Bands that fell off

This must be the umpteenth thread I've seen here on sudden decline, falling off, creative comeuppance, decay, lovely musical things things transitioning to ****e, and the ironic transformation of success into decrepitude.

It always causes me to contemplate the element of failure-mongering projection and anxiety management that must lurk beneath the eagerness and enthusiasm people have for ritually pinpointing and rubbernecking at the site of the delicious place where you can observe something great becoming something that sucks, and it isn't you.

Not that it's a bad thing!

 

Good call on the Furs! Midnight to Midnight was terrible!

 

Elvis Costello - Imperial Bedroom to Punch The Clock

 

I've finally got round to listening to those 3 post-split Go-betweens album and agree with you. And yes, it's not particularly fair! Oceans apart is very good though.

 

Killing Joke. "Brighter than a thousand suns" to "Outside the Gate."

I know it was practically a Jaz solo album but still...

 

Simply Red Big Love
Very lazy..
Rick Astley 50
A mid life crisis cd
See My Red Book Cd
Never released .
Richard Marx Beautiful Goodbye.
Dido Still On My Mind so dull

 

Pink Floyd going from Wish You Were Here to Animals. In fact, I'm not a big fan of anything post WYWH.

The Waters led albums are too overcrowded with lyrics and the Gilmour led albums have guitar solos all over.
In both cases the music suffers from their creators' lyrical/guitarristic show off.

Not surprisingly, WYWH was the last album on which Pink Floyd worked as a band.

Well, I'm almost going off topic...

 

Let's face it, none of them had too far to fall.

 

Yeah, I like Oceans Apart too (except for the LOUD mastering). I think the songwriting was generally better on that album, and it contains moments that come closer to their "classic" sound.

 

I would argue that the fall off was from Sweetheart to their next one, Dr. Byrds & Mr. Hyde.

 

The LOUD MASTERING doesn't bother me with my cloth ears! Agree about the classic sound though I think 16LL sounds awesomely lush.The opening two tracks on Oceans Apart are up there with the best two opening tracks ever . Oh yes!

 

Excluding bands who lost their front-man/primary composer from one album to the next, I'd go with:

Yes: Close to the Edge -> Tales From Topographic Oceans
Lou Reed: New Sensations -> Mistrial

 

It's funny that with some of these bigger, longstanding bands (Genesis, Pink Floyd, Metallica, etc.), everyone agrees there was a "dropping off" point but the opinions vary WILDLY about which album.

That said, I'll bite:

Genesis/We Can't Dance->Calling All Stations
The Church/Starfish->Gold Afternoon Fix
Depeche Mode/Songs of Faith and Devotion->Ultra

 

Isn't Mardi Gras the OK, I'll call your bluff, album?

 

I enjoy the album actually but that doesn't change my opinion of it.

 

Agreed. The Final Cut was a dumpster fire of an album. We get it Roger, you don’t like that bus stop rat bag. No need to take it out on The Floyd’s fans and release the worst album in the “catalog.” Which again, the Final Cut was nothing more than a Waters solo album.[/QUOTE]
Agreed.I can't even call TFC a Pink Floyd LP even though it says Pink Floyd on it.

 

Nooooooo! The re-recording of Pretty in Pink is awful and the only decent track is the title track . Or the one that mentions "the poor little rich girl."

 

Definitely GAF is a drop off from Starfish but then again what wouldn't be? I think half the problem is the flat recording and the use of drum machines instead of the mighty Ploog. When I'm in the mood I like GAF!

 

Same here. Starfish is probably in my top 5 albums EVER so it would be almost impossible to match that. And like you, I really enjoy GAF. The drums don't bother me at all and Metropolis is one of their best singles!

 

Mistrial is Lou's 80s low point but I still think it's pretty good and has aged decently. Heavy on the guitars, low of synths.

 

Budgie- "Bandolier" to "If I Were Brittania I'd Waive The Rules" to "Impeckable".

I don't know how much of this was due to meddling by their record label, but Bandolier was the best LP by far, but the next two were such a drop off that it's almost mind boggling.

 

Three O'Clock - Arrive without Travelling to Ever After

 

Yes, perhaps they should have called it "Merde Gras"...

 

I got it about a year after it came out and hated it intensely. I still do.

Thankfully, Lou followed it up with what I consider to be one of his best (New York).

 

You’re very generous with your stars.