"Black sheep" albums you like

A.S.A.P.: Silver And Gold (some people still trash Adrian doing AOR)
Glenn Danzig: Black Aria
Def Leppard: Slang
Bruce Dickinson: Skunkworks
Dokken: Shadowlife
Faith No More: King For A Day...Fool For A Lifetime
Halford: Halford 3 - Winter Songs
Jesus Jones: Perverse
Judas Priest: Nostradamus
Yngwie Malmsteen: Concerto Suite For Electric Guitar And Orchestra In E Flat Minor Op. 1
Megadeth: So Far, So Good...So What!, The System Has Failed (these are both divisive, though many do herald both as upper tier Megadeth albums)
Operation: Mindcrime: The Key, Resurrection, The New Reality (I was willing to follow Tate down the rabbit hole into prog rock, while many others weren’t)
Pat Boone: In A Metal Mood: No More Mr. Nice Guy (hilarious!)
Rush: Presto, Vapor Trails (seems like people have turned against the latter over time)
Skyclad: Oui Avant-Garde A Chance, The Answer Machine?
 
Ascendingthethrone said:
I’m more of a ‘Roll the Bones’ guy. That’s a black sheep album.
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It is, and I think it gets more crap than it deserves, but it’s got a few issues.

To me the black sheep Rush albums would be Caress Of Steel, Hold Your Fire, Presto, Roll The Bones, Test For Echo, and Vapor Trails. You could argue for Permanent Waves or Signals at the time, I suppose, but I think history has retroactively blessed those two.

I seem to remember Vapor Trails being well liked at the time of its release, but I’ve seen general opinion on it sour over time, largely because of its production issues. To me it’s still a top 5 Rush album.
 
Let’s see...

Iron Maiden: The X Factor, Virtual XI
Metallica: Load
Lou Reed / Metallica: Lulu
The Beatles: Yellow Submarine (the orchestral Side B is actually pretty cool)
Bruce Dickinson: Tattooed Millionaire, Skunkworks
Sabaton: Metalizer (it’s not that bad, really, it’s just typical power metal. I prefer it over The Last Stand, too)
A.S.A.P.: Silver and Gold
Buckethead: Bermuda Triangle (unsure of whether it counts or not, but it’s one of his electronica albums so it’s a weird one in his discography. My favorite BH album though)
Iced Earth: Iced Earth, The Glorious Burden (they have their issues, but overall they’re pretty fun)
Carcass: Swansong
Meat Loaf: Dead Ringer, Midnight at the Lost and Found, Bad Attitude, Blind Before I Stop (‘80s Meat Loaf is still pretty fun, better than his missteps in other decades I’d say)
Nightwish: Angels Fall First (and I guess you could make an argument for H/N too, because it’s been pretty divisive, but it was a pretty big success for Nightwish so I won’t, haters can bite me :P )

Additionally, from the Steinman Cinematic Universe:
Jim Steinman: Bad for Good
Bonnie Tyler: Secret Dreams and Forbidden Fire
Pandora’s Box: Original Sin
Don’t know if these really count, but they weren’t big successes and SD&FF was considered a big step down from Faster Than the Speed of Night. I think it’s great.
 
Jer said:
It is, and I think it gets more crap than it deserves, but it’s got a few issues.

To me the black sheep Rush albums would be Caress Of Steel, Hold Your Fire, Presto, Roll The Bones, Test For Echo, and Vapor Trails. You could argue for Permanent Waves or Signals at the time, I suppose, but I think history has retroactively blessed those two.

I seem to remember Vapor Trails being well liked at the time of its release, but I’ve seen general opinion on it sour over time, largely because of its production issues. To me it’s still a top 5 Rush album.
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I got into in Rush via Roll the Bones, A Show of Hands and Roll the Bones (my uncle had those in his car on a trip to Scotland one year). I can see why some people probably dislike them if they got into Rush via the earlier albums. They are very different. However there are many great hooks, riff and melodies on those albums.

I haven't given Vapor Trails much of a listen. I will put it in the car this week.
 
Definitely, also I was told for years Fly on the Wall was shit, so I never bought it. When I did pick it up, it wasn't great but nowhere near being as shit as was claimed, Shake your Foundations is great.
 
Perun said:
Test for Echo is a black sheep?
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Ascendingthethrone said:
I’m more of a ‘Roll the Bones’ guy. That’s a black sheep album.
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Jer said:
Rush: Presto, Vapor Trails (seems like people have turned against the latter over time)
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I think the best '90s Rush album was easily Counterparts, although I don't know if that's the popular opinion or just mine.

Jer said:
Megadeth: The System Has Failed
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I love that album. It's very consistent, and one of the band's strongest by far.

Diesel 11 said:
Metallica: Load
Iced Earth: The Glorious Burden
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Love them both. Don't care if one has country and the other has Ripper.
 
srfc said:
Definitely, also I was told for years Fly on the Wall was shit, so I never bought it. When I did pick it up, it wasn't great but nowhere near being as shit as was claimed, Shake your Foundations is great.
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…And Sink the Pink :D
 
Detective Beauregard said:
I think the best '90s Rush album was easily Counterparts, although I don't know if that's the popular opinion or just mine.
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I think that is the prevailing opinion on 90s Rush, and I probably agreed with it when the album was new — but over time I’ve really soured on the songwriting on that album. The production of the record felt a lot thicker and livelier than Presto and Roll The Bones, and I think that was a big factor in the positive reaction from the fans.

Forced to choose between Roll The Bones, Counterparts, and Test For Echo, I would choose Roll The Bones for sure.
 
Black Sabbath - Headless Cross
Dream Theater - Black Clouds And Silver Linings
Guns N' Roses - Chinese Democracy (not nearly as much as the two above)
Led Zeppelin - Houses Of The Holy (While not entirely a true "Black Sheep Album" it is a real different album comparred to those before and Physical Graffiti)
Queen - A Kind Of Magic & Innuendo
Scorpions - In Trance
W.A.S.P. - Golgotha
Whitesnake - Lovehunter

The bottom 4 of the list are very high up in choices for top album by the band although I haven't seen many others rank them this high.
 
Some that come to mind

Black Sabbath-Born Again and Eternal Idol
Dream Theater- Systematic Chaos
Metallica - ReLoad
Queensryche- Tribe
Red Hot Chili Peppers -One Hot Minute
Rush- Hold Your Fire
Sum 41- Underclass Hero
The Who- It's Hard
 
Ascendingthethrone said:
I haven't given Vapor Trails much of a listen. I will put it in the car this week.
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Despite the production issues, I would still recommend the original mix over the remix — it’s got more fire and the vocal harmonies make more sense. But if you wind up liking the album then the remix is worth a listen as well, since a handful of songs come off a little better and the raw sound is better.

I posted some thoughts on these versions of the album a while back.
 
Cornfed Hick said:
These are not "black sheep" albums at all. They are generally well-regarded classics.

Any Dream Theater album is arguably a black sheep album. (Zing!)
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As mentioned I have rarely if ever seen them held at the top echelon of albums by said band, but I am glad to hear that is the opinion.
 
Let's see...
Judas Priest - Jugulator, Demolition, Nostradamus, Turbo (the latter was a commercial success but poorly regarded by tr00 metal fans).
Iron Maiden - X Factor, Virtual XI
Iced Earth - The Glorious Burden, Framing Armageddon
Blaze Bayley - The King of Metal (Kidding.)
Queensryche - Hear in the Now Frontier, half of Q2K, Tribe
Geoff Tate - Operation Mindcrime 2 (titled as Queensryche, but in reality a solo effort)
Halford's christmas stuff
Skid Row - Subhuman Race
 
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