Let’s see if we can name musical artists or groups who never released a disappointing or ‘bad’ album.
For this purpose of this thread, let’s not include greatest hits, live, unofficial releases, or any albums released by the record company after the artist/group broke up or stopped performing.
I’ll start with The Police. While I don’t like most of Sting’s solo work, there are no bad Police albums.
**Nirvana’**s three main albums are all good, and Insesticide is OK(but not a main album really).
Alice in Chains also have no bad album.
Neutral Milk Hotel
The White Stripes
WILCO
Gosh, this is really hard.
Both of Alien Ant Farm’s albums are exceptional.
I’m going to go ahead and embarrass myself and say I’ve honestly never been disappointed by anything Madonna has ever released. I’ll add the caveat that I’ve never heard Hard Candy and I haven’t listened to Confessions on a Dance Floor more than one time, so I’m not as familiar with her modern stuff. But everything she turned out up through American Life I regard as nothing less than magical. There, I said it. Magical.
Guster has put out five studio albums and a live album and all of them have been great.
“Never” is the term that keeps me from listing anybody who meets the criterion, but if “seldom” can be substituted, I can list a few from back in my record-buying days that would get close.
Dave Brubeck
Miles Davis
George Shearing
Henry Mancini
Stan Getz
Chet Atkins
Pat Metheny
Pink Floyd
Allman Brothers Band
Frank Sinatra
Ella Fitzgerald
Kenny Rankin
Gerald Wilson
Oscar Peterson
I’d put it this way: if you happened by a sale bin and had no clue about the artists/groups I’ve listed, but happened to enjoy or at least appreciate their genre, the chances are better than 80% that a random CD or album of theirs would be good.
But every one of them had at least one dud. Usually their dud(s) would have been from their last one or two projects as they were on their way out of the picture.
I can’t think of a Beatles album that sucked. Of course some are better than others, but none truly suck.
Yeah, but disappointment is relative. I could be disappointed with an album by my favorite artist that would have been a pleasant surprise by another band.
My list:
Tool
The Pixies
Deftones
TV on the Radio
The White Stripes
Lyle Lovett
Tom Lehrer
The Beatles
Flash and the Pan (only two albums)
The original (Keith Relf) Renaissance.
The original (Al Kooper) version of Blood, Sweat, and Tears
The original (Duane Allman) version of The Allman Brothers Band
Kak
Spirit (the original group before Andes, Ferguson, and California left)
Loving Spoonful
Cream (their four albums before the group broke up).
Mark Knopfler (with Dire Straits and solo)
Floater
Agreed with those who said Beatles, Tool, and White Stripes.
Agree with the White Stripes.
Not sure about Wilco, though. After* YHF* and A Ghost Is Born, Sky Blue Sky kinda disappointed me (guitar solo in Impossible Germany notwithstanding).
I’ll also add Spoon.
And less seriously, the Postal Service.
Stevie Ray Vaughan.
I’ve loved all of Pink’s albums.
I’m sure it’s cheating but Derek and the Dominos.
The Pixies, for certain.
Led Zeppelin had a streak of six flawless records before their albums became a bit uneven.
Big Star
For me, the grand prize would have to be The Beatles. The only one I really don’t care for is Yellow Submarine, and you might not classify that as a proper album, anyway. Over the span of their careers, I don’t think anyone has released as much consistently great work.
There are no good Police albums. From the instant we got Roxanne at the influential college radio station where I was a the time I could not get the appeal of the band. I never heard a thing to change my mind since, and cripes, lots of that stuff is in the canon now, while, e.g. XTC is all but forgotten.
Solo Sting stuff? No better.
Nick Lowe might qualify. And how about Jeff Beck?
Shane Macgowan. I loved every record he ever put out, whether it was with the Pogues or the Popes or the voices in his head. Even singing through his candy-cane teeth with a hoarse whisper, he has always managed to do it for me. I could never see him live, because it would truly hurt to see what he’s done to himself, but man, there’s no such thing as a bad Shane Macgowan album. Even the terrible ones kick ass.