I preferred their early stuff

magicbastarder

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121852864#Comment_121852864

actually, last night i had been thinking of starting a thread comparing bands who had started as fresh faced youngsters vs. bands started by musicians who already had some experience in the business.

e.g. beatles/stones/U2 being bands which were started by kids basically, and bands like zep being formed mainly from experienced musicians?

Ash.J.Williams

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121853187#Comment_121853187

Cream too, supergroup !

A nice addition to this conversation is the police, 2 fresh faced innovative youngsters and Andy summers who's of a similar pedigree as Clapton and page

rpirl

Levellers became fairly famous from about '93 onwards, were on a lot of the mid-'90s compilations but I couldn't get into anything by them - heard a bit of their earlier stuff in recent years, some of that is very good

Electric Nitwit

In terms of quality dropping just as popularity hit, I always think of Elbow

I love their first three albums but Seldom Seen Kid fell flat for me, but they won the Mercury prize for it and One Day Like This blew up. I was glad they got recognition but they pretty much dropped the first few albums from the live setlist after SSK, I (selfishly) felt like the band I loved had been taken away from me

NewbridgeIR

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121856660#Comment_121856660

Yeah, I remember The Levellers appearing on two Now albums

Now 26 This Garden

Now 33 Just The One

Their earlier LP Levelling The Land was a firm favourite at Dublin house parties of the early 90s.

rpirl

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121901685#Comment_121901685

Also were regulars on the 'Shine' ones and other guitar band comps of the period

NewbridgeIR

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121901978#Comment_121901978

That's right. Think they were on 5 or 6 volumes. Great series.

One Way is on Telstar's Indie Hits which is a great snapshot of late 91 / early 92 nights at McGonagles (Panic and Sonic Boom) https://www.discogs.com/release/635103-Various-IndieHits

waynescales1

Above & Beyond

rpirl

The first Reef album, 'Replenish'… essentially a Stoner Rock album

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=30k2KrKuRLE

forumdedum

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121852505#Comment_121852505

Not sure he ever knew

Dreamweapon

Spiritualized magnificent for first three albums, only a few songs per album after that (although the latest album is great tbf).

Mercury Rev post-David Baker era lost the thrill for me.

Stereolab up to Emperor Tomato Ketchup were fantastic then dropped off considerably.

Whipping Boy pre-Heartworm much better imo. Tiny discography i know but it bugs the hell out of me that the earlier material is always completely disregarded when they're talked about.

Not a fan myself but i know plenty who would put Flaming Lips firmly in this conversation, jumping off at Clouds Taste Metallic.

quodec

Early Bon Scott era AC/DC. BIB was good but most subsequent albums were at best repetitive.

NewbridgeIR

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122316089#Comment_122316089

Agree re Stereolab, serious fall off in quality from Dots and Loops onwards.

Whipping Boy early stuff is great especially the first two 12"s. Submarine production lets it down a bit but they were savage live 1989-1992. Heartworm is very good but the 2022 reissue wasn't as comprehensive as it should have been. Primarily because the label insisted on the vinyl running time dictating the content. Great for all those who ignored the vinyl in 1995, not so good for those of us who did buy the LP back then and who now just wanted everything from the era on two CDs.

pgj2015

50 cents first album (get rich or die trying) was great, every track a banger, but he fell off big time after that.