We’re not talking about common or garden solo albums here.
No, some musicians just feel inspired to make recordings entirely on their own. Maybe they have a strong artistic vision that they don’t want to be diluted, or just don’t fancy share royalties with non-contributing members of their band. Either way, the results can be spectacular.
1. Mike Oldfield
Astonishingly, Mike Oldfield was just 19 years old when he recorded the album that was to change his life – and that of Virgin Records boss Richard Branson – at The Manor studios in leafy Oxfordshire. Oldfield had already been kicking around the music scene for several years, notably forming folk duo Sallyangie with his sister Sally and recording two albums as bassist with Kevin Ayers and the Whole World.
But it’s fair to say that no one predicted what would come next for the young musician. Making use of studio downtime, Oldfield played more than 20 instruments on what was initially titled Opus One - and later expanded to become the Tubular Bells (1973) that we know and love today.
Other people were involved, notably Steve Broughton on drums and the splendidly eccentric Vivian Stanshall as the Master of Ceremonies, but the album was mostly Oldfield’s own work. Released in 1973, it eventually went 9 x Platinum in the UK and remains on of the defining albums of the seventies. Sequels were released in 1992 and 1998, but neither sold as strongly as the original album.
2. John Fogerty
Released in 1985 after a nine-year period of inactivity and legal battles with former record label Fantasy, former Creedence Clearwater Revival frontman John Fogerty’s magnificent US chart-topping comeback album, Centerfield, was entirely his own work, on which he overdubbed all the instruments himself.
It spawned the hit single 'The Old Man Down the Road', which became Fogerty’s first –and thus far only – US top ten hit. But where there’s a hit, there’s writ, as the saying goes. Sure enough, Fantasy Records boss Saul Zaentz objected to the song 'Zanz Kant Danz', and this was changed on later pressings of the album to 'Vanz Kant Danz'.
Zaentz also claimed that 'The Old Man Down the Road' had the same chorus as the CCR hit 'Run Through the Jungle', to which he (Zaentz) owned publishing rights. Bringing his guitar to court, Fogerty was able to prove that the two songs were separate and distinct compositions and won the case.
3. Todd Rundgren
1972’s Something/Anything, the album that many consider to be Todd Rundgren’s masterpiece, wasn’t the first album he wrote and recorded almost entirely by himself. Its immediate predecessors, Runt and The Ballad of Todd Rundgren, were recorded in a similar fashion, such was his determination to make the records he wanted to make.
It’s a double album, obviously (this was the early Seventies, after all), but absolutely packed with classics, with each side categorised. Side one is A Bouquet of Ear-Catching Melodies including 'I Saw the Light' and 'It Wouldn’t Have Made Any Difference'. Side two is 'The Cerebral Side', while The Kid Gets Heavy on side three, which includes the sublime power pop of 'Couldn’t I Just Tell You'.
The set concludes with Baby Needs a New Pair of Snakeskin Boots (A Pop Operetta), taking in the wonderful 'Hello It’s Me', originally recorded by Rundgren’s old band The Nazz.
4. Phil Collins
By the early 90s, Phil Collins was a ubiquitous superstar who could probably get away with doing whatever he wanted. What he wanted to do was craft an album entirely by himself. That album, his fifth, was entitled Both Sides. Darker and slower than the cheeky chappie pop with which he was becoming associated, the album was filled with deeply personal songs inspired by his relationship breakdown.
Both Sides was duly savaged by those members of the music press who had been trained to hate Collins and all he stood for. Nonetheless, it was a huge commercial success, topping the UK album chart, and spawned a massive world tour. Collins has subsequently described Both Sides as his favourite of all his solo albums.
5. Roy Wood
He famously Wished It Could Be Christmas Every Day, but Roy Wood is also a talented and creative musician whose 1971 solo album, Boulders, is a wonderful lost classic. Roy played all the instruments himself, with the exception of a bit of harmonium, the result being this creative, marvellously eclectic collection of songs in a bewildering variety of styles which wasn’t released for two years to avoid clashing with his Move, Wizzard and ELO commitments.
The Queen-anticipating single 'Dear Elaine' was a UK top 20 hit and the album was acclaimed by contemporary critics, but seems shamefully forgotten today.
6. Dave Edmunds
Originally released by the Ronettes in 1963, 'Baby, I Love You' has been covered by several artists, notably The Ramones, but arguably the best version was released by Welsh former Love Sculpture guitarist Dave Edmunds in 1973, when it reached number 8 in the UK chart. Edmunds’ rockin’ cover was entirely his own work, for which he expertly layered the sound in authentic Phil Spector style.
7. Alcest
Formed in 2000, hypnotic French black metal/shoegaze (or blackgaze, if you will) band Alcest was for many years just one bloke, Stéphane Paut, who goes by the name of Neige. His/their 2007 debut album Souvenirs d'un autre monde laid down the template for an entire genre, but was the last recording that Neige created entirely by himself.
Drummer Jean Deflandre, aka Winterhalter, joined in 2009 and has appeared on all subsequent recordings. Now signed to the huge metal indie label Nuclear Blast, Alcest remain one of the most innovative bands in modern metal.
8. Blackbraid
Native American metal bands are pretty rare. Native American black metal bands are rarer still. Native American black metal solo projects? Just one. Hailing from the from the Adirondack Mountains, New York, Blackbraid are actually a chap named Jon Krieger, who goes by the Mohawk stage name of Sgah’gahsowáh (“the witch hawk”) and seems to hire in musicians to perform his music. It’s suitably raw and powerful, shaped by the landscape that spawned him.
9. Skip Spence
The only solo album released by Moby Grape’s Alexander ‘Skip’ Spence, Oar was poorly received and barely promoted on its release in 1969, but has subsequently been acclaimed as a work of rare genius.
Skip was a troubled fella, who had previously been committed for attempting to attack his bandmates with a fire axe. There’s no doubt that Oar is a weird record, comprising 12 tracks recorded over seven days in December 1968. Spence played all the instruments himself on this occasionally rambling and wildly eccentric collection, which sold poorly on release but has subsequently undergone a remarkable critical rehabilitation.
We’ve become used to artists suffering from mental illness being automatically acclaimed by lazy critics as 'geniuses', but in Skip Spence’s case it actually seems to be true. Alas, the chances of a follow-up are zero as Spence died in 1999, after a long period of mental illness, drug addiction and alcoholism.
10. Pain
Swedish musician and producer Peter Tägtgren is probably best known to the outside world as a collaborator with Rammsten’s Till Lindemann on his Lindemann project and as a member of the Swedish death metal supergroup Bloodbath. But he also has his own solo project, Pain, which mixes metal with electronica.
Tägtgren plays all the instruments and handles the vocals on all of their releases, hiring musicians to perform his material live. Pain’s best known release is 2016’s Coming Home, which charted across Europe and Scandinavia. Fun fact: Tägtgren is known as the “mayor of Pärlby” as he owns the small village in which he resides.
11. Nine Inch Nails
Although most listeners traditionally categorize Nine Inch Nails as a conventional industrial rock band, the project operated strictly as a solo vehicle for Trent Reznor from its inception until 2016. Reznor functioned as the sole creative architect, meticulously crafting the group's and aggressive sonic identity in the studio.
On the groundbreaking 1989 debut album, Pretty Hate Machine, Reznor performed nearly every instrument and provided all the vocals, blending synth-pop sensibilities with mechanical angst. This approach birthed the massive hit single 'Head Like a Hole', which propelled industrial music into the mainstream consciousness.
It wasn't until nearly three decades later that long-time collaborator Atticus Ross was officially inducted as a permanent member, finally transforming the legendary moniker into a true duo.
12. Foo Fighters
One can hardly blame drummer Dave Grohl for embarking on a one-man project after Nirvana, but few could have predicted how successful Foo Fighters would become. The band’s 1995 self-tiled debut album was entirely written and performed by Grohl himself – a project that he has said he did for fun and as a cathartic release from the Nirvana experience and suicide of Kurt Cobain.
Harder rockin’ than Nirvana, it proved a commercial success, was nominated for a Grammy, and launched Grohl’s solo career in spectacular style.
Pics Getty Images. Top pic Dave Grohl as Foo Fighters, 1995
