Bands that got better through their career, or stayed on a par!

oldscoil

Hey everyone,

First of all I hope I'm doing this right, i'm new-ish to the board.

Anyhoo, me and "me mate Dave" often have long drunken nights talking about good bands or artists that remained consistently good, or even got better as time went on.

Belive me they're hard to find!!!!

For example:
Pixies: Trompe le Monde is nowhere near what came before.
Dylan: Nuff said!
Orbital: Dwindled a bit towards the end.
Beastie Boys: I found it very hard to give "To the 5 boroughs" a second listen. Didn't buy the latest album
Sabbath: Post Ozzy.....again nuff said!

Even my beloved QOTSA took a dip with Lullabyze, although they pulled their socks up for Era and I still think they've (or Josh) has a sh1t load left in him........


I could go on and on, but hey enuff of my yackin, lets boggie.......

Oh and the band HAVE TO HAVE ATLEAST 3 TO 4 albums under their belts.
So no bands with only two albums, the second of which was disappointing.....

The only real band that springs to mind would Nirvana.
I feel they got better and I think Kurt could have brought us all somewhere very intersting if the "Unplugged" album is anything to go by, as with his stuff with Mark Lanagen.

Creamy Goodness

good idea for a thread, will be interesting to see who gets mentioned here.

Ekels

Radiohead's neo-grunge/ meat & potato rock debut and decent follow up were blown out of the water by what followed.

Waiting Room's debut, while a superb album, doesn't have the sense of purpose and melodic and musical savvy of Battle Lines are Gently Drawn.

Elliott Smith changed direction with subtlety throughout his career, with more muscular pop in Figure 8 and more acoustic brilliance in Either/Or etc. but he still remained a very gifted song-writer and the music maintained quality always.

gustavo

Smiths seemeed to improve as they went on

Dudess

Damn you, beat me to it! A lot of Smiths fans would agree The Queen Is Dead and Strangeways, Here We Come (their last two albums) are their best.

oldscoil

Excellent stuff folks.

Keep em comin'.

Also, not to digress but feel free to throw in a few "OH HOW THE MIGHTY HAVE FALLEN!" for good messure.
Great bands that just went to COMPLETE sh1t, for some unknown reason.


I was thinkin' The Doors remained steady throughout their career, but they did release 2 albums post-Jim. I remember hearing them when i was about 14, and thinking they were sh1t, but I also liked the Exploited back then, AND THEY WERE SH1T!!!

Bubs101

Wilco would be my biggest nomination:
First album is an enjoyale but very passable country rock joint
Second album is a seminal alt-country double album
Third album is one of the best poppy efforts you will ever hear from a rock band with some darkness hidden inside it ("I dreamed about killing you again last night and it felt alright to me)
The 4th album is a bona Fide classic which is phenomenal from start to finish, couldn't recommend it to people enough
The 5th one is a Grammy nominated rock album which once again expands on their sound and takes them in an electronic direction without making them poncy (see Radiohead). Worth it for Spiders alone
The 6th album is a little bit of a step back, but is still far superior to the first one

tibor

The Beatles have to be the most obvious example.

Royale with Cheese

tibor wrote: »

The Beatles have to be the most obvious example.

Yup. Starting with fairly forgettable pop stuff and finishing with in my opinion the best album of all time, Abbey Road. Incredible stuff, especially when you think they made 13 albums in 7 years.

sink

Interpol. They had small beginnings and each album has got progressively better.

Krsnik87

Yup Beatles just kept going, don't think anyone will repeat thier sucess but we can only hope. even though they've been gone for 40 years The Love Album managed to recapture thier spirit.

Muse have had a fairly solid career as have Placebo, no loss in quality imo, still not even a drop in the water compared to the Beatles though!

loyatemu

the smiths only released 4 proper albums (and I don'y rate "Strangeways.." at all). If talking heads had stopped after 4 albums, or the Stones had stopped after "Exile on main street" you could mention them too.

Any act that continues beyond 5 or 6 albums is probably going to have its ups and downs.

I'll mention Lambchop - they really hit their stride with "Nixon" and they've stayed consistently good since.

IanCurtis

Portishead I reckon

3rd album is better than 2nd
2nd album is better than 1st
1st album is bloody fantastic!

Amazotheamazing

Ekels wrote: »

Radiohead's neo-grunge/ meat & potato rock debut and decent follow up were blown out of the water by what followed.

Why must you lie about these things?

For me, the Eels have been on a fairly upward graph all the way through.

Would have said the Flaminf Lips, but then they went and released at War with the Mystics.

Ekels

gustavo wrote: »

Smiths seemeed to improve as they went on

Rubbish! Their debut was never topped. It was a 10/10 effort, the rest were 9-9.9/10.

Ekels

sink wrote: »

Interpol. They had small beginnings and each album has got progressively better.

I really can't agree with this. TOTBL is just fantastic and is more understated and brilliant than the other two.
Imo, TOTBL > OLTA > Antics.

Placid_Casual

For me REM stand out a mile. In my opinion, they went 20 years without releasing a poor album, Around The Sun bringing the run to an end. And even if you don't rate their later stuff, they released six great albums in six consecutive years in the 80s.

Ekels

Placid_Casual wrote: »

For me REM stand out a mile. In my opinion, they went 20 years without releasing a poor album, Around The Sun bringing the run to an end. And even if you don't rate their later stuff, they released six great albums in six consecutive years in the 80s.

Not sure.. Monster, non? That was quite the low, I reckon. Power-chord central it was.

Dudess

tibor wrote: »

The Beatles have to be the most obvious example.

God yeah. I, like many others I've no doubt, have no interest in them pre Rubber Soul.

loyatemu wrote: »

I don'y rate "Strangeways.." at all

Whereas I can't make up my mind which is their best album - Strangeways or The Queen Is Dead. No accounting for opinions I suppose.

Ekels wrote: »

Rubbish! Their debut was never topped. It was a 10/10 effort, the rest were 9-9.9/10.

It's not rubbish, it's that poster's opinion. I love all their albums but I think the third and fourth are their best.

ShoulderChip

Of Montreal

Sufjan Stevens

sprinkles

Death Cab for Cutie

KnifeWRENCH

Radiohead - with the exception of Amnesiac, I prefer each album to the one that preceeded it.
Having listened to In Rainbows over and over again I would put it on par with Hail To The Thief as my favourite Radiohead record
(As much as I love OK Computer, I do think it's slightly overrated).
Oh, and with regard to Radiohead:

Amazotheamazing wrote:

Why must you lie about these things?

Your opinion is not solid truth. You disagreeing does not make Ekels' opinion wrong.

The White Stripes - I think they just keep getting better and better. Their critics would have expected them to run out of steam by now, but Icky Thump is one of my favourite albums ever.
Excluding De Stijl (the only Stripes album I haven't listened to yet):
Icky Tump > Get Behind Me Satan > Elephant > White Blood Cells > White Stripes.

Bjork - Reached her peak with Homogenic & Vespertine.
Very very slight dip in quality with Medulla and Volta, but they both easily stand up to Debut and Post.
So it goes: 2 very good albums, 2 phenomenal albums, 2 more very good albums. I would rate all of them highly. And I believe that she can go on to release something even more magnificent :cool:

Garbage - 4 albums, none of which I consider a weak link. My personal favourite is "beautifulgarbage", with the other 3 held in equal (very high) regard.

Ekels

Dudess wrote: »

It's not rubbish, it's that poster's opinion. I love all their albums but I think the third and fourth are their best.

I was being subjective without stating so. Sorry if I was too ambiguous for you.

Ekels

Amazotheamazing wrote: »

Why must you lie about these things?

You honestly don't prefer Pablo Honey to the rest, do you? Fair enough then.

Amazotheamazing

Ekels wrote: »

You honestly don't prefer Pablo Honey to the rest, do you? Fair enough then.

Nah, I'm all about the Bends, everything else has been made with ever increasing levels of self-delusion. I dunno, I just can't relate to where Radiohead have gone, whining about spinning plates and black-eyed angels. Course, I was paraphrasing the Simpsons in my early quote, so no need to take it too seriously.

ShoulderChip

your such an indie snob

dr.bollocko

square_igloo wrote: »

Radiohead - with the exception of Amnesiac, I prefer each album to the one that preceeded it.
Having listened to In Rainbows over and over again I would put it on par with Hail To The Thief as my favourite Radiohead record
(As much as I love OK Computer, I do think it's slightly overrated).
Oh, and with regard to Radiohead:

Your opinion is not solid truth. You disagreeing does not make Ekels' opinion wrong.

The White Stripes - I think they just keep getting better and better. Their critics would have expected them to run out of steam by now, but Icky Thump is one of my favourite albums ever.
Excluding De Stijl (the only Stripes album I haven't listened to yet):
Icky Tump > Get Behind Me Satan > Elephant > White Blood Cells > White Stripes.

Bjork - Reached her peak with Homogenic & Vespertine.
Very very slight dip in quality with Medulla and Volta, but they both easily stand up to Debut and Post.
So it goes: 2 very good albums, 2 phenomenal albums, 2 more very good albums. I would rate all of them highly. And I believe that she can go on to release something even more magnificent :cool:

Garbage - 4 albums, none of which I consider a weak link. My personal favourite is "beautifulgarbage", with the other 3 held in equal (very high) regard.

:eek:
Bwahahahaha.

The doors.

smackbunnybaby

Low - never made a bad album

Dudess

square_igloo wrote: »

Bjork - Reached her peak with Homogenic & Vespertine.

Good example. However I personally would go back another album - Post and Homogenic and Vespertine are remarkable. I'm not hugely pushed about Debut at all. The albums following Vespertine aren't my cup of tea. I appreciate how original they are though.

Ekels wrote: »

I was being subjective without stating so. Sorry if I was too ambiguous for you.

So you should be...

Ekels

Amazotheamazing wrote: »

Nah, I'm all about the Bends, everything else has been made with ever increasing levels of self-delusion. I dunno, I just can't relate to where Radiohead have gone, whining about spinning plates and black-eyed angels. Course, I was paraphrasing the Simpsons in my early quote, so no need to take it too seriously.

No, don't worry, I won't become offended because somebody doesn't insert 'imo' at the end of every bloody sentence, like a few others reckon!

The Bends is a decent listen, for me. If Pablo Honey and the Bends were made by another band I'd have serious respect for that band and the respective albums. However, I just think that OK Computer and In Rainbows are absolutely mesmerizing really, Kid A was daring and worthy of my respect but in the midst of the experimental excitement, I think they forgot that an album needs more quality songs than courageous two-fingers. It starts wonderfully with some astonishing songs like National Anthem and Everything In It's Right Place and after about four tracks, doesn't pick up again until track 7 (my favourite RH song) Idioteque.
Amnesiac and Hail To The Thief are excellent too, a tier above PH and the Bends, but a tier below the rest, I think.

KnifeWRENCH

dr.bollocko wrote: »

:eek:
Bwahahahaha.

Care to elaborate? Since you quoted my (fairly long) post I'd prefer a more substantial reply.

dr.bollocko

You don't want me to elaborate.
Nobody ever wants me to elaborate.

Let's leave it at that!

KnifeWRENCH

Err....ok then.
I'll just assume you're not too complimentary about my taste in music!

Affable

Ekels wrote: »

Radiohead's neo-grunge/ meat & potato rock debut and decent follow up were blown out of the water by what followed.

The Bends is their best album IMO. Hardly blown out of the water.

Affable

Ekels wrote: »

Rubbish! Their debut was never topped. It was a 10/10 effort, the rest were 9-9.9/10.

Tend to vaguely agree, also think Strangeways is the worst album.

Affable

tibor wrote: »

The Beatles have to be the most obvious example.

IMO hit their peak with Rubber Soul and Revolver, went down after that.

Affable

Springsteen. Peaking late 70's to mid 90's. His first few albums not my favs.

Dylan's latest album is some of my favourite stuff of his.

Xavi6

Can't get into anything radiohead have done since OK Computer. That, The Bends and Pablo Honey are all I need. They've gone downhill imo. Kid A is justified by the 'it was experimental' excuse. If anyone else had released it then it'd be described as ****, which it is.

Interpol's latest is the worst of their three so far for me. The other two are pretty close in terms of quality.

Muse haven't gotten better. 'Origin of Symmetry' is easily their best work. The other stuff is still fantastic but nothing tops 'Origin'.


I think the Shins have gotten massively better. Couldn't listen to their first few albums but their recent offering is class.

dr.bollocko

Wholehearted agreement.

Amazotheamazing

Xavi6 wrote: »

Can't get into anything radiohead have done since OK Computer. That, The Bends and Pablo Honey are all I need. They've gone downhill imo. Kid A is justified by the 'it was experimental' excuse. If anyone else had released it then it'd be described as ****, which it is.

So true. It's either experimental music for people who don't like experimental music or gibberish, I'm not sure which.

Ekels

Kid A has got good songs! It's not experimental for the sake of experimentation: Idioteque, How To Disappear Completely, National Anthem etc.

Kold

When will people realise that Amnesiac is probably one of the most beautiful albums ever made? Get proper headphones goddammit.


God, people who think the Bends is their best album drive me crazy. It's their second worst. Fact. That doesn't mean it isn't fantastic it's just nowhere near their peak. Honestly, they have gotten so good over the years and they will not fizzle out, they would be incapable. There is simply too much integrity and genius in the 5 guys.

On another note, I saw them twice in the last month (can only talk about the Amsterdam gig though, which was amazing.. They played Wolf at the Door!) and I got the distinct feeling that Thom is gonna be alright He's positively radiating on this tour. They said in some interview that they'll probably make another album and I can just tell it will be top notch.

dr.bollocko

People won't because it isn't.
That is all.

Kold

Xavi6 wrote: »

Can't get into anything radiohead have done since OK Computer. That, The Bends and Pablo Honey are all I need. They've gone downhill imo. Kid A is justified by the 'it was experimental' excuse. If anyone else had released it then it'd be described as ****, which it is.

This coming from a fan of Black Holes & Revelations is frankly laughable.


Honestly, try again. Just because you don't get something the first time doesn't give you reason to class it as ****.

Kold

dr.bollocko wrote: »

People won't because it isn't.
That is all.

You're wrong. Lol. That's all.

KnifeWRENCH

I love when bands do experiment - I have much more admiration for bands who do something different than bands who just release the same album over and over again.

Since this has turned into a Radiohead thread, I will say I prefer Kid A to The Bends and I listen to it more often - not because of the "it was experimental" tag but because I genuinely think it's a better album.

I wasn't as keen on Amnesiac though - I thought it was a bit too indulgent. But I still love some of the stuff on there.

I can understand people preferring The Bends though, and I wouldn't discredit their opinion.
But I find it hard to believe someone describing Kid A as "****" - some seriously brilliant music on there. (Everything In It's Right Place, The National Anthem, How To Disappear Completely, Optimistic, In Limbo, Idioteque - none of these are "****")

mr_angry

I have a lot of admiration for Radiohead branching out and experimenting with new styles. Very few bands have managed to maintain a consistent level of quality without altering their style. Lets face it, The Beatles could well be considered a band that changed style quite radically throughout their career, to much success.

By comparison, bands like Oasis have attempted to maintain the same focus, with disasterous results, running out of steam, and with each subsequent album sounding like a parody of the first couple. Likewise, much as I love Placebo and Garbage, I think that both their peaks came with their second albums, and they haven't branched out enough to stay interesting. They've had some good songs since then, but nothing approaching the consistent qualities of "Without You I'm Nothing" and "Version 2.0".

In terms of new suggestions, I'd happily suggest both Nada Surf and Pinback. The former defintely hit an all-time high with "High Low", but their subsequent albums have been tragically overlooked. "The Weight Is A Gift" is one of my all-time favourites.

Pinback's early work was a difficult listen, but they've definitely found another gear with both "Summer in Abbadon" and "Autumn of the Seraphs". To anyone who's never listened to them, I'd certainly recommend checking out those two.

Xavi6

Kold wrote: »

God, people who think the Bends is their best album drive me crazy. It's their second worst. Fact.

Lol 'Fact'? :rolleyes:

Kold wrote: »

This coming from a fan of Black Holes & Revelations is frankly laughable.

I like the album, but it's not even near their best. You point? Ooooh I see, because I happen to like BH&R I couldn't possibly be fit to make a judgement on a Radiohead album that has divided opinion since it's release :rolleyes:

Kold wrote: »

Honestly, try again. Just because you don't get something the first time doesn't give you reason to class it as ****.

The first time, the fifth time, the twelfth time. It's crap imo and tough shit if you don't agree.

ShoulderChip

do you really like black holes and revelations?

oldscoil

Bands that got better through their career, or stayed on a par!


HOW DID THIS TURN INTO WHATS YOUR FAVOURITE RADIOHEAD ALBUM

No more Radiohead please, its not why I started thsi thread, start a different one about Radiohead if you want!

Amazotheamazing

The Hold Steady

Four albums, each one better than the last.