Great Musicians With Very Little Recorded Material
 

With all of the prolific artists who get a lot of clout, I thought it'd be interesting to explore the other end of the spectrum. The artists who put out barely any albeit incredible work are often victims of label risk aversion and sometimes it's just a matter of avoiding overstaying one's welcome. Sometimes they do a whoopsie and die on us.

Post your favourite non-prolific artists and speculate widely as to why they don't have a Zorn-level sprawling discography while you're at it. If it's a little less clear than death, feel free to tell us why these artists have taken a step back if you're hip to the reasoning.

I'll kick it off with the explosive and exceptionally expressive jazz drumming of Hiroshi Yamazaki. He appeared on Kaoru Abe's Jazz Bed recorded in 1971 and Otomo Yoshihide's 14.11.16 with Evan Parker, but apart from that it's total radio silence. This one feels like a lack of a market unfortunately, but in a perfect world, there would be an excellent collab with Masayuki Takayanagi, among other things.

One can make a strong case that Robert Johnson is the most influential musician of the 20th C and his complete recordings are just slightly over 100 minutes.

Reason: 27 Club 1938

Absolutely.

In the vein of older artists, Norma Tanega seems like her work was cut short

Norma Tanega?

Your autocorrect must really be getting over zealous

*Closa Noughega

https://www.musicbanter.com/2057431-post515.html

me

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped..._the_world.jpg

The Shaggs

They created their own musical universe and left those who get it stunned by their brilliance.

The Shaggs are just proto no wave

The Dead Boys

I also think they’re one of the most under discussed bands on Music Banter

Just broke up

Very obvious one for obvious reasons but The Sex Pistols

cuz they don't have much material in the first place?

they have a ton of live albums but it's allthe same stuff

I'm just hella retarded

I was thinking of live material

The death ones are almost too easy.

Joy Division

Death

Syd Barrett (solo)

Off the top of my head, Hermann Szobel.



He made one amazing jazz fusion / avant-prog album in 1976 and then vanished. The mystery doesn't stop there, however. Even his Wikipedia page reads he "is/was a pianist and composer". So, he may or may not be dead? He made his one album at the age of 18.

Last seen as a crazy homeless dude in Jerusalem who thinks he’s Jesus.

That’s a good one.

Perry Leopold was a genius but has very little out there overall.

guess it might not count since Rudimentary Peni would in fact go on to be quite prolific, but there's not even four whole minutes of Magits music and that's a shame

when your sole album is among the greatest ever made then that's a cool legacy in itself

Back when we use to plug together I would play "Walkin' My Cat Named Dog" and "A Street That Rhymes At 6 A.M." I am surprised you mentioned her, outside of Captain Beefheart I thought we had nothing in common. I actually played those two songs more times than Chula Vista played Peter Frampton "Show Me the Way."

Norma only released two albums on her own, but recorded nine albums with various group projects. For those reasons stated I don't know how to place her. Is she a prolific or non-prolific artist? I trust you with whatever criterion you used to describe her as non-prolific.

Hank "Sugarfoot" Garland - Sugarfoot Rag

Hank Garland was part of the Nashville A-Team. He recorded a four solo albums in the span of two years. Then in September 1961 he was in an automobile accident that ended his recording career.

John Chowning - Stria

John Chowning invented FM synthesis while working at Stanford University in the late 60s. Stanford licensed it to Yamaha in the 70s and it took till the 80s where it became a household item. The the most popular FM synthesizer was the DX7 which was used by Brian Eno to A-ha. In some elusive way John Chowning changed the soundscape of music.

For whatever reason John Chowning did not pursue recording and releasing music, which I think is a shame. If anyone in the world I released more albums it would be John Chowning. The one album of his work is a collection of four compositions he recorded over the span of several years. His last composition was in '05.

That’s an album that I’ve kept in regular rotation on Spotify but I never realized his recorded output was so small.

Some interesting performances of “voices” (not on album) on yt.

the Sex Pistols

https://cdn.gbposters.com/media/cata...cover-1.11.jpg

Late

ooooops missed this!



cannibal ox did a great record, then just a single i think. dissapeared almost completely (the occassional appearance as a guest mc here and there) and then 15 years or so later did a reunion album i think they shouldnt do and you shouldnt hear and that shouldnt exist..

their debut was produced by el-p and was released by his label def jux, i think they had some trouble with el and i dunno if they were on contract or something but surely they didnt wanna colab with him or hos label. thats supposed to be the reason they didnt follow up the cold vein (that was relatively succesful at the time) with anything the next couple of years. after that they seemed to be confused about the producer they should work with.. vast aire made at least one solo album that didnt go well and i think that was it for the next decade.....

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...heColdVein.jpg

Stick Men with Ray Guns

too crazy

Biggie

Scott La Rock

(Unsolved murders)

Plus the fact they were like only teens/young adults and recorded it in their bedroom on a portable tape recorder with instruments they could lug around with them.

Psychic Youth - The Future is Now

The only thing I know exist by Psychic Youth is a 45 according to discog.com. This is B side and infinitely better than a majority of bands' A side. Thirty-seven years later it still sounds like music fifty years into the future.

Sibylle Baier - Tonight

Sibylle Baier recorded her songs on a home reel-to-reel tape back in the 70s, but she never really pursued a recording career. It was years latter that her son had the tapes transferred to CD. He passed one off to J Mascis and he liked it so much he got the album released commercially.

Karen Dalton - It Hurts Me Too

Karen Dalton was part of the Greenwich Village Folk scene and for as many years she put into performing there is little recording material left behind.

They're under discussed cause they're a generic brand Stooges/Rocket from the Tombs-on-life-support. I mean they're totally listenable and even fun but they're a footnote.

They were just the band David Thomas and Peter Laughner booted out of Rocket from the Tombs to form a better band, after which those guys just became a Rocket from the Tombs cover band, right? If I'm wrong then educate me. I'm not that up on Dead Boys cause I thought they were boring at first and now I just think they're okay.

You know who Stiv Bators was?

a footnote with one of the most revered punk anthems of all time

they were still heralded as among the hardest rocking

Nobody mentioned Germs yet? One of Bruce's favorite bands, so I've heard some of their singles and two live albums. They released only one studio album, (GI). The lead singer died young, I guess, but what's more interesting than his death is the fact that Belinda Carlisle was, for a short time, the drummer!



John Lennon was murdered the day after Darby Crash's intentional heroin overdose, so no one knows about the suicide of Germs' vocalist.

Germs >>> Dead Boys

I know the name but I know nothing about him.

A song from Rocket from the Tombs. Does that not make them a Rocket from the Tombs cover band?

yesir

I'm not up on my Dead Boys knowledge either tbh

I like Overkill's version better

Totes, but Dead Boys' version is legit pretty fire. I won't rob them of that.

ain't no Search and Destroy tho

The Momes



Cromagnon



Oidupaa Vladimir Oiun