*Artist's* First Below Great Album

The premise might be somewhat flawed, because many artists began with an album which, while hardly sub-par, nevertheless gave little hint of what they were really capable of.

Exhibit A would be Bob Dylan whose first album, consisting of cover versions and two obviously derivative originals, caused little stir in 1962. Then there was an astonishing leap in quality with his second album, which was maintained for his third and then slid somewhat (imo) with fourth. He was triumphantly back on track for the next four, though!

 

There are many people (in Britain, at least) who only like Piper.....and positively loathe everything else put out under the Pink Floyd name.

 

Yes, I know. That's why I said "almost a different band."

 

This supports my perspective, that new artists tend to develop over time, reaching a peak, then a tapering off, with intermittent rebounds. Dylan is a good example, although with such a long and winding career, he managed more rebounds than most probably.

 

That's why I asked the OP if debuts are fair game.

OP prefers for the thread to cover first "below great" album after the 1st great album, so that leaves out debuts!

 

I'm a big fan of all these artists (and even these albums), but I'd consider them their first noticeable dip for me, personally:

Tom Waits' "Black Rider" (although it IS the soundtrack to an experimental stage play) was a bit of a drop off for a moment there, his 13th album.

Prefab Sprout "The Gunman And Other Stories" 6th album

The Waterboys "Dream Harder" 6th album

 

Good assessment!

 

I don't think so. Every album was drastically different to the last right from the start, so the idea that they finally found their direction with Meddle doesn't sound accurate to me because right after Meddle they made a bunch of albums that were very different from each other, like Saucerful was to Piper and Atom Heart Mother was to Ummagumma. I think this is just said by people who aren't the biggest fans of pre-Meddle (with perhaps Piper excluded). I love all of it so, Ummagumma excluded, I see no severe highs and lows with the music.

I also hear Saucerful as a pretty natural progression from Piper even if they are very different, so I can't agree they sound like different bands either.

 

Sign O the Times happened to be the best album of the 80's

 

I'd say one and done.

 

Pavement
Up until about two years ago I would have said Wowee Zowee, but now it’s Brighten the Corners.

 

For me, Van’s consistency in making good/great albums is unmatched.

 

Just heard Three Chords & The Truth and it's another one.

 

David Bowie's hard to figure, since his easily overlooked mostly forgotten 1st album of music hall-ish ditties is such poor indicator of what was to come.

So if we start with Man of Words, Man of Music (reissued as Space Oddity after Ziggy hits ) as the first real Bowie album, he releases 5 albums of original material before slipping a notch with Diamond Dogs.

This is partly down to the fact that he played all the guitar on the album himself, and Mick Ronson is very sorely missed. Also he's totally exhausted and it shows in some of the songs and lyrics....

 

True and just watch Cracked Actor for further clarification of his mental state by 1974..

 

Jackson Browne -- seven, Lawyers in Love (though the real dropoff comes with Lives in the Balance)

James Taylor -- five, Walking Man (not counting the Flying Machine demo, which I love but is too rudimentary to consider truly great)

 

"Diamond Dogs" is a great album. Viewing "Man Who Sold the World" as his first great album, Bowie wouldn't have an "un-great" album until "Let's Dance"...

 

Think this clip says it all for me.

 

that's fine....

its just an age thing--i bought Alladin Sane in real time in 1973, went back and bought Ziggy, Hunky Dory and Man Who Sold...and i was a MASSIVE Mick Ronson fan.

i like a lot of the songs on DD, but as a very young Bowie fanatic i always felt it would have been 1000% better if the Spiders were the band that made it.....

 

yes--amazing movie. Bowie is on the edge of cocaine psychosis at that point. shocking to see....

 

That’s my Bowie pick too.

 

sorry for slow response time...Wow u sure are generous to Neil and his Geffen era. But what is the story behind Say
You Will. Am not familiar. Can you expand on this?

 

NRPS switch over to MCA Label- 1st album ...

 

Pablo is a classic compared to some of their later ones IMO.

 

Graham Parker &Rumour-Up Escalator. Even with hot Iovine as producer, it sounds like a dub of a dub. 3rd generation down. Talk about in need of a remix but never will cause it never sold. The material is also a notch below previous lp
Sparks