One of the unfortunate things about having a hugely successful album is that you have to follow it up with another one, and sometimes it can be nowhere near as good. What are some of the biggest examples of this for you? For me, "Be Here Now" by Oasis is one of the most disappointing follow up albums ever. Their first two albums were excellent but they totally dropped the ball on the third one, mostly killing their momentum and leaving them in not too great a position as they entered the 2000s.
I honestly think Be Here Now had some songs that were just as good, maybe even better, than those on the first two albums. However, the LP is so bloody long it’s really draining. Some of the poorest songs are the longest ones too.
Appetite For Destruction is a great album by any defintion. Regardless of current tastes and trends. My friends and I used to call the two follow up albums "Use-less Delusions." The pre-hype sales campaign for that album was literally a months long MTV "OMG Aren't Guns N' Roses the greatest band with only one album EVER!" cringefest. "They are a modern day Rolling Stones..." No. They couldn't even match Aerosmith for creative output. Axl Pose. Perfect nickname for an overrated frontman.
The Libertines (s/t). Up The Bracket was a fiery, melodic, insane, clever, endlessly listenable record. The follow-up was dull in every way: songwriting, performances, production...apart from Music When The Lights Go Out, I never feel the urge to revisit it.
at the time (1967) ...... Smiley Smile ? "genius" Brian Wilson was making the "greatest album ever" and then ......
Oh I really like some of the songs on that album too but yeah it can be such a drag to listen to. How high do you have to be to think people want to listen to seven minutes of Magic Pie?
And All Around The World lasts for 9 minutes! And then there’s a reprise of it at the end of the album. It’s a really catchy melody, but it’s definitely a 4 minute song. D’You Know What I Mean? is torture too. That’s nearly 8 minutes long and they chose it for the lead single! In fact the first 3 songs on BHN are real let downs.
Others will naturally disagree, but I was hugely disappointed with Bowie's follow up to the brilliant "Station To Station", "Low". I know that Bowie was always changing musically, but that change was just TOO much for me. I can enjoy some of "Low" looking back now, but it was a huge stinker for me when it was brand new. And I totally agree with member @gudnoyez above, regarding Boston's "Don't Look Back". I mean that album just didn't offer any "songs" that were as great as that debut album gave us, it was just more of the exact same "sound".
At the time I was disappointed with ' Aladdin Sane'. Just didn't feel it was a good enough follow-up to Ziggy Stardust but I came to my senses soon enough.
Blur - The Great Escape Blur had improved with each album up until Parklife but then they release an album that seems so deliberately Britpop. Even Country House, their first number one, was nowhere near their best material.
Thin Lizzy - Shades of a Blue Orphanage. Not a bad album, just nowhere near the quality of their debut.
But if All Around the World was four minutes, how would they fit in two key changes and some Hey Jude-esque na na na's?
Jackson Browne's Hold Out ..after Running On Empty. Although it ended up being his only number one charting LP. (Billboard) Bern
Peter Gabriel’s “Us” was a letdown for me. King Crimson’s “Beat” was so weak compared to its predecessor.
Jem. Finally Woken to...Down to Earth It's too bad, cause I really enjoyed her debut album. At least she got the album's title correct.
To follow up ‘Let’s Dance’ with ‘Tonight’ was a huge letdown. Even the album title sucks. If Bowie had waited just maybe a year, he could have made his way throughout the eighties with another pop-album. From a musical point of view, he had these songs written in 1985: Loving The Alien Blue Jean Tumble And Twirl Dancing With The Big Boys Absolute Beginners Within You As The World Falls Down Underground The soundtrck songs could have had different lyrics, and thereby another decent and even more adventureous album than ‘Let’s Dance’.
U2 October Junior year of University I bought Boy when it was first released in 1980.My friends and me were really into the New Wave thing and we loved Boy. A year later October came out and none of us could get into it. We listened to The PFurs,Echo, Joe Jackson and Elvis instead.
