My Ten Favourite Albums That Feature Famous Stars Hiding In Plain Sight

Friday is fun because it’s about music, so links and playlists galore. Today, the ten best albums that I love not just for the main star but for the famous backing band, or full album cameo by a star

I got thinking recently about albums that feature someone “hiding in plain sight”; a full-album cameo that’s not on the spine, but is so obvious by the sound of the playing, or because you arrived at it through the fandom of that particular artist…

Do you know what I mean? Well you will be the end of this list. I’m going to run you through my 10 favourite examples of albums where I can listen to it for the main act, and because of the famous musician (or band) that is hiding in plain sight on the record, playing on every track, sometimes producing too.

These are coming to you as they’re coming to me, which is to say, no ranking — just off the top of my head. Okay, here we go…

1. Frida, Something’s Going On (1982)

This is the third solo album by the ABBA singer Anni-Frid Synni Lyngstad, aka Frida. Her first after the disintegration of the pop giants at the very start of the 1980s. What am I doing here you ask? Well, it will surprise no one when I say Phil Collins — yet it surprised me to find out about this very late in my Phil Collins fandom. I said as recently as last week that he was bloody everywhere during the 80s. Getting on jets to play on both sides of the Atlantic, being in a band still, making his own records and playing and producing on albums by Philip Bailey, Robert Plant, Brian Eno and, well, Frida. Also, holy shit this is a great album. It’s like Frida does new wave via the gated reverb of producer Hugh Padgham, and the big, big drums of our man Phil. Seriously, if you’ve never heard this you might not believe it’s 42 years old. This album has been one of this year’s revelations for me. And to think I’d probably have never given it a go if I didn’t find out about Phil Collins being behind the skins, on backing vocals, and contributing one of his songs to the track list.

2. Melody’s Echo Chamber, Melody’s Echo Chamber (2012)

French musician Melody Prochet has made a small handful of albums under the project-name Melody’s Echo Chamber. They’re good. All of them. But the one I love the most is her debut, the self-titled one. She wrote all of the songs, recorded demos, then handed them over to one Kevin Parker. He of Tame Impala. The Australian DJ, producer and multi-instrumentalist has a few other musical projects, but this was when Tame Impala was first peaking. And though I’ve never been the biggest fan, I was curious enough to find this record. Which I love. Parker might have been dating Prochet at the time. I think that’s how it went. Anyway, so it goes, she asked him to unpick her work and stitch it back together. The result is Stereolab meets washy post-punk and psychedelic pop with chanteuse vibes. I still absolutely adore this record. Revisit it often. And think it’s one of the gems of the last couple of decades.

3. Vanessa Paradis, Vanessa Paradis (1992)

In a similar story to the one above, this Vanessa Paradis record came into my life — and has never left — due to the involvement of her then-boyfriend. His name is Lenny Kravitz. And he was just an album or two into his career when he wrote and recorded an album for his then-squeeze. I’ve never really cared about Paradis’ music beyond this album. And maybe I wouldn’t have stuck around for her breathy girl-pop vocals if anyone else was at the helm. But the Lenny connection, his playing, his sound, his dedication to recreating 60s vibes in the songwriting and recording, was all red rag rather than red flag. And this bull bounded on in — and has never left. I adore this record. It’s a wee curio almost. A nearly cult-classic.

4. Van Morrison, A Period of Transition (1977)

Yeah-yeah, he sucks, he’s a jerk, but fuck he can sing. And play. And write. And he had the most phenomenal run making new languages within music across the 1970s. And yet, I had no idea about this album for the longest time. Found it by fluke, when I was working in a record store many moons ago, chucked it on because it was right at the end of his most golden run and I wondered if it was the ‘failure record’. And the reviews of the time certainly thought so. But wait. There’s a guy called Mac Rebennack on there. He plays piano on every song, guitar on one. He’s better known to the world as Dr. John. I found this album right at the end of my first fascination with Van, and just as I was starting to really dig into Dr John’s music. So the timing was delicious. The music is too. Van goes N’Awlins. Well, near enough. And with an excellent guide.

5. Heather Nova, Storm (2003)

I really liked Heather Nova’s first couple of records, but it felt like a dirty secret, or a guilty pleasure. I don’t know why. I got over that and just liked them eventually. But then she served up the same sound again and again and I couldn’t really care. Until someone told me to give this a fair listen. I loved it almost straight away. It might seem cloying to many but I loved the aching quality of her voice in the opening bars. And it just hangs there across the album. The real magic though is knowing that the way she decided to get her career back on track after middling reviews and trace-around albums was by getting the band Mercury Rev to play behind her. That’s right, with Deserter’s Songs and All Is Dream just recently behind them, Mercury Rev went sublimely dream-soundtrack all over Heather Nova’s ethereal voice. And between them they made something that still stands up, something I think is very special.

6. Passengers, Original Soundtrack 1 (1995)

Maybe this one is cheating slightly. More an acknowledged side-project. Still, when Passengers dropped no one quite knew what it was or where it was all heading. Straight to curio land I guess. Which is a place I love. And it is a great example of the magic that could happen between Brian Eno and U2. My favourite albums by the band remain The Unforgettable Fire and Zooropa and this has aspects of each. And also a fucking cameo by Pavarotti! (And one by Howie B.) Even when I really did not like U2, which was for quite a while, I always loved this album. Now, I’m feeling kinder to U2, and it’s Passengers that still stands near the top for me. A weird little album by a band that could obviously do whatever it liked — and did. But still. Something different. And some weird little throwaway gems sit deep in here.

7. Megadeth, The System Has Failed (2004)

Also kinda cheating here, but man — WHAT — Megadeth made an album with Vinnie Colaiuta on drums! The Fuck!? Megadeth has had a lot of members roll through its door, and no one really wants to work with Dave Mustaine for long. But what was Vinnie doing? Getting paid I guess…

Drummers You Just Can’t Beat: # 14 – Vinnie Colaiuta

I love Vinnie! He played with Frank Zappa and Sting and Joni Mitchell. He is not meant to also be playing with Megadeth?! I know that drummers go where the gig is, and plenty of jazzers have metal chops, or metal heads have jazz chops, or they’re the same, or close enough, but I only found out about Vinnie being on a Megadeth album recently, and it’s still blowing my mind. I also don’t hate Megadeth at all. Get a bit sick of the voice. And the lyrics. But the music is great. This isn’t their best album. But it’s not their worst.

8. The Exponents, Grassy Knoll (1994)

Was talking with a friend recently about how we (younger Gen Xers) somewhat inherited The Exponents and for a while there they were a bit cringey, which sucks, because actually they’re fucking great. Jordan is an incredible frontman and songwriter, and they did the business. But we couldn’t quite claim ownership of their great, early Dance Exponent years. And some of their original fans didn’t want to know what actually happened to Tracy, nor the answers to any of the other question mark songs that dominated in the early/mid 90s. One of the more interesting moments in The Exponents’ semi “lost” years is this album. Because on guitar is Sir Dave Dobbyn. He was very much in his own “lost” years. Back in New Zealand after a decade away, and trying to make bank. He took the gig. And this album has some fucking snarlers on it. Bonus points if you get the 2013 extended edition, it’s got a Phil Judd track on it!

9. Loretta Lynn, Van Lear Rose (2004)

Loretta was one of the greatest to ever do it. But like Johnny Cash and Emmylou and Willie and so many of the country greats, they have that time where they’re lost. Out of fashion, if not favour. Well, Van Lear Rose did the trick of reintroducing Lynn, or introducing her as the case may have been. And we have Jack White to thank. He played on the album and produced it. And I was very much on the fence about him and his whole shtick. And this was the album that made me really give him a chance. I would get sick of his shtick many times after this of course, but I never grew tired of this album. And Loretta made a few more gems after this — but this was her retirement ticket, in that it gave her an audience to play to for another 15 years or so. And on its own it’s a compelling set of songs.

10. Bettye LaVette, The Scene of The Crime (2007)

Big fan of Bettye LaVette. Big fan indeed!

Bettye LaVette!

Like Loretta, she was lost for a time. But boy she came back strong. Across the mid-00s and to this day she has released a swag of terrific albums, with great song selections and smart producers and players in service to the gravel of her voice and the excellent tunes. But how about this one? The band is the full Drive-By Truckers line-up. And they’re just thoroughly excellent on their own. Here they sit and churn the groove beneath LaVette. And for bonus points, Spooner Oldham is also across every track. You’ll know him from his work on towering masterpieces by Percy Sledge and Aretha Franklin and nearly countless others. And by some of the songs he had a hand in writing. Like I’m Your Puppet.

As always, it’s really about putting a bunch of music in front of you and saying — do you remember any of this? And/or here’s some new (old) things to hear. So, maybe you have some favourites from this list already, and for similar or completely different reasons to me. Or maybe you’ve never heard any of the albums here. Plenty of ideas for future listening. Isn’t music wonderful with it’s infinite choice, and multiple ways into the same album…

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And it’s the regular weekly playlist. Vol. 188. I hope you like this one. I really enjoyed remembering/finding some of the older tracks here, and a couple that are brand new to me which I absolutely adore. I hope you find something cool here for your weekend too:

Thanks, as ever, for reading. And for listening. And happy weekend to you and yours.