What is your favorite "solo" album of all time?

I'm torn between Richard Wright's Wet Dream and Tony Banks' A Curious Feeling, both firm favourites of mine.

 

I would say Hot Rats by Frank Zappa, but I think he had broken up the original Mothers by then.

 

Greg Keelor's record is outstanding!

 

If I Could Only Remember My Name ~ David Crosby

 

Seeing Da Dweeze this evening..

 

Timothy B. Schmit - Expando (2009)

One of the best albums I've ever heard.

 

Chris Squire-Fish Out of Water
Pete Townsend- Chinese Eyes
Cant choose between the two but they are miles better than any others I can think of.

 

That's a really good one. While I usually prefer Roxy Music to Ferry solo, I like this one better than the 2 Roxy albums that followed (Manifesto and Flesh & Blood).

 

I don't know what that is, and with no band or album name, perhaps I never will ....

 

There's a large number of 'false entries' here (eg albums that do not meet the criteria/rules for inclusion). This tells me that when someone is part of a band, they are expected to submit their best material for consideration in the band context. For bandmembers to hold back their best material for a solo album while still maintaining a position in the band is not a healthy situation.

My favourite 'meets the thread rules' album is Women And Captains First by Captain Sensible while he was still with the Damned. Yet the success of the singles from that album caused a crisis in the band, which saw him out of the Damned from 1984-88.

 

Ferry's Bride Stripped Bare runs foul of the rules. It was recorded while Roxy Music were dissolved - in fact, had it performed better in the charts than it did in 1978 there might not have been any more Roxy Music albums.

 

If Every Picture Tells a Story counts, then that's my pick.

 

Thinking about it, I'll double-down on the definition of a true solo album: it ain't a solo album if the record company has a contract with the artist, not the band.

Thus, Paul McCartney isn't a solo artist outside of Wings, Tom Petty wasn't solo-ing on FULL MOON FEVER, and Bruce Springsteen albums are Bruce Springsteen albums, with or without the E-Street Band.

 

Joe Walsh-But Seriously Folks

 

I throughly enjoy Robert Plant - Pictures At Eleven

 

James Iha Let It Come Down

 

If Every Picture does not count, I would nominate:

Steve Hillage - Fish Rising

 

Dave Cousins 'Two Weeks Last Summer'.

Bought it near to its original release dates. Not long after. Pleased to say that I've heard him do most of this live in one form or another. Either solo, or with Brian Willoughby or even with the Strawbs (the mothership). Yes, it's of its time, but somehow ageless too. A fine collection of songs.

WIKI offer this:

Track listing
All songs written by Dave Cousins

1. "Two Weeks Last Summer" – (3:07)
2. "October to May" – (2:27)
3. "Blue Angel" – (9:48)
   "Divided"
   "Half Worlds Apart"
   "At Rest"
4. "That's the Way It Ends" (including "The World") – (3:00)
5. "The Actor" – (4:28)
6. "When You Were a Child" – (3:02)
7. "Ways and Means" – (4:22)
8. "We'll Meet Again Sometime" – (4:48)
9. "Going Home" – (3:24)

on the CD, the tracks "The World" and "That's the Way It Ends" are listed separately with timings of 1:45 and 1:15 respectively.

Personnel

• Dave Cousins – lead vocal, guitars, piano
• Dave Lambert – guitars, backing vocals
• Miller Anderson – lead guitar, slide guitar
• Jon Hiseman – drums, percussion
• Roger Glover – bass guitar
• Tom Allom – organ, backing vocals
• Rick Wakeman – organ, piano
• Tom Newman – backing vocals
• The Robert Kirby Wind Septet

The track "Going Home" is credited with personnel "Lampoon". The track had originally been planned as a Dave Lambert single before he joined Strawbs. Cousins replaced Lambert's vocals with his own and released it as a single. It is believed that the other musicians were Blue Weaver on keyboards, John Ford on bass guitar and Richard Hudson on drums. This would have been the first time that this new Strawbs line-up recorded together.

 

Every Picture Tells a Story wasn’t a side project, by that time The Faces were Rod’s side project.

 

Garcia-Garcia

 

Steven Wilson - Insurgentes (released when Porcupine Tree was still active and full time)

 

Barry Goudreau - 1980
Ace Frehley - 1978
Chris Squire - Fish Out Of Water
David Gilmour - 1978
Alice Cooper - Welcome To My Nightmare
Dr.Dre - The Chronic
Ken Hensley - Proud Words On A Dusty Shelf
Brian May - Star Fleet Project
Schon and Hamer - Here To Stay
Dirk Steffens - The Seventh Step

 

Mark Hollis solo album....by light years

 

Already mentioned once, but mine is Springsteen’s Nebraska. Fantastic album. My favourite in this category by a huge margin

 

Some great albums listed, I'll add Carl Wilson's 2 solo albums from the early 1980s, Carl Wilson and Youngblood.

Maybe a bit slick, but solid albums nonetheless.