One Album Wonders

[Rich]

Fever Ray is good, but pales in comparison to Postal Service as an electronic album just in this thread alone

[Roster Depth Sicko No. 2]

Relistening to The Rising Tied on Youtube got me linked to another one-album band by other noted Linkin Park vocalist, Chester Bennington.

Out of Ashes by Dead By Sunrise is very average in comparison to what Shinoda can do with his spare time.

[Hellraiser]

Heaven And Hell - The Devil You Know (2009)

A reunion of the Dio Era-Back Sabbath Line-Up which was active from 1979 to 1982 and then again from 1991 to 1992. Rhino record decided to make a Black Sabbath compilation featuring songs of the 3 studio albums and 1 live album they did with Ronnie James Dio. To get fans to buy the thing (because why would you buy a compilation like this if you already have the album?) they got Iommi and Dio to write a few new songs to be featured on it. They got original Sabbath bassist Geezer Butler to work with them as well. Originally drummer Bill Ward was supposed to play on these tracks too but he declined citing musical differences. So they got Vinny Appice instead who played on 2 out of the 3 albums. They recorded three new tracks and because Iommi and Geezer were bored to play the same songs every year on Ozzfest with Ozzy and wanted to get creative again they decided to turn this one-off thing into a full fledged reunion. They couldn't use the Sabbath name though since technically Sabbath with Ozzy was still active (which didn't stop Ozzy to sue Iommi over the name anyway but that is a whole other story). So they decided to go with Heaven And Hell instead, named after the first album they recorded with Dio. After doing some tours they decided to record an album. It was released in 2009. Musically the album continues where 1992's “Dehumanizer” left of. Which means that it is very doomy and slow. They weren't going for the NWoBHM-influenced vibe of the first two albums they did. Iommi's riffs were as pounding and heavy as ever and despite his age Dio could still sing like a god. It was a great album that rips their more recent album with Ozzy to shreds if you as me. They were going to record another album but unfortunately Dio was diagnosed with Stomach cancer in late 2009 and lost his fight with cancer on May 16^th 2010.

[Matt]

I'm not sure Heaven and Hell should really count, I mean like you said they were essentially Black Sabbath but they couldn't use the name

[Hellraiser]

I know. But technically they're a different band with only one album that has split up so bite me

Coverdale/Page - Coverdale/Page (1993)

A collaboration bewtween Whitesnake and former Deep Purple singer David Coverdale as well as legendary Led Zepplin guitarist Jimmy Page. Started in 1991 at the suggestion of a label-executive of the label they both were signed to. But rumor has it Page only agreed to do it to rile-up his Zepplin Bandmate Robert Plant to get him to work with Page as he was reluctant to do so any many people considered Coverdale a Plant-wannabe. Musically it sounds like Page trying to draw on his time with Zepplin and most of the time with good results. I am one of the people who enjoy this album a lot. The weak link is Coverdale though. Not because he is trying very hard to sound like Plant but because you can hear that his voice is starting to give out on him. He never managed to recover from the sinus infection he caught while working in Whitesnake's "1987" and in the coming years it would only get worse. If you want proof look up "Whitesnake 1997 live" on Youtube. After the album was released in March of 1992 they originally planned to do an arena tour. But that was canceled because of insufficient ticket sales and they only ever played some shows in Japan. They split up the same year. Coverdale went on to reunite and split-up Whitesnake a few times with varying degrees of success while also recording a solo album. Page continued his solo career and ended up collaborating with Plant on a unplugged live album in 1994 and a studio album in 1998.

Edited March 10, 2015 by Hellraiser

[John Stones' Paint Trophy]

Speaking of electronic bands that only had one release, Air France released No Way Down in 2008 and promptly did nothing until they broke up in 2012. I once woke up at 7 in the morning in Prague, put that on while walking around the Old Town and it was just perfect.

[Rafael]

.....Temple Of The Dog?

[The Red Reuben]

I was going to vote for the Rising Tied as well. Recently went back to see what else they did. I mean, what a great debut album, and then... nothing.

[VerbalPuke]

I post this because I finally found a vinyl copy last night at a reasonable price. Great stuff, a bit different than all that happy psychedelic stuff in the 60s.

[fourstarfizzle]

Fort Minor - The Rising Tied

The side project (noticing a pattern yet?) of Mike Shinoda of Linkin Park. Rising Tied was his rap album, and it is fantastic. There's a nice mix of different songs in there, and whilst every one doesn't hit home, it's an incredibly solid album. Best track is "Where'd You Go", which features Holly Brook (better known these days as Skylar Gray).

That track also featured Jonah Matranga on it from Far / onelinedrawing / Gratitude. Shinoda is a massive Far fan.

As for some of my favourites one album wonders:

Rites of Spring - S/T

Probot - S/T

New Radicals - Maybe You've Been Brainwashed Too

The Sex Pistols - Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols

Jeff Buckley - Grace

The Avalanches - Since I Left You

Monsters Of Folk - S/T

Minor Threat - Out of Step

The Germs - G.I.

Operation Ivy - Energy

[VerbalPuke]

Sex Pistols, Minor Threat, and the Germs are great mentions.

The Germs are one of my favorite bands and GI is a favorite album of mine. They have a handful of other good songs that are not on this album, but yeah, this is really the only known album they have. Their is some stuff listed on (wait for it) allmusic.com but they were released after Darby had died.

[Stevie B]

I remember listening to this album all the time. Such a popular band in a short space of time.... then Wheatus pretty much fell off the face of the earth...

[Roster Depth Sicko No. 2]

Wheatus are still going, they don't count

[Benji]

Apparently they have SEVEN albums

[Roster Depth Sicko No. 2]

Yeah, that surprised me when I looked them up.

[Colly]

I just discovered Andrew WK released half a dozen albums including one instrumental piano solo and another made up entirely of Gundam covers. :/

[apsham]

Oh heck yeah. Andrew WK is amazing and is fuckin' HUGE in Japan as well.