Only KISS could get away with putting out four solo albums, three of them awful, and then issuing a fourth “best of the solo albums” record as though there was a bumper crop of great new songs to celebrate.
Major cash was forked out for the albums. Gene Simmons, Paul Stanley, Ace Frehley and Peter Criss could bring in whomever they wanted. Special artwork was commissioned for the sleeves, and each album was issued with a poster designed to connect to the other three — all of which was done to entice fans to buy all four. The only one you need. of course, is Frehley’s. It’s actually a great album.
In fact, here’s how my version of Best Of The Solo Albums would look:
Not only is Ace’s 1978 solo album the best of the four, it’s the best one he ever did, and better than anything else any of his bandmates ever did as a solo artist. This got me thinking about other popular bands in my record collection, and the solo albums assorted with them. Whose was the best? Whose was the worst? I decided now was the time to judge as many as I could find in my collection, and come up with a “best of the solo albums” for each of them. Two stipulations, though — they have to be solo albums, not albums with a different band or duo. And the playlist has to be restricted to just a single LP length, max.
Sounds cool, huh? Here we go…
The Beatles
The best of the solo albums has got to be George Harrison’s All Things Must Pass from 1970. It’s closely followed by John Lennon’s Plastic Ono Band (1970) and Imagine (1971). Paul McCartney’s McCartney (1970) is sweet, and yeah, I love Ram — but since Paul was adamant that it’s a “Paul & Linda McCartney” album, I’m not including it. Anyway, it’s all got to fit on a single LP.
Pink Floyd
Not as many hit records here as the individual members of The Beatles enjoyed, but some interesting output just the same. I think the best of the solo albums was Syd Barrett’s debut, The Madcap Laughs (1970). I have a few favourites, though, like Nick Mason’s Fictitious Sports (1981), David Gilmour (1978) and Is This The Life We Really Want? (2017).
The Rolling Stones
There’s no contest when it comes to who had the best solo albums: It was Keith Richards, and it was Talk Is Cheap (1988). Mick Jagger’s solo records are sadly lacking, and Mick Taylor’s meagre solo output isn’t good enough to force its way into this collection. Bill Wyman’s solo stuff is dumb, and Charlie Watts only worked with bands. So, this is pretty much all Keith and Ron Wood. Brian Jones only made a “Brian Jones presents…” album with The Pipes Of Pan At Joujouka, and sadly died before he could write the next chapter.
Led Zeppelin
Well, John Bonham never made a solo album, but the others certainly did. In keeping with my rules — The Firm, Coverdale-Page, Robert Plant & Alison Krauss, Them Crooked Vultures and The Honeydrippers are not allowed. Gotta be solo. Apologies to Jimmy and John Paul Jones. It’s not like there are no good songs on your solo records, but none of them are as good as these Robert Plant songs. His beest solo albums are Mighty ReArranger (2005) and Lullaby And The Ceaseless Roar (2014).
The Who
Here’s a bit of a weird one, as none of them really made a great solo record. The upside here is we should get a fairly balanced playlist. Sadly, Keith Moon’s lone solo album, Two Sides Of The Moon (1975), isn’t on Spotify — and I quite like it. Roger Daltrey’s albums are universally terrible. The best solo album is probably one of John Entwistle’s first two; let’s go with his second one, Whistle Rhymes (1972). The songs on those albums are better than most of the stuff on Who By Numbers (1975) and Who Are You (1978). What’s weird is that his third solo album (1973’s Rigor Mortis Sets In) is goddamned awful. In fact, his solo catalog kind of goes to shit after those first two albums. His fifth, 1981’s Too Late The Hero, is nearly decent because it doesn’t try to be as witty as the previous two. It’s hard to listen to the album’s penultimate song, though — Love Is A Heart Attack — considering that’s how he’d meet his end 20 years later.
Crosby Stills & Nash
If I chose CSNY, this playlist would be mostly Neil Young. That’s not to say that I think he made the best solo album of any of them. In fact, as far as I’m concerned, Graham Nash made the best solo album of the four — 1970’s Songs For Beginners. For what it’s worth (no pun intended), Nash probably wouldn’t have made it if Joni Mitchell hadn’t broken his heart. As for the others, personally, I’ve never really warmed to Stephen Stills. David Crosby, though, has a handful of gems. Let’s see how I make this fit onto a single LP.
Fleetwood Mac
Man, oh man, this is a bit of a tricky one. There have almost been more people in Fleetwood Mac than not. Most of them have made a solo album, too — often with each other. Jerks. Anyway, I’ll give it a go.
Faces
I think Ronnie Lane did his best work as a member of Faces. Rod Stewart’s career may have gotten more and more successful, but the song quality seemed to drop off in equal proportion. Hard to find anything I dug after 1978 (and I didn’t even include that one due to time constraints). Ronnie Wood is the one member of the band whose material is just as good now as it ever was. His 2001 album Not For Beginners has some absolute gems on it. For me, though, the best solo album of the bunch is Rod’s Never A Dull Moment from 1972, followed by Ronnie’s sophomore offering, Now Look (1975). Ian McLagan has some decent material, but not good enough for this one-LP set… and Kenney Jones never made a solo album.
Roxy Music
This one is probably more even than most people would think — chiefly because I really like Phil Manzanera’s music. I don’t love Brian Ferry all that much, truth be told. But Brian Eno is a god. So much of his music is incredibly important to me, so he dominates this one-LP playlist. Drummer Paul Thompson doesn’t reall have any solo albums per se, and I’m kinda unfamiliar with Andy Mackay’s solo output, though I do see his two ’70s solo releases quite often in the discount bins. The best solo album of them all is Eno’s Another Green World from 1975.
Genesis
Well, let’s see… Tony Banks’ songs are some of my favourite Genesis tracks. Sadly, I find his solo stuff rather boring and slightly self-indulgent. Steve Hackett’s stuff is slightly boring and wildly self-indulgent. It does, however, sound the most like classic Genesis. In fact, he does whole albums of Genesis material. Mike Rutherford has precious little solo stuff in his own name — most of it is via Mike & The Mechanics, thus it doesn’t count. That leaves Phil Collins and Peter Gabriel. I really love Phil, but his best material was with Genesis. My favourite Genesis album is Abacab, so I mean what I say. But, when it comes to solo albums, nobody tops Peter Gabriel. His best is probably So (1986), but I have a real affection for his self-titled second album, dubbed Scratch.
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Area Resident is an Ottawa-based journalist, recording artist, music collector and re-seller. Hear (and buy) his music on Bandcamp, email him HERE, follow him on Instagram and check him out on Discogs.
