What's a band that has one album that is just about perfect in your opinion, but rest of their discography misses the mark with you?

One of mine is Commit This to Memory by Motion City Soundtrack. I basically took the title verbatim and know the album word for word. And while I would love if it did, the rest of MCS’s stuff just doesn’t hit the same way.

And if you’re not an album person, maybe a period of time in the artist’s work? Whatever works for you.

*Lots of mentions of hit debut albums that subsequently petered out, which follows with the dreaded sophomore slump that hits many artists. Anyone with mid or even later career albums that stand alone? Those always intrigue me.

derivatives_are_hard ,

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. Boatman’s Call seemed like a solid album and mostly unweird, if not kind of cheesy. But his other stuff, earlier and later feels off. I imagine that’s blasphemous to a proper nick cave fan as BC was likely more mainstream and all that but it was nice, lovely, and at some points thoughtful.

CH3DD4R_G0BL1N ,
@CH3DD4R_G0BL1N@sh.itjust.works avatar

I never really cared all that much for anything other than Lyre of Orpheus/Abbatoir Blues aside from a song here and there. Nothing else just hit the same for me.

derivatives_are_hard ,

Same. He's pretty hit or miss. Like Tom Waites, for me, in a way. Some breathtaking songs but lots of mediocre stuff.

TheRedSpade ,

I don’t know about an album, but ALL of Smash Mouth’s good songs were played somewhat frequently on the radio.

GladiusB ,
@GladiusB@lemmy.world avatar

Sevendust - Animosity - loved every track but only a few selected tracks from their other work

Disturbed - The Sickness - made my 2000

Orgy - Vapor Transmission - way ahead of their time

Limp Bizkit - Significant Other - still fun to listen to

Panurge987 ,

Kiko by Los Lobos is a masterpiece, to me. The rest of their albums are hit or miss, with The Town and the City being their 2nd best, but nowhere near as good as Kiko.

nytrixus ,

Alice in Chains - Dirt. Like, you can’t get any better than that and their quality after Dirt was wildly fluctuating and it didn’t help that the band was dealing with a struggling Layne Staley until his death.

Sabaton - The Art of War. A handful of my favorite tracks is coming off from this album (Ghost Division, Firestorm .etc). A lot of this band’s discography, I like a max amount of like 4 songs per album while the rest is forgettable. But Art of War has just a little more to it.

Disturbed - Believe. This is easily one of my favorite albums of all time and definitely my favorite album of all of the Disturbed discography. Their sound matured off from The Sickness and it was only their sophomore album. Their quality of sound gradually decreased every album release since to where I’ll only find a favorite track or two from them.

Zatore ,

Believe is also my favorite from them. I remember when “Evolution” came out and being disappointed by how forgettable it is. I actually had to go search for it so I could remember the name of it.

TedZanzibar ,

Regular Urban Survivors by Terrorvision. Most people probably know them by way of their subsequent album, Shaving Peaches, but RUS is far superior.

MalachaiConstant ,

AJJ - People Who Can Eat People Are The Luckiest People

I knew them by their original name (Andrew Jackson Jihad) and was basically given this album as a demo from someone who knew the band.

There is something so raw and real about this album that just did not make it to anything that came later. It was like they gave up the edge that set them apart when they rebranded to make themselves more marketable.

I get it, the original name was bad. Like actually pretty bad. But I also genuinely feel like the name wasn’t the only thing they changed.

state_electrician ,

Tragic Kingdom by No Doubt. I love everything about that album, even today. Their other stuff is OK at best. Just not my thing.

GeekyOnion ,

This was the example that popped into my head when I saw the question prompt. Listening to this now still hits me as strongly as when it came out, and the rest of the albums just don’t feel as strong to me.

hperrin ,

Augustana. Can’t Love, Can’t Hurt is a fantastic album, but everything else they’ve put out is meh.

triclops6 ,

That the one with the Boston diddy?

hperrin ,

No, that’s their first album, All the Stars and Boulevards. A few years before. Sweet and Low is their big hit from Can’t Love Can’t Hurt.

graeghos_714 ,

Boston, the Cars, but there are so many one hit wonders imo

FattestMattest ,

One hit wonder to be means one song. One album hit wonders? Second Boston though! That first album is their greatest hits.

Dkarma ,

Pearl jam has fallen so far and that’s all I’ll say about it.

Boiglenoight ,

Ten was great. Yield was ok. Vitalogy was…bugs bugs bugs. Just keeps getting stranger.

nytrixus ,

Dark Matter is sounding in the okay field. I don’t understand why some people in the comment sections of every track are like going “Yeah! Pearl Jam is back to their angry roots!” when the album, 7 tracks in for me, is sounding pretty mellow. Some good rock flare but it’s overstating the matter about how ‘angry’ it is.

Boiglenoight ,

Going to throw it on while I do some work.

hoogs ,

Remo Drive - Greatest Hits (which isn’t a greatest hits album) definitely fits the description. It’s extra sad since it’s their debut album, so it falls into your sophomore slump category. I respect the decision to not repeat themselves though, but I can’t help to feel like they would be able to make an album that both pleases the fans garnered from the first, and which isn’t just a rehash.

Sylence ,
@Sylence@lemmy.dbzer0.com avatar

One of my favourite black metal albums is Rain Upon the Impure by The Ruins of Beverast. Nothing he’s done before or since comes even close to the perfection of that album.

pastabatman , (edited )

Sleigh Bells - Treats

The Go! Team - Thunder, Lightning, Strike

Hooray For Earth - True Loves

Broken Social Scene - You Forgot It In People

Dayglow - Fuzzybrain

The Dismemberment Plan - Emergency & I

MrBobDobalina ,

That’d be Gorillaz for me. I can appreciate them, but not my thing. But, Demon Days is so damn good, love it start to finish

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