Better progression between two albums by a band or a solo artist

Rush- Caress of Steel<2112

 

Monkees - More of the Monkees<Headquarters.

 

Beautiful example!

 

Kiss - The Elder<Creatures Of The Night

 

Genesis- First album<Tresspas

 

One could also make the case for...

Rush<Fly By Night

also...

Roll the Bones< Counterparts.

 

Bob Dylan -> The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan

 

lol, well that certainly cleared it up.





What in the world is this thread about?

 

I don't know. Mom is probably going to be wondering why he's wearing so much make-up and doesn't have a shirt on.

 

Yeah, even in that second album phase, I'd have kept him not only outside the house, but probably down the block to protect mom from fainting.

 

Levellers : A Weapon Called The Word < Levelling The Land

Frightened Rabbit : Sing The Greys < Midnight Organ Fight

Placebo : Placebo < Without You I’m Nothing

 

Radiohead, from OK computer to Kid A

 

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers You're Gonna Get It -> Damn the Torpedoes

I like them both but Torpedoes was a huge breakthrough.

 

The Beach Boys Party! > Pet Sounds.

 

Albums where the band or artist has made a huge artistic leap from the previous album. Can you honestly not figure that out?

 

The problem is that I almost never agree with the examples people give, so it's difficult to figure out what they see as the significant difference between the two albums.

People are listing things like Rush's Caress of Steel and 2112, Dylan's debut and Freewheelin', KISS' The Elder and Creatures of the Night, Peter Gabriel's "Scratch" and "Melt" etc. I wouldn't say that any of those (or most of the other examples so far) are a "huge artistic leap." I wouldn't say they're "artistic leaps" at all. We could just mean that they're very different from each other stylistically--like the first Bowie album compared to the 1969 self-titled (aka "Space Oddity")--I agree those are very different stylistically (though I think that first Bowie album is a gem for what it is), but I don't think that Caress of Steel is that different than 2112, or Dylan's debut that different from Freewheelin', or "Scratch" that different from "Melt," etc.

Also, the initial post really threw me off because he gave two examples and used the phrase "better progression," so it seemed like he wanted us to compare something between two different artists.

 

As “raw” and “important” Plastic Ono Band was, I much prefer John Lennon’s Imagine album.

 

With Dylan, I’d say from Another Side to ‘Bringing It All Back Home.’

The Police from Outlandos to Regatta.

The Beatles from ‘Help!’ to ‘Rubber Soul.’

Also, thumbs up to the previous mentions of Radiohead (‘The Bends’ to ‘OK Computer’) and the Clash (Rope to ‘London Calling’).

 

Can we just call it a thread that mentions one particular album being lame, and then the next one was great?

There is no mandate to eradicate the joy from everything!

 

Hooo-boy. Thats a lot of dancing about architecture there bud.

 

That would be a lot more straightforward . . . I wouldn't agree with any of the choices in that case, but that's not unusual for me with these things (same thing with the drop-off thread, which would be the opposite then).

 

U2: Rattle & Hum < Achtung Baby

 

Billy Joel - Streetlife Serenade - > Turnstiles

Elton John - Empty Sky - > Elton John

 

BYM was a bunch of singles put out without Van's agreement so doesn't, IMHO, qualify as a true VM album as such - it's more like a compilation.