An Album a Day: One-Off Collabs

Featuring Elvis Costello, Jay-Z, Metallica, and others

My friend Ken and I decided to listen to an album every day this year. Each week is themed. At the end of each week, we rank what we listened to. To be clear, we aren’t ranking every album that fits the theme. We are only ranking what we chose to listen to during the last seven days.

This week’s theme is “one-off collabs,” meaning when two artists with separate careers get together one time to make an album. Or close to one time. Occasionally, artists will collaborate on a record a few times. As long as they still maintained separate careers, we counted it.

You might also notice that this week we listened to many more albums. Usually we stick to one, or occasionally two, per day. But last Tuesday, Ken suggested three one-off collabs featuring Elvis Costello. This set us off on an unexpected listening journey for the rest of the week. Strap in and let us know if we missed anything.

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#14 Lulu by Metallica and Lou Reed (2011)

When we listened to Insane Clown Posse’s The Great Milenko back in January, I was confident that it would be the worst album we heard all year. Then Lulu, the inexplicable collaboration between Metallica and Lou Reed, showed up.

Lulu is based on two plays by German playwright Frank Wedekind. In this case, the story is told by Lou Reed mostly speaking over Metallica instrumentals. It is basically unlistenable. In fact, it kind of sounds like both parties recorded their parts without knowing what the other was doing.

#13 Painted from Memory by Elvis Costello and Burt Bacharach (1998)

Bring together Elvis Costello and Burt Bacharach and you are bound to get perfectly constructed songs (e.g., “Toledo”). The problem is that Elvis Costello’s unique vocal timbre clashes with Bacharach’s highly orchestral and ornate arrangements.

#12 Neck and Neck by Chet Atkins and Mark Knopfler (1990)

I was concerned that Mark Knopfler wouldn’t be able to keep up with Chet Atkins on this album. I don’t mean that as knock on Knopfler. There are few better guitar players in the second half of the 20th century. But Chet Atkins puts nearly everyone to shame on the six-string.

My concerns were unfounded, though. Knopfler kept up with his hero. My biggest issue with this collaboration is the production. Nashville-style productions from the late 1980s and early 1990s just don’t do it for me.

#11 Everything Is Love by Jay-Z and Beyoncé (2018)

On Everything Is Love, Beyoncé and Jay-Z ruminate on their riches and their marital difficulties. I mean the couple literally rented out the Louvre to film the video for the lead single, “APESHIT.”

I know this album was acclaimed, but there’s only so much I can take of rich people singing about how rich they are. Plus, if you want marital ruminations, I think the couple’s respective efforts from around the same time—4:44 and Lemonade—are much stronger.

#10 The Atkins–Travis Traveling Show by Chet Atkins and Merle Travis (1974)

Just as Mark Knopfler got to play with his hero (i.e., Chet Atkins) on Neck and Neck, Chet Atkins got to play with his—in this case, Merle Travis— on this record. In terms of the guitar playing, The Atkins-Travis Traveling Show is on par with Neck and Neck. We rated it a bit higher because it seemed like Atkins and Travis were having a ton of fun.

#9 44/876 by Sting and Shaggy (2018)

A Sting and Shaggy collaboration kind of makes sense. Shaggy has been making reggae and dancehall for decades (e.g., “It Wasn’t Me”). Sting’s work with The Police was also clearly influenced by those styles (e.g., “Walking on the Moon”). And while this collaboration feels strained, if not ridiculous, at times (e.g., “Crooked Tree”), it is also clear that these two are having lots of fun (e.g., “Morning is Coming”). As with the Atkins-Travis record, it’s hard to hate something that a lot of smiles went into making.

#8 Francis A. & Edward K. by Frank Sinatra and Duke Ellington (1968)

With Frank Sinatra on the microphone and Duke Ellington leading the band, you know this record is going to sound great. Still, the musical arrangement and production feel relatively standard for Sinatra. I was expecting those things to stand out a bit more with Duke at the helm.

#7 Francis Albert Sinatra & Antonio Carlos Jobim by Frank Sinatra and Antonio Carlos Jobim (1967)

Though there were many consistencies throughout his career, I think people underrate how much Frank Sinatra was willing to experiment. This album is evidence of that. It’s an exploration of bossa nova with one of the great practitioners of the genre: Antonio Carlos Jobim.

Despite never really working in the style, Sinatra sounds at ease on this album. Part of that is the doing of Jobim. These acoustic guitar-led arrangements go down like fine wine. I wish the two had worked together more.

#6 Watch the Throne by Jay-Z and Kanye West (2011)

When you look at the name and gold-plated cover of this album, you know what you are getting in to: This is an album about being rich and famous. (With samples of Otis Redding, Nina Simone, and “Apache,” it also must have taken incredible riches to produce.)

Because of this, Watch the Throne shares some thematic elements with Jay-Z’s collaboration with Beyoncé. But I found the arrangements on Watch the Throne much more interesting (e.g., “No Church in the Wild”) than those on Everything Is Love.

Furthermore, Jay-Z kind of felt lost on Everything Is Love to me. Beyoncé dominated the entire record. Watch the Throne feels like a true collaboration, both rappers trying to out brag each other throughout (e.g., “N*ggas in Paris”).

#5 Collision Course by Jay-Z and Linkin Park (2004)

In the abstract, Collision Course should not work. It’s six mash-ups of Jay-Z and Linkin Park songs. But it somehow does work, tracks like Linkin Park’s “Numb” and Jay-Z’s “Encore” sounding like they are long lost brothers.

The only time Collision Course falls short is when it feels like a mash-up was forced just to pad out the length of the EP. “Izzo” and “In the End,” for example, go together like water and oil.

#4 Wise Up Ghost by Elvis Costello and The Roots (2013)

While Elvis Costello’s aforementioned collaboration with Burt Bacharach falls short because Costello’s vocals clash with Bacharach’s arrangements, things work well on Wise Up Ghost, Costello’s warble pairing nicely with grooves from The Roots. My only complaint is that there’s no rap on this record. There is enough space on some songs for a few verses from Black Thought.

#3 Chester and Lester by Chet Atkins and Les Paul (1976)

On both of the other Chet Atkins projects this week, one person is playing with their hero. Because of that, there is a reverence in some of the playing that holds those records back. That’s not the case on Chester and Lester. It is two masters near the respective peaks of their powers trying to outdo one another. But not in a way where instrumental flash comes at the expense of the song. Both Chet and Les elevate one another’s playing.

#2 Flowers in the Dirt - Reissue - Disc 2 (Recorded: 1989 - Reissued: 2017)

While it would be unfair to say that Paul McCartney had lost all commercial appeal by the end of the 1980s, he certainly wasn’t at the top of his game. To get the creative juices flowing, he teamed up with Elvis Costello. The project was aborted after some demos, though.

This decision is mystifying. For decades, the recordings were locked away. They finally saw the light of day in 2017 as part of the reissue of Paul McCartney’s Flowers in the Dirt. The vocal harmonies that Elvis Costello and Paul McCartney sing are eerily reminiscent of those that Sir Paul did with John Lennon in the early 1960s.

But maybe we’re lucky this album of duets never came out. McCartney recorded a few of them on the canonical version of Flowers in the Dirt, but they seldom approach the rawness of the demos (e.g., compare the two versions of “You Want Her Too”). Maybe this album is better as a “what could have been” than if it were fully recorded.

#1 Madvillainy by MF Doom and Madlib (2004)

When MF Doom raps, he kind of sounds like he’s just talking to you. His laid back voice is very conversational. But then you look at his lyrics and realize that he is utilizing some of the densest rhyme schemes imaginable, a Shakespeare on the microphone.

Because MF Doom is such a skilled rapper, it would be easy for Madvillainy to become masturbatory, the mysterious MC only there to please himself. But Doom has two things working on his side.

First, Madlib’s off-kilter beats are just as engaging as Doom’s rhymes. Second, there’s a ton of humor baked into this album, the duo playing the part of hip-hop supervillains. This is a record that’s fun to listen to passively but rewards you the deeper you look. RIP MF DOOM.

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