Last night, I saw a screening of Shut Up and Play the Hits, the documentary about LCD Soundsystem's final show that occurred in April of last year at Madison Square Garden. Though, to be fair, everyone who lives within five miles of Williamsburg was court-ordered to attend at least one showing of the movie -- James Murphy is to Brooklyn what Punxsutawney Phil is to Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania. He's our identity, dammit.
Also, LCD Soundsystem is a great band and I'm still sad that they don't exist anymore. Musical genius James Murphy is someone who could effectively make an awkward Jewish white guy who hates dancing (like me!) want to dance to a song as good as "Yeah (Crass Version)." Whether that's a good or a bad thing is besides the point (the dancing me, that is). Fact of the matter is, between 2001-2011, no one else was doing what LCD was doing — which was a little bit dance-punk, a little bit David Bowie, a little bit midlife crisis — and it was all via the mind of Murphy, who played nearly instrument on all three of their albums.
With that in mind, here are 10 other musicians who played (almost) every instrument on one of their albums. I'm not including guys like folk-era Bob Dylan because it's not tough to play every instrument when the only instrument is an acoustic guitar. This is for you, James. Thanks for "All My Friends."
McCartney by Paul McCartney (1970)
Instruments: Paul McCartney plays bass, drums, acoustic guitar, lead guitar, piano, Mellotron, organ, and toy xylophone
Music of My Mind by Stevie Wonder (1972)
Instruments: Stevie Wonder plays everything, except for single-song appearances by Art Baron on trombone ("Love Having You Around") and Buzz Feiten on guitar ("Superwoman (Where Were You When I Needed You)").
Tubular Bells by Mike Oldfield (1973)
Instruments: Mike Oldfield plays acoustic guitar, bass guitar, electric guitar, Farfisa, Hammond, Lowrey organs, flageolet, fuzz guitars, glockenspiel, mandolin, piano, percussion, timpani, and tubular bells.
For You by Prince (1978)
Instruments: Prince plays "27 instruments," according to rumors, but that's likely a bit of an exaggeration.
Centerfield by John Fogerty (1985)
Instruments: John Fogerty plays guitar, bass, drums, and piano
Pretty Hate Machine by Nine Inch Nails (1989)
Instruments: Trent Reznor plays keyboards, drum machines, guitars, and samplers.
Siamese Dream by the Smashing Pumpkins (1993)
Instruments: Billy Corgan plays lead guitar, bass guitar, Mellotron, and string arrangements (the other members of the band are given credit for playing their respective instruments, but Corgan overdubbed nearly all of their performances with his own).
Foo Fighters by Foo Fighters (1995)
Instruments: Dave Grohl plays drums, guitars, and bass (there's a brief solo from the Afghan Whigs' Greg Dulli, but Grohl was the only Fighter)
Rockin' the Suburbs by Ben Folds (2001)
Instruments: Ben Folds plays piano, drums, guitar, and bass guitar
Michigan by Sufjan Stevens (2003)
Instruments: Sufjan Stevens plays oboe, English horn, piano, electric organ, electric piano, banjo, acoustic and electric guitar, bass guitar, vibraphone, xylophone, glockenspiel, recorders, wood flute and whistles, drum kit, percussion, shakers, sleigh bells, tambourine, and cymbal.
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Sufjan FTW.
Fogerty pretty much had to because no one else could stand the SOB.
But he was joy to listen to, though.
Andrew Bird’s made a career out of this.
Very much loving the Mike Oldfield recognition.
unfortunately ben folds also sings on the song.
Sometimes I wonder what music would be like if Courtney Love hadn’t had Kurt Cobain murdered. Would we have the joy of so many great Foo Fighters albums?
Instead we’d have the joy of declining Nirvana albums…
But Hole would have had a better career, since Kurt would have written more than just LIVE THROUGH THIS for her.
Madlib started a band made of all his alter ego’s named Yesterday’s New Quintet, which is a jazz band of him playing all the instruments. Play Car is a sample of their work: [www.youtube.com]
Fuck the Foo Fighters; Grohl played every instrument (save for a few guest spots and solos) on the Probot album.
fuck yeah probot!
McCartney did most of Band on the Run” also
No Todd Rundgren, Something/Anything? That puts most of these albums to shame.
Barry Manilow played all the instruments on Sepultura’s Chaos AD.
Steve Winwood, Arc of a Diver
Paul Westerberg has done this a couple of times both under his name and GrandpaBoy..
Your list, while admirable, is incomplete without the listing of Roy Wood’s 1973 masterpiece, “Boulders.” Wood was the leader/songwriter/heart, head and & soul of The Move, arguably the greatest British rock and roll band not to find success in the States.
In 1973 the idea of someone playing all of the instruments and doing all of the singing on an album was still new – Roy’d been working on Boulders for at least 4 years. Even before Paul’s first release, Boulders was being worked on. He was also cranking out Move albums and putting his idea for a band that “picked up where I am the Walrus left off,” the Electric Light Orchestra, together with band-mate, Jeff Lynne.
So Roy was sorta busy. Boulders is brilliant. The songwriting is brilliant, the execution equally brilliant, the singing – superb.
But don’t take my word for it – this link will take you to Allmusic’s review of Boulders.
Check out what Stephen Thomas Erlewine had to say about Boulders:
[www.allmusic.com]
He was equally effusive about Roy’s followup solo work, 1975′s “Mustard.”
Creem once described Roy Wood as the “greatest multi-talent Bozo in rock history.” Left-handed compliments often reveal an undercurrent of disparagement – not this time: truth be told, it was difficult to put into words all the things that this guy could do and still is.
Suffice it to say, in this category, there has to be a place for Roy. A review for the Move’s incredible, “Shazam” said, ” It’s wildly inventive music and, as pure sound, the Move may never have been better than they are here, as there are more ideas in each of these long, languid jams than most bands have in a career.”
The essence of what makes “Boulders” such an essential album in this category can be found in that statement. If you love new ideas (the guy plays a dish of water as a percussion instrument on Boulders) great, hook-laden songwriting, and enjoy music from a multitude of genres, you need to know about Roy Wood’s “Boulders,” and his remarkable career.