Definitive albums

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JackOutback said:
It's true that musicians generally only have a peak period that encompasses two or three albums (Pearl Jam: Vs/Ten/Vitalogy, Smashing Pumpkins: Gish/Siamese Dreams/Mellon Collie, Oasis: Definitely Maybe/What's the Story, Muse: Origin of Symmetry/Absolution/Black Holes and Revelations). I'm trying to think of any musicians that had more than one peak. Green Day comes to mind, with Dookie being a smash hit, interest waning, then American Idiot taking them back to the top. Can't think of any others right now.
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There's not many but Aerosmith is the most obvious for mine.

Big in the 70s mainly on the back of Toys in the Attic, gone/half split up by the early 80s then came back late 80s with the Run DMC collaboration, Permanent Vacation and then especially Pump which was absolutely huge and arguably their definitive album.
 

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Blue1980 said:
NDG was a culmination of what simple minds were doing from around 79-81, just with added pop nous. It was the perfect marriage of where they were coming from and where they were going.

Violator is a timeless classic, but i think any of their 86-97 stuff is really great, and the stuff in the 2000s has its moments, though after Alan Wilder left in the mid 90s it's hard to see them being as good ever again (Ultra in 97 being the exception)

The 2 church albums you mentioned are my other 2 favourites, both fantastic and consistent. Priest = Aura just seems so fully realized and saw them embracing atmosphere and intensity more than jangly pop. The other 2 could be my faves on other given days.
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Well put re Simple Minds' New Gold Dream.

Personally I was also a big fan of Sparkle in the Rain (very different production style to NGD though).

Also had some time for Once Upon a Time but they lost the plot a bit after that for mine. There had been a few key departures and it was really only Jim Kerr and Charlie Burchill remaining for several of those later albums.
 
adrenalinjunkie said:
Well put re Simple Minds' New Gold Dream.

Personally I was also a big fan of Sparkle in the Rain (very different production style to NGD though).

Also had some time for Once Upon a Time but they lost the plot a bit after that for mine. There had been a few key departures and it was really only Jim Kerr and Charlie Burchill remaining for several of those later albums.
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Yeah Mick MacNeil left after street fighting years in 1989, and him being the keyboard player added a lot of subtlety to combat the bombast Jim Kerr was going for especially from Sparkle In the Rain onwards.

There has still been good stuff since then, including Big Music in 2014 which is one of their best albums since the 80s.
 
Blue1980 said:
Yeah Mick MacNeil left after street fighting years in 1989, and him being the keyboard player added a lot of subtlety to combat the bombast Jim Kerr was going for especially from Sparkle In the Rain onwards.

There has still been good stuff since then, including Big Music in 2014 which is one of their best albums since the 80s.
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Thanks a lot mate - I'll go and check that one out in particular.

I'm probably the same with U2 - kind of lost interest with them after Achtung Baby but if I sat down and had a listen to all their albums of the 90s and later I'd find a lot of really good listening.
 
adrenalinjunkie said:
Thanks a lot mate - I'll go and check that one out in particular.

I'm probably the same with U2 - kind of lost interest with them after Achtung Baby but if I sat down and had a listen to all their albums of the 90s and later I'd find a lot of really good listening.
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Well I love Zooropa and consider it part of peak era U2 so there is definitely that one.

The passengers stuff had some very good things, notably miss sarajevo and Pop has its moments as well, and is certainly better than what followed in the 2000s.

In saying that, All That You can't Leave Behind is a solid album though a bit bland. HTDAB is poorer again but does contain probably their last great song City Of Blinding Lights.

No Line On The Horizon was a step in a better direction and would of been much better if they didn't try to retro fit poppy songs on there like Get On Your Boots. Still some strong tracks on it like Fez Being Born which harks back to Unforgettable Fire era.

The last one songs of innocent just isn't any good, devoid of strong songs and a general sense they had no idea what direction they wanted to go in (I feel they wanted to go in a Coldplay style 2010s direction but chickened out).
 
Billy Joel - The Stranger. Scenes from an Italian restaurant is a masterpiece.

Eagles - Hotel California

Dimmu Borgir - Enthrone Darkness Triumphant

Queensrÿche - Operation:Mindcrime
 
Agent13 said:
Yeah, Nah.

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Fair call there are some good ones off that album in general.

I may try listening to it again by removing tracks 5-7.

Funnily enough the 2 songs they did prior to their last album (the Nelson Mandela song and invisible) were pretty good. Seems they were too worried about mass appeal and ended up pleasing no one
 
Blue1980 said:
Fair call there are some good ones off that album in general.

I may try listening to it again by removing tracks 5-7.

Funnily enough the 2 songs they did prior to their last album (the Nelson Mandela song and invisible) were pretty good. Seems they were too worried about mass appeal and ended up pleasing no one
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Haha, yeah some pretty awful tracks in the middle there for sure. Invisible wasn't bad but let's face it they've probably only come up with a handful of songs in the last 15 years that have come even close to what they were doing at their best. Still, the sheer quality of music they did make during their glory days 99.99 percent of bands could only dream of. It's a shame they cop so much crap these days IMO, most of it is completely unwarranted.
 
Agent13 said:
Haha, yeah some pretty awful tracks in the middle there for sure. Invisible wasn't bad but let's face it they've probably only come up with a handful of songs in the last 15 years that have come even close to what they were doing at their best. Still, the sheer quality of music they did make during their glory days 99.99 percent of bands could only dream of. It's a shame they cop so much crap these days IMO, most of it is completely unwarranted.
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Definitely true, but this happens to almost all bands or artists over time, usually a fair bit earlier into their careers than when it happened to U2.

The amount of crap they get nowadays is to do with a fair few things, mostly non music related. Many people under 30 only remember as far back as 2000 with them and just see them as old corporate rock with a lead singer who won't shut up.

If they just faded to just being a more cult band who's albums sell to the devoted and who's concerts still demand a big audience (say like Pearl Jam, Foo Fighters, Depeche Mode, The Cure plus many more), they would be remembered more fondly and younger people keen on listening to their older stuff with an open mind.
 

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QotSA - Songs for the deaf *although I like Rated R equally
Tool - Aenima *come at me Lateralus fans
Helmet - Betty
Soundgarden - Superunknown
Nirvana - Nevermind
Alice in Chains - Dirt
Pearl Jam - Vs
The Cult - Electric
TISM - Truckin' Songs *but Machiavelli got me into them so take that for data
Queen - Night at the Opera

Sent from my SM-N910G using Tapatalk
 
Blue1980 said:
Well I love Zooropa and consider it part of peak era U2 so there is definitely that one.

The passengers stuff had some very good things, notably miss sarajevo and Pop has its moments as well, and is certainly better than what followed in the 2000s.

In saying that, All That You can't Leave Behind is a solid album though a bit bland. HTDAB is poorer again but does contain probably their last great song City Of Blinding Lights.

No Line On The Horizon was a step in a better direction and would of been much better if they didn't try to retro fit poppy songs on there like Get On Your Boots. Still some strong tracks on it like Fez Being Born which harks back to Unforgettable Fire era.

The last one songs of innocent just isn't any good, devoid of strong songs and a general sense they had no idea what direction they wanted to go in (I feel they wanted to go in a Coldplay style 2010s direction but chickened out).
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Unknown caller's my fav song on NLOTH. It's a little cheesy yes but the music's so good. Fez i like too as it's unique and should've been the album opener. The single Get On Your Boots was just awful, overshadowed the album and kinda ruined it really.
 
Snake_Baker said:
Janes Addiction: RDLH

Jane%27s_Addiction-Ritual_de_lo_Habitual.jpg


Made the commercial mistake of creating a masterpiece with their second album. Inevitably dissipated after this point.
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what a strange place for a pineapple
 
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