Within the Miles Davis catalog, “Get Up With It” is pretty obscure. And it’s awesome.

Melvin Taylor & The Slack Band (self-titled)

one more, just one:

has a raw "spooky" quality >> Buddy Holly: From The Original Master Tapes

and I violated the question, which asked for one album.

Well, thanks, everybody, for the list... just mining this list is going to be a lot of fun.

Not really sure what qualifies as "obscure," as it is a relative term... but if you've only heard Springsteen's BTR and later albums, you're missing his best, imo:  The Wild, the Innocent, and the E Street Shuffle.

Or, when was the last time you heard John Denver...?  How about Rocky Mountain High album... 

Not really obscure if you're a Willie Nelson fan, but if you're not familiar, then: Red Headed Stranger or his gorgeous album Stardust... 

Simon and Garfunkle: Bookends.

And for you rockers, better than their BTO Greatest Hits album(s): Bachman Turner Overdrive: Not Fragile

T Rex: Electric Warrior

Thievery Corporation - The Mirror Conspiracy

Kalabi - Bloomin

il:lo - Meliadi

Khruangbin - Mr. White

Eric Hilton - Who are You?

Tor - Floxglove

Gary B - Passengers

Tycho - Simulcast

Yppah - Eighty One

Mathew Halsall Joyful Spirits of the Universe

Brothertiger - Fundamentals, Vol. II

A Forest Mighty Black - Mellowdramatic

Goose - Ted Tapes 2021

Tony Bird of Paradise

My 2 cents: 'That's the Way I Feel Now', a Thelonius Monk tribute double album from the 70's. Most of the artists covering Monk tunes, or should I say re-imagining them, are well known (eg Joe Jackson, Todd Rundgren, Peter Frampton, Dr John, NRBQ), but the album appears to be a rarity. There is a good CD too, also OOP, but it omits some of the wilder efforts of John Zorn and others.

@whart

Thank You for the explanation. This is all that I desired to hear that the Geman Re-Issue is Fine. Off to the Hunt.

There is a typo in your rec since it should be Kahvas Jute - Wide Open. I found the LP using Wide Open solely on discogs to find it.

Thanks again.

@djohn- at this point, I have the German reissue, which is fine and gettable for around $60 or so US. The OG is a big leap--there is one on Discogs now, asking 4 figures. I usually don’t pay that kind of money for any record. I’ve found that if I’m patient, I can sometimes land such a record much cheaper-- but I don’t like noisy or scratched records. So, at this point, unless you won the lottery or similar, I guess I’d recommend the German reissue from 1994. You will see a comment on Discogs from someone who said the OG is far more vivid. That would not surprise me. Great record, eh? Good hunting. This is part of the fun. :)

PS: stay very far away from the Akarma reissue-- those records are of questionable provenance and are uniformly bad sounding. 

@whart

I fell hard for your recommendation of Kahvas Jute – Wide Open.

Have to ask if you have the OG and or the German Re-Issue. There is really not much out there hence my query..

You're right Steve. His last two responses were grammatically correct with no spelling errors. Credit where it's due.😉

@roxy54

i am glad you continue to make the effort and hold us all to high standards 👍

his complaints and sarcasm notwithstanding, i think even juan’s writing has improved 🤣

@roxy54 Simply outstanding, so eloquent and articulate .

Enjoy the day no need to respond I am in awe. 

@juanmanuelfangioii 

You started it, I finished it. 

@roxy54 I am so hurt by your comment. You truly are a great, kind person and wordsmith that is beyond the pale. 

Please do have a wonderful day, you deserve it. 

Everybody knows about Marshall Crenshaw, but his first release was not the debut album on Warner Brothers---produced by Richard Gottehrer (Blondie's original producer, previously a member of The Strangeloves of "I Want Candy" renown), but rather a 2-song 12" 45 on Shake Records, produced by Alan Betrock, founder of the great New York Rocker Magazine.

"Surprised no one (roxy) did not rip into the OP for his typo 'odsure" when it is obscure."

@juanmanuelfangioii 

That's because his mistake was minor in comparison to the mess you make out of the English language.

Dang Bill, I forgot you put me in contact with Jim. I have his CD The Floating Zone right here in front of me, gonna give it another spin after dinner. Terry plays clavinet on one song.

Eric: you losing it bro. My buddy, Jim Hoke, played with them for a long time. We've seen them at festivals, at the Bottom Line, etc. Saw the splinter groups too. I'm a fan. Best,

@whart: Bill, If you haven't heard NRBQ, I think you might like them. Founding member/songwriter/singer/keyboardist (piano and clavichord) Terry Adams cites Sun Ra and Thelonious Monk as two major influences! A fantastic live performer, as is the band.

Khavas Jute – Wide Open

The OG is now a 4 figure record but there is a reissue circa 1994 from Germany, supposedly cut from the tape, that is decent for modest money. Although it is considered prog rock, it pushes hard on psych elements. Early Australian rock band-Bob Daisley, one of the founding members, is known for his later work with Chicken Shack, Ozzy, Gary Moore and Heep. 

Recommended. 

I just now scrolled through the whole thread, and found inspiration. A lotta great suggestions, some I had forgotten making myself. After subjecting ya’ll to my rant directly above, I thought the least I could do is make a constructive contribution to this excellent conversation.

But there are SO many what I think would be considered obscure albums in my music library, how to choose a few? I decided to go with the lesser known albums by some of my all-time favorite bands, groups, or artists, whether or not they themselves are obscure names.

- Old Enough by Lou Ann Barton. Her debut album, produced by the great Jerry Wexler (Aretha, Dylan, hundreds of others) and the not-so-great Glenn Frey. Though her debut solo album, she first gained notoriety in 1977 as the singer in Austin Texas band Triple Threat Revue, whose guitarist was the brother of Jimmie Vaughan of The Fabulous Thunderbirds. You may have heard of him: Stevie Ray. The album didn’t sell many copies (I bought mine on release day), nor did follow ups. Lou Ann sometimes goes on the road with Jimmie, and remains one of my favorite white chick singers.

- Speaking of The Fab T-Birds, their Tuff Enough album was produced by Dave Edmunds, relatively well known for his string of fantastic albums on Swan Song Records (personally signed by Robert Plant, a big fan) and his group with Nick Lowe, Rockpile (one great album), along with the albums he produced for The Stray Cats, The Everly Brothers, numerous others. Less well known are his first two albums: Rockpile (album title) on Regal Zonophone, and Subtle As A Flying Mallet on Rockfield Records. Not being a songwriter, both albums are comprised of covers of old songs, done as only Edmunds could. On both albums Dave sings all the parts, and plays most of the instruments. Rockpile contains his insanely great reinvention of the Smiley Lewis Blues, "I Hear You Knocking" (which features one of my three or four favorite guitar solos of all time), and on the last track of each LP side of SAAFM is a Chuck Berry song recorded live at the Top Rank pub in Cardiff, Wales (Edmunds is Welsh), his backing band being the UK band Brinsley Schwarz, whose bassist/singer/songwriter was Nick Lowe.

- Speaking of Rockpile (;-), when they played The Country Club in Reseda, CA in 1980, their opening act was Moon Martin. I was already aware of Moon (my ex-wife ran his fan club), whose debut solo album (he had previously been in the band Southwind, who had two albums released on Blue Thumb Records. Obscure enough for ya? ;-) Shots From A Cold Nightmare on Capitol Records is pure American Rock ’n’ Roll. Produced by Craig Leon, the album contains all killer/no filler songs, including "Bad Case Of Loving You" (later lamely covered by Robert Palmer) and "Cadillac Walk" (with a cool cover version by Mink DeVille). Musicians on the album include Phil Seymour (The Dwight Twilley Band) on drums and Gary Valentine (Blondie) on bass. The LP was mastered by Bob Ludwig. Buy it!

- Signed to Columbia Records in the wake of the success of the debut by The Knack, The Beat made one great s/t album. I saw them playing live around L.A. a number of times, and they were one of the most dynamic Power Pop bands that ever existed. Play the LP loud! Singer/Songwriter/rhythm guitarist Paul Collins had earlier been in a trio with Peter Case (The Plimsouls) and Jack Lee (writer of "Hangin’ On The Telephone"), named The Nerves. Their sole release---a 7" EP---is not only obscure, but rare and worth a coupla hundred bucks. I had two copies, sold one a few years back.

- Randy Newman is very well known, but his s/t debut album is unlike all that followed. Not in the least Rock ’n’ Roll, it sounds very "old" (in a good way). Fantastic songs performed on piano with accompaniment, heavily orchestrated. A remarkable debut by a superb songwriter.

- I’ve talked about this album before, but it bears repeating. My Life by Iris DeMent makes life worth living. Very respected by her peers (Emmylou Harris, Joan Osborne, John Prine, etc.), she writes songs no one else could. Some find her unique voice an acquired taste, but I find it delicious. So did Merle Haggard, who covered her devastating song "No Time To Cry", found on this album.

- Who owns and has listened to the Smile boxset? I consider Brian Wilson one of the few genuine near-geniuses Rock ’n’ Roll has produced, and Smile was to have been his ultimate artistic achievement. Alas, it was not to be. It’s too long a tale to fully tell here, but in short Smile was intended to be the story (lyrics by another near genius, Van Dyke Parks) of Manifest Destiny set to music. Aaron Copland would have approved ;-) .

dz13 - Yeah, I was a fan of Ultravox. I have at least three of their LPs. I'm pretty sure they're one more band I saw during my Sunset Strip night club-going days.

Yeah -- NRBQ. I'd forgotten how tight and fun they were.

Philip Cohran and The Artistic Heritage Ensemble - On The Beach

”Spritual” Jazz circa 1968. 
 

Obscure is SUCH a subjective matter. Some people are aware of the group Television, others aren’t. Same with The Skeletons/The Morells (same core members), a fantastic band out of Springfield, Missouri, whose fans include Dave Edmunds, Nick Lowe, Elvis Costello, and The Del-Lords (also obscure? Skeletons/Morells bassist Lou Whitney engineered and produced The Del-Lords Frontier Days album). I have all the Skeltons and Morells albums, and even saw them live. Skeletons drummer Bobby Lloyd Hicks (sadly passing away in 2017) also played in the bands of Dave Alvin and Steve Forbert.

Is Loudon Wainwright III obscure? How about Willie DeVille? Spooner Oldham? Dann Penn? Laverne Baker? Lou Ann Barton? Iris DeMent? Evan Johns? Danny Gatton? Al Anderson? Terry Adams? Mike Auldridge? John Wicks? Emitt Rhodes?

Record labels long operated by "pushing" only so many releases per fiscal quarter (their promotional budgets were not unlimited), using the other releases as tax write-offs. For every one Alison Krauss, there are a hundred Rhonda Vincent’s. For every one Rolling Stones, there are a hundred NRBQ’s. And NRBQ were/are very well known, at least amongst good musicians. I saw them live recently, and they were absolutely fantastic, far, Far, FAR better than The damned Rolling Stones. Why are people still interested in such a lame band? They stink, and have for years.

How about the great Garage Band The Lyres? Frontman/singer/Farfisa organist/songwriter Monoman (real name Jeff Conolly) is one of the greatest live performers I’ve ever seen (at Club Lingerie on Sunset Blvd.), like a Punk Jerry Lee Lewis. Legendary amongst fans of the Garage Band genre, totally unknown by, I’ll wager, everyone here. As are by most The Flamin’ Groovies, who are a much, much better live Rock ’n’ Roll band than are The Stones. Why aren’t they more well known? Do YOU own any of their albums? ;-)

Yes, of course musical taste is a huge factor. Casual music listeners have no interest in plowing the musical fields, looking for as yet unheard music. But even more serious listeners have long relied on major media to steer them towards new music. That will get you only so far; read interviews with musicians, singers, and songwriters, find out who THEY like. Following the bread crumbs back to the source also reaps great rewards. Once I had heard "Money (That’s What I Want)" by Barrett Strong, the version by The Beatles sounded like the pale imitation it is.

Most of ya’ll know of (and like, I presume) John Hiatt, but did you that know before his solo career he was member of a group named White Duck (terrible name!)? Their two albums on UNI Records are pretty hard to find, but not terribly expensive should you want to be a Hiatt completest.

Oh boy. First, a few recommendations already made that I would second:
The Go-Betweens "16 Lovers Lane" although I'm not sure how obscure that is.

Japan: Tin Drum

The Residents: Commercial Album

Pere Ubu: The Modern Dance

Since I tend to more obscure indie type bands my recommendations will go that way:

My first and the one I would make if you threatened to kill me unless I only make one is The Raincoats: Odyshape.  This is an amazing album for the band on their second album with only one skilled musician. The songs are not the typical formula and so can be difficult. Two main writers/singers. I think the song: Shouting Out Loud is one of my all-time favorite songs but it is not an easy listen.

Thin White Rope is a really inventive great band that very few people paid attention to. All of their albums are good but the most complete is Sack Full of Silver. 

Sleater Kinney's Dig Me Out when they were getting going is an awesome album.

The Jack Rubies: See the Money in My Smile is an album I bought by accident but ended up loving. 

Another accidental purchase was Mutants: Fun Terminal. Kind of fun showy indie rock. 

I don't know if this is obscure but it is Ultravox the John Foxx version, Systems of Romance. This album caused their label to drop them prior to the Midge Ure rebirth but, it is a dang great album and who knows what would have happened if people actually recognized that. 

These are all older ones and I don't know how obscure the more recent stuff is because everything is on Spotify or something. Margaret Glaspy's Emotions and Math, Pip Blom's Boat, MIYNT's various albums (online), Crumb's Jinx, 

"Fairytales" by Radka Toneff and Steve Dobrogosz from 1982. The original label Odin out of Norway just reissued the 40th anniversary vinyl from the master tapes. This album is Norway’s all-time best selling jazz album and was voted Norway’s #1 album of all-time based on votes from 100 of the country’s top musicians. Sadly, she committed suicide just 2 weeks after the albums release in 1982.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8i5fXjJX18M

@fast_mick

What a Great Recommendation!

I have ordered the first two LP’s from Blackspin Records in Greece with a very reasonable Shipping Cost.

On the hunt for the 3rd LP today.

If you like some vintage rock, try the Frost Music album.

ozzy

The Mermen - Food for Other Fish 

Psychedelic surf rock at its finest. 

The pride of Saint Louis:

Mama's Pride

Here are 4.  Just how obscure is admittedly open for debate.  Haven't gone through all 5 pages of this post.  If they were mentioned previously, all the better.

Jason Faulkner - Presents Author Unknown

Jim Boggia - Fidelity Is The Enemy

The Orange Peels - Sun Moon

mewithoutyou - Pale Horses

Surprised no one (roxy) did not rip into the OP for his typo 'odsure" when it is obscure.

Junior Kimbrough: Meet Me In The City 

Eric Quincy Tate Group  "Drinking Man's Friend"

a neo Psychedelic classic if you like that style. 

The Dolly Rocker Movement, they have 3 albums but to me the pick is The Ecstacy Once Told which is their 3rd Album.

Black Dub -- superb musicianship and great vocals -- and well recorded, as you'd expect from Daniel Lanois production.

@roxy54   +1

Herbie Hancock - River - The Joni Letters

His reimaginings of Joni Mitchell songs. It's very good and the sound recording is good too.

Mother’s Finest- “Another Mother Further”

I feel so old ’cuz I have never heard of most these bands. Nonetheless:

Ben and Jason ... Emoticons

The Tourists ... Reality Effect

The Three O’Clock ... Arrive Without Travelling

Provacative Percussion Volume 2 - Command records.

Buddy Rich & Alla Rakha - Rich a la Rakha

Modern Eon - Fiction Tales

@edcyn 

I remember Pere Ubu's 'The Modern Dance' when it came out.

Around 2015 I was revisiting some of my music of old. Got a copy from the library - thinking I couldn't bear David Thomas's squawking - although it was at least worth a listen.

It's really good, and is on my regular playlist.

Con Brio-From the Hip

Pere Ubu -- The Modern Dance. 1970's Punk Primitive Psychotic. Did I see them live at the Whiskey?