Oddball Tracks

The title track from Zappa’s “Sleep Dirt.” An honest-to-goodness slow, mellow acoustic guitar duet from Frank (the other guitarist is James “Bird Legs” Youman).

Edited by AreYouHuman - December 12 2013 at 23:43

Always had a thing for the Spanish piece on Floyd's More. Those mad slurping vocals are a hoot!

The first that springs to mind is "Isolation Years" from Opeth's Ghost Reveries album. But oh my gosh am I glad they recorded that one! I've heard its inclusion is the only preventative factor keeping it from being a pure concept album, but and it definitely has a very different feel, but somehow, it just completes the experience so well. I couldn't imagine the album without it now.

I always thought the Clap was an oddball track...it's Howe doing John Fahey or Leo Kottke. For me it kind of ruins the flow of that album, though it's well done for what it is. forgot to say that's on The Yes album.

Edited by dr wu23 - December 07 2013 at 22:23

One more from Steve Hackett: Hercules Unchained. Originally a b-side, now a bonus track on the “Defector” remaster. A surprisingly straight-ahead rocking number.

Not necessarily prog but still interesting: The Lemon Pipers, whose big hit was Green Tambourine, on the Buddah label, which got them unfairly maligned as just another part of the Kasenatz-Katz bubblegum machine. But their first album had one stand-out track, Through With You, that features some pretty astonishing guitar work from Bill Bartlett. A true Get Out of Here song.

As said earlier, '39 sounded quite out of place on A Night At The Opera but in my opinion it's one of the best tracks.

A few ELP's songs such as Benny The Bouncer on Brain Salad Surgery spring to mind and Sound Chaser on Yes' Relayer was a little strange but I do love it

I found "More Fool Me" on Selling England a little bit of a shock but it's actually probably one of my top 5 songs on the album. Staying with Genesis, "The Knife" on Trespass was a bit off with the whole prog folky set up. I do love the song but I think it didn't really fit in, although I can't imagine the album without it, as it wraps it all up well... Maybe I was hoping for something more symphonic but still folky, like something off of "Si On Avait - Harmonium".

Rush songs include "Halo Effect" on Clockwork Angels, "Tears" on 2112 (as already mentioned ),"Rivendell" on Fly By Night, "Vital Signs" on Moving Pictures and "I Think I'm Going Bald" on Caress Of Steel. Once again, I couldn't picture the albums without these...

Overall, nothing really bad and shocking that I can think of at the moment I'll try and think of some though

Edited by Xonty - August 31 2013 at 17:01

Tears is another Rush song that seems rather out of place in their catalog; Rush with mellotron is just weird.  I still love it, though .

Also Time and Motion from T4E; almost sounds like a different band, except, as is typical, that Geddy's voice is unmistakable.  I guess this one might seem a little more normal in light of the material Rush released in the 2000s, but at the time it was quite odd for them.  It's probably my favorite track from T4E.

I was just remembering how "Relics" was my introduction to Syd era Floyd. As you know, it has a couple of Syd's singles, some songs with the Gilmour band, and then ends with "Bike". In this context, I found "Bike" to be a totally oddball track out of nowhere. Now of course it seems more natural, but its def an oddball on Relics.

Aphrodite's Child song 'Break from their album 666. Admittedly the whole album is littered with oddball tracks including the notorious  track featuring Irene Papas which might be a better pick.

^Yeah, I can agree with that - it's one of the least "rushy" Rush songs I've ever heard, and yet given the flow of the MP album it makes perfect sense.  But if you just played it for someone out of the context of the album it would be hard to tell what band it was if it weren't for Geddy's voice.