without Steinman were poorly received.
Transformer by Lou Reed. Mick Ronson did most of the heavy lifting on it.
Regarding Bat Out of Hell, I think you have to give props to Todd Rundgren as the producer as well.
Andy Gibb’s first two albums, Flowing Rivers and Shadow Dancing, both went platinum in the U.S., and owe an awful lot to his brother Barry, who co-produced them, sang backup, and wrote or co-wrote all of the hit songs. In an era in which the Bee Gees’ disco sound was hugely popular, Andy’s first two albums sounded a great deal like his brothers’ work, which undoubtedly helped make them successful.
Highly debatable, but there are those who say Nevermind broke into the mainstream because of Butch Vig as producer. Without him, Nirvana would have continued as a niche band. He gave them a more polished and radio-friendly sound.
I’m not sure I can objectively assess that argument, because I loved their unpolished Bleach, so of course I think Nevermind was always destined for greatness. But perhaps not to the degree it became.
Any album where The Wrecking Crew played most of the instruments.
Agreed. And it is a VERY large number of albums.
In fairness to Meat Loaf, Steinman, and Rundgren, the issue of “credit” for the first Meat Loaf album was discussed pretty thoroughly. Virtually all the LPs came with “Songs by Jim Steinman” on a big sticker or printed on the front of the album cover.
IMHO almost every successful album of the disco era had more to do with the producer than with whoever happened to be singing on it. Case in point: the Village People have had officially more than two dozen people in their lineup. In their peak years 1977-1980 there were ten different people playing the group’s seven characters.
Almost every successful album of today’s era has more to do with the producer than with whoever happened to be singing on it. Especially the manufactured girl groups and boy bands. Check out the resumes of Max Martin and Mark Ronson.
Quincy Jones was behind the careers of everyone from Leslie Gore to Michael Jackson. But I’d nominate George Martin as the mastermind’s mastermind. He made all the Beatles’ work better, more distinctive, and more cutting edge while inventing new studio techniques. Compare the versions of others of the era covering Beatles songs with his versions. They are sonically superior and not just because of the innate super-talents he was working with.
Or a whole host of records backed by Booker T and the MGs in Memphis.
Or the Nashville A-Team.
Those house band were the backbone of much of first-generation classic rock, soul, and blues.
Oh, and wasn’t Mott the Hoople’s All The Young Dudes basically David Bowie album?
Their latter-day equivalent would have to be Jack Antonoff, who went from playing guitar in fun. to being Taylor Swift’s songwriting partner and now works with all kinds of pop idols.