Your favorite solo ventures?

MG got me thinking about this in the, um, Unc vs GnR thread (?). Something I've always neglected to do is pursue solo works by artists from major bands. A few have flown through my radar--Izzy Stradlin, Bruce Dickinson, Wolf Hoffman, Ozzy of course--but for a long time I've shrugged off unheard works by, say, Roger Daltry, Jani Lane, and Ian Gillan as inferior to their bands' output. Obviously that's not entirely true but I just haven't had much exposure. Suggest away!

Not very many come to mind that I really liked, besides the obvious Ozzy, Dio etc.. I loved Halfords solo stuff, David Gilmore has some great albums. Guess you can throw King Diamond in the ozzy/dio category. I'm sure there are a ton I'm going to smack myself for not thinking if, but I just woke up and my brain is still in sleep mode lol

I thought the 1990 Don Dokken release was very good, " Up From The Ashes ".

Dee Snider's 1992 WIDOWMAKER " Blood and Bullets " is super great.

I thought 1987 Paul DiAnno's BATTLEZONE " Children of Madness " superb !

^^There'll probably be a bunch that'll show up here that I've heard but wasn't thinking of at the time I posted. Don Dokken's solo album is one of my favorite Dokken albums haha. And these days I pull out King Diamond more than Mercyful Fate.

Widowmaker and Battlezone are two I need to revisit.

Seconding Widowmaker's Blood and Bullets. My second fave Dee jam after TS' You Can't Stop RnR.

Joey Ramone's two posthumous solo albums (Don't Worry About Me and ...Ya Know?) are both fun/bittersweet listens.

I guess Black Sabbath's Seventh Star would sorta count, since it was originally supposed to be a Tony Iommi solo album.

Chris Caffery's Faces is a good 'un. Unsurprisingly it sounds a lot like vintage Savatage. His singing voice even sounds like Jon Oliva at times.

If it doesn't have to be metal, Pete Townshend and Peter Gabriel have some good stuff.

Rob Rock
Sebastian Bach
Sammy Hagar
Zakk Wylde

Does Jon Oliva's Pain count? If so, that's easy for me.

I also like Richie Sambora's solo record, though I might be the only person that ever says that.

Dark Horseman wrote:

If it doesn't have to be metal, Pete Townshend and Peter Gabriel have some good stuff.

Rob Rock
Sebastian Bach
Sammy Hagar
Zakk Wylde

Good call with Peter Gabriel.  As most here know I absolutely despise Genesis but I find Peter Gabriel's solo stuff to be genius.  The "Melting Face" album is brilliant in that it's so quirky yet simultaneously so memorable.  "Games Without Frontiers" for example.  Wow!  A song with foreign languages, whistling , weird percussion and really strange lyrics; the song shouldn't work at all yet somehow IT DOES!  I like a lot of Gabriel's other solo work too. 

Sammy Hagar is also a good call.  I like his solo stuff much better than his work with either Montrose or VH, even if it is kind of samey.

Here's one that's sort of out of leftfield.  Dan Baird.  He's the singer from Georgia Satellites and if you enjoy that band then odds are you'll enjoy Baird's solo stuff.

Rob Rock
Dio
Dickenson
Dee Snider

My answers are pretty typical, I guess.

Halford, Fight, Bruce Dickinson, Vince Neil's first solo album, Widowmaker, Ralf Scheepers, Gillan

tohostudios wrote:

Here's one that's sort of out of leftfield.  Dan Baird.  He's the singer from Georgia Satellites and if you enjoy that band then odds are you'll enjoy Baird's solo stuff.

GREAT CALL. Love Songs For The Hearing Impaired and Buffalo Nickel get a lot of spins from me.

Philip Lynott’s solo stuff is great IMO and there’s a more than enough to release a box set.
Jon Bon Jovi’s two solo albums.
Ace Frehley’s albums. I especially dig the KISS and the 2 Comet albums.
Wino’s albums Adrift and Punctuated Equilibrium.
Rich Robinson
Chris Robinson
Glenn Danzig’s Black Arias.
Sammy Hagar’s especially up to Three Lock Box.

So many great suggestions here! Thanks guys, gonna sample some of this stuff. Standouts so far are Dan Baird and Chris Caffery (that's CHRIS singing?? WTF!).

John Norum - Total Control
Don Dokken - Up From The Ashes
Leather - Shockwaves
Halford - Ressurection, Nade of Metal
Bruce Dickinson - Tattooed Millionaire

These are the first few that come to mind that get lots of spins.

I like Mike Ness’ solo stuff.
Joe Walsh of course. Can’t believe I forgot his stuff.

David Lee Roth has some good albums!

I'm listening, by chance, Stephen Pearcy's latest solo album. I posted a couple of key tunes in another thread. You guys gotta go hear this, it is UNREAL lol.

Dio of course
Dee Snider
Slash(some of it anyways)
Bach
Warrel Dane

Rob Rock and Chris Caffery both have already been mentioned, and I'll second those picks.

Blaze Bayley has done solo albums better than what he did with Maiden.

Jeff Scott Soto - Prism
Halford - Resurrection, Crucible
Bruce Dickinson - The Chemical Wedding
Steve Perry - Street Talk

Mark Knopfler--basically all of his work outside of Dire Straits
Mad Season--Above
Lee Small (from Shy)--Jamaica Inn
Steven Patrick--Red Reign
Richie Sambora--Stranger in This Town
Robert Plant and the Strange Sensation--Mighty Rearranger
Paul Stanley--Live to Win
Vince Neil--Exposed

I forgot about Red Reign, it sounds like the lost Holy Soldier album they should've made after Last Train.

I've enjoyed the many solo projects from current/former GnR members to various degrees...

Izzy Stradlin
Gilby Clark (he's got a new one coming soon)
Slash
Duff McKagan's Loaded
Dizzy Reed
Matt Sorum

Few others that haven't been mentioned yet:
Andrew Stockdale
Bun E. Carlos
Jani Lane
Jerry Cantrell
Joe Perry
Lemmy's Head Cat project
Paul Gilbert

Quote :

Jani Lane

Just wondering what people are thinking of from Jani's solo material.... Back Down to One? I thought it was pretty subpar, even compared to the last couple Warrant albums he was on. The Jaberwocky demos are kind of interesting. It's too bad he abandoned the project. My favorite thing he was involved in outside of Warrant was the Saints of the Underground "supergroup."

glassprison wrote:

Quote :

Jani Lane

Just wondering what people are thinking of from Jani's solo material.... Back Down to One? I thought it was pretty subpar, even compared to the last couple Warrant albums he was on. The Jaberwocky demos are kind of interesting. It's too bad he abandoned the project. My favorite thing he was involved in outside of Warrant was the Saints of the Underground "supergroup."

MG and I were discussing that in the Unc heart gnr thread...I took a listen to both and SotU is a big winner. TBH not so sure of BDtO. It's sincere yet the music just isn't my CoT. I mean cup of tea.