One of my favorite genres of music is lo-fi, or "low-fidelity," meaning artists who record their songs onto cheap equipment. Though most lo-fi artists are DIY musicians who work outside of the mainstream and use cheap equipment out of necessity, there are still some highly successful rock stars that have chosen to go lo-fi for aesthetic reasons, or simply out of convenience. Here are six lo-fi albums that were recorded by big rock stars.
1 & 2. Paul McCartney - McCartney/McCartney II (1970/1980)
Even the world's biggest and most revered rock musician gets sick of recording studios every once in a while. For his first solo effort following the disintegration of the Beatles, Paul McCartney gave us McCartney, a bizarre collection of home-recorded pop tunes, some of which were completely improvised. Though the album spawned the classic "Maybe I'm Amazed," the album's true spirit is captured in raw, seemingly tossed-off recordings like "The Lovely Linda." McCartney would return to home recording ten years later for the experimental McCartney II.
3. Fleetwood Mac - Tusk (1979)
Although only about a third of Fleetwood Mac's Tusk can be considered "lo-fi," it's still enough of the album to be considered one of its defining characteristics. A number of songs written by guitarist Lindsay Buckingham, including the single "Not That Funny," were recorded in a sparse, punk-influenced, almost homemade style that comes off as the complete antithesis of the band's previous album, the hyper-produced Rumours.
4. Bruce Springsteen - Nebraska (1982)
Bruce Springsteen is known as a perfectionist in the recording studio (he allegedly threw a master tape of Born To Run out of a window when he was unsatisfied with it), but you wouldn't exactly know it listening to Nebraska. Instead of sprawling, Phil Spector-inspired recordings, Nebraska contains simple folk songs recorded onto a portable four-track. These songs were to be recorded in an actual studio later on, but Springsteen liked the demos so much that he decided to release them as the actual album.
5. John Frusciante - Niandra Lades and Usually Just a T-Shirt (1994)
Though you may not know it listening to his work in the Red Hot Chili Peppers, guitarist John Frusciante is actually a well-regarded figure in experimental and psychedelic music. His debut solo album Niandra Lades and Usually Just a T-Shirt contains 70 minutes of eerie psychedelic folk music recorded onto a four-track while on tour with RHCP, though it wasn't released until after his initial departure from the band in 1992.
6. Neil Young - A Letter Home (2014)
For his most recent album, Neil Young decided to team up with Jack White, so you know there was going to be something weird and gimmicky about it. Instead of recording in a proper studio, Young recorded the entirety of A Letter Home into White's Voice-O-Graph booth at the Third Man store in Nashville, in which anyone can go and record a song directly onto a seven-inch record.
