Acts whose entire album output has always been on the decline, with no exception

Rush

This is so so so wrong. I can understand, even if I don't fully agree, that some might say they've been on a gentle downward slope through the 80s and 90s - but to suggest that somehow the ST debut and Caress of Steel are better than 2112 or Permanent Waves or Hemispheres is just plain silly.

Gang of Four

― -stefan, Thursday, May 19, 2005 2:35 PM

Wow, no one refuted this? Absolutely WRONG as "Shrinkwrapped" was INFINITELY better than "Mall". I am cautiously optimistic about the forthcoming "Content" as well.

metric

The Avalanches

xhuckx i'm suprised you picked ratt upthread!

or do you like that first thing with the ratts climbing up the sexy ladies stocking better? (isn't that before out of the cellar)?

Yeah, that EP was before Out of the Cellar.

Metric is actually a pretty good call.

Art of Noise is probably a good answer. (Though IMO their second album is overrated, even if the initial ZTT releases were somewhat better.)

By always on decline, doesn't that mean each album is less good than the previous one? In that case, about 95% of these are dead wrong. Though I think cases can be made for Jimi Hendrix.

If there wasn't so much good stuff cranked out during the Mellon Collie era, I'd say the Smashing Pumpkins would totally fit this.

If it hadn't been that "Honey's Dead" was better than "Automatic", the J&MC would have a slightly declining line, pretty much.

xhuckx i'm suprised you picked ratt upthread!...or do you like that first thing with the ratts climbing up the sexy ladies stocking better? (isn't that before out of the cellar)?

Well, I actually disowned my Ratt vote later on in the thread, when their new album (which I liked more than anything they'd done in decades) came out this year. As for that first indie EP with "Walking The Dog" (on Time Coast Records I think? whatever that was), let's just say I really really wish I still owned it, and I'd absolutely trade Out Of The Cellar for a copy anyday, seeing how I've got "Round And Round" on 45. But that doesn't necessarily technically make it better, I guess. (Or maybe EPs don't count? I'd have to check the rules.)

I wish Martin Popoff was here so he could nominate Def Leppard

Actually, these days I'm increasingly considering nominating them myself. (Though I guess their covers album a couple years ago was better than some things they did in the '90s, so maybe not.)

Wu-Tang is the super obvious answer

not otm tho

Black Eyed Peas

Pink Floyd, arguably. (Actually I don't think this but I figure a case could be made).

Definitely.

Wu-Tang is the super obvious answer

Except that The W was better than Forever, and 8 Diagrams was better than Iron Flag.

lol gtfo

The Feelies is the only one I can think of that really works, though all four of their albums are pretty good. But Crazy Rhythms is an all-time classic and The Good Earth is great, the other two decent but kind of unremarkable, and I think Only Life is the better of those too. So there you go..

Devo nearly works (without the new album); but I do also think Freedom of Choice is better than Duty Now by a bit. Also Smooth Noodle Maps > Total Devo but that's like comparing cow turds and horse turds

Deee-lite works but who cares

Junior Boys certainly seem to be heading that way.

p.s. thinking it's Floyd is ridiculous. Do you really think that Ummagumma and Saucerful and Atom Heart Mother >> Dark Side, WYWH, Animals, and the Wall?

Guns n Roses is the obvious answer.

Time For a Witness >>>>>> The Good Earth

as I've recently learned

I went to look at Wiki to see the sequence of Floyd's albums, and it's blocked at work (sex, supposedly.) ???

people go to Wiki for sex? :P

o-oh, me bad. i see, people might go to Floyd albums for sex...

Except that The W was better than Forever, and 8 Diagrams was better than Iron Flag.

every part of this sentence is wrong

(Shakey Mo Collier: stirred, but not shaken:)

I'll make a case for Galaxie 500 here (especially working in Luna and D&N too)

Guns n Roses is the obvious answer.

the obvious answer to being twiddly dogshit from the outset perhaps, yeah

Michael Jackson

You think Ben, Music & Me, and Forever, Michael are all better than Off the Wall??

GnR might work, if Spaghetti Incident had come before the two Illusion CDs, but it didn't.

And if Chinese Democracy wasn't great.

Also, 8 Diagrams is better than Iron Flag, and I could even argue that it's better than Wu-Tang Forever.

Do you really think that Ummagumma and Saucerful and Atom Heart Mother >> Dark Side, WYWH, Animals, and the Wall?

Frankly, I do!

Interpol is the most obvious one for me.

gtfo with idea that 8 diagrams is better than of the four albums before. don't even want to hear that bullcrap.

Great argument, I'm convinved.

Convinced.

Personally I'd rate them: 36 Chambers = The W > Forever > 8 Diagrams > Iron Flag. Iron Flag has a nice start, 4 of the first 5 tracks (except for "Soul Power") are really good, but the it veers off to autopilot Wu mode with nothing particularly new or interesting.

iron flag is my favorite wu album except for the debut. it's their party record. 8 diagrams isn't worth a bowl of warm piss

really one of the most disappointing albums i've ever heard

Yeah Michael Jackson almost works if you disregard the solo albums he recorded from 1972-1974. They really are not that good and MJ himself didn't write anything (as he was like, 13).

still Michael Jackson albums tho innit

My highly subjective opinion vs. common wisdom, but for me, The Replacements. If you disregard "Stink" as an EP vs. LP, my far and away favorites are the debut and "Hootenanny" >>> the highly overrated "Let It Be" and everything that came after.

Yes to the Junior Boys!!

The Smithereens?

xp Yeah, I'm pretty sure I mentioned the Replacements somewhere upthread, too. Wouldn't have thought this in the '80s, but I really do think they peaked with their punk-rock debut, and got progressively worse from there.

>the replacements came dangerously close to fitting this model. and there's probably 1 or 2 days out of any given week when i could convincingly make the argument<

This morning I am actually thinking they might be one of the best examples of it.

― xhuxk, Thursday, 25 August 2005 12:51 (5 years ago)

Slow enough morning for me to research it, glad some others agree!

The Replacements? Not in this reality! Let It Be, Tim, Pleased To Meet Me all way better than Hootenanny alone. At the very least, Tim is better than Let It Be.

hootenanny >>>>>>>>>>>> tim >> pleased to meet me.

hootenanny is funnier, looser, brattier, catchier, pretty much everythingier. on any given day, hootenanny, sorry ma..., or let it be could be my fave of theirs, and all of them blow away anything they recorded for sire, and on those 1 or 2 days per week noted above, i'd definitely support the replacements argument in this thread.

<<Pavement, though mostly by minor degrees.>>

this is true.

Yep, I love the slapdash Hootenanny WAY more than when they seemed to be straining harder to make a polished recording. I've tried for years with Tim, believe me.