Your 10 Favourite Solo Albums from Established Singers/Musicians

[Charger]

^^
I was contemplating on that one as well....but I went for this one instead:

# 9:

IOMMI



Actually there was 3 albums in contention for this slot. GZR's Black Science, Iommi/Hughes - Fused and this one...Fused is musically superior to this one but Glenn just makes my ears hurt...HURT! Sure there are couple of bad singers here as well..Skin and Whiny Corgan (who ruins a perfectly good long song!) which are skip-a-doo tracks everytime and Rollins and Grohl are occational skips but the rest are all very very good. Patterns, Time Is Mine, Just Say No To Love and Into The Night are the top of the crop for sure, and the rest are all very good.
I think it was a bit of a risky move from Tony to go with multiple singers but it worked well as (for the most part) he managed to pick good ones.

[Zzzptm]

Number 9 for me is...

Todd Rundgren - Hermit of Mink Hollow



A concept album built around the idea of being the odd man out so often, you really have a lot of time to think and reflect. Which is what was going on in Rundgren's life when he went off to go record this album all on his own. He does all the everything on it and puts so much great storytelling into his songs. He's done faffing about with prog and psych - the 12 tracks here are all in that sweet spot between 2-4 minutes except for the silly little Onomatopoeia. So much to like on this album, it's my favorite of all his works.

[Charger]

#8
Oliva - Raise The Curtain




I didn't feel comfortable doing Jon Oliva's Pain album for this as that was a proper band not just a solo project eventhough it carried his name...because originally the band was going to be all 'Tage Mahal but due to legal reasons that wasn't possible so because it was such a pain with the name Jon decided to name the band Jon Oliva's Pain. Which I always thought was quite clever in a very Jon Oliva kind of way!
Anyways. Raise The Curtain is pretty much as much of solo album as it can be because Jon plays....well guitar, bass, keyboards AND drums on the album...oh and he sings too. Chris Kinder and Jim Morris add some drum parts and lead guitar bits here and there...but mostly it's just Jon.
The album is different from JOP and Savatage but there are bunch of heavy tunes mixed with softer more mellow stuff which Jon has always done very well (as mentioned in the Ballad thread)...some of the riffing on this album is totally weird as are some of the tunings used which leads to a really funky sound which I happen to love!
It was so sad that because of all the loss in Jon's life after the release of this album (Matt Laporte's passing, passing of his wife and his son and Paul) that so far this has remained the final piece of music Jon has released but next year promises some hope with a one more Savatage album.

[KiloDeltaCharlie]

#8 Gary Moore - Still Got The Blues

Gary Moore was and never has been an artist I've been a huge fan of... except for this album



Before this album he was known for Thin Lizzy and a bunch of solo hard rock albums which were solid but nothing outstanding. Then in 1990 he went all bluesy on us and released this album, which I adore!

[Zzzptm]

Number 8 on my list...



Robin Trower's amazing second solo album, Bridge of Sighs. Start to finish, it's a moody, bluesy odyssey. It's got a great mix and works solidly as an album. Of course, it has his huge hit "Too Rolling Stoned", but the rest of the tracks are no slouches. If you wanted to get into Trower, this would be the place to start.

[KiloDeltaCharlie]

Bit late today, been away much of the weekend!

No. 7 - Robert Plant - Manic Nirvana



Never been a huge fand of Plant, even with Zeppelin it was very much hit or miss. But I liked this one, it got some radio play, and while there's a couple of floaters in the bowl it's a pretty decent album. I should listen to it more often than I do,

[Charger]

#7

Glenn Tipton - Baptizm Of Fire




I have always very much enjoyed this album...In fact I like this better than any post-reunion Priest album. Songs like Extinct, The Healer, Left For Dead, Himalaya, New Breed and the absolutely SUBERB Enter The Storm deserve their place in heavy metal history. But I do wish that Glenn would have put his ego on the back burner and found an actual singer to front the effort as his vocals are most certainly the weak point of the album. But I can also understand why he wanted to sing..it was his solo effort after all and he wanted the spotlight firmly on himself at this point. He had a great line up of guest musicans here including, Neil Murray, Billy Sheehan, Cozy Powell and Robert Trujillo to name a few so naturally you know musically this is going to rock.
I always ponder how great songs from this album would have sounded like with Tim behind the mic had this been a Priest album...

[Zzzptm]

My 7th place is...



Sly Stone's band kind of left him prior to this album, so he went ahead and did most of the instrumental parts on his own. It's a return to form after his dissolute Small Talk album with The Family Stone. He covers all the bases here with a great mix of songs, his last hurrah before his drug use sidelined him creatively for the rest of the decade and beyond.

[Charger]

#6

Ozzy Osbourne - No Rest For The Wicked




I was struggling a bit between this and Diary...Diary has songs that are better than anything on this album but it also has songs worse than anything on this album...and I have always considered this to Ozzy's most consistent album. There isn't a single really bad track on it and songs like Miracle Man, Bloodbath In Paradice and Demon Alcohol are among his finest for sure. Also I wanted to show this album some love as it doesn't get nearly enough of it.

[KiloDeltaCharlie]

^^^
You're right, that's a good album, I would place it 2 or 3 on Ozzy's list.

[KiloDeltaCharlie]

I have 5 acts left... at Number 6

Ronnie James Dio - The Last in Line



After leaving Rainbow and Black Sabbth, RJD released two superb albums to show that he didn't need a renowned guitarist to make great music. The Title Track, We Rock, Egypt... are great tunes.

[Zzzptm]

Well, I didn't include Dio in my considerations because I'm going with the rule that it was a band, not a solo outing, otherwise that Last in Line would be on my list.

As it is, I have a real treat in at number 6:



I love the whole album, but when Post Toastee rolls around, I shut everything down and pay attention. Bolin was gone too soon, so I savor the great tracks he laid down.

[KiloDeltaCharlie]

^^^
Sea of Tranquillity aren't doing "solo bands" because he's going to visit those on a countdown in the spring.  I'm not sure we'll do that so I'm including them here.

[Charger]

I'm bit divided with DIO as well as I have considered it a band not so much a solo thing. Had it been called Blizzard of Ozz as it was supposed to then I would have excluded it too...

It does kind of depend if I'm gonna be able to fill out the list without DIO then I shall if I can't then I'll add it too!

[Zzzptm]

I'm not worried, as long as it's a solo performer, it's a good thing for the list.