# Best Album Streaks
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-album-streaks/661235
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [June 18, 2013, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-album-streaks/661235 "2013-06-18T02:40:33Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 6
### Author:  [@buddha\_david](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buddha_david)
#### Post date: [June 20, 2013, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-album-streaks/661235/101 "2013-06-20T22:42:07Z")
And since somebody dared to bring up **Loverboy** , might as well mention:
**Styx**
Equinox (1975)
Crystal Ball (1976)
The Grand Illusion (1977)
Pieces of Eight (1978)
Cornerstone (1979)
Paradise Theater (1981)
Kilroy Was Here (1983)
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### Author:  [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)
#### Post date: [June 22, 2013, 6:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-album-streaks/661235/102 "2013-06-22T06:36:19Z")
> [@woodstockbirdybird](#):
>
> Dude, I understand taste is subjective
No, obviously you don’t.
> [@buddha\_david](#):
>
> And since somebody dared to bring up **Loverboy** , might as well mention:
>
> **Styx**
Who’s opening for who at the North Bumblefunk County fair?😛
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### Author:  [@woodstockbirdybird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woodstockbirdybird)
#### Post date: [June 22, 2013, 6:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-album-streaks/661235/103 "2013-06-22T06:42:05Z")
Yeah, I do. But I’ve literally never heard _anybody_ other than you make a case that Loverboy had a string of great albums, much less that such a string would have lasted beyond the early '80s. Definitely not critics or music geeks. Or, judging from album sales after '87, the buying public.
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### Author:  [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)
#### Post date: [June 22, 2013, 7:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-album-streaks/661235/104 "2013-06-22T07:01:14Z")
> [@woodstockbirdybird](#):
>
> Yeah, I do. But I’ve literally never heard _anybody_ other than you
Proving you don’t know the meaning of “subjective”.
And there is also that I came into the thread late and a lot of the good bands were already mentioned.😃
Notice you didn’t say anything about my first band, Wings. Are you aware of how many people in the 70’s insisted they sucked?
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### Author:  [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)
#### Post date: [June 22, 2013, 7:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-album-streaks/661235/105 "2013-06-22T07:17:52Z")
> [@NoClueBoy](#):
>
> Everything that Toad the Wet Sprocket put out is great. imho, ymmv of course
Yep. One of the best bands to come out of the 90s.
I’ll add **Foo Fighters:**
Foo Fighters (1995)
The Colour and the Shape (1997)
There Is Nothing Left to Lose (1999)
One By One (2002)
In Your Honor - Dual Album (2005)
Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace (2007)
Wasting Light (2011)
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### Author:  [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)
#### Post date: [June 22, 2013, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-album-streaks/661235/106 "2013-06-22T14:33:47Z")
> [@woodstockbirdybird](#):
>
> Yeah, I do. But I’ve literally never heard _anybody_ other than you make a case that Loverboy had a string of great albums, much less that such a string would have lasted beyond the early '80s. Definitely not critics or music geeks. Or, judging from album sales after '87, the buying public.
I have a huge guilty-pleasure affection for **The Babys** , with John Waite, Jonathan Cain, Wally Stocker(?) and a few others. I haven’t listened to them in over a decade, but kinda don’t need to - Headfirst, Midnght Rendevous, Isn’t it Time, etc can be recalled effortlessly. A streak like Headfirst, Union Jacks and On the Edge? '70’s power pop/rock _gold_, Jerry!! 😉
But I’m not going to offer them up in a thread like this, unless I was trying to have a little fun. When I see bands like Loverboy or Styx or Kiss - yes, they had their best periods - runs of albums that earned them success - but we’re just being listy at this point.
Arguments like where Metallica’s run should be viewed vs The Stones, or how to treat REM after they maintained critical popularity but lost consumer traction in a big way? That’s the meaty stuff…
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### Author:  [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)
#### Post date: [June 22, 2013, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-album-streaks/661235/107 "2013-06-22T18:16:06Z")
Bob Dylan has already been cited - and deservedly so - but I feel it necessary to mention his current outstanding streak:
1997 - Time Out of Mind
2001 - Love and Theft
2006 - Modern Times
2009 - Together Through Life
2012 - Tempest
(I’m going to request a mulligan for that Christmas album)
mmm
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### Author:  [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)
#### Post date: [June 22, 2013, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-album-streaks/661235/108 "2013-06-22T18:22:22Z")
Peter Gabriel.
The first 3 Peter Gabriel albums, all titled Peter Gabriel
He followed up those great albums with “So”
I’ve found his albums after So to be hit or miss. So was a huge commercial success.
The soundtracks for Birdy and The Last Temptation of Christ were quite good as well.
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### Author:  [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)
#### Post date: [June 22, 2013, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-album-streaks/661235/109 "2013-06-22T18:27:13Z")
Peter Gabriel’s 4th album was called Peter Gabriel, but also branded as Security and featured his hit Shock the Monkey.
His third album, which started with Intruder and ended with Biko, is a Top 5 disc…just amazing.
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### Author:  [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)
#### Post date: [June 22, 2013, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-album-streaks/661235/110 "2013-06-22T18:31:36Z")
> [@WordMan](#):
>
> Peter Gabriel’s 4th album was called Peter Gabriel, but also branded as Security and featured his hit Shock the Monkey.
>
> His third album, which started with Intruder and ended with Biko, is a Top 5 disc…just amazing.
I’m slapping myself on the head, I absolutely love the 4th album (Security), in fact, I think it is the strongest album since the debut Peter Gabriel album.
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### Author:  [@scabpicker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scabpicker)
#### Post date: [June 22, 2013, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-album-streaks/661235/111 "2013-06-22T18:41:04Z")
Well, I’ll be the first to ride in on my personal hobby horse. Sonic Youth!
1982 Sonic Youth - The live album w/the blue cover.
1983 Confusion Is Sex
1985 Bad Moon Rising
1986 EVOL
1987 Sister
1988 Daydream Nation
1990 Goo
The first side of each of them almost requires me to listen to the second side. Their next album, Dirty, has enough of my favorite songs that I want to include it, but it has enough low spots that I think it ends their streak.
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### Author:  [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)
#### Post date: [June 22, 2013, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-album-streaks/661235/112 "2013-06-22T18:45:09Z")
> [@dalej42](#):
>
> I’m slapping myself on the head, I absolutely love the 4th album (Security), in fact, I think it is the strongest album since the debut Peter Gabriel album.
Security is amazing, but nothing beats #3. I played Biko for my son when he was 13 and made him cry ;).
You can blow out a match, but you can’t blow out a fire; when the flame begins to catch, the winds will blow it higher…and the eyes of the world are watching now.
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### Author:  [@Critical1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Critical1)
#### Post date: [June 22, 2013, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-album-streaks/661235/113 "2013-06-22T19:21:32Z")
> [@Johnny\_Angel](#):
>
> Come on, Tom Waits:
>
> 1973 - Closing Time
> 1974 - The Heart of Saturday Night
> 1975 - Nighthawks at the Diner
> 1976 - Small Change
> 1977 - Foreign Affairs
> 1978 - Blue Valentine
> 1980 - Heart Attack and Vine
> 1982 - One from the Heart
> 1983 - Swordfishtrombones
> 1985 - Rain Dogs
> 1987 - Frank’s Wild Years
> 1988 - Big Time
> 1992 - Bone Machine
> 1992 - Night on Earth
> 1993 - Black Rider
> 1999 - Mule Variations
> 2002 - Blood Money
> 2003 - Alice
>
> That’s where my collection peters off, but even the weakest of those, in my view, One From the Heart is a gem in its own way.
Orphans in 06 was a 3 disc set that is fantastic from start to finish, and in 11 he released Bad as Me which is an absolute masterpiece.
Tom Waits wins this thread hands down (IMHO, YMMV, and all that)
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### Author:  [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)
#### Post date: [June 22, 2013, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-album-streaks/661235/114 "2013-06-22T19:28:16Z")
> [@Marley23](#):
>
> And the Allman Brothers Band’s first four albums went this way: self-titled debut (Trouble No More, Dreams, Whipping Post), Idlewild South (Don’t Keep Me Wondering, Midnight Rider, In Memory of Elizabeth Reed), the live album At Fillmore East (enough said), and Eat a Peach (Ain’t Wastin’ Time No More, Mountain Jam, Blue Sky).
I meant to add that the album after these four was Brothers and Sisters, which was their only #1 album and had Jessica and Ramblin’ Man, their biggest hit. I don’t think it’s as good as the previous four and the band was so different by then that it’s hard to compare, but it was still a very successful album.
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### Author:  [@Carmady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carmady)
#### Post date: [June 22, 2013, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-album-streaks/661235/115 "2013-06-22T20:23:17Z")
> [@Critical1](#):
>
> Tom Waits wins this thread hands down (IMHO, YMMV, and all that)
Agreed, the only reason I didn’t mention him earlier is that it didn’t seem to fully fit the definition of “streak” being used (albums released in very quick succession).
By far the longest streak timewise though. It amazes me that someone who first released an album in 1973 is the best artist of the 00s. Blood Money, Alice, Real Gone, and Orphans make it his best decade.
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### Author:  [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)
#### Post date: [June 22, 2013, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-album-streaks/661235/116 "2013-06-22T20:45:02Z")
I hadn’t thought of it (wish I had), but JohnnyAngel, Carmady, and Critical1 are right on. Tom Waits is the answer.
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### Author:  [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)
#### Post date: [June 23, 2013, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-album-streaks/661235/117 "2013-06-23T01:52:59Z")
> [@koeeoaddi](#):
>
> Joni Mitchell!
>
> Song for a Seagull
> Clouds
> Ladies of the Canyon
> Blue
> For the Roses
> Court and Spark
AND
Hissing Of Summer Lawns
Hejira
And I can sing every single song on every single one of these albums. Badly.
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### Author:  [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)
#### Post date: [June 23, 2013, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-album-streaks/661235/118 "2013-06-23T01:58:18Z")
I think if the category has a “winner”, it really does have to be the Beatles. Simply because virtually every song on every album is familiar, the aren’t any real unfamiliar “filler” tracks that surprise you to hear. Thats not true of any other artist named.
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### Author:  [@Noodles\_Fellicini](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Noodles_Fellicini)
#### Post date: [June 23, 2013, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-album-streaks/661235/119 "2013-06-23T02:14:35Z")
> [@NoClueBoy](#):
>
> Everything that Toad the Wet Sprocket put out is great. imho, ymmv of course
Did you check out the Kickstarter to distribute their minty fresh album New Constellation? Lots of fans agreeing with you on their awesomeness!
---
### Author:  [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)
#### Post date: [June 23, 2013, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-album-streaks/661235/120 "2013-06-23T02:40:53Z")
> [@Noodles\_Fellicini](#):
>
> Did you check out the Kickstarter to distribute their minty fresh album New Constellation? Lots of fans agreeing with you on their awesomeness!
Thanks for the heads up!
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