Odd collaborations!

[Rufus]

What collaborations did you find odd or surprising either from a performance or songwriting view?

I was surprised to learn that Michael Bolton's Steel Bars was co-written by Bob Dylan.
The Chipmunks & Canned Heat's The Chipmunk Song is surely one of the weirdest pairings ever.
Freddie Mercury & Montserrat Caballe was the first time a rock singer duetted with an opera singer to my knowledge.
David Bowie duetting with 50's crooner Bing Crosby surprised me.
Ditto Michael Jackson & Eddie Van Halen was a surprise at the time.Soul & rock where two totally different entities!

[zravkapt]

What about Tony Gaga? And this...

[Rufus]

^^^^Never heard that before! Alice Cooper also duetted with Miss Piggy!

[interbellum]

Isabella Rossellini doing reading on the wonderful CD from The Maple Mountain Sunburst Triolian Orchestra from Andy McNeill.

(Nice to see her in Tremé too!)

[mogrooves]

Alice Cooper also duetted with Miss Piggy!

Worse, he played golf with Gerald Ford!

[Dave (in MA)]

Jean-Luc Ponty and Jon Anderson.

[bob_32_116]

John Denver and The Wailers (not that bad, actually)

Jimmy Barnes and John Farnham (a total mismatch, like beef and custard)

Julio Iglesias and Willie Nelson

Nick Cave and Kylie Minogue

[walt]

Derek Bailey and Pat Metheny.

[whatwherewhywhen]

Daryl Hall and Robert Fripp
Steve Hackett and Evelyn Glennie

[grego]

Robert Fripp and Blondie)

[blusterbox studio]

Robert Fripp and Toyah, Andy Summers, The Roches, The Beloved, Midge Ure, The Grid, Rimitti, Toni Childs

[Progbear]

Kiki Dee and Patrick Moraz
David Bowie and Bing Crosby
Jannik Top and Céline Dion

And who could forget John Lawton (Lucifer’s Friend/Uriah Heep) with the Les Humphries Singers at Eurovision?

[señormoment]

Yoko Ono and John Lennon

Frank Zappa working with Howard Kaylan and Mark Volman struck me as an unlikely pairing at the time.

[Wah3]

Jeff Beck & Brian Wilson (Brian's new album+joint tour).
Herbie Hancock and Christina Aguilera (Herbie's album Possibilities, also featuring Carlos, Sting and Trey).
Chester Thompson and the Bee Gees (at a drum clinic Chester said he was tour drummer for them once).

I'll confess to liking the Bowie/Crosby collaboration.

[GuitarGeek]

^^^^Never heard that before! Alice Cooper also duetted with Miss Piggy!

Actually, if memory serves, he merely serenaded her. I don't believe she actually sang. But then I haven't watched that particular Muppet Show probably in early 30 years.

The David Bowie and Bing Crosby thing came about because the producers of what turned out to be his last Xmas special (aired posthumously, I believe) suggested he perform with a "contemporary" artist. So he asked his grandkids who he should sing with, and they suggested The Sovereign (oh wait, that's right, he's not The Sovereign, though reputedly that is The Sovereign on the cover of Diamond Dogs).

What about Jerry Garcia guesting on one of Ornette Coleman's late 80's albums?

Lou Reed contributed some lyrics to Music From The Elder. I guess it makes more sense when you realize the whole idea of "showing everyone just how intelligent Kiss can be" was Bob Ezrin's idea, and of course Ezrin had produced Lou in the past. Still, it's weird to hear see his name in the bylines on a Kiss record.

Ben Mink's work with kd lang always struck me as a bit odd. But then, maybe it was his stay in FM that was "the odd part".

Oh yeah, and let's forget Jannick Top also worked with (amongst many many others) The Eurythmics, Celine Dion, and Johnny Halliday. Yes, that's right, the man who gave us De Futura also worked with everyone's favorite Quebecois songstress and the French Elvis. And one of the songs he played on with The Eurythmics got extensive MTV rotation!

[GuitarGeek]

And who could forget John Lawton (Lucifer’s Friend/Uriah Heep) with the Les Humphries Singers at Eurovision?

I've actually played that dumb song on Journey Of The Sorcerer's Apprentice. There's a lot of tacky but strangely addictive stuff amongst those 70's era Eurovision contestants (Dschinges Khan, anyone?!).

[bob_32_116]

Frank Zappa working with Howard Kaylan and Mark Volman struck me as an unlikely pairing at the time.

Maybe. The thing was that Flo and Eddie basically sold themselves - well their voices anyway - to anybody and everybody. From The Turtles to Frank Zappa to T Rex - you couldn't accuse them of being musical snobs.

The most bizarre collaboration ever is surely P J Proby teaming up with Focus.

[spacefreak]

Scott Walker with Sunn O))).

It disappointed me however.

[Progbear]

I've actually played that dumb song on Journey Of The Sorcerer's Apprentice.

If you want something Lawton sang on, better to play this instead. A bit repetitive, but features him to better effect, and makes you yearn less for the sweet release of death:

There's a lot of tacky but strangely addictive stuff amongst those 70's era Eurovision contestants (Dschinges Khan, anyone?!).

And occasionally, something of worth slips through. For example, Korni Grupa’s tune for Yugoslavia in 1974, which they later extended, rearranged and re-recorded in English for their album Not an Ordinary Life (as Kornelyans). And they appeared on stage just before ABBA!

Maybe. The thing was that Flo and Eddie basically sold themselves - well their voices anyway - to anybody and everybody. From The Turtles to Frank Zappa to T Rex - you couldn't accuse them of being musical snobs.

And they later wrote music for the Strawberry Shortcake TV specials!

Zappa, it seems, was immensely entertained by the fact that the guys who sang “Happy Together” were in his band, if the Fillmore 1971 live album is anything to go by.

The most bizarre collaboration ever is surely P J Proby teaming up with Focus.

Indeed. I have to wonder how that collaboration came about!

There’s also Benny and Us (Ben E. King with the Average White Band) and Really Rosie (Carole King and children’s author Maurice Sendak). And what was the deal with that techno song that featured Tammy Wynette?

[begnagrad]

Eberhard Schoener and The Police

Metheny / Bowie

Steve Hove and Billie Currie - Transformation - for me an amazing album

Peter Murphy - Dust - with a Turkish constellation and L Shankar - one of the most amazing proggy albums as a totally unexpected one

The Fireman - Rushes - Macca truly surprised me in this instrumental album.

Alice - an italian pop singer in her Park Hotel album - Manzanera/Levin/Marotta

Anne Dudley and Jaz Coleman

Pavlov's Dog / Bill Bruford

Steve Howe - Frankie goes to Hollywood


Steve Howe - Propaganda

Passangers - Eno/Pavarotti/U2

[Kai]

Alice - an italian pop singer in her Park Hotel album - Manzanera/Levin/Marotta

Then I suppose you should also mention her duet with Peter Hammill on Il sole nella pioggia (written by Hammill, who also co-wrote on song on Exit), and perhaps even the one with Tim Bowness on Viaggio in Italia, which also has Jakko Jakszyk on guitar. I don't find Levin and Marotta's presence on a "pop" album that surprising. They are session musicians and have played on pop records before. In any case, I find Park Hotel a brilliant album.

Many Finnish progressive musicians have played with "pop" artists, even written songs for them. Jukka Tolonen and most of Wigwam are prime examples. Often it was because they were paying back costs of album sessions that had run grossly over budget or just earning a bit more by doing sessions for other artists on the same label.

[Kai]

Oh yeah, and let's forget Jannick Top also worked with (amongst many many others) The Eurythmics, Celine Dion, and Johnny Halliday. Yes, that's right, the man who gave us De Futura also worked with everyone's favorite Quebecois songstress and the French Elvis. And one of the songs he played on with The Eurythmics got extensive MTV rotation!

This is why I consider the second-hand tape of Revenge I bought in 1991 to have been my first zeuhl album! That has the irritating "Missionary Man", which was an MTV hit for The Eurythmics, as well another track with Top on bass.

[Mt. Pleasant Farm]

Lady Gaga with Clarence Clemons. It is actually a really good tune. RIP Big Man.

[Proghound]

Phil Collins with Led Zeppelin

[GuitarGeek]

Steve Howe - Frankie goes to Hollywood


Steve Howe - Propaganda

Both of those were Trevor Horn productions, weren't they? I think it was Propaganda where Howe describing using his Fender Jazzmaster (which he had converted to a fretless instrument) on the session before noting that "there may actually be some guitar somewhere in that quagmire of a mix", implying that he wasn't sure that Horn had used him at all in the final mix.