I kinda stayed away from most of the most obvious (Dylan, Bowie, Radiohead, etc) assuming other here may well pick these up. Not all are personal favorites (although some are) but examples of bands/artists taking the “Leap” into new a territory.
Albums
1) We Insist! Max Roach’s Freedom Now Suite
Max Roach and Lyricist Oscar Brown Jr. bring forth an incredible blast of rage and protest. Abbey Lincoln lends an unparalleled vocal performance.
2) Joanna Newsome (Y’s)
Joanna produced two self-released ep’s (Walnut Whales and Yarn & Glue) which were rerecorded along with new material for her debut for Drag City (Milk Eyed Mender) making her the darling of the “new folk” movement. She would leave them all behind with her next effort the “Y’s”. As I’m sure you all know Y’s was arranged by Joanna and Van Dyke Parks, Recorded by Steve Abini, and mixed by Jim O’Rourke. In 2005 she was the darling of the small “new folk” community…in 2006 she was rightfully mentioned in the same breath as Joni, Patti, and perhaps even Bob.
3) Violent Femmes (Hallowed Ground)
The second effort by the Femmes’ left the adolescent angst behind. Hallowed Ground moved in a distinctly Country/Americana direction. The first track is called Country Death Song for god’s sake! Gordon Gano liberally peppers the entire album with lyrics from his Baptist upbringing lending it quite a somewhat dark spiritual quality.
4) Boredoms (Super Roots 3)
Born of Noise and Punk aesthetics the Boredoms always had a large portion of art in what they did (albeit with humor). See (Soul Discharge, No Core Punk, & Cory & The Mandara Pyramid Action Or Gas Satori). Following the Warner Brothers “Chocolate Synthesizer” (1994) the Boredoms largely retreated to independent Japanese labels releasing a string of EP’s Super Roots Volumes 1-7 (Volumes 2&4 do not exist). A few of these eventually saw domestic release in the US. As a huge Boredoms fan in the 90’s these were always great fun to find and devour.
1994 saw the release of Super Roots 3 which was a single 33:30 minute blast “Hard Trance Away (Karaoke Of The Cosmos)”. I assume the skip of Super Roots Volume 2 is to lend the consistency in numerology here (Volume 3 – 33:30 minutes of grinding riff terror). I don’t pretend to know the significance of the numerology in Boredoms releases but assume (perhaps incorrectly) that it has deep significance to EYE et all.
While the “punk” is front and center the repetitive riff is repeated over the course of the EP stretching out in a Krautrock manner. This set the tone for the next decade and more (for better or worse) as EYE continued to explore a riff/rhythm driven muse chasing the SUN culminating in the Live 77 Drum Boredoms event on July, 07, 2007 under the Brooklyn Bridge.
5) The Damned (Machine Gun Etiquette)
The Damned arguably fired the first shot in the English Punk explosion with the single “New Rose” in 1976. The rock solid LP Damned, Damned, Damned and the uneven “Music for Pleasure” soon followed in ’77.
The Damned promptly disbanded. Captain Sensible formed KING (Baby Sign Here With Me, My Baby Don’t Care), Rat Scabies formed the White Cats (Junkyard Angel, Second Time Around), which allowed them to develop songs outside of Damned Guitarist Brian James’s influence. These songs would appear in different arrangements/names in subsequent Damned releases (MGE/The Black Album).
The Damned reunited in 1979 with the release of MGE without Brian James. The result was a much more polished, and melodic outing (Smash It Up) incorporating organs, piano( Melody Lee), and revealing the Detriot (Looking At You), and Psychedelic influences previously buried.
6) Fleetwood Mac (Tusk)
How do you follow up perhaps the most critically acclaimed and bestselling album in history?
If you are Fleetwood Mac (Lindsey Buckingham in particular) you vomit forth 6 sides of unbridled creativity.
7) The Stranglers (Feline)
Hints of this warmer direction were sporadically released by the Stranglers Walk On By, Duchess, and La Folie. There is a sense of warmth over the entire LP starting with the cover art. The Black on Black image of a cat has these very soft (warm) outlines. Filled with “Spanish” guitar and less of a reliance on the trademark keyboards and bass the tracks on Feline have a uniformity and flow (The European Female, Golden Brown). A distinct break with the Stranglers great and sometimes cold output such as Tank and Burning Up Time.
8) Prince & The Revolution (Purple Rain)
As with I assume most suburbanites Purple Rain was my introduction to Prince. However, I doubt even those who witnessed & were versed in the naked funk of Prince’s first 5 LP’s expected this massive crossover effort (I first heard this in Des Moines, Iowa). I was going to go in another direction with Prince but stuck with the most obvious example.
9) Talk Talk (Spirit of Eden)
Mark Hollis & Tim Friese-Greene leave the 80’s synth pop behind with the Spirit of Eden. These compositions are quiet, organic, and demand a close listen. This is an effort by a band no longer concerned with placing songs in the pop charts but rather following an inner muse. Mark Hollis would continue in this vein through “Laughing Stock” (New Grass) and the almost perfectly fragile S/T Mark Hollis (A Life 1895-1915) and then promptly retiring from music.
10) Kate Bush (The Dreaming)
Kate’s chart success afforded her unprecedented (to her) control of her recording in 1982 allowing her to run rampant with her ideas in “The Dreaming”. I believe MadHerb would term this 20th Century Art Song? Suggested cuts The Dreaming, There Goes a Tenor, Pull Out the Pin, etc.
SONGS
1) Public Image Limited (Theme)
How do you escape the bondage of being the savage punk savant?
From the first moments of “Theme” this is clearly a different animal than the Pistols and within 9 minutes the Pistols have been made almost irrelevant. Where are the microphones…in the other room? Keith Levene’s guitar is certainly not double tracked…what is he even playing? Is that a beat…why does it keep plodding along…make it stop! No wait…Please Don’t!
2) The Flower Travellin’ Band (Satori Part 2)
Born as Yuya Uchida and the Flowers in 1968 with the lp “Challenge” (A Combination of the Two) they released two more albums of assorted covers and originals in the blues rock tradition with varying degrees of success (Black Sabbath) before stabilizing with lead singer Joe Yamantaka as The Flower Travellin’ Band and releasing the fantastic original “Satori – Saravah For Café Après-Midi” in 1971.
3) Current 93 (Oh Coal Black Smith)
David Tibet had reached a personal dead end with regards to his industrial output by 1987’s “Swastikas For Noddy”. Swastikas sees Tibet taking a left turn with acoustic instrumentation and nods to an English folk past. At times this sounds positively ancient to me. This is clearly the first in a new direction that would come to fulfillment in later works as “Black Ships Ate the Sky”.
4) Psychic TV (The Orchids)
Throbbing Gristle had come to an end leaving Genesis P-Orridge, Peter Christopherson and Cosey Fanni Tutti to form Psychic TV. 1983’s “Dreams Less Sweet” featured a more acoustic take on the industrial theme which ran through the Throbbing Gristle catalog along with this gorgeous tune. Also a very nice Califone cover – HERE
5) The Wire (French Film Blurred)
In case there was any doubt that The Wire were more than your everyday punks (12XU) the sophomore effort showed that they were willing and able to move in new directions and would continue to do so for 36 years and counting (Keep Exhaling).
6) The Fall (Hotel Blodel)
Picking a “leap” from The Fall’s vast catalog is admittedly a leap itself. If anyone has been consistently inconsistent it’s Mark Smith and his revolving cast of band support. The Fall’s” Perverted by Language” saw Mark Smith’s wife Brix included in the band with a somewhat crisper sound and look (for the fall)including her in lead vocal on many tracks. This would lead to a vital 2-3 album run including “The Wonderful and Frightening World Of The Fall”.
7) Pink Floyd (The Nile Song)
Although Pink Floyd were certainly no strangers to HEAVY music “The Nile Song” stands out on the “More” soundtrack like a mongrel diseased dog in a litter of cuddly puppies. A pretty straight cover by The Melvins in ’93 and it still sounds fresh – HERE.
8) Yo La Tengo (Tom Courtney)
With “Electro-Pura” Yo La Tengo seemed to merge the feedback, improv, and pop songwriting into a more cohesive whole. This is typified with the track Tom Courtney which is simultaneously a calculated mess and a perfect pop song at the same time. Acoustic version just for fun – HERE
9) Los Lobos (Colossal Head)
David Higaldo had been veering into more adventurous musical territory with Mitchell Froom and Tchad Blake in the band Latin Playboys. Mitchell Froom and Tchad come on board as co-producers with Los Lobos here and certainly had an effect on the final output. BTW this sounds awful on you tube.
10) Boomtown Rats (I Don’t Like Mondays & House On Fire)
I always think I should appreciate the Boomtown Rats more than I do. They did produce this duo of my favorite tracks which stand out (to me) as huge leaps on otherwise forgetful albums in an otherwise (for me) forgetful catalog. I wish I could find the official video for house on fire as I remember it was pretty darn good.
Music Corner w/ Archive 