Nah. I’d say their first three albums are all considered classics, and the biggest hits from those (“I Want You To Want Me” and “Surrender”) are from albums 2 and 3. As mentioned, Dream Police (studio album #4) had a bigger hit than either of those with its title track.
ETA: I was going to nominate Eric Clapton, but I don’t think he’s ever had a good album (solo, anyway).
Yeah, just to pile on: ever since Crafter Man posted, I’ve been wondering whether he was confusing Cheap Trick with some other band.
I would say definitely not. Every album up to and including For Those About To Rock had at least one well known song on it, and I would say many Bon Scott Albums are popular and well known. I haven’t really followed them since (not a big Brian Johnson fan), but they definitely do not meet the terms of the OP.
You’ve been whooshed. ultrafilter was making the point that every AC/DC album is the same. I love the Young Brothers, esp with Bon, but have to agree…
The Avalanches (The Avalanches - Wikipedia)
Only released one full length album, have been working on number 2 since 2005.
*Since I Left You *consistently gets included in lists of best Australian albums.
Mary Chapin Carpenter has had a couple of albums with a couple of great cuts, but only Come On Come On hit the mark with every song.
Lyle Lovett, likewise, has had a couple of great songs on every album he made, but only Lyle Lovett and His Large Band hit every cylinder every time.
Sheryl Crow’s Tuesday Night Music Club was truly great, her other albums came up a little short.
Cyndi Lauper’s She’s So Unusual was flawless. Every subsequent album illustrated the principle of “diminishing Returns.”
Don Maclean - American Pie
Fairground Attraction - First of a million kisses
Black Grape - Its great when you’re straight
The Proclaimers - Sunshine on Leith
These may well be a bit UK centric, but you will almost certainly know a number of their songs, and inevitably those will come from the albums listed.
I almost put Michelle Shocked on there with ‘Short Sharp Shocked’ but the OP also mentioned about being respected musicians, I’m not too sure she fits that condition, given some of her unusual…comments.
Janis Joplin - Pearl - sure she released other stuff but most folk will not be able to name it.
My Bloody Valentine - Loveless
Isn’t Anything is a tremendous album too, imo.
I would say their latest release, mbv, too. Of their four studio albums, the only one that wasn’t really that good (they were still finding their voice), was the first one, This Is Your Bloody Valentine. In my experience, Isn’t Anything is considered by many My Bloody Valentine fans as better than Loveless. (I disagree.) But their newest album surprised the hell out of me. I was expecting a Second Coming Stone Roses-level disappointment, but Shields et al., hit it out of the ballpark, making one of the best albums of last year. It took me a few listens to really appreciate it (as with any MBV release), but it’s a great album.
I strongly disagree with this: Many good albums but Pontiac is top-to-bottom great.
I have to call bulshit on this; Shaun Ryder had quite a good career and the work he did with Happy Mondays easily outshadows (for most people) anything else he did (or may ever do in the future). It’s not like Black Grape was ever anything other than a vehicle for Mr. Ryder, after all.
Obviously, YMMV - but her next two, Sheryl Crow and The Globe Sessions, were also excellent, sold very well, produced hits and pretty much cemented her reputation as more than a one-hit/album wonder…
Not as successful as She’s So Unusual, but good successful albums did follow.
True Colors was a certified double platinum and hit number four on Billboard
The album produced the singles “True Colors” (No. 1 Billboard ), “Change of Heart” (No. 3), “What’s Going On” (No. 12), and “Boy Blue” (No. 71).
Memphis Blues was voted the 7th best album of 2010 by the New York Post. It went on to become Billboard’s biggest selling blues album of 2010.The album remained at No. 1 on the Billboard Blues chart for thirteen weeks, totaling 40 weeks in the chart
Cheap Thrills is by far her best album, according to most casual fans, and the rest of the public is very familiar with the hit from it, “Piece o’ My Heart.”
Perhaps you were led astray by the fact that it is nominally by something called “Big Brother and the Holding Company.” Make no mistake, it is a Janis Joplin album, as much (or more) as Derek and the Dominos’ *Layla *is an Eric Clapton album.
I never really got the love for ‘Isn’t Anything’. I’ve tried really hard but I just cannot get it to click - and I grew up listening to shoegazing (I recently had the joys of experiencing this about three metres behind that video. As someone that adored Ride but only ever got to see them live once, at the 1992 Reading Festival, seeing Andy play my favourite Ride song just … indescribable). ‘Loveless’ was a far superior album and ‘mbv’ felt, to me, like a bunch of outtakes they’d found and cleaned up. I know they didn’t but it sounded that way.