4 Albums That Sound Nothing Like the Artists Who Made Them

Change is part of the artistic process. Without the ability to grow and evolve, artists can become stagnant and uninspired. While we certainly appreciate this need for wiggle room, some creative departures feel more jarring than others. Take, for example, these four out-of-left-field albums that sound nothing like the artists who made them.

‘Tusk’ by Fleetwood Mac

In the grand context of Fleetwood Mac’s reign as the supreme soft rock band, Tusk seems a little more Fleetwood Mac-y. Compared to their late-1980s and early-1990s fare, one could argue that Tusk fits right in. But as a follow-up to the magnum opus Rumours, Tusk couldn’t seem like a sharper left turn. The band seemed to trade vibey grooves for Afrocentric, at times aggressive instrumentation instead. Indeed, the music seemed to personify the sharp edge of a c*****e comedown after riding high throughout the latter half of the 1970s.

‘Nebraska’ by Bruce Springsteen

One obvious reason why Bruce Springsteen’s Nebraska sounds nothing like his usual style is that it’s a rare album that features Springsteen alone, sans The E Street Band. Alone is no exaggeration, either. Springsteen holed up at his house in Colts Neck, New Jersey, and recorded his songs on a four-track recorder. Springsteen originally set out to record a collection of demos that the E Street Band could flesh out later. However, he ended up keeping the original version, releasing it in its dark and brooding original state.

‘Strawberries Oceans Ships Forest’ by The Fireman

This entry in our list of out-of-left-field albums deserves an asterisk because technically, unless you know that The Fireman is the experimental musical duo of two British icons, you wouldn’t compare The Fireman’s work to the members’ previous albums. The Fireman is composed of Paul McCartney, of The Beatles and general rockstar fame, and Martin Glover, known as Youth, a founding member of Killing Joke. If you listened blindly to The Fireman’s debut, Strawberries Oceans Ships Forest, you’d never guess Macca was on it.

‘Garth Brooks In…The Life Of Chris Gaines’ by Garth Brooks

Finally, would it really be a list of out-of-left-field albums that sound nothing like the artists who made them if we didn’t include Garth Brooks’ glorious but fleeting emo phase? We certainly don’t think so. The country icon created the fake persona of Chris Gaines, an Australian rock musician, in the late 1990s. This culminated in his pop-rock “debut,” Garth Brooks In…The Life Of Chris Gaines. Despite its odd origin story, the album did relatively well in reviews and peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard 200. Though we can’t help but wonder how much of those sales were fueled by morbid curiosity.

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