I’m hesitant to post this because I’m sure I will offend many members, but I’m interested to know which musical artists (in the posters’ opinions) never improved on their first albums.
This is not to say that their best work was released first, but that as a body of work they never surpassed their first album.
I would very surprised if anyone offers up the Beatles, Rolling Stones, Led Zep, The Who, or any number of other hugely successful bands, but by the same token I would really like to restrict consideration to solo artists or groups who have had an enduring career, rather than one hit wonders. For example, by definition “Never Mind the Bollocks” was the best album that the Sex Pistols released, but that’s silly.
There are two which spring to my mind:
[ul]
[li]Kate Bush - I have loved most of what Kate Bush has done, but I personally don’t think that any album surpassed “The Kick Inside.” The fact that she wrote pretty much all of it before she turned 18 makes it all the more remarkable.[/li][li]Bryan Adams - I know it’s not fashionable to like him, but I’m a fan of most of his work. I don’t think he has ever released an album better than “Reckless” even though some individual songs he produced subsequently are better than the album’s tracks.[/li][/ul]
(I know there is dispute as to whether two element constitutes a list, but there you go.)
I’m really looking forward to hearing members’ contributions.
It would be easier to list bands that did clearly surpass their first album. Of all the famous bands whose first album I own (and own other albums by), only Pink Floyd created stuff that is a whole level above their first album. Now I like PatGoD, but The Wall is leagues above it.
Even Led Zeppelin did not clearly surpass LZ1. It has such raw energy and musicality that even though I prefer LZ4, it’s almost a coin flip to me rather than a clear bettering.
For me it’s partly “survival of the fittest”. If a band’s first album isn’t excellent, I probably won’t buy their later ones, which are bound to disappoint by sheer randomness.
On review, My Chemical Romance is another example, but I often forget about Bullets because it’s soooooo horrible.
Is it? I thought Automatic for the People was held to be the best. Automatic seems to be in a three-way tie with Out of Time and Monster for their best-seller.
I would put Automatic as their peak. R.E.M. doesn’t fit this topic well because they have consistently put out high quality stuff. Well Around the Sun kind of sucked…
**The B-52s **
Their second album was maybe half as good as the first, from there I think they went into freefall. I don’t really like much that the post-Ricky version did.
Carole King actually had a solo album called Writer a year before Tapestry came out…
Obviously it was completely overshadowed by the huge success of Tapestry.
Of the hundreds of albums released by Henry Mancini none have surpassed the Peter Gunn TV show soundtrack. I listen to it often enough to say nothing he has done since then is any better or more exciting. And I must have at least ten of those albums.
The reason why BNL’s Gordon was so good is that it was a mostly a compilation of all their previously successful material, especially (The Yellow Tape which was already certified platinum) and contributions from a who’s who of the Toronto music scene at the time.
:smack: I forgot about Writer, Up on the Roof is one of my favorite tunes too*.*
