Obscure albums you stumbled onto that you still love today?

[swervinbob]

Tesla Five Man Acoustical Jam. A pretty cool mix of their songs and a few covers. Of coarse Signs got all the airplay but the whole concert was cool. I wore out the CD. Still pull up videos on YouTube all of the time.

 

[Bassdawg]

Here's some variety to your obscurity:

I first heard this back in high school, a country/folk flavor. Formed in the early '70s, still continue to play gigs in some lineup variation.



My tastes vary widely. One of my favorite albums from that same era was the original "Bruford" album. This captures the feel.


Here - this is a little more approachable. Frank never got much love from US audiences.
I've read a good bit about it but there's lots of garbage on the web. I'd prefer to let the music speak for itself. I discovered this guy and Johnny Winter and that was my introduction to the blues.
Much later I found BB. Duh....



Found this on the radio riding my Goldwing up to Montreal for the jazzfest some years ago.
RIP Gordon Downie. Bought the album this one's from as soon as I got back home and since then I've bought another 3 or 4 releases from The Hip.

 

[kbold]

Trolled through my record collection. I have more that a few obscure ones.

This one I've had since the 70's: Eternal Baroque by George Gruntz
Covers songs by Miles, Ellington, Monk, Mingus ... as well as Jack Bruce and Pachelbel

Checked Youtube .... and you guessed it

 

[Jim622]

Oh yeah, 'My Baby Gives It Away' and all.

Great album.

And I'll add:

 

[dhodgeh]

These guys were touring as openers in the Deep South in the early to mid 70's. Their show pretty much played through this album, and they usually out performed whoever they opened for.

I still listen to this album a couple of times a year. Definitely on my deserted island list.

D

 

[Silent Otto]

Hall & Oates -"Abandoned Luncheonette"


Tim Buckley - "Live at the Troubador"

 

[catdaddy]

There have been more than a few albums that I've stumbled across over the years that are still favorites of mine. The ones that came to mind first are these:

 

[Greggorios]

When I played more Classical guitar I bought Goran Sollcherr's first album even though I had never heard of him. I still love that album but he also plays some classic rock covers too. Some might like this version of "Here Comes the Sun".

That's funny, I got turned onto him in a similar manner. I bought this Beatles compilation of solo guitar pieces about 15 years ago and listen to it on a regular basis. Not your average Beatles covers by a classical musician. It's beautiful music and a pleasure for those of us that admire top notch guitar playing.

 

[SixStringSlinger]

Buddy Guy isn't obscure (at least not to folks on a guitar forum), but I feel like his Sweet Tea album flies under the radar.

Play this through something that makes you feel the bass in your gut.

 

[bullfrogblues]

A two record super jam on one CD

Neil Merryweather - bass, vocals
Steve Miller - guitar, vocals
Dave Mason - guitar, bass, vocals
Charlie Musselwhite - harmonica, vocals
Barry Goldberg - organ
Howard Roberts - guitar
Bobby Notkoff - violin
Dave Burt - guitar, vocals
Coffi Hall - drums
Ed Roth - organ, piano, fiddle, rocksichord, vocals

 

[Jared Purdy]

I mean obscure, relative to you and where you were in life at the time.

And I DON'T mean obscure as in really odd, just-different-to-be-different music.

These are the top three that pop up in my head. I stumbled onto the Dave Edmunds and Kinks compilation in the late 70's, and Prine in the 90's.

I was in High School for the Kinks and Edmunds. While all my buddies were into these new bands Judas Priest and Van Halen, I was tapping into the 60's stuff; Stones, Dylan, Hendrix, Doors. And then I found these two.

On Prine, I was only aware of him mostly by name, but came home from work one afternoon in 1996 or so and the house was empty and I was beat so I dropped on the couch and turned on the TV and Austin City Limits was on, and here was this guy. Halfway into the first song I ended up sitting up, captured until the end. Love him, his history, and was glad I got to take the family to see him at the Boulder Theater. It was a bit more stripped down with only him, a bassist and one or two others, but we were in the front row.

I can still sing every song on all three of these albums off the top of my head!

Dave Edmunds - Tracks on Wax 4
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tracks_on_Wax_4

The Kinks Greatest: Celluloid Heroes
https://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Kinks’_Greatest_–_Celluloid_Heroes

John Prine - Lost Dogs and Mixed Blessings
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lost_Dogs_and_Mixed_Blessings

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https://youtu.be/vzCjQwt2rgI
https://youtu.be/0LG0YczA9Ys

I'd have to say, given the limited availability of "On the Road to Freedom", by Alvin Lee and Mylon Lefevre back in the mid 70's, this album meets the definition of "obscure". I stumbled upon it in the .99 cent cheapies bin at the now defunct, and iconic record store "Sam the Record Man", on Yonge Street in Toronto, probably not long after its deletion from the label's catalogue.

I certainly knew who Alvin Lee was as I had been introduced to his music on the Woodstock LP around 71'. I snatched this record up on the spot, and have been a fan of it ever since, though it seldom gets played anymore. Lefevre is described as a "Christian rock" musician. That may be the case, but the lyrics on the LP don't suggest that influence.

 

[buster poser]

good stuff - I’ll be checking out some more of their stuff for sure.

Glad you liked! They came out of the 90s Davis/Sac (CA) scene. This song reminds me less of their other stuff and more of another group out of that scene called Thin White Rope. Popealopes is another great one from that little era.

 

[ronzhd]

Max Webster, or at least it was obscure for me. Still get pumped listening to "Battle Scar" with Geddy Lee.

 

[DekeDog]

Rory Gallagher's live stuff
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds

 

[rsclosson]

In the tradition of Blood Sweat and Tears, but with their own unique voice.

 

[Greggorios]

World Party (Karl Wallinger) "Oddities":

I got turned onto World Party in the early 90s. It's basically one gent, Karl Wallinger, who was with The Water Boys and then recorded on his own under the name World Party. He's a very talented multi instrumentalist who plays virtually every instrument on most songs. I came to think of him as a bit like Todd Rundgren or Prince. I really like his stuff as he's clearly a huge music fan who pays tribute to many bands, styles, genres, (Beatles, Beach Boys, etc.) in his music while adding his own spin.

I stumbled upon a CD "Oddities" in one of my favorite independent record/CD stores in NYC back when there was such a thing. I've never seen or heard about this CD since and can not find anything about it online. It's looks to be a bunch of unreleased songs including many covers. It definitely fits the bill for obscure. Think I'll go play it now!

 

[Mark E Rhodes]

My older brother bought that when it came out and played it to death. Great cover of "96 Tears"

 

[oldunc]

Back in the early 60's, when grocery stores and such would have bins of bargain records, my brother and I discovered something called "Taboo" for about 69 cents. It was (presumably) traditional African stuff, though recorded in the LA area. It started a lifelong love of African music for both of us; to this day we're likely to spontaneously break into a chorus of "Yow Cow Le" when we get together. Forty or so years later I actually came across a copy; it had held up remarkably well.
We got Bob Dylan's first album the same way, but I guess that no longer qualifies as obscure; it was then.

 

[Mark E Rhodes]

Be Bop Deluxe was never as popular in the States as they were in the UK but Bill Nelson was a good guitarist (he played a Gibson 345, an unusual choice for the time---heck, it would be an unusual choice now too.), lead vocalist, and songwriter.
The studio albums seemed a little too, um, precise for me at the time (-late '70s) but I really enjoyed their live album "Live In The Air Age"

These clips are from a TV show, so you can see his old 345. Camera work is not as guitar-focused as we would like, but it's what we have. Songs here are "Maid in Heaven" and "Sister Seagull", both of which are on "Live in the Air Age." Also, below, "Ships in the Night" from "Live in the Air Age"


https://www.vintageguitar.com/18051/bill-nelson/

 

[Collirem]

McGuiness Flint & Gallagher and Lyle ...... worked for Beatles Apple as songwriters. Excellent albums produced by Glyn Johns. They were great .... should have been huge.