Bands with one great album but you still follow/listen to them?

dinneenp

Hi,
What bands/artists had one great album that you love and you keep following them, listening to their new releases, even though all the follow ups have been disappointing?

To get the ball rolling, here's some of mine:
Primal Scream (obvious which is THE great album)
dEUS (Worst Case Scenario) Ideal Crash was good too though
Beck (Mellow Gold...I know most people love his other stuff)
Groove Armada (Vertigo) actually gave up on them
I'm from Barcelona


Cheers,
Pa.

loyatemu

Primal Scream (obvious which is THE great album)

Vanishing Point, XTRMNTR and last year's More Light are all very good as well.

dEUS (Worst Case Scenario) Ideal Crash was good too though

I actually prefer In a bar, Under the Sea to both of those.

Beck (Mellow Gold...I know most people love his other stuff)

I prefer Odelay, but he's never quite hit the heights of those first 2 records since...

Looper007

Franz Ferdiand (never topped that debut album but you get the odd track that reminds you that they were once the best British band)

The Vines (Highly Evolved is still a great listen, after that nothing touched it but I can't help hoping they will touch their debut's greatness)

The Strokes (Is This it? is still amazing, ROF wasn't bad but everything after that was patchy to say the least but I still buy any of their releases)

The Magic Numbers (great first album but after that every release has just been a retread of the first album but without the classic songs)

MGMT (their debut album wasn't any great shakes but it was great fun then they took away everything that made them fun with releases that followed)

The Kooks (I might get run out of here for saying this but Inside in Inside out was a great Indie pop album that still holds up brilliantly today after that it's been downhill but they still have the odd moment on following releases that remind you why you stuck your neck on the line for them )

Kaiser Chiefs (Employment was a great lost Blur album and was on non stop for me when it was first released but like most British bands at that time follow ups were far weaker but like the Kooks I hold out for a return to form)

Interpol (TONTBl, is a classic debut album, Antic's was a good follow up but lacked the bite of their debut everything after that has been disappointing plus they lost their coolest member of the band)

Salmon Leap

Don't think Gang of Four ever surpassed "Entertainment". Always keep this in the car.

alleystar

Looper007 wrote: »

Interpol (TONTBl, is a classic debut album, Antic's was a good follow up but lacked the bite of their debut everything after that has been disappointing plus they lost their coolest member of the band)

Ugh, yes. Still listen to Interpol because of TOTBL's, excellent debut. As you said Antic's was good but their other material has been pretty disappointing which is a pity.

The Killers debut, Hot Fuss. I know a lot of people dislike The Killers but Hot Fuss was a decent debut album.

Would just listen to the odd track now, some songs off Battle Born weren't too bad. Sam's Town was abysmal, the whole Bruce Springsteen influence didn't work.

Looper007

alleystar wrote: »

Ugh, yes. Still listen to Interpol because of TOTBL's, excellent debut. As you said Antic's was good but their other material has been pretty disappointing which is a pity.

The Killers debut, Hot Fuss. I know a lot of people dislike The Killers but Hot Fuss was a decent debut album.

Would just listen to the odd track now, some songs off Battle Born weren't too bad. Sam's Town was abysmal, the whole Bruce Springsteen influence didn't work.

I got to say I like Sam's Town, yeah it's a little bombastic in parts and they did take away that British indie sound that made them special(Even the States didn't take to their more American sound) but it has a few great moments. But Hot Fuss is still their crowning glory, it's still the album even the haters would still say it's the only thing they can stand from them. After that apart from the odd singles and few album tracks they haven't done anything truly great since but they still seem to sell a ton of albums and Gig's out, so some might disagree with us.

CSS had a great debut album and songs like Off the Hook and Music is my Hot Hot sex are great tracks. After that they started losing members and the albums got worse and worse.

The Hives, Your Favourite New Band, yeah it's a best of their two first albums but it's still a thumping listen that following releases couldn't stand up to as you had a lot of duff tracks mixed with odd moments of greatness.

Vaxxine

alleystar wrote: »

The Killers debut, Hot Fuss. I know a lot of people dislike The Killers but Hot Fuss was a decent debut album.

Would just listen to the odd track now, some songs off Battle Born weren't too bad. Sam's Town was abysmal, the whole Bruce Springsteen influence didn't work.

I'd have to strongly disagree with the claim Sam's Town is "abysmal"! It was a huge departure from Hot Fuss, but definitely a step in the right direction imo. Battle Born had to grow on me but turned out to be my favourite album of 2012/2013, 'A Matter Of Time' probably being the best track.

alleystar

Yeah I know a good few people who liked Sam Town's but it was a big let down for me. I was a big fan of them, they really kick started my interest in music and I was just so disappointed when they did a complete overhaul of their sound/music (well, to me they did).

I'm not massively into American rock music, much preferred when they were influenced by The Smiths/David Bowie/Depeche Mode etc. It was too much of a jump and I just became disillusioned with the band. The Killer's don't really have their "own" sound, that much is clear. Brandon Flower's isn't just influenced by bands or singers, he mimics them.

Kind of off topic, but so many bands struggle with that second album. Looper007 has a really good list of bands that debuted their albums in 2004/2005/2006 and there was massive hype around them but they failed (sort of) on their second album (or it was just bland in comparison). One band that made the perfect transition was Bloc Party. Perfect. Silent Alarm was brilliant but A Weekend In The City was perfection. Even the B-Sides were top notch. You could see how much their sound grew/ matured. Bloc Party got it right without changing their sound completely. The songs weren't as brash and loud but there were all those perfect Bloc Party elements at play in each song. Sorry to rant on, I just love Bloc Party.

Looper007

alleystar wrote: »

Yeah I know a good few people who liked Sam Town's but it was a big let down for me. I was a big fan of them, they really kick started my interest in music and I was just so disappointed when they did a complete overhaul of their sound/music (well, to me they did).

I'm not massively into American rock music, much preferred when they were influenced by The Smiths/David Bowie/Depeche Mode etc. It was too much of a jump and I just became disillusioned with the band. The Killer's don't really have their "own" sound, that much is clear. Brandon Flower's isn't just influenced by bands or singers, he mimics them.

Kind of off topic, but so many bands struggle with that second album. Looper007 has a really good list of bands that debuted their albums in 2004/2005/2006 and there was massive hype around them but they failed (sort of) on their second album (or it was just bland in comparison). One band that made the perfect transition was Bloc Party. Perfect. Silent Alarm was brilliant but A Weekend In The City was perfection. Even the B-Sides were top notch. You could see how much their sound grew/ matured. Bloc Party got it right without changing their sound completely. The songs weren't as brash and loud but there were all those perfect Bloc Party elements at play in each song. Sorry to rant on, I just love Bloc Party.

I think after Hot Fuss, The Killer's became a very good Singles band rather then a album's band for me, Although as I said Sam Town isn't a bad album compared to what they released after but a lot of people prefer it over Hot Fuss but I agree with you alleystar, it was certainly a shock to me how much they changed from their debut. I can see why many dismiss them after. their greatest hit's was their best album since their debut.

I have to say alleystar, I don't like anything Bloc Party did after their second album. Silent Alarm was perfection but after that it got really patchy.

alleystar

Looper007 wrote: »

I think after Hot Fuss, The Killer's became a very good Singles band rather then a album's band for me, Although as I said Sam Town isn't a bad album compared to what they released after but a lot of people prefer it over Hot Fuss but I agree with you alleystar, it was certainly a shock to me how much they changed from their debut. I can see why many dismiss them after. their greatest hit's was their best album since their debut.

I have to say alleystar, I don't like anything Bloc Party did after their second album. Silent Alarm was perfection but after that it got really patchy.

Yeah, a singles band is what I would refer to them now too. They had a couple of outstanding songs on other albums like Goodnight, Travel Well on Day & Age and their cover of Shadowplay was excellent on Sawdust (Tranquilize with Lou Reed is worth a mention too). Miss Atomic Bomb and Hear With Me were good singles from Battle Born. Only the Young was a favourite of mine too even though I know that's from Flamingo.

After the second album it did get a bit patchy. It took a me a good few listens to really enjoy Intimacy and Four and I definitely don't think either stand up to the initial two albums but there's some really good tracks on them nonetheless. The odd song on Intimacy reminded me of SA (like Ion Square and Better Than Heaven).

Definitely though AWINTC would be my favourite album of the lot, even the themes/topics dealt with throughout were more appealing (to me anyway). It was like an entire album filled with quality songs like Compliments from SA. SRXT, Kreuzberg, On, Uniform, Sunday - all perfect in my book. Then with the B-Sides - Rhododendrons, England, Vision of Heaven (just the intro)..etc. Still one of my favourite albums but I guess everyone has a different taste in music.