Your 10 Favourite Solo Albums from Established Singers/Musicians

[KiloDeltaCharlie]

No. 5
Peter Gabriel - So

I was a huge fan of the song Sledgehammer - possibly influenced by the impressive video - so I got the album as soon as I could and realised that Sledgehammer wasn't even the best song on the album!



Favourite songs are Red Rain, Sledgehammer, Mercy Street.

[Charger]

#5

DORO - Calling The Wild




This was my first Doro album. Bought it just by chance from a record store back when it was fairly new. And I instantly fell in love with it and her. The duet with Lemmy on Love Me Forever is beyond fantastic but songs like Kiss Me Like A Cobra, Dedication, Burn It Up, Ich Will Alles and Now Or Never are all just suberb and the Billy Idol cover of White Wedding surpasses the original! Quite often the first album you hear from an artist can hold a very special place in your heart and this one most certainly does so in mine.

[Zzzptm]

My number 5 is interesting beyond the music because it was one of the first digital recordings and is frequently used to demo high-end sound systems... but I like it for the tunes!



Without Walter Becker, Donald Fagen becomes a warmer, more nostalgic songwriter. Though the sounds on the album are an extension of the jazz-based arrangements that Steely Dan had grown into over the years, the lyrics are where we get the biggest difference from Dan's sound. Gone are the drug dealers and junkies, the infidelities and emotional pains; they're replaced with a certain adolescent optimism that gets dented on the sides but still emerges drivable and usable for later work.

It's a smoooooooooooooooooooth listening experience and great fun every time I get into it. Each song is a vignette of the mid-late 50s with a touch of the early 60s, The Golden Age of Rock and Roll. But Fagen found that he enjoyed jazz more than rock in that time period, so it's interesting how that story is told in an eclectic blend of sounds that recall both the rock and jazz sounds of the era - including a nod to how Caribbean sounds were all the rage in the late 50s with a tune about a coup/revolution in some island nation, somewhere south of Florida... it's a playful album, start to finish, and a real pleasure to curl up with of an evening.

[Charger]

# 4

Rob Zombie - Hellbilly Deluxe / II

     


I'm cheating here a bit but I'm gonna lump these two together. Rob's first solo outing and his 4th share the name and some of the themes but most importantly the quality. Both are excellent albums with basically no weak tracks on them. It is quite shocking considering Rob's backing band is completely different on each record. Also these album feature 2 of Rob's best tracks Dragula and Sick Bubble Gum...ironically both about racing a certain car from a certain old tv show. This is pretty much a perfect double album...there was just 11 years in between them!

[Zzzptm]

My number four is...



Tony put everything he had into this one, and it's phenomenal. Not everyone's cuppa java, but it hit on all the marks I wanted it to. It's savoury, through and through, and I am thankful for the recommendation here to try it out. Really hit the spot with me, and I like to spin it now and again with all the other great stuff I got.

[KiloDeltaCharlie]

I'm gonna sorta cheat as well, because I really wasn't sure which of these two albums I was going to include!

No. 4
Tony Martin - Scream / Thorns





Both phenomenal albums, I think Thorns is maybe a little more consistent but that Scream has a couple of better songs on it. As such I can't really choose between them!

[Charger]

Hmmm...damn...you too jumped the gun! I will be posting Thorns tomorrow! Would have been cool to have the same album at the same day for all of us!

And yes I too am considering about cheating and putting Scream there as well but we shall see....

[KiloDeltaCharlie]

Number 3

Ozzy Osbourne - Diary of a Madman



This and Blizzard of Oz were a fantastic start to his solo career. I prefer Diary... but Blizzard would be just outside the top 10 here, it's probably let down by the overplayed Crazy Train!

Best Tracks: Over the Mountain, Flying High Again, Tonight and Diary of a Madman

[Charger]

# 3

Tony Martin - Thorns



Tony Martin returned after 15 years with a solo album and oh boy what a solo album it was! Most certainly the album of the year back in 2022 and one of the best releases in the whole 20s so far. Not really a single weak track on it and As The World Burns is one of the best songs he's ever done!
I had been facebook buddies with Scott for years and years and when I heard he'd be parnering it up with Tony I knew that would be something special and special it was!

[Zzzptm]

My number 3 is from my younger days when I was but a lad and it was just me and the rock and roll on my radio, even before I had a turntable to call my own...



Dude! 

Great tracks start to finish, a helluva rocker. Lonely Is the Night is the best single from the album, but the deep cuts are also real treats, especially the energetic closer that's also the title track. Yes, I've got nostalgia clouding my judgment in part, but remove those clouds and we still have a kickass record from Mr. Squier.

Yes, I'm playing it now. That's a sign of greatness, when you grab on any reason to listen to the album one more time. 

[KiloDeltaCharlie]

Number 2

Ronnie James Dio - Holy Diver



I bet you all thought this would be my Number 1. A fabulous album and while his work with Blackmore and Iommi are definitely better it was a vindication on his desire to go it alone.

Best Tracks - Stand Up and Shout, Holy Diver, Don't Talk to Strangers and Shame on the Night

[Vyn]

Great tracks start to finish, a helluva rocker.

And a girl magnet. At least his poster was - it seemed that anyone I dated back then had that poster on their wall.

[Charger]

#2

Alice Cooper - Brutal Planet



I was getting into Alice Cooper around this time (thanks to my English teacher who was a big fan and he told me to check Alice out) with albums like Trash, Billion Dollar Babies and Welcome To My Nightmare. I liked them all but as I was more into heavier stuff I was totally blown away by Brutal Planet which I bought brand new when it came out. I remember putting on and going like what the hell? This is Alice but damn it's heavy! The title track, Pick Up The Bones, Eat Some More, Wicked Young Man and Cold Machines are SUBERB tracks but honestly not a single weak track on the album. A total masterpiece!

[Zzzptm]

Great tracks start to finish, a helluva rocker.

And a girl magnet. At least his poster was - it seemed that anyone I dated back then had that poster on their wall.

Oh yeah, he had that rockstar look that the chicks all dug.

[Zzzptm]

My #2 album, and it was a tough fight with my #1, but I feel confident in this placing and there's zero shame in being second place.



You get 100% what you see on the label here. Rory friggin' Gallagher, ripping it up on his 1974 Irish tour. It stands next to Made in Japan as one of the best ever live albums. One track, Walk on Hot Coals, gives me chills upon chills with every listen, it's the definitive version of that wonderful, passionate song. Everything on the double album is wonderful, but that song is a tearful monument to perseverance, it's hard-driving blues riff relentlessly weathers the storm and the solos overlayed upon it are laden with emotions that burst their cords to rage out in musical mastery. It's the stuff of legends.