Doug's Top 10 Transitional Albums
Not totally sure this is a thing as a full fledged category, but for me some of my favorite albums of all time are the albums that capture a band right between two phases of their career or a merging of two distinct styles that define much of their catalogue. I think of them as transitional albums and frankly not many bands really have them. It might even be a stretch to call all 10 of these transitional.
Many bands keep a pretty distinct style throughout, or some may make a leap from raw to accomplished and never look back. Others change direction drastically at some point and that’s it. But a few started down a path without leaving the old one completely behind and for a moment were suspended between the two in a way they would never be again, and these moments yielded the albums I’m talking about here…
These are not “ranked” from 1 to 10, but they are my top 10 indeed…
*Also, if you’re inclined to purchase any of these albums you can click on the album covers and it will take you to my affiliate links on Amazon (these are mostly the links to the vinyl if available) and I will indeed potentially get a small commission on the purchase!
Doug’s Top 10 Transitional Albums
1) The Beatles - Revolver (1966)
The Beatles - Revolver - Capitol
The Beatles actually started to transition a little on Rubber Soul by adding some new studio elements and the first appearance of George Harrison sitar for example on “Norwegian Wood”, but Revolver truly sounds like a transitional album where they are firmly in between the early Beatles style and the full leap to a psychedelic and more modern sound along with the leaving behind of live performance with Sgt. Pepper’s. You actually get the sense that “Tomorrow Never Knows” literally points us to the future right down to the title as the thrilling, swirling, droning and trippy closing track.
2) U2 - The Unforgettable Fire (1984)
U2 - The Unforgettable Fire - Island
This is one of my favorite albums of all time. It was the last album U2 made before they became international megastars with The Joshua Tree which was a polished blast of amazing bombast and catapulted them to heights that would impact the rest of their career with a creative peak they wouldn’t reach again. But before that happened U2 moved on a bit from their slightly more high energy early albums for a vibe on The Unforgettable Fire that is a bit more ethereal and mature and captures them in a spot that can’t be recreated. That’s not to say it doesn’t rock in places, or that it doesn’t contain an anthem or two, but there is something about this album that is really special to me and there’s not quite another like it. It probably doesn’t hurt that it was recorded in a castle…
3) Danzig - 4 (1993)
Danzig - 4 - American Recordings
The first 3 Danzig albums are relatively straightforward - and they’re fantastic. Sure there are some varied styles in there but they don’t stray too far. Glenn Danzig decided to really experiment starting with the sacking of his backing band for the industrial electronic mess that was Danzig 5 and the mixed results of the albums that came after, but in between came Danzig 4 - a creative peak in my opinion that includes some really cool elements. As Steve Huey puts it in his AllMusic.com review “Danzig’s experiments with using texture and atmosphere to evoke their trademark mood of darkness and evil come to the forefront on their fourth full-length album” which is spot on. Songs like “Dominion” and “Son Of The Morning Star” are just so cool and deliciously dark…
4) The Cure - The Top (1984)
The Cure - The Top - Elektra
The first 4 Cure albums were pretty minimalistic and relatively uniform and/or dark, culminating with arguably the darkest goth standard with Pornography in 1982. By 1985 The Cure was off and running on more varied pop and whimsical styles with The Head On The Door even though they would indeed return to mood and darkness with Disintegration in 1989, but by then they were megastars. In between these two eras sits The Top. Released in 1984 it’s a departure from the first 4 albums, but not completely. It’s all over the map with a couple tunes that sound like they wouldn’t have been completely out of place on an album like Faith such as the hypnotic title closer, but also includes Far Eastern elements they would explore on future releases for example like on “Bird Mad Girl” and full on whimsy like “The Caterpillar”. This album is a blueprint for future Cure albums and yet it doesn’t resemble a coherent blueprint for anything at the same time, and that’s why it’s awesome.
5) Ministry - Twitch (1986)
Ministry - Twitch - Music On Vinyl
Firmly in between two directions with this one. Ministry basically started out as a synth new wave band and ended up an industrial band bordering on thrash metal… Straddling these two styles as Al Jourgenson and Paul Barker transition from one to the other is Twitch. And it’s brilliant. Not much else to say…
6) Pink Floyd - Meddle (1971)
Pink Floyd - Meddle - Syd
The perfect album to capture the Floyd before they left behind the avant garde and even the early Syd Barrett influenced weirdness and headed for the huge conceptual classic rock masterpieces of the 70’s starting with Dark Side of The Moon. Yes Obscured By Clouds comes between Meddle & Dark Side but that wasn’t a proper album - it was recorded as a soundtrack for a film. Meddle is the transition - it’s the first album that starts to sound more like the modern Floyd but it’s not fully realized like Dark Side and the next three after that, and that’s part of what I love about it., “Fearless” is one of the more underrated gems in their catalogue.
7) Simple Minds - New Gold Dream (81/82/83/84) (1982)
Simple Minds - New Gold Dream 81/82/83/84 - Universal
The early Simple Minds albums are mostly fantastic but they all have an underground feel to them and are experimental in spots. By 1984’s Sparkle In the Rain they had moved towards a big anthemic sound that was very dramatic - and still great, such as the singalong at the end of the 1985 anthem “Don’t You (Forget About Me)” made famous as the theme song for the film The Breakfast Club. In between is the masterpiece New Gold Dream (81/82/83/84). It’s clearly my favorite Simple Minds album and doesn’t sound like any other of theirs. It has a consistent vibe and there is something about the production I can’t put my finger on that I love, not to mention it contains one of my favorite instrumentals of all time in “Somebody Up There Likes You”. They are just in a zone here - not trying to experiment per se but still improvisational and not trying to fill an arena.
8) Radiohead - OK Computer (1997)
Radiohead - OK Computer - XL Recordings
So everyone knows this album, and it followed the masterpiece of The Bends and preceded Kid A - everyone knows these albums… but think about it - it’s a transitional album for Radiohead. They are stretching the boundaries here of their earlier guitar-and-drums alternative albums and pointing the way towards the full-on experimentation of Kid A that would largely define the rest of their career, but they’re not quite there yet. This album is in between and they haven’t really made another album like it.
9) New Order - Movement (1981)
New Order - Movement - Rhino / Warner Brothers
Wait - isn’t this the FIRST New Order album you ask? Well yeah, but it’s the band clearly in transition between Joy Division and the loss of their singer Ian Curtis and the path New Order would ultimately take them. This album is low key - not well known like their other stuff and it really still sounds like a Joy Division album. But it’s not Joy Division… and I love it. The band clearly doesn’t quite know totally where they are going yet - you can hear them working through it on this album. A great snapshot that I find to be a somewhat appealingly vulnerable document of the band at this stage.
10) Bob Dylan - Bringing It All Back Home (1965)
Bob Dylan - Bringing It All Back Home - Legacy Recordings
I’m not a Dylan fanatic per se, but I am still a fan, and this is the quintessential transition album. It’s the one that really changed the game for popular music - when Dylan plugged in and recorded rock and roll songs. Literally half the album is rock and half is still folk. The two styles are represented on the very same album as Dylan straddles the fence. A legendary and massively influential masterpiece.
There they are - the top 10 transitional albums!!!! Are there any I’ve missed? Tell me in the comments - but make sure you make your case… BRING IT!
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M10 Social is owned by Doug Cohen in West Bloomfield, MI and provides social media training and digital marketing services from the Frameable Faces Photography studio Doug owns with his wife Ally. He can be reached there at tel:248-790-7317, by mobile at tel:248-346-4121 or via email at mailto:doug@frameablefaces.com. You can follow Doug’s band Vintage Playboy at their Facebook page here. You can also visit our other business Detroit Jerky at the website www.DetroitJerkyLLC.com!