Great songs from not-great albums

[elendil]

All right, here's a thread idea to take my mind off everything wrong with the world and my life. What are some mediocre or even downright bad albums that nevertheless boast a superb song?

To me two albums leap out immediately when I think of this contrast. The first is super-obscure: Dark Symphonies released an album from a Spanish band called User Ne, _Atropa Natura_. I bought it because I liked the download track, "Vientos Ne Mar." Nice bagpipes! Definitely recommended for fans of stuff like Eluveitie. But the album as a whole is really a stinker, and I don't say that lightly. This is the sort of mistake that no longer happens in the era of Youtube and streaming.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=POdcsCfzRy0

The second is the album _Vilosophe_ from Manes. It's a sort of electronic post-black metal album with virtually no metal left in it and a lot of experimentation. It sounded interesting conceptually, but the only track I could hack is "Ende," and it's pretty marvelous. Nice melodic vocal lines with percussion and electronics reminiscent of some of The Gathering's later work.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OIeSI3Qa43w

There are other, less extreme contrasts I can think of, but these two I've always thought of as the archetypes of the phenomenon. What are yours?

[GaetanL]

This is not an easy one...

I'm thinking of Dokken - "Breaking The Chains" album.

Only the title track is very good (but I would not say great).

[Christen Østergaard]

My choice would be "I'm in Love with My Car" from Queen's "A Night at the Opera". This is a proper rock song without the twee shenanigans that typically blight much of Queen's music and certainly the rest of the album.

[EnchantED]

Here are some songs I was thinking of:

Fear of the Dark - Iron Maiden
The Odyssey - Symphony X
Kingdom of Loss - Pain of Salvation

[elendil]

"Fear of the Dark" is a good one. Not sure I've gotten around to listening to _Scarsick_ (reviews scared me off).

[GaetanL]

To me, the album "Fear of the dark" is excellent as a whole... not only the title track...

[LarryD]

The Odyssey - Symphony X

^^^THIS +1 for sure !!!!!

[Christen Østergaard]

When All Is Lost - Symphony X. A stark reminder that the rest of Iconoclast was a trite and second-rate record.

[Mardoch]

Got us some spicy hot SX takes goin on in here!

[elendil]

Tell me about it! I think _The Odyssey_ is a fine album. _Iconoclast_ I really didn't care for stylistically.

[MitchG]

My choice would be "I'm in Love with My Car" from Queen's "A Night at the Opera". This is a proper rock song without the twee shenanigans that typically blight much of Queen's music and certainly the rest of the album.

Whaaaaaa? You would discount "The Prophet's Song" and "Bohemian Rhapsody"? Heresy. And "twee shenanigans" is what makes Queen so great.

[Sir Exar Kun]

Easy answer for me on this one..... Mordred's "Falling Away".... This was a blind buy MidKnight made back in the day for like $3 or something, but almost the entire album is a rap/rock mix and basically unlistenable...... But then comes THIS song..... The change into the chorus and the chorus itself...... Amazing how starkly different it is from the rest of the disc.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ep94iPgLPow

As for Symphony X, "Odyssey" isn't a bad album by any means, just not up to the usual SX standards..... And Iconoclast is VERY underappreciated. I'll take that disc over "Paradise Lost" or "Odyssey" personally.

[elendil]

I like that song; thanks for sharing. It does sound very 1991, not that that's a bad thing!

[LarryD]

As for Symphony X, "Odyssey" isn't a bad album by any means, just not up to the usual SX standards..... And Iconoclast is VERY underappreciated. I'll take that disc over "Paradise Lost" or "Odyssey" personally.

*** + ME !!!!