Bands who legitimately never had a bad album

Vinculus

Everything that Boards of Canada have ever released is a balloon.

9 out of ten BOC fans will get that.

Goreme

Drive By Truckers

Goreme

Grayditch wrote: »

The Prodigy are almost on this list but the last album is fairly weak, I think.

Agree with you there, especially as Invaders Must Die was sooooo good.

noby

Thinking about this, there are a few different ways that a band can have a bad album. Sometimes with success comes laziness and you get bands going through the motions, churning out mediocre stuff. Sometimes key member(s) leave, and an important dynamic of the band changes (post-Wilco Dr. Feelgood, to add to some recently mentioned examples).

Sometimes the band tries to develop their sound or head in another direction with it. Yeah, it might not work out, but at least they're trying something new. In that sense I'd nominate Dexys. 'Don't stand me down' was panned at the time, but has stood the test of time and, listening now, is a great album. 'One day...' was a good return with solid songs on it. I'm curious to hear the new one, but really liked the first single.


As a bank of work I think Kraftwerk's albums are as good as anyone's. In isolation the first two albums may not be as highly rated as what followed, but it's great to hear a band develop their sound over time. And I struggle to think of another band that put together a run of albums to match the quality of Autobahn to Computerweld.

stateofflux

Tweeter wrote: »

Fight like apes

you are joking of course

stateofflux

Sgt Pepper 64 wrote: »

siouxie and the banshees

in fairness there was an awful lot of ****e after Mcgeoch was fired.

I know there's only been three albums thus far but Florence + the Machine has yet to release a bad one imo. None of them have been 100% perfect but each has had far more hits than misses. Ceremonials is probably my favourite if I'm pushed but How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful was a real grower, and indeed is still growing on me.

I'm tempted to mention the Smashing Pumpkins, because I think even their weaker albums have their bright spots, but I don't think Zeitgeist (or even Machina for that matter) passes the "well received by fans" criterion in the OP. Mr Corgan may be an arrogant control freak but he can still write a CHOON!

NapoleonInRags

A House

eviltimeban

Deleted User wrote: »

I'm tempted to mention the Smashing Pumpkins, because I think even their weaker albums have their bright spots, but I don't think Zeitgeist (or even Machina for that matter) passes the "well received by fans" criterion in the OP. Mr Corgan may be an arrogant control freak but he can still write a CHOON!

Adore wasn't well received by fans either, it sold something like a tenth of the previous album. It was critically well received though, and it's a beautiful album - the last really good one they did.

Zeitgeist got a terrible reception, Machina was no better, though Machina II which was only released on vinyl and for free on the web, is very highly regarded by fans.

Oceania got reluctant good reviews, as it is a good album, but I'm not sure if it sold all that much. The latest one got reasonable reviews but again he's selling to quite a niche market now - the pre-existing Pumpkins fanbase. Most casual fans from the 90s wouldn't be touching anything by them now.

Saying that, in his latest Facebook blog Corgan hinted he was planning to record an album like Gish and Siamese Dream, with all the original members, so that could draw in some curious casual fans. His output has always been pretty high quality, even The Future Embrace has some excellent moments. If only he'd sing a little softer.

Anyway enough Pumpkins talk.

PropJoe10

Ratt. True musical geniuses.

flasher0030

I think Whipping Boy should get an honourable mention here, if they haven’t already. 3 at least very good albums, and one album which is one of the top Irish albums ever (in my opinion anyway).

6am7f9zxrsjvnb

Decuc500 wrote: »

Pearl Jam.

25 years worth of albums and not one bad one amongst them.

Mmm....first 5 were great,next 5 not so great.

PropJoe10

Charlotte Warm Racehorse wrote: »

Mmm....first 5 were great,next 5 not so great.

There isn't a Pearl Jam album that I think is poor - very solid body of work. One of the great rock and roll bands of all time in my book.

Anesthetize

PropJoe10 wrote: »

There isn't a Pearl Jam album that I think is poor - very solid body of work. One of the great rock and roll bands of all time in my book.

While none of them are poor they have quite a few average albums. The only Pearl Jam albums that are really essential are Ten and Vs.

6am7f9zxrsjvnb

Anesthetize wrote: »

While none of them are poor they have quite a few average albums. The only Pearl Jam albums that are really essential are Ten and Vs.

I have all their stuff.I'm a big fan, though I reckon they have a number of obsessive fans who ONLY listen to Pearl Jam .. These PJ fans are ultra defensive about the band's post 2000 work and will invariably state that 'Riot Act' is their favourite album,while stating that 'Ten' is their worst...
Personally, I think the 5 albums from 'Ten' to 'Yield' are brilliant. The only ****e album is 'Lightning Bolt'

Anesthetize

Charlotte Warm Racehorse wrote: »

I have all their stuff.I'm a big fan, though I reckon they have a number of obsessive fans who ONLY listen to Pearl Jam .. These PJ fans are ultra defensive about the band's post 2000 work and will invariably state that 'Riot Act' is their favourite album,while stating that 'Ten' is their worst...
Personally, I think the 5 albums from 'Ten' to 'Yield' are brilliant. The only ****e album is 'Lightning Bolt'

I don't think I want to know those people

I used to be a big fan of them in my teens but then I moved on to more interesting music. I still like a good old blast of Ten every now and again though. The main issue I have with their albums from Vitalogy onwards is that they're too inconsistent and sometimes let down by some really average or even awful songs, despite some real gems thrown in there.

flasher0030

God, I used to adore Pearl Jam. Finally got to see them live couple of years ago. Would definitely agree with the above posts. Ten, Vs, vitalogy, No Code and Yield were almost masterpieces (except for the bit of crap on Vitalogy, and Spin the Black Circle). After that things went a bit awry. I tried so hard to adore Binaural and Riot Act. But after about 1000 listens, couldn’t persevere anymore. The Avocado one came out, and got good reviews, so I thought they were back. I never warmed to it. I actually thought Backspacer was quite good – more accessible that their previous few. Lightening Bolt was a piece of shlt, in my opinion. Mind your manners just grated the bejasus on me. I thought Pendulum was good at first, now I hate it. At this stage, I don’t think they have it in them now to come up with something fresh. I would

In summary – a band with great albums, some very average and one bad album. Therefore, I don’t think they are a band who never had a bad album.

chupacabra

Elbow

Dr.Winston O'Boogie

I would argue Arctic Monkeys have never had a bad album. They have slightly changed the style in each as well, their most recent is like a different band to their first one, Humbug was quite dark, Suck it and See more melodic. Along with the two Last Shadow Puppets albums Alex Turner has been highly consistent for someone who hasn't really taken a break for the past 10 years.

mosstin

chupacabra wrote: »

Elbow

TTOALOE was pretty patchy to say the least.

Chartsengrafs

I thought of this thread listening to Spoon yesterday. Not sure if they've been mentioned and I'm conscious of the fact they're known for their consistency.

WindmillWarrior

Fleet Foxes

Arghus

WindmillWarrior wrote: »

Fleet Foxes

Listening to the new one over the last couple of days. Sounds good so far.

lee_baby_simms

eviltimeban wrote: »

Pink Floyd? Is The Final Cut a "bad" album?

No but the Division Bell(end) is.

Squall Leonhart

timmaii wrote: »

I forgot about Around The Sun, that kills my REM arguement alright.

I'd say that's the only bad album in the whole mix, pretty good for 15 studio albums to only have 1 bad one, and it wasn't even their swansong.

Somebody earlier said that nothing after Up was good. I'd disagree. Reveal, Accelerate and Collapse Into Now were all decent albums. Around the Sun is a real dirge though. Awful.

eviltimeban

lee_baby_simms wrote: »

No but the Division Bell(end) is.

No, it's not.

Tayschren

Radiohead and de la soul come to mind straight away,

loyatemu

Tayschren wrote: »

Radiohead and de la soul come to mind straight away,

first Radiohead album is pretty weak - definitely their worst.

Arghus

Kyuss.

Sad Professor

timmaii wrote: »

I forgot about Around The Sun, that kills my REM arguement alright.

Squall Leonhart wrote: »

I'd say that's the only bad album in the whole mix, pretty good for 15 studio albums to only have 1 bad one, and it wasn't even their swansong.

Somebody earlier said that nothing after Up was good. I'd disagree. Reveal, Accelerate and Collapse Into Now were all decent albums. Around the Sun is a real dirge though. Awful.

If not for the mixing and hideous mastering, I think Around the Sun would be quite good. I have a few live studio performances of songs from that album and they sound so much better.