Oddball Tracks
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Topic: Oddball Tracks
Posted By: Ambient Hurricanes
Subject: Oddball Tracks
Date Posted: August 15 2013 at 22:49
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Every band has a few of those songs that sound out of place on an album, even out of place for the band, as if the band had decided to record a cover song and pass it off as their own. Sometimes, a group will release a song that makes them sound like a different band entirely. What are some prog tracks that are "oddballs" in the band's catalog, ones that sound like nothing the band ever recorded before or since? I'm thinking of things like Dream Theater's "Space Dye Vest" or Rush's "Scars," stuff like that. ------------- I love dogs, I've always loved dogs |
Replies:
Posted By: The.Crimson.King
Date Posted: August 15 2013 at 23:54
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How about... ELP : Are You Ready Eddy? IQ : My Legs Yes : I'm Down (live) Procol Harum : Eight Days a Week Gentle Giant : I Bet You Thought We Couldn't Do It ------------- https://wytchcrypt.wixsite.com/mutiny-in-jonestown" rel="nofollow - Mutiny in Jonestown : Progressive Rock Since 1987 |
Posted By: Eria Tarka
Date Posted: August 16 2013 at 01:27
| SINCE WE'VE BEEN WRONG! |
Posted By: Tom Ozric
Date Posted: August 16 2013 at 03:21
'Our Song' - (not the Yes track  ), but the piece which opens the Ron Geesin / Roger Waters project 'Music From The Body'. Come to think of it, it's an odd-ball album.......
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Posted By: npjnpj
Date Posted: August 16 2013 at 04:32
| What imediately springs to my mind is Deep Purple's Anyone's Daughter on Fireball. |
Posted By: HolyMoly
Date Posted: August 16 2013 at 09:59
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Pink Floyd - Seamus, The Trial Van der Graaf Generator - The Hurlyburly ------------- My other avatar is a Porsche It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle if it is lightly greased. -Kehlog Albran |
Posted By: Earthmover
Date Posted: August 16 2013 at 10:26
idk I don't see it as an "oddball track". It's not much different from their earlier acoustic/mellow tracks (Televators, Asilos Magdalena). -------------  |
bytor2112 wrote:Posted By: bloodnarfer
Date Posted: August 16 2013 at 13:04
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Hmm all I can think of is Styx - Man in the Wilderness a straight up Kansas impression Pain of Salvation - under the stars feels incredibly out of place Harold the Barrel Kind of a stretch but it hits you in the face right after Seven Stones I love it. ------------- http://www.last.fm/user/ramza1316" rel="nofollow - www.last.fm/user/ramza1316 https://open.spotify.com/user/1211221845" rel="nofollow - https://open.spotify.com/user/1211221845 |
Posted By: mongofa
Date Posted: August 16 2013 at 13:08
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PREPARE TO MEET THY PNOOM ------------- 
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Posted By: HolyMoly
Date Posted: August 16 2013 at 13:19
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Don't Sit Down on the Plexiglass Toilet - Styx a genuine WTF moment on their "Serpent is Rising" album. It's hidden at the end of the track "As Bad as This". ------------- My other avatar is a Porsche It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle if it is lightly greased. -Kehlog Albran |
Posted By: Triceratopsoil
Date Posted: August 16 2013 at 13:19
| Dixie by Harmonium |
Posted By: Triceratopsoil
Date Posted: August 16 2013 at 13:30
| A Tiny Grain of Faith by The Ocean |
Posted By: Eria Tarka
Date Posted: August 16 2013 at 14:55
Yeah, maybe a bit similar to Televators, I guess I only read this part of the question:
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Posted By: ClemofNazareth
Date Posted: August 16 2013 at 15:05
 WTF indeed!------------- "Peace is the only battle worth waging." Albert Camus |
Posted By: smartpatrol
Date Posted: August 16 2013 at 15:11
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I Am Three People - "Summer in a Bowl"
------------- http://bit.ly/1kqTR8y" rel="nofollow">  The greatest record label of all time! |
Posted By: brainstormer
Date Posted: August 16 2013 at 17:32
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Peter Hammill "Polaroids" ------------- -- Robert Pearson Regenerative Music http://www.regenerativemusic.net Telical Books http://www.telicalbooks.com ParaMind Brainstorming Software http://www.paramind.net |
Posted By: Tom Ozric
Date Posted: August 16 2013 at 19:30
Texas Armadillo - Yezda Urfa  - Country 'hick' prog, anyone ??
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Posted By: stegor
Date Posted: August 16 2013 at 23:18
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I'll second Harold the Barrel and Seamus. Both are songs I didn't like back in the day but now I love em. Prelude: Song of the Gulls. Hard to believe it's King Crimson. Beautiful though. |
Posted By: AreYouHuman
Date Posted: August 17 2013 at 00:27
I call such tracks Get Out of Here songs, because that’s the reaction you’re liable to receive when you tell people who they’re by. Feel free to use it. 
A few to add: Queen – ’39 Black Sabbath – Their quieter tracks like Laguna Sunrise and Planet Caravan. Family – Second Generation Woman Camel – Down on the Farm, Remote Romance Steve Hackett – Sentimental Institution Chicago – Free Form Guitar Roxy Music – South Downs (obscure b-side, Roxy goes New Age!) Mike Oldfield – Into Wonderland Soft Machine – Soft Space |
Posted By: Ambient Hurricanes
Date Posted: August 17 2013 at 00:31
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Thought of another one: "Cat Food" by King Crimson. It's not even that complex, it's just flat out bizarre, but bizarre in the kind of way that KC never really did. ------------- I love dogs, I've always loved dogs |
Posted By: The.Crimson.King
Date Posted: August 17 2013 at 00:54
I was going to add this one too but then I thought of a couple other oddball Hackett songs "Carry on up the Vicarage" & "The Ballad of the Decomposing Man" and decided it was a charming trend  ------------- https://wytchcrypt.wixsite.com/mutiny-in-jonestown" rel="nofollow - Mutiny in Jonestown : Progressive Rock Since 1987 |
Posted By: prog4evr
Date Posted: August 17 2013 at 00:58
Couldn't agree more. I listen to DT 'Awake' and always stop it before "Space Dye Vest"...what an insipid, out of place song... Although I love Genesis 'Nursery Cryme,' I just cannot get into Track 2 - "For Absent Friends." I always hit the skip button to go from the awesome 'The Musical Box' to the great 'The Return of the Giant Hogweed"...
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Posted By: Tom Ozric
Date Posted: August 17 2013 at 03:24
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Posted By: Triceratopsoil
Date Posted: August 17 2013 at 04:34
Agreed, but if you consider the fact that Keith Tippett is playing on that track I think it makes perfect sense |
Posted By: Lynx33
Date Posted: August 17 2013 at 06:42
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Two great tracks might possibly fit here: Tesla Try So Hard, Britny Fox Is It Real?
------------- Mindez elmúlt. Ma már tudom köszönteni a szépséget. |
Posted By: RedNightmareKing
Date Posted: August 17 2013 at 11:40
Then again, Tippett played on Islands as well, which is definitely on the other side of the spectrum compared to Cat Food. ------------- I consider drone metal to be progressive... |
Posted By: Metalmarsh89
Date Posted: August 17 2013 at 11:56
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ELP's "Benny the Bouncer" fits oddly into Brain Salad Surgery. Couldn't agree more there. As for King Crimson, everything they've ever played sounds like nothing they've never played, in a way. |
Posted By: The.Crimson.King
Date Posted: August 17 2013 at 15:32
Ya, "Prelude..." definitely an oddball track in the KC canon, but it somehow fits perfectly on Islands. ------------- https://wytchcrypt.wixsite.com/mutiny-in-jonestown" rel="nofollow - Mutiny in Jonestown : Progressive Rock Since 1987 |
Posted By: infocat
Date Posted: August 17 2013 at 17:05
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I always though Rush "Vital Signs" sounded like a different band.
------------- -- Frank Swarbrick Belief is not Truth. |
Posted By: Ambient Hurricanes
Date Posted: August 17 2013 at 18:36
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^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.
------------- I love dogs, I've always loved dogs |
Posted By: Epignosis
Date Posted: August 17 2013 at 18:40
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Kansas - "Andi" Granted, different singer, but that's a lulu.  And I like it anyway. ------------- https://epignosis.bandcamp.com/album/a-month-of-sundays" rel="nofollow - https://epignosis.bandcamp.com/album/a-month-of-sundays |
Posted By: richardh
Date Posted: August 18 2013 at 12:27
| 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. |
Posted By: Prog Sothoth
Date Posted: August 18 2013 at 16:28
I don't find them really out of place since they still have that 'stoner' vibe to them and are quite trippy. "It's Alright" from Technical Ecstasy, on the other hand, now that's a pretty oddball track regarding their entire catalog. As far as I know, it's the only time Sabbath ever went for a Dan Fogelberg or The Little River Band type sound. They even released it as a single...if it had somehow wound up being an unlikely hit, their next album Never Say Die could have been easy listening soft rock heaven. |
Posted By: HolyMoly
Date Posted: August 18 2013 at 17:09
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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. ------------- My other avatar is a Porsche It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle if it is lightly greased. -Kehlog Albran |
Posted By: The.Crimson.King
Date Posted: August 19 2013 at 00:15
^if I had to pick one Sabbath oddball track from the old days I'd go with Changes. A Mellotron drenched 'my girlfriend left me' piano ballad sung by Ozzy ...or there's always FX from Volume IV, that short sound effects through an echo piece...------------- https://wytchcrypt.wixsite.com/mutiny-in-jonestown" rel="nofollow - Mutiny in Jonestown : Progressive Rock Since 1987 |
Posted By: Ambient Hurricanes
Date Posted: August 20 2013 at 22:32
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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 love dogs, I've always loved dogs |
Posted By: The.Crimson.King
Date Posted: August 20 2013 at 22:54
Along the same lines, The Rolling Stones "2000 Light Years From Home", Keith and Mick and a mellotron just sound bizarre together  ------------- https://wytchcrypt.wixsite.com/mutiny-in-jonestown" rel="nofollow - Mutiny in Jonestown : Progressive Rock Since 1987 |
Posted By: Xonty
Date Posted: August 31 2013 at 17:01
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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
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Posted By: ClemofNazareth
Date Posted: August 31 2013 at 18:57
Ah, their Night Ranger impression, right Another one that is sort of okay but didn't fit musically with the rest of the album was "Whiskey Seed" from 'Seeds of Change'. Doesn't sound like a Livgren song at all. ------------- "Peace is the only battle worth waging." Albert Camus |
Posted By: AreYouHuman
Date Posted: September 10 2013 at 23:32
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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. |
Posted By: mongofa
Date Posted: December 05 2013 at 18:55
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"AB/7A" from Throbbing Gristle's Third Annual Report: A calming electronic track that with a catchy melody reminiscent of "Reptilia" by the Strokes, put smack in the middle of a bunch of noise tracks about blood, death, burn victims, e-coli, being hit by a rock, and hatred of little girls. -------------
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Posted By: dr wu23
Date Posted: December 05 2013 at 22:29
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.
 ------------- One does nothing yet nothing is left undone. Haquin |
Posted By: paganinio
Date Posted: December 07 2013 at 19:38
Pain of Salvation's disco song from the Scarsick album.  Ruins the album, almost.
------------- 
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Posted By: Neo-Romantic
Date Posted: December 07 2013 at 21:30
| 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. |
Posted By: moshkito
Date Posted: December 10 2013 at 10:55
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Hi,
Roy Harper -- A few of these in various albums
Kevin Ayers -- Do we really need to hear him ....?
The Beatles -- Oh I forgot, you never heard the Christmas Shows or the Let It Be out-takes!
Ron Geesin -- Music from the Body ... well, it's crap compared to some of his other albums, which are much more entertaining and crazy.
Gosh ... I have to go to my record collection to list more of these ... though I always thought they were just fun and there was no meaning to it, other than ... they are just like us! ------------- Music is not just for listening ... it is for LIVING ... you got to feel it to know what's it about! Not being told! www.pedrosena.com |
Posted By: Guldbamsen
Date Posted: December 10 2013 at 11:06
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Always had a thing for the Spanish piece on Floyd's More. Those mad slurping vocals are a hoot!
------------- “The Guide says there is an art to flying or rather a knack. The knack lies in learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss.” - Douglas Adams |
Posted By: bloodnarfer
Date Posted: December 10 2013 at 11:16
I actually think that song is pretty awesome and fun. Still my least fav album though and it definitely is an oddball. ------------- http://www.last.fm/user/ramza1316" rel="nofollow - www.last.fm/user/ramza1316 https://open.spotify.com/user/1211221845" rel="nofollow - https://open.spotify.com/user/1211221845 |
Posted By: AreYouHuman
Date Posted: December 12 2013 at 23:41
| 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). |