24 albums Spotify doesn’t know about

Although many of the pop giants who have refused to stream in recent years have given in: Adele, Coldplay, Die Ärzte – we can now find them all on Spotify and Co. But those who illuminate the fringes will sometimes come across sensitive gaps. A – by no means exhaustive – list of recommended albums that are missing from Spotify.

Power Plant – Power Plant (1970)

The debut about which it has become quiet. Too bad, because the roots of the later great works are clearly recognizable, even if the electronics are still used very selectively.

Brian Auger – This Is Brian Auger (1974)

You can put together a nice early anthology from the organ master through various “Greatest Hits” – but of all things the dance floor hit “Tiger” is missing – if you want to own it, you will have to buy this album.

Bow Wow Wow – See Jungle! Lake Jungle! Go Join Your Gang Yeah, City All Over! Go Ape Crazy (1981)

The album with the somewhat unwieldy title stocks some of the most interesting sounds of the early eighties: Percussive world music meets exalted vocals meets wave structures. If you’re lucky, you’ll find it in the rummage box.

Nina Hagen Band – Nina Hagen Band (1978)

The debut of Hagen, who had just moved from the GDR to the FRG, is not always easy to listen to in its eclecticism – but that is precisely why it is an enormously important record: there are traces of German punk as well as those of NDW, pop and reggae are touched on, and to all Hagen sings more explicitly than almost anyone else on a major production.

“The phone says you”! Stoned Faces Don’t Lie! What hits these are! Unfortunately only available on CD. Dear Andreas Dorau, please press again!

The songs stretch up to 17 minutes, produced by Van Dyke Parks. Steve Albini sits at the mixing desk. The result: an enraptured ride that can probably be described as progressive folk.

Pizzicato Five – This Year’s Girl (1991)

Though they may have faded from collective memory, Pizzicato Five were big in the ’90s with their kawaii mix of indie pop and easy listening.

Billy Corgan clearly couldn’t come to an agreement with his former label Warner Music: not only ZEITGEIST is missing, but also the Zwan album MANY STAR OF THE SEA and THE FUTURE EMBRACE, released in 2005.

The Go Betweens – Before Hollywood (1983)

The equal division of labor between Robert Forster and Grant McLennan begins on this second album by the Go-Betweens – ignored by Spotify. “Moving!” Edwyn Collins sighed at the time. He was right.

Nicolette – Now Is Early (1992)

Produced by Shut Up And Dance on point and with appropriate elemental force, plus one of the most beautiful voices of the time. Unfortunately, Nicolette was unlucky: Her label went bankrupt because of unexplained samples, although her debut was released again in 1997 – but by then the trend checkers had already turned away from the so-called trip-hop and towards other genres.

Cpt. Kirk &. – Reform Hell (1992)

The coolest guys from the Hamburg school skip the streaming service, and that’s a shame: REFORMHÖLLE in particular is one of Tobias Levin’s most interesting works, fleeting but demanding, trained in jazz as well as postcore.

Flowerpornoes – Mama’s Peaches (1993)

Liwa never spat so nicely towards the industry as in “Title story against full-page advertisement”. And few covered “Losing My Religion” as well as he did.

International Pony – We Love Music (2002)

Cosmic DJ and Fishmob’s Koze eventually became boring to hip hop. With Erobique they recorded this album, on which house and funk come together.

One, Two – Dangerous Half-Knowledge (1999)

Neither Eins, Zwo nor Dendemann solo are represented on Spotify with a particularly large number of works. It’s a pity, because the Hamburg band already took the principle of word play to the highest heights with their debut. Dendemann has remained true to this active principle over the years, it’s not for nothing that we recently had him on the cover.

Actually just an EP, but one that is not unimportant: Neil Young, accompanied by The Restless, recorded it around the same time as the big FREEDOM. “Cocaine Eyes”, one of his best songs of the ’80s, can only be found here.

Jim O’Rourke – Eureka (1999)

Jim O’Rourke’s discography also has sensitive gaps. For example, EUREKA is missing, an album that is sometimes a bit artificial, but ultimately quite successful, approaches role models like Burt Bacharach and also has a nice anthem in its luggage: “Women of the world, take over, because if you don’t, the world will come to an end, and it won’t take long.”

Jandek – Ready For The House (1978)

Jandek has never been part of anything resembling the “music industry”. He self-publishes, doesn’t give interviews, doesn’t have his photos taken. A few sampler contributions can be found on Spotify, but none of his 100+ albums. Let’s start with the first one!

Baxendale – You Will Have Your Revenge (1999)

Britpop was over by the late ’90s. Baxendale gave him one more thing: the Londoners met the ladism of Oasis and Co. with candy electro pop songs about skiing in Switzerland, teenagers lying on school roofs and listening to Boards Of Canada.

X-Ecutioners – X-Pressions (1997)

The NYC Turntablists’ debut album was not a huge success commercially. Nevertheless: What the collective around Rob Swift delivers here on the turntable is a real pleasure, at least for those who know the genre.

Spacemen 3 – The Perfect Prescription (1987)

If you want to know where the sound of Spiritualized comes from, and (at least roughly) that of Shoegaze colleagues like Ride, My Bloody Valentine and all the others, you should listen carefully here. The rest of the quite extensive work of the band around Jason Pierce is also missing, apart from one song that MGMT once put on a compilation.

Neon Babies – Neon Babies (1981)

Quite an epic album in terms of mixing NDW and pop gestures. We hear Annette Humpe’s “Blaue Augen”, later a hit for Ideal, here for the first time – sung by Sister Inga.

Time Twisters, dammit! – Girls, Gurus & Guitars (1994)

A belated side note from the almost worldwide cosmos, that small pop world around Bad Salzuflen: instead of discourse, the duo has a mix of power pop, surf and C86 sounds. With the secret hit “On a class trip to London”.

Karate – Karate (1996)

The Boston band’s 1996 debut manages the feat of turning freely to punk and jazz at the same time. Later, the songs became more compact, trying to get closer to postcore. With the exception of a Dutch “In The Fishtank” session released in 2005, which is actually the band’s last recording, you can’t track all of this on Spotify.

Frank Ocean – Nostalgia, Ultra (2011)

In Frank Ocean’s mixtape debut, too, a sample is probably responsible for the fact that it can’t be found on Spotify: In “American Wedding” the Eagles play “Hotel California” at the beginning, and the rest of the melody follows the super hit diligently . The west coast rockers weren’t enthusiastic. Don Henley, apparently not familiar with the principle of sampling, called Frank Ocean a “talentless prick” in an interview at the time. Available on vinyl only as a bootleg.