ARTIST WHO HAD ONE ALBUM THAT WAS GREAT BUT OTHER ALBUMS DONT QUITE MEASURE UP.

I CANT THINK OF TOO MANY BUT HERE GOES.

1. the bodeans- love n hope n sex and dreams. one of my favorite albums with some real catchy tunes. other releases have all been good but the other ones dont stand out much to me.
2.rick sprngfield - denail anger love and acceptance- not that his other albums are bad , its good power pop in its time. this one that he put out about 3 years ago rocks with a hard edge and you wouldnt know its him either.
3.the knack - get the knack - obvious reasons

I was never a big Stranglers fan but I was verily impressed with "Feline" - "Golden Brown," "Paradise," just beautiful. I thought, well, I'm really coming around to these guys. What did they follow it up with? A hair-metal Kinks cover. Oh well.

I think my affection for the Meat Puppets is almost entirely based on how much I love "Meat Puppets II."

Mrs Fab would agree with you about the Knack. She dutifully bought their next couple albums. There was, to say the least, no "My Sharona" on them.

Andrew Lloyd Weber "Jesus Christ Superstar." I still can't believe I have an Andrew Lloyd Weber album in my closet.

aztec camera

uh....

TELEVISION

TV? i don't think Adventure was a bad album. How about Nirvana?

I think I've made this point about the Violent Femmes before. With the exception of a great song every now and then, everything they did after the debut mainly served to just drain the power away from that amazing first album.

And ADVENTURE is definitely a great album. Not as good as MARQUEE MOON, but not anything to be dismissed out of hand, either. Heck, I liked the '92 reunion album, too.



Post Edited (06-19-07 07:57)

I hope you are referring to "In Utero." I thought it was better than "Nevermind."

I think, in line with the question, that Marquee Moon was "great" (and then some) while Adventure was, for me, several notches below: good in spots, fair to middlin' in many more.

which sloan album is best?
get the early stuff, like what Delvin just scored.

SMEARED
TWICE REMOVED
ONE CHORD TO ANOTHER

Essential 90's listening

Jellyfish. A small sample size to be sure, but the amazing Spilt Milk is light years better than Bellybutton. One of my favorites from the '90s.

Prefab Sprout, Steve McQueen. This is a personal all-time favorite, and its best songs are a real kick in the gut despite the mellow sonic trappings. Some similar positive elements were in place Swoon and Protest Songs, but Langley started a steep decline, IMO.

Fishbone, The Reality of My Surroundings. They had (have? I am thinking they're still at it?--haven't heard anything new in years) many excellent moments, but Reality is the showstopper.



Post Edited (06-19-07 11:30)

Hey Ratboy,

Chech out Fishbones first EP and Truth and Soul. Both are great.

The Femmes are the shining example of the one good album syndrome.

Totaji, I own both Truth and Soul and the first EP. I think the first EP is uneven, but at its best it's tons of fun. I come back to that one fairly often.

On the other hand, I've tried and tried to get into Truth and Soul, and for the most part it just hasn't worked. They're obviously a great, great band. You can hear it in the playing on almost every recording. But to my ears, they were a great band that didn't quite have everything in place in terms of material for full albums except on Reality.

I'm taking "Don't quite measure up" literally here, rather than to say the rest were pure garbage.

You know, one artist I can think of, although he's not TP-worthy, that could fit the bill would be Meat Loaf. "Bat Out of Hell" was certainly very popular back in the day & it did have some catchy tunes & it seems that Mr. Loaf has never subsequently done anything that was as popular.

Bat Out of Hell II was a multi-platinum success...something like 14 years after the original.

Bat Out of Hell III tanked as far as I know, at least compared to its brethren.

"Bat Out Of Hell II was a multi-platinum success"

That may be true, but it also means that any success that Mr. Loaf has had in his career comes from that original album. Also, I bet that more people would know the songs from the original Bat Out of Hell than it successors.

>
> That may be true, but it also means that any success that Mr.
> Loaf has had in his career comes from that original album.
> Also, I bet that more people would know the songs from the
> original Bat Out of Hell than it successors.



according to the amg and billboard, "i'd do anything for love" was his only number 1 hit. and the first bat out of hell peaked at 14, while bat out of hell the second peaked at 1.

> the first bat out of hell peaked at 14, while bat out of hell the second peaked
> at 1

Well, Pet Sounds peaked at 10, while The Beach Boys In Concert peaked at 1, but which album had the more memorable songs?

> In the '70s, quite a few albums received gold and platinum awards based on > their initial shipments to retailers, only to flood the cut-out bins within a few
> months of release.

I can think of one example of that right off the bat, the Sgt. Pepper's Hearts Club Band movie soundtrack. There's a famous remark about how it shipped platinum on cut-outs or something like that.

>
> I can think of one example of that right off the bat, the Sgt.
> Pepper's Hearts Club Band movie soundtrack. There's a famous
> remark about how it shipped platinum on cut-outs or something
> like that.

i was just reading about that in dannen's "hit men":

"...we shipped out 8 million and got back 5."

another funny example was neil bogart presenting cher with a gold record for her current single on a late night television show. but since only 700,000 copies had been sold and they didn't want bogart to come off as a liar, polygram pressed and shipped another 300,000 unordered copies. haha, what a bunch of saps!

sloan's between the bridges is phenomenal and a career highlight.

never hear the end of it is pure pleasure and really long too! (nothing mindblowing? maybe not, but i know some who are going to look back and say "that was the year 'never hear the end of it' was released"

at any rate---every sloan release is worth owning.

Moby Grape's first album is a stunner and the rest of their stuff is mediocre at best.

The Vibrator's "Pure Mania" was a great Punk (via pub rock) record that was their sole gasp.

X-Ray Spex's "Germ Free Adolescents" is in my top 10 albums ever category and they were never able to follow that one up.

and Ira's right. After "Bleach" it was all downhill for Nirvana ;+)

Other contenders:

Dictator's "go girl crazy"
Selecter "too much pressure"
Dead Boys "young loud and snotty"

Every Dictator record is great. Including Manitobas "And You"
"Go Girl Crazy" is rightfully placed at #25 All Time (by you know who).
Of course the others arent World Class Contenders, but remain Classic American Music.
And If you don't own 2001's DFFD (Easily one of that years best) go out and get it.

Dictators Forever Forever Dictators

Back to the original question: Out of four or five, King Missile did exactly ONE INCREDIBLE ALBUM (Happy Hour) then....

Better than say, the alarm, the waterboys, or lenny kravitz who still have never done one good one.



Post Edited (06-19-07 15:14)

FISHERMAN'S BLUES by the Waterboys was a pretty good album.

Actually, I like a few Waterboys albums, but I can definitely understand why others find Mike Scott completely insufferable.

I tried to like 'em. fisherman's blues did have a decent song or two.
In '88 I was listening to soul asylum, replacements, rem's GREEN (even) and the chameleons.

Flirted w/ Fugazi, Butthole surfers, 7 seconds etc but it didn't stick

This is off topic, but speaking of '88, what was the blanket term used for decent music around then? New Wave had fallen out of usage by then, and I don't think that "indie" or "alternative" were phrases in vogue yet, although they might have been. Was it "college rock"?

I had this discussion with a friend of mine the other day, and neither of us could remember. It probably was alternative. What were the full titles of the late-80s TP guides after New Wave was dropped from the title?

All dictators are good.

Richard Hell's first was great.

Gen X

"Alternative" was the preferred term, at least with the college stations I used to listen to (e.g.: "KXLU: Your Only Alternative Left," a left-of-the-dial reference). "Underground rock" as well.

I think "college rock" came later.

"New Wave" was reserved for "uncool" stuff that the Valley Girls liked - trendy British stuff.

NO-ONE said "post-punk" except for a few nerdy critics.

in 88 i distinctly remember having transitioned from
"college rock"
to
"underground" (probably the best term, along with "indie")


Alternative was always just a marketing term. Then, as now, it means "not rap" and/or "has guitars". Whatever cache the term had was very shortlived as used beyond Nirvana.
ex.::
Current alternative: Linkin Park, Fall Out Boy

> "underground" (probably the best term, along with "indie")

I tried referring to it as "undie rock" for a while back then. Curiously enough, this term did not catch on.

actually, Delvin, Undies lives!!!

[www.clearchannelmusic.com]

[a444.l2241452200.c22414.n.lm.akamaistream.net]

> the first bat out of hell peaked at 14, while bat out of hell the second
> peaked at 1.

A reflection of the pre-Soundscan era, probably.

or a reflection of what else was competing on the charts at the time

this is why Gold and Platinum awards are given for volume and not chart success on any one chart

> this is why Gold and Platinum awards are given for volume
> and not chart success on any one chart

True, and on a (somewhat) related note, they're given for units sold, rather than units shipped.

In the '70s, quite a few albums received gold and platinum awards based on their initial shipments to retailers, only to flood the cut-out bins within a few months of release. The RIAA changed the rules for gold and platinum status in the early '80s.

Neil Bogart was particularly big on that sort of hype. He shipped and pressed five million copies of the Kiss solo albums in 1978, so he could claim that all four LPs went platinum the day of release. At least half of them got shipped back. The financial fallout of that plan probably was the biggest single factor in Bogart's decision to sell Casablanca Records to Polygram.

and his death!

My gosh, Ira, that thought never occurred to me ... but now that you mention it, breathing in the PVC fumes from all those returned Kiss solo LPs could have given Neil Bogart cancer!

Sloan
Hole
That Petrol Emotion
Vibrators

which sloan is the best?

My personal favorite is Action Pact. But I'd also recommend Navy Blues and Never Hear the End of It. Really, I've not heard a bad Sloan record.

Check out A-Sides Win, the singles comp, for pure pleasure as well.

I'm definitely of the opinion that the singles comp is a great place to start. Their overall albums - and they have a lot - have a very wide range. If you can find it, they had one record with a bonus "Live at a Sloan Party" disc which is full of neat covers and pseudo-live material.

Tricky

Bit harsh on The Selector jothoma, I love Too Much Pressure but I think Celebrate The Bullet is as good a follow up as you could hope for, it's also quite a departure from the debut. I think the challenge for those 2 Tone bands was to keep evolving and that The Selector did that pretty well.

Actually, for most of the 2-Tone era bands who released incredible debut LPs (Specials, Madness, Beat, Selecter), their sophomore releases were considered something of a letdown, since they all expanded their sound beyond ska (in the manner it had been revived/reinvented/redefined in late 70s Britain) and, in doing so, dashed many people's expectations.

More Specials: incorporates elements of muzak/e-z listening (great songs: Enjoy Yourself, Rat Race, Man at C & A, Stereotypes, Do Nothing--and they hung on long enough after this to release the essential Ghost Town ep, and later Dammers' Special AKA produced Free Nelson Mandela)

Celebrate the Bullet: much heavier reggae/dub influence (worthy cuts: Who Likes Facing Situations, Tell Me What's Wrong, Celebrate the Bullet, Selling Out Your Future)

Wha'ppen?: includes African/worldbeat textures (a very under-appreciated record: Too Nice to Talk To, Doors of Your Heart, All Out to Get You, Monkey Murders, I am Your Flag, Walk Away, Cheated, Get a Job, Limits We Set, etc.--and the shimmering pop of Special Beat Service is simply awesome)

Absolutely: sees the nutty boys move toward pop and British dancehall ditties (to be honest, they lost me after One Step Beyond)

All of these bands moved beyond the narrowly defined ska genre--which may have made it much harder to market their second releases, but didn't always diminish the quality and direction of their music. However, the bleak lyrical subject matter of many of these albums--reflecting the turmoil of the times in the UK--did make for far moodier, less upbeat music. Hard to dance when it looks like there is no future.

Plus, when your first album starts out at the top, there is nowhere to go but down after that...



Post Edited (06-26-07 11:18)

I picked up a used copy of Sloan's 4 Nights at the Palais Royale while I was on vacation in Seattle recently. Talk about a bargain!

Believe me, I'll be digging back from here.

Social D - Mommy's was great...

Sloan - Never Hear the End of It was a surprising improvement and their first consistent LP. Not bad. Nothing mindblowing.

Social Distortion - "Mommy's Little Monster". Definitely agree on that one.

Violent Femmes. They definitely had their moments afterwards (especially on "Hallowed Ground") but they never topped their debut. Ditto with Christian Death and the Adolescents.

The Nuns - s/t. Good "decadent" punk (even if a notch down from their 7"s). After that one though....

We've Got a Fuzzbox and We're Gonna Use It. First album = fun dayglo-fuzz-punk. Second album = bland Bananarama wannabes.

X-Ray Spex. The "Reunion" record wasn't worth the wait. Heck, it probably wouldn't have been worth the wait if it came out 2 hours after "Day Glo".

And I think the timeline was "college rock" (especially in the just-post-REM era) -> "Post Modern" -> "alternative".

I'd say Magazine, except even their first LP wasn't as good as the singles which preceded it.

Is all of Subway Sect available on CD? I've just come around to trying to fill in that gap. . .

Almost forgot: Jesus & Mary Chain. "Psychocandy" is still great, but the others ("Darklands" included) haven't really stood the test of time. ("Barbed Wire Kisses" is good, but that's more an odds'n'sods collection than a proper album.

Soul II Soul (Keep On Movin')

The B-52's (debut)

Primal Scream (Screamadelica)

Run-DMC (Raising Hell)

Peter Frampton (Frampton Comes Alive)

Tears for Fears (Big Chair or Seeds of Love) - an even split among fans, while the first was more commercially successful

Big Country (The Crossing) - I feel this is an inaccurate perception, but whatever

The Replacements (Let It Be)

The Jimi Hendrix Experience (Are You Experienced?)

The Cure (Disintegration) FREAKISHLY better than the rest of their catalog

Solo Paul McCartney/Wings (McCartney II)

Andrew WK (I Get Wet)

Kate Bush (The Hounds of Love)

The Strokes (Is This It)

Wilco (Being There)

The Cult (Electric)

The obvious pick would be Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon, but I honestly don't care.

> The B-52's (debut)
> Run-DMC (Raising Hell)
> The Replacements (Let It Be)
> The Jimi Hendrix Experience (Are You Experienced?)
> The Cure (Disintegration) FREAKISHLY better than the rest of their catalog
> The Cult (Electric)

Each of those acts, IMO, has at least one album in its catalog that measures up to the one on Jermoe's list.

Run-DMC - Their first LP is outstanding.
The Cult - Sonic Temple. Different approach to the production; Bob Rock's polish and depth is a far cry from Rick Rubin's dry, taut sound. Still, this one measures up to Electric.
The B-52's - Cosmic Thing. A lot of people seem to regard this one as a commercial sell-out, but taken on its own merits, it's a sheer delight.
The Replacements - Tim. It might lack the landmark quality of Let It Be, but hardly any band gets to achieve that twice. (And such status gets decided by the fans anyway.) In terms of songwriting, Tim is least as good as its predecessor.
The Jimi Hendrix Experience - Neither Axis nor Electric Ladyland fell short of Hendrix's debut LP by any measure, except perhaps in terms of first-time-around impact.
The Cure - Sure, Disintegration is great, but "freakishly better" than Kiss Me³? I guess it depends on what one wants. The same Cure doesn't work for everyone.

> The obvious pick would be Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon, but I honestly don't care.

I enjoy Wish You Were Here every bit as much ... just in different ways.

Delvin, I beg to differ...

Run-DMC - Their first LP is outstanding.

I'm a huge Run-DMC fan, and I think their first 4 releases are all important and enjoyable. That said, Raising Hell doesn't have a single superfluous track. The last 3 songs on their debut ("Wake Up", "30 Days" & "Jay's Game") have always felt like filler to me.

The Cult - Sonic Temple. Different approach to the production; Bob Rock's polish and depth is a far cry from Rick Rubin's dry, taut sound. Still, this one measures up to Electric.

I'll posit that The Cult's artistic shortcomings somehow became assets on Electric ("Peace Dog", "Memphis Hip Shake"), whereas the rest of their catalog suffers from their shortcomings being...uh, shortcomings.

The B-52's - Cosmic Thing. A lot of people seem to regard this one as a commercial sell-out, but taken on its own merits, it's a sheer delight.

This may not be fair, but for me, Ricky Wilson's death looms over Cosmic Thing. Their are some great tunes on it, but it doesn't have the straight-up exuberance of their first album.

The Replacements - Tim. It might lack the landmark quality of Let It Be, but hardly any band gets to achieve that twice. (And such status gets decided by the fans anyway.) In terms of songwriting, Tim is least as good as its predecessor.

Let It Be was such a major leap from the earlier stuff. That's my context, and I'm sticking to it. After 20+ years, it's also their most consistent release to these ears.

The Jimi Hendrix Experience - Neither Axis nor Electric Ladyland fell short of Hendrix's debut LP by any measure, except perhaps in terms of first-time-around impact.

In my book, the Jimi Hendrix level of first-time-around impact counts big time.

The Cure - Sure, Disintegration is great, but "freakishly better" than Kiss Me³? I guess it depends on what one wants. The same Cure doesn't work for everyone.

Disintegration is the only release by The Cure that doesn't have any goofy and/or nonsense songs, any tunes stolen from New Order, or falling back on any of Smith's lyrical crutches. The sequencing is amazing, too.

I enjoy Wish You Were Here every bit as much ... just in different ways.

Fine by me.



Post Edited (07-15-07 16:51)

I guess it just all depends on how one interprets the intent of the original topic, but I will observe that there's a difference between having a best album and having only one good album.

It seems to me that some of the last few albums named fall in the "Best Album" category as opposed to the "Only Good Album" category. But again, it all depends on perspective, as by definition any album that's not an artist's best fails to measure up to the best one. I had looked at this subject more from the perspective of artists with only one good album.

here are a few guys who i think put out a good body of music but as far as catchy tunes with more pop appeal i dont think their other efforts quite made it.

matthew sweet-girlfriend. all his other efforts have been good maybe even very good but for pure catchiness girlfriend does it for me.
michael penn-march- basically the same here.. his other releases also very good but fall slightly short and dont have the pop derivitiveness.

Sorry 'bout rankling. Speaking of which, General Public (All the Rage)...

Must. stop. now.

BTW, I avoided mentioning Bob re. Let It Be- not sure I've ever been too confident as to his contributions.

Also, forgot one of the all-timers for this type of thing (although not one I'm that sure about): Liz Phair (Guyville)

I can see the Matthew Sweet & Michael Penn argument.

I really must stop.



Post Edited (07-16-07 22:32)

> This may not be fair, but for me, Ricky Wilson's death looms over
> Cosmic Thing. Their are some great tunes on it, but it doesn't have
> the straight-up exuberance of their first album.

That factor is a fair one to consider ... but IMO, Bouncing Off the Satellites is the B-52's album that sounds hindered by Ricky's death. Cosmic Thing is the one that sounds like they've persevered and triumphed.

> In my book, the Jimi Hendrix level of first-time-around impact
> counts big time.

True, but that doesn't diminish the quality of any of Hendrix's subsequent albums. At least, none of the ones released in his lifetime.

> Let It Be was such a major leap from the earlier stuff. That's my
> context, and I'm sticking to it. After 20+ years, it's also their most
> consistent release to these ears.

Let It Be definitely was a major leap. IMO, though, Tim gets the nod for consistency.

Not trying to drop the gloves on the ice here, Jermoe ... just keeping the discussion going, 'cause it's a good one.

I'd like to move against conventional wisdom and suggest that "Pleased to Meet Me" was one of their finest moments. The TP entry certainly sings its praises as well...

I think its place in Mats lore is questioned because of the old "the edge and rawness left with Bob" argument (which only holds so much water if you look specifically at this album). btw, the entry states Bob died of an "overdose"; I wrote something on Tommy a while back and did some research. From what I understand, it wasn't an overdose but most likely succumbing to years of toll. (He was found with a syringe, supposedly used for insulin, which led to a lot of leaps and assumptions until the M.E. report came out.) I recall there being enough question marks for it to be declared not an overdose but "unknown."



Post Edited (07-16-07 15:13)

>
> I think its place in Mats lore is questioned because of the old
> "the edge and rawness left with Bob" argument (which only holds
> so much water if you look specifically at this album). btw, the
> entry states Bob died of an "overdose"; I wrote something on
> Tommy a while back and did some research. From what I
> understand, it wasn't an overdose but most likely succumbing to
> years of toll. (He was found with a syringe, supposedly used
> for insulin, which led to a lot of leaps and assumptions until
> the M.E. report came out.) I recall there being enough question
> marks for it to be declared not an overdose but "unknown."
>


i remember bob's son, joey, was born with some pretty overwhelming medical problems. anyone know if he survived?

favorite

Hendrix - Axis
Cure - Head
Replacements - Pleased
Bush - Dreaming
Cult - Love

but if we're gonna geek out on this stuff, somebody go a poll website and set up a survey