This is inspired by a rather old thread on Rate Your Music…
I have always though that We Will Fall on the Stooges first album, despite being wonderful, is more typically John Cale (who produced it). Totally out of place, but completely essential.
Any other tracks that stand out like sore thumbs?
“Mother’s Lament”, the last track on Cream’s “Disraeli Gears” album.
This will be mentioned sooner or later, but I’ve always thought that Good Night at the end of The Beatles (White Album) was a total letdown.
“Duquesne Whistle,” the lead track on Bob Dylan’s *Tempest *album, is far more upbeat (both musically and emotionally) than the rest of the album. There is some speculation that the song was a leftover from a previous album and didn’t emerge from the same period as the other songs.
Les Boys on the excellent Dire Straits album Making Movies. It’s a piece of shit throwaway song.
“Money” on Dark Side of the Moon, while an entirely decent track on its own right, never seemed to me to fit on that album. The entirety of Side One has this eerie haunting sound. Then comes “Money”, all crass and cynical. Then back to haunting and eerie for “Us and Them” and “Brain Damage” and “Eclipse”.
Styx’s Man of Miracles contains an unlisted track called “Plexiglass Toilet” – very odd for a band not known for parody songs.
“Within You, Without You” off Sgt Pepper.
Not Man of Miracles, but the previous album, The Serpent Is Rising. Not being a Styx fan, I only know that because Doctor Demento used to play the song a lot and always explained where it could be found, since it wasn’t listed on the album cover.
“Jazz Police” from Leonard Cohen’s I’m Your Man is a huge out of place crap-bomb on the album.
I thoroughly endorse this song Pitting.
I’ve heard that Extreme’s “More Than Words” is out of synch with the rest of their album Pornograffitti, but will never know whether that’s a fact or not.
“Beth” on Kiss’s Destroyer is certainly an odd duck of a song.
“In the Heart of Every Girl” by Elton John is on the soundtrack to Mona Lisa Smile and is weird for not being a cover of a late 40s-early 50s hit (as far as I know, anyway). It also isn’t by a fresh-faced 90s wunderkind, but neither are a couple of the other tracks by Barbra Streisand and Trevor Horn.
“Let Me Take You Home Tonight” on Boston’s first album seems out of place. A very disappointing track to me, compared to the rest of the songs.
“Mabel” on Profile Harum’s first album. An album of strange images and majestic melodies is suddenly broken up by a drinking song.
Jeff Healey had an album (See The Light) that was all blistering hot blues guitar except for one song, Angel Eyes. Angel Eyes got some airplay and I always wondered how many people bought that album expecting a full album of soft rock ballads.
That’s probably one that some people would agree with, but for me it’s a highlight of the album, and I skip over different songs, especially “She’s Leaving Home” which is one of my least favourite Beatles songs.
ETA: I should note that I don’t feel WYWY is out-of-sync with the rest of the album, I think it fits very well with the eclectic nature of Sgt P.
Derp, I knew that. :smack:
“(Don’t Fear) The Reaper” may be Blue Oyster Cult’s signature song, but it sounds completely different from every other track on Agents of Fortune (as well as the rest of their catalog, too.)
“Just a Touch” on R.E.M.'s Lifes Rich Pageant is their ode to punk – a genre they loved but which wasn’t their strong suit. It feels out of place on an LP of melodic mid-tempo rockers and folk-ish songs.
“Sloop John B” is the one cover on the Beach Boys’ Pet Sounds. Brian Wilson allowed it to be included as a favor to one of the other members. A fine rendition of a fine tune, but it detracts from the introspective and musically brave feel of the rest of the album.
I agree with the previous poster about Pink Floyd’s “Money.” I’ll enjoy that track if it happens to be played on the radio, but I skip it when I listen to the entire Dark Side… album (something I’ve done maybe twice a decade).
There’s also Pink Floyd’s “Seamus” from Meddle - a straight acoustic blues number (with a little howling). Again, a change from the sound of the album.
But they knew what they were doing. I saw them live about that time and their encore was a straight blues jam that wasn’t on any of their albums. But they just played for two hours (8 songs!) And any typical or recognisable Floyd song would have brought on demands for another encore.
In his book The Life & Works of Andrew Lloyd Webber, Michael Walsh writes that Starlight Express’s “One Rock and Roll Too Many” seems to have wandered in from another show.