QUIRKEH.

I love quirky albums. Albums with a twisted sense of fun and what is musically “acceptable”. Albums that allow countless genres collide as if it were perfectly natural. Albums that say “yeah… I like the samba vibe… it could just do with a little more sackbut.” I therefore give you thirty of my favourite quirky albums in no order at all!

Note - These aren't exclusively prog albums, but that's not the point.

Focus – Hamburger Concerto



Delicate baroque melodies juxtaposed with meaty jazz-rock solo competitions, whistling, yodelling, and latin chanting... This is a quirky record and no mistake.

Gentle Giant – Octopus



Maybe not their best album but certainly their most quirky. Every track is distinctly odd in its own special way. I've chosen the controversial non-Dean US cover here. Why? 'Cause it's quirkier.

Bonzo Dog Band – The Doughnut in Granny’s Greenhouse



Kings of British Pointlessness!

Cardiacs – A Little Man and a House and The Whole World Window



A hyperactive pronk album with influences from Gentle Giant, Van Der Graaf, and darling of the avant garde Frank Zappa. Speaking of which...

Frank Zappa – Lumpy Gravy




The way I see it, Barry, this should be a very dynamite show...

5uu’s – Hunger’s Teeth



Dark, humorous and uncompromising. Touching on genres as far flung as surf rock and barber shop in a distinctly American RIO package.

Alamaailman Vasarat – Käärmelautakunta



"Horny and punky secret agent brass music"? "Kosher kebab jazz"? Count me in!

Faust - Faust



Oh yes indeed.

Banda Elastica - Los Awakates de Nepantla



Relatively unknown Mexican RIO/fusion band. A lot more creative than you might expect.

Samla Mammas Manna – Maltid



Am I alone in my love of the vocals on this album?

Forever Einstein – Down With Gravity



It ought not to be listenable, but by 'eck it is!

Captain Beefheart – Shiny Beast (Bat Chain Puller)



Sh*ts on Trout Mask Replica.

French TV – The Violence of Amateurs



You can tell they're having a whale of a time on this record.

Gryphon – Raindance



Are you surprised to see them listed amongst this lot? I'm surprised the toured with Yes!

Robert Wyatt – Shleep



Undoubtedly the bearded-and-wheeled one's most underrated album.

Höyry-Kone - Hyönteisiä Voi Rakastaa



To beging with you may think of Magma or King Crimson. Track four's more likely to bring to mind Aphex Twin. Get the point?

Area - 1978 Gli Dei Se Ne Vanno Gli Arrabbiati Restano!



Not their best but certainly their most musically diverse.

Taal – Skymind



I will not stop mentioning this album until other people start to instead.

Kevin Ayers – Shooting at the Moon



Everything from French cafe pop to avant garde noise experiments. Lovely.

Maxophone – Maxophone



A very creative Italian album. Fase seems to change style every four bars.

Hamster Theatre – Carnival Detournement



RIO circus music. Rather contrived but a lot of fun for those who fancy it.

Soft Machine – Vol 2



A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z *cough*

The Residents - Duck Stab/Buster and Glenn



Giant eyes in top hats! What's not to love?!

They Might Be Giants – Apollo 18



Designed for use with the shuffle function by containing a range of tiny, absurd bridges which may or may not punctuate the songs. Now THAT'S what I call creativity!

Thinking Plague – In Extremis



Modern RIO at it's best.

Sleepytime Gorilla Museum – Of Natural History



To hear is to understand. Or not. And wonder how on earth anyone ever could. What'll it be for you?

The Muffins - Manna/Mirage



Very creatively arranged American canterbury. Nice recorder bits.

Absolute Zero – Crashing Icons



If only every band could be as advenurous as this...

SO! That's that. Apologies to dial-up users, but I adore a lot of these album covers and I thought it'd add the list a little something extra. If any of these look enticing then go out, try them and see! You might be surprised at just how good they are.

I like the music of Gentle Giant, Cardiacs, 5uu's, Samla Mammas Manna, Gryphon, Hamster Theatre, Thinking Plague, The Residents and They Might Be Giants.

I have  yet to listen to Taal, Alamaailman Vasarat and Robert Wyatt.

Sooner or later I will also revisit the worlds of Zappa, Focus and Beefheart (I didn't  really understand them when I first encountered them 30 odd years ago).

Funnily enough I have always liked music with a strong element of Zappa-ism, like the aforementioned Cardiacs and

Godley & Creme (especially their first two albums):

                        

Consequences                 and                     L

One of the quirkiest things I've ever heard is kind of Beefheart-esque, though:

A fierce Pancake  by Stump (could be classified as Pronk).

 

Slapp Happy's entire output is what you find when you look up 'quirky' in the dictionary. A fine and utterly unclassifiable album emerged from the same stable - Greaves and Blegvad's Kew Rhone, while Peter Blegvad has carved himself a niche as a singer songwriter with a remarkable gift for striking and poetic lyrics.

Sun Ra lived his entire life out where the buses don't run, and released the maddest jazz in creation to prove it. Nobody really knows how many albums he made.

Harry Partch and Moondog were another two great American iconoclasts who prove that Zappa and Beefheart were continuing a tradition as much as they were innovating.

And David Thomas (Pere Ubu) is doing his best to keep the tradition alive.