The greatest experimental albums: The 10 best vinyl deals available on Amazon this week
Welcome back to Far Out’s weekly vinyl corner feature, where we look to bring you a tempting selection of records from some of our favourite artists, bargain vinyl deals to look out for, and unmissable limited-edition releases. Today, we’re celebrating artistic exploration with some of the greatest experimental albums of all time.
Vinyl sales grew for the 15th consecutive year in 2022, rising to 5.5million units, the highest level since 1990, when …But Seriously by Phil Collins was the year’s biggest-selling studio album. The return to plastic has steadily climbed since the invasion of streaming services in the late 2000s. While the weightless, highly accessible and practical format is great for discovering and consuming swathes of new music while you’re out and about, there’s nothing like coming home to a bit of vinyl.
Fellow collectors will agree that if there’s an artist or album you love, there’s always a good reason to have the turntable at the ready and a 12″ slot reserved on the shelf for inevitable expansion. The sound quality of vinyl brings something more hearty and vibrant with its analogue warmth and crisp definition that there really isn’t a substitute for.
So if, like me, you have a soft spot for these groovy discs of plastic, allow me to walk you through ten hot picks for this week. The list includes some obscure gems alongside more well-known classics from Brian Eno to David Bowie.
The following selections have been handpicked by Far Out Magazine, and as a result, we may earn from qualifying purchases.
The 10 best vinyl deals available on Amazon this week:
Silver Apples – Silver Apples
Besides the Beatles’ sterling work during the first psychedelic wave, numerous lesser-known acts were tinkering with the settings and forcing the vanguard in the late 1960s. One such project was Silver Apples, an early electronic rock outfit formed by Simeon and Danny Taylor.
The pair’s groundbreaking debut album is considered one of the most influential, if not commercially successful, albums of the ’60s and inspired countless acts over the late 20th century and beyond. “For people like us, they are the perfect band,” Portishead’s Geoff Barrow once told The Guardian. “Silver Apples were a pathway to Portishead. They should definitely be up there with the pioneers of electronic music.”
Available for purchase here for £29.99.
David Bowie – Heroes
While David Bowie’s critically lauded Berlin Trilogy may not have lived up to the commercial appeal of 1972’s The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and The Spiders from Mars or 1983’s Let’s Dance, thanks to the albums’ trailblazing and evocative fibre, they sit among Bowie’s greatest achievements.
In 1977, following the release of Low, Bowie set to work on its follow-up, Heroes. The album is best known for its soaring title track, which tells a love story over the Berlin Wall. However, there’s much to be explored in its more obscure underbelly, especially on side two.
Available for purchase here for £27.99.
Brian Eno – Here Come the Warm Jets
This list wouldn’t feel complete without a selection from Brian Eno’s vast catalogue. Here Come the Warm Jets was released in February 1974 as Eno’s first debut album following his departure from Roxy Music. The album perfectly straddled the line between radio-friendly vibrations and the legendary creative’s quirky side, hence the tag avant-pop.
The album hears Eno reunited with Roxy guitarist Phil Manzanera in ‘Needles in the Camel’s Eye’ and ‘Cindy Tells Me’, with further contributions from Robert Fripp, Roxy drummer Paul Thompson, Busta Jones and Nick Judd.
Available for purchase here for £27.65.
John Lennon and Yoko Ono – Unfinished Music, No. 2: Life with the Lions
“Avant-garde music is a sort of research music,” Brian Eno once wisely stated. “You’re glad someone’s done it, but you don’t necessarily want to listen to it. It’s similar to the way I’m very happy people have gone to the North Pole. It extends my concept of the planet to know it exists, but I don’t want to live there, or even go there actually.”
In the 1970s, John Lennon and Yoko Ono certainly ventured into the cold, desolate North Pole region Eno depicts above. However, within these disjointed sounds lies, for some, rather intriguing music far more artistically quenching and informative than the well-trodden paths of radio hits.
Available for purchase here from £34.18.
Radiohead – Kid A
In the late 1990s, Radiohead began experimenting with synthesisers and drum machines. The lead singer and principal songwriter Thom Yorke had grown weary of traditional rock sounds and sought to knead the influence of IDM by the likes of Aphex Twin, Autechre and Squarepusher into the band’s dough.
The glorious results of these post-OK Computer sessions can be heard across 2000’s Kid A and 2001’s Amnesiac. The former, for most fans, just about takes gold thanks to its pioneering electro-shock factor. From the first needle drop, ‘Everything in its Right Place’ made it patently clear Radiohead never planned to stand still. Other highlight tracks from the album include ‘How to Disappear Completely’ and ‘Idioteque’.
Available for purchase here for £22.85.
DJ Shadow – Endtroducing…
In 1996, American music producer DJ Shadow (Josh Davis) proved himself to be the Mozart of the MPC sampler in his seminal debut record, Endtroducing….. The album was most certainly one of a kind upon its release and has gone largely unrivalled and unparalleled in its field ever since.
The music is solely created from samples that Davis expertly mixed together, and while some struggle to pigeonhole the genre, it sits somewhere between trip-hop, sampledelia and plunderphonics.
Available for purchase here from £46.66.
Talk Talk – Laughing Stock
By the late 1980s, frontman Mark Hollis had brought Talk Talk a long way from their synth-pop roots. By the time they released their 1988 album, Spirit of Eden, they had stripped away the pop element of their music, leaving behind a post-rock sound of unbound beauty.
This late Talk Talk sound was more ambient, consisting of protracted jazz, blues, classical, and dub excursions strung together with meticulous production. Spirit of Eden is often critiqued favourably to its 1991 follow-up, Laughing Stock, but I feel this latter deserves just as much attention, if not more.
Available for purchase here for £26.41.
The Velvet Underground – White Light/White Heat
Following their 1967 debut LP, The Velvet Underground & Nico, the Velvets opted to mix things up a little. Having shaken off Andy Warhol and Nico, Lou Reed and John Cale led the band towards an even less radio-friendly sound.
The 1968 follow-up, White Light/White Heat, was home to very few songs people would describe as pop, with the 17-minute’ Sister Ray’ and ‘The Gift’, Reed’s short story as read by Cale. This album is a true literary feast.
Available for purchase here for £22.49.
Swans – Soundtracks for the Blind
Over the past four decades, Swans, the band helmed by Michael Gira, have led a prolific and wildly varying path across the musical map. With experimental and moody rock being the only constant, the band has explored heavy, grating sounds and droning ethereal textures. Soundtracks for the Blind is a creation of the latter type.
This album is an audio collage of sample-based textural pieces, including samples of previous Swans material. Often considered one of the band’s finest and most influential creations, the album is highlighted by ‘Red Velvet Corridor’, ‘Live Through Me’ and ‘I Was a Prisoner in Your Skull’.
Available for purchase here for £39.55.
Godspeed You! Black Emperor – Luciferian Towers
It’s easy to see why Godspeed You! Black Emperor have never been the talk of the town or the cream of the charts. If these Montreal-based wizards wanted to be there, they wouldn’t create albums consisting of just three epic tracks.
Frankly, everything Godspeed You! Black Emperor have put out is novel and arresting, but today I bring your attention to this relatively recent gem. Consisting of just four songs, ‘Bosses Hang’ and ‘Anthem for No State’ counting as collective tracks, Luciferian Towers takes another post-rock dive into the heart of human depravity that’s eerily comforting.
Available for purchase here for £26.19.
