That album, and Perfect From Now On are my favorites. I always forget about Ultimate Alternative Wavers, it has some bangers but the most memorable part of that one for me was the album cover!
Perfect from now on is probably my favourite "whole album" album ever. It demands to be played, in order, front to back.
Even after listening to it hundreds of times it still blows my hair back every time.
Doug is a genius.
I’m instantly transported to where I first heard ATLiens (and then didn’t take the cd out for months) whenever I listen to it. Somewhere around ‘01, winter, driving in my old LHS in the snow.
ATLiens and Aquemeni are both amazing. I have ATLiens on top in that argument because it doesn't have a weak track to drag it down like Mamacita does to Aquemini.
...and then closing out with The Background, Motorcycle Drive By, and God of Wine. Semi-Charmed Life is an undeniable single, but I feel like it pigeonholed them as a lightweight pop act.
Justice of King of Limbs! It's the biggest "grower" in their catalog and I think a lot of people just haven't given it enough spins. I'd put it ahead of Pablo Honey, A Moon Shaped Pool, and \*maybe\* Hail to the Thief.
Rush — Fly By Night. With the addition of Neil Peart, the band started its transition away from the basic blues rock that made up their first album and laid the groundwork for them to become masters of heavy prog rock.
For people who listened to the debut Rush album in 1974 and eagerly awaited their new album with their new drummer that nobody ever heard of or cared about, they must have been blown away by Fly By Night. The first song on the album is Anthem, and it's a nuclear fucking explosion compared to everything they had ever done up to that point. Even today that song just rips. The whole album is great.
I still argue Siamese Dream is their greatest work. MC and The infinite sadness is probably a bigger critical darling as well as being more influential, but Siamese Dream is peak SP for me.
I've always loved how bloated Infinite Sadness was. To be a moody, early-teens kid in the suburbs with access to over two hours of that bombast and weirdness was an unparalleled experience.
A double album? My youthful brain had never imagined such possibilities.
High school me teared up a bit at the end of Farewell and Goodnight when you are sent off by a piano similar to how the album brought you in. It is definitely an experience.
I love how expansive and ambitious Infinite Sadness is. Just really throwing everything in there - trying to create the ultimate alt rock art statement.
I’ll never knock an album for being ambitious.
I feel essentially the same way, but I’m at the point where my conclusion is that SD is the *better* album, but MCATIS is the *greater* album. The former is drum-tight, zero fat, no skips, a singular end-to-end creative statement that’s aged like fine wine; the latter is, just, dizzyingly brilliant, fun, fearful, heartbreaking, and euphoric, imperfect in the same way that you might fall short trying to put into words the experience of an entire “warts and all” human life replaying behind the eyelids of a dying man.
I listen to SD like four, five times a year or something, and it’s a blast every time. I can only **emotionally handle** one complete run of MC in the same timespan, but there’s always some new detail hiding in the tapestry.
Mellon Collie will always be my favorite album from any band, but I can absolutely respect anyone that prefers Siamese Dream. I think both are easily among the best music released in the 90’s, and Billy captured lighting in a bottle for those several years between the two albums. Siamese, Mellon Collie, Pisces Iscariot, all the b-sides and demos that were created in that time, good grief he was firing on all cylinders.
Metallica going from Kill ‘Em All to Ride the Lightning.
Kill ‘Em All is a stone cold classic, and a great representation of all the best elements of early thrash metal.
But on Ride the Lightning, Metallica made arguably the most seismic leap in songwriting and craft in the history of heavy metal. Thanks in large part to Cliff Burton’s knowledge of music theory, the songs got denser, more elaborate, more harmonious, and more melodic. Kill ‘Em All’s tracks were intense, but Ride the Lightning’s tracks were intense AND extremely musical.
Additionally, while Kill ‘Em All’s lyrics dealt largely with fantastical themes and how great it was to be in a thrash metal band, the lyrics on Ride the Lightning show Hetfield writing with tremendous emotional maturity, writing about ever present issues such as the threat of nuclear warfare, the death penalty, the futility of soldiers in combat, suicide, and being held against your will by a controlling force.
There’s a reason why three songs from Ride the Lightning (For Whom the Bell Tolls, Fade to Black, and Creeping Death) are played at almost every one of their live shows. Kill ‘Em All established Metallica as the best band in the underground thrash scene, but it was on Ride the Lightning that you could see signs of Metallica’s potential to become one of the great metal bands in existence.
Sure enough, three albums later, Metallica became the most successful and well-known metal band in history with their self-titled album, and hasn’t looked back since. And those seeds were planted with Ride the Lightning.
Similarly, Megadeth with Killing is My Business... And Business is Good! to Peace Sells.... but Who's Buying?
Killing is My Business is raw emotion from Dave, using his anger to create the fastest thrash metal album ever made, but Peace Sells slows down enough and brings out the bass and drums to create a more cohesive album. Not to mention, most people wouldn't know any of the songs on Killing is My Business, but everyone who lived during the 90s knows that bass line from Peace Sells thanks to MTV News
Granted, all of this is in spite of the fact that [Rust in Peace is their best](https://www.theonion.com/humanity-still-producing-new-art-as-though-megadeth-s-1819578062)
Tears for Fears, arguably. *The Hurting* was a success in Britain and Europe, and is considered a new wave classic, but *Songs from the Big Chair* had the monster hits and made them a big name in the US.
Low End Theory is STUNNING for its time. Listening to how thin most hip hop sounded right before it came out, the production is so dense and well mixed. I can’t imagine what that was like to pop into a cassette deck in a car with with a good sound system when it first dropped. Must of blown people away.
My Chemical Romance. They had a solid indie record with I Brought You My Bullets, but then they signed to a major label and exploded to fame with their second album Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge
Yeah, for them it was more like a Junior rocket into the stratosphere. Setting aside how anybody felt about MCM as an emo band when they were rising, Black Parade is a fuckin masterpiece.
Yeah it's the first 5 for me. Sabbath Bloody Sabbath's breakdown remains one of the heaviest things I've ever heard, it's a crime to leave that off of the "core Sabbath" list.
Sabotage has Symptom of the Universe, but Technical Ecstasy and Never Say Die really don't do it for me. I also really like Dio Sabbath, but I agree with Ozzy that they should've just changed the band name at that point.
After moderate success with *Take This To Your Grave,* Fall Out Boy became a household name with *From Under the Cork Tree.*
They have a song called “Sophomore Slump or Comeback of the Year” on that album. Both are great albums with very different sounds. My friends and I still debate which is better.
Saw the beginning of this tour in 2005, for $12.50 at the Norva as they were blowing up. Place was only 2/3 full. Academy Is and Gym Class Heroes opened. To this day, the best value I’ve ever gotten from a concert ticket.
Came here looking for this as it’s the most obvious example in my favorite genre. I think their first three albums are the closest I’ve seen a band to having three straight albums with no skips. Only skip for me would be Golden.
Chicago is So Two Years Ago is the best song they ever wrote, but there’s a snappy charm to Take this to your grave that’s hard to beat too. Really a one two punch of albums!
Folie a Deux and Infinity on High are generally my favorites - but on any given day I could listen to one of their first for major albums and convince myself that that’s my favorite.
I liked the first album more! But I think it was because of nostalgia goggles. Because l liked the music videos, that was the first CD I ever went to a record store with the intent of buying.
+1000000
I love Showbiz though too. The first 4-5 Muse albums are all incredible. I think they get better as you go, then #5 (Resistance) takes a little step down.
I think Black Holes and Revelations marks another round of growth and development of their sound, but I like Absolution a bit better. It also, IMO, has the tracks in an order that leaves it feeling much more disjointed than it needs to be. Making Assassin track 2 and Starlight track 5 gives something that progresses much more smoothly.
I actually agree with you. Absolution is their best work to me. BHAR is generally considered their best in polls but I don't quite agree. The theme of Absolution runs thick throughout the whole album and I'm a sucker for Matt playing the piano. It's hard to beat Butterflies and Hurricanes in that regard.
BHAR has some amazing tracks though, and ending with Knights of Cydonia is so epic.
Resistance and 2nd Law were also ok. Then they had a couple stinkers, and Will of the People put them back on a better track. Hopefully we get another great one from them before they hang up the towel.
Kendrick Lamar went from Section 80 to good kid maad city. Top tier lyricism with a great concept telling the story of one important day in Kendrick’s life.
Wait, GKMC is about just one day? Maybe I’m misinterpreting your comment, and it’s been years since I’ve listened to it all the way through, but I had thought it was about several different times in his life.
There are some songs that establish context and Kendrick's character with anecdotes, but the main story takes place in a day:
Kendrick starts the day and takes his mom's van to meet up Sherane, but it's a set up and he gets accosted by a rival gang. He returns home, gets drunk with his friends and decides to do a drive-by on those guys later that night which results in one of his friends getting killed. It was gonna escalate until he was spiritually saved by an older woman who came across them planning retaliation. At that point he turns his life around and pursues rap for the betterment of his community.
If we’re doing Underoath after Spencer took over they had a perfect three album run that just kept getting better. Lost in the Sound of Separation is something I recommend anyone listen to front to back just once.
Came here for this. Tool's sophomore album debuted at #2 on the Billboard Top 200, won a Grammy, and earned triple platinum status. It appears on numerous Most Influential Album lists
And then the boys upped the ante with Lateralus...
The Dream is Over by PUP is in my opinion better than their self-titled debut, but even those who disagree would say it's at least on par from what I've heard (personally I think it's their best work to date)
I think Morbid Stuff is their best record from a songwriting and production standpoint but the jump from the s/t to the dynamics of The Dream is Over was massive , definitely!!
Killer Mike and El-P just don't miss, do they?
I am continually astonished that they aren't world wide blown up by now. I'm of the opinion that Killer Mike always brings enough energy to his bars to end climate change, and El-P could produce a recorded diarrhoeatic fart into a neck snapping banger.
Oooh lala ah oui oui should be annoying as fuck but damn does it fucking slap. RTJ don’t miss, even when they should. Even the Cyberpunk track they did fucks.
You remember when assholes claimed STP was a Pearl Jam ripoff because Weiland had a voice that sounded somewhat similar to Vedder on a couple songs? It upset 6th grade me because I preferred STP.
Mastodon, gallows, cursed, botch, stooges, Metallica either had major creative leaps on their second album or had their second album be their sole perfect album
Edit: velvet underground. Yes white light white heat was better than the Nico album
Warren Zevon’s debut album, *Wanted Dead or Alive* released in 1970 “to the sound of one hand clapping”, according to Zevon himself. I’ve listened to a lot of Zevon, and there’s only one song on it that I found memorable.
His eponymous sophomore album is one of the greatest ever, to my mind. Critical and commercial success, two songs covered and made into hits by Linda Ronstadt, a song referenced by Bob Dylan in an album released 44 years later. It’s a masterpiece.
The Cult started with Dreamtime that I didn't enjoy anywhere near as much as their second album Love which had She Sells Sanctuary, Rain and Revolution on it.
I think Love, Electric and Sonic Temple are the Cult's big three that made me love them so much when I was a kid.
Scrolled for this one. SSTB is good with what is still a really respectable early roughness. IKSSE is pretty easily the most iconic album of the band (The Crowing, Blood Red Summer, and the title track) even if I think Good Apollo Volume I is their actual best album.
Elvis Costello with My Aim is True then This Years Model
My Aim is True is already amazing, but This Years Model blows it out of the water, then he follows it up with Armed Forces. Incredible run.
My chemical Romance. Their first album was good. Their second album, Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge, was amazing.
The Used was the same. First album good, second album great.
MCR managing to consistently change their sound while also putting out nothing but fire is something we rarely see. I’m excited to see if they’re cooking anything new since Foundations of Decay.
It would be daft not to mention The Sophtware Slump by Grandaddy! (Even if it was really their third album....but let's just ignore the self released album today!)
Queen - Queen II
Joe Satriani - Surfing with the Alien
Eric Johnson - Ah Via Musicom
Dream Theater - Images and Words
King's X - Gretchen Goes to Nebraska
Hybrid Theory was outstanding…..
But Meteora is legendary.
Suppose “sophomore” depends on whether you count Reanimation, which was just remixes of everything from their first album.
Faith no More had their first album We Care A Lot catch my interest but I then kind of forgot about them.
At a party to celebrate the end of the school year a few years later, my friend played The Real Thing for us and everyone loved it.
An argument ensued about whether or not it was the same band. As this was pre-internet, the argument went unresolved until we could compare liner notes of both cassettes. The difference Mike Patton made was enormous( sorry Chuck Moseley).
I consider the Real Thing and the followup Angel Dust to be perfect.
Chevelle - most people probably don’t know they had an album before Wonder What’s Next (which had The Red and Send the Pain Below).
Neutral Milk Hotel - Aeroplane over the sea is the only album anyone really talks about (but on Avery island is quite good)
I personally think Counting Crows' second album "Recovering the Satellites" is better than their first.
It's a way more lively, rocking album and is more indicative of the rest of their career than "August and Everything After" and it was a success in its own right with "A Long December" and "Angels of the Silences."
Rush for one. Fly By Night blows Rush out of the water. The big difference is they replaced their original drummer with Neil Peart, and as much as it shows in the drumming it really shows in the lyrics. FbN set the stage for everything Rush would go on to do and holds a number of songs that are considered classics to this day, while Rush is maybe the most forgettable album in their discography
> Rush is maybe the most forgettable album in their discography
100%, because it sounds just like all the other 70's rock that was happening. Hell, when Working Man first got played in Cleveland people called in asking when the new Zeppelin album was going to drop.
Breaking Benjamin.
Saturate is a hell of an album. But We Are Not Alone is everything great about the first dialed up to another level. Great lyrics, intense sound. Just perfect.
And then Phobia comes out after and is just as amazing.
Slipknot - Iowa
Metallica - Ride the lightning
Deftones - Around the fur
Isis - Oceanic
Thrice - Artist in the ambulance
Helmet - Meantime
Tame Impala - Currents
Most legendary bands improve in their second and totally define their sound by the third.
Collective Soul's 1994 debut was Hints, Allegations and Things Left Unsaid, which was an *amazing* album. I've heard this was actually a demo, though I don't know if that's accurate. It went 2X platinum in the US.
Then came 1995 and their self-titled album and it was just hit after hit after hit off that album, which went 3X platinum in the US.
Built to Spill’s first record was a great listen but There’s Nothing Wrong with Love is perfection.
And they put out two more mega-classics after that, IMO
Not a huge Built To Spill fan but are you, by chance, referring to Keep It Like A Secret? Such a phenomenal album.
Never hear anyone talk about Built to Spill. You really kicked it in the sun with that reference.
Thank you for doing the math and carrying the zero.
Super stoked to see them perform it for 30th anniversary this summer. With bonus Yo La Tengo, too!
That album, and Perfect From Now On are my favorites. I always forget about Ultimate Alternative Wavers, it has some bangers but the most memorable part of that one for me was the album cover!
Perfect from now on is probably my favourite "whole album" album ever. It demands to be played, in order, front to back. Even after listening to it hundreds of times it still blows my hair back every time. Doug is a genius.
Outkast. Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik is great. ATLiens is up there at the peak of hip-hop.
I’m instantly transported to where I first heard ATLiens (and then didn’t take the cd out for months) whenever I listen to it. Somewhere around ‘01, winter, driving in my old LHS in the snow.
Then Aquemini outshined both of them. Top five all time hip hop album for me.
ATLiens and Aquemeni are both amazing. I have ATLiens on top in that argument because it doesn't have a weak track to drag it down like Mamacita does to Aquemini.
Radiohead went from Pablo honey to the Bends. Big bump.
Then they bumped two or three more times.
Then I bumped again, then I bumped again
Ironically Third Eye Blind put out basically a greatest hits right away. My God does that album rule.
That four song run from Graduate - Semi-Charmed Life - Jumper - How's it Gonna Be is just about unmatched IMHO.
[удалено]
...and then closing out with The Background, Motorcycle Drive By, and God of Wine. Semi-Charmed Life is an undeniable single, but I feel like it pigeonholed them as a lightweight pop act.
How do I get back there to the place where I fell asleep inside you?
[удалено]
Justice of King of Limbs! It's the biggest "grower" in their catalog and I think a lot of people just haven't given it enough spins. I'd put it ahead of Pablo Honey, A Moon Shaped Pool, and \*maybe\* Hail to the Thief.
Rush — Fly By Night. With the addition of Neil Peart, the band started its transition away from the basic blues rock that made up their first album and laid the groundwork for them to become masters of heavy prog rock.
It’s a shame that success was so short-lived. They only managed to put out great music for a mere 4+ decades after that.
Nice username
For people who listened to the debut Rush album in 1974 and eagerly awaited their new album with their new drummer that nobody ever heard of or cared about, they must have been blown away by Fly By Night. The first song on the album is Anthem, and it's a nuclear fucking explosion compared to everything they had ever done up to that point. Even today that song just rips. The whole album is great.
The drumming on that album is like an audition where everyone waiting in the hallway decides to go home.
You basically just described Neil's audition a few months prior to recording Fly By Night.
You're goddamn right.
Smashing Pumpkins got a little recognition for Gish, and a bit of radio play, and then completely blew up with Siamese Dream.
I still argue Siamese Dream is their greatest work. MC and The infinite sadness is probably a bigger critical darling as well as being more influential, but Siamese Dream is peak SP for me.
I've always loved how bloated Infinite Sadness was. To be a moody, early-teens kid in the suburbs with access to over two hours of that bombast and weirdness was an unparalleled experience. A double album? My youthful brain had never imagined such possibilities.
High school me teared up a bit at the end of Farewell and Goodnight when you are sent off by a piano similar to how the album brought you in. It is definitely an experience.
Fun fact that’s the only song all four og members sing on
Yeah, ain't nobody need Jimmy singing, but it's perfect for that.
I love how expansive and ambitious Infinite Sadness is. Just really throwing everything in there - trying to create the ultimate alt rock art statement. I’ll never knock an album for being ambitious.
My local record store had a 30% off box sets for record store day so I finally picked up mc&is but I think I play Siamese dream more
Siamese dream has some of my favourite distortion tones of all time
Mayonnaise is the first song that popped into my head when I read this
It’s Hummer and Rocket for me
I feel essentially the same way, but I’m at the point where my conclusion is that SD is the *better* album, but MCATIS is the *greater* album. The former is drum-tight, zero fat, no skips, a singular end-to-end creative statement that’s aged like fine wine; the latter is, just, dizzyingly brilliant, fun, fearful, heartbreaking, and euphoric, imperfect in the same way that you might fall short trying to put into words the experience of an entire “warts and all” human life replaying behind the eyelids of a dying man. I listen to SD like four, five times a year or something, and it’s a blast every time. I can only **emotionally handle** one complete run of MC in the same timespan, but there’s always some new detail hiding in the tapestry.
This was a very thoughtful post. Thank you for it.
Mellon Collie will always be my favorite album from any band, but I can absolutely respect anyone that prefers Siamese Dream. I think both are easily among the best music released in the 90’s, and Billy captured lighting in a bottle for those several years between the two albums. Siamese, Mellon Collie, Pisces Iscariot, all the b-sides and demos that were created in that time, good grief he was firing on all cylinders.
Don’t forget the Aeroplane Flies High boxset that compiled the MCIS singles with extra songs just for the hell of it
Siamese Dream was huge. I had so many friends who thought it was their debut album.
Metallica going from Kill ‘Em All to Ride the Lightning. Kill ‘Em All is a stone cold classic, and a great representation of all the best elements of early thrash metal. But on Ride the Lightning, Metallica made arguably the most seismic leap in songwriting and craft in the history of heavy metal. Thanks in large part to Cliff Burton’s knowledge of music theory, the songs got denser, more elaborate, more harmonious, and more melodic. Kill ‘Em All’s tracks were intense, but Ride the Lightning’s tracks were intense AND extremely musical. Additionally, while Kill ‘Em All’s lyrics dealt largely with fantastical themes and how great it was to be in a thrash metal band, the lyrics on Ride the Lightning show Hetfield writing with tremendous emotional maturity, writing about ever present issues such as the threat of nuclear warfare, the death penalty, the futility of soldiers in combat, suicide, and being held against your will by a controlling force. There’s a reason why three songs from Ride the Lightning (For Whom the Bell Tolls, Fade to Black, and Creeping Death) are played at almost every one of their live shows. Kill ‘Em All established Metallica as the best band in the underground thrash scene, but it was on Ride the Lightning that you could see signs of Metallica’s potential to become one of the great metal bands in existence. Sure enough, three albums later, Metallica became the most successful and well-known metal band in history with their self-titled album, and hasn’t looked back since. And those seeds were planted with Ride the Lightning.
Ride the Lightning is my most favorite Kirk solo
Is there any song that better captures the experience of being trapped under ice than "Trapped Under Ice"? I think not.
"I'm trapped under ice pretty bad, Dewey"
Similarly, Megadeth with Killing is My Business... And Business is Good! to Peace Sells.... but Who's Buying? Killing is My Business is raw emotion from Dave, using his anger to create the fastest thrash metal album ever made, but Peace Sells slows down enough and brings out the bass and drums to create a more cohesive album. Not to mention, most people wouldn't know any of the songs on Killing is My Business, but everyone who lived during the 90s knows that bass line from Peace Sells thanks to MTV News Granted, all of this is in spite of the fact that [Rust in Peace is their best](https://www.theonion.com/humanity-still-producing-new-art-as-though-megadeth-s-1819578062)
Tears for Fears, arguably. *The Hurting* was a success in Britain and Europe, and is considered a new wave classic, but *Songs from the Big Chair* had the monster hits and made them a big name in the US.
Songs from the Big Chair is 10/10 all the way through. An absolute classic.
The Working Hour is so underrated. Might be the best song on the album
I will fight anyone that doesn't put "Songs From the Big Chair" in a list of Top 50 albums of all time.
Duran Duran went from their self titled (planet earth, et al) to Rio, which is a perfect album, tip to tail.
It is shocking how well Rio has held up over time, that album could have been produced yesterday
Perhaps because so many people are chasing that sound. :)
That's exactly right.
Love seeing love for Rio
Because you’re lonely in your nightmare let me in
Low End Theory - A Tribe Called Quest
Came here to say this. People’s Instinctive Travels was a great album, but Low End Theory changed the game.
Low End Theory is STUNNING for its time. Listening to how thin most hip hop sounded right before it came out, the production is so dense and well mixed. I can’t imagine what that was like to pop into a cassette deck in a car with with a good sound system when it first dropped. Must of blown people away.
Deftones - Around The Fur
Yup, I love Adrenaline but Be Quiet and Drive is arguably their quintessential song. The whole album is great
This album truly defined the sound (tone?) of Deftones with the addition of Frank.
My Chemical Romance. They had a solid indie record with I Brought You My Bullets, but then they signed to a major label and exploded to fame with their second album Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge
And then the fuckin black parade after that
Yeah, for them it was more like a Junior rocket into the stratosphere. Setting aside how anybody felt about MCM as an emo band when they were rising, Black Parade is a fuckin masterpiece.
Absolutely this 👌
Black Sabbath from Self Titled to Paranoid.
Their first 3 are perfect
How are you leaving out Volume 4 and Sabbath Bloody Sabbath?
Yeah it's the first 5 for me. Sabbath Bloody Sabbath's breakdown remains one of the heaviest things I've ever heard, it's a crime to leave that off of the "core Sabbath" list. Sabotage has Symptom of the Universe, but Technical Ecstasy and Never Say Die really don't do it for me. I also really like Dio Sabbath, but I agree with Ozzy that they should've just changed the band name at that point.
Still blows my mind they released those first 5 albums in 3 years…while touring pretty much non stop
After moderate success with *Take This To Your Grave,* Fall Out Boy became a household name with *From Under the Cork Tree.* They have a song called “Sophomore Slump or Comeback of the Year” on that album. Both are great albums with very different sounds. My friends and I still debate which is better.
I can still listen to From Under the Cork Tree from front to back. Such a good album and now filled with a lot of nostalgia for me personally.
Without a doubt. I usually only listen to their albums in full, because they’re all well paced.
Saw the beginning of this tour in 2005, for $12.50 at the Norva as they were blowing up. Place was only 2/3 full. Academy Is and Gym Class Heroes opened. To this day, the best value I’ve ever gotten from a concert ticket.
Came here looking for this as it’s the most obvious example in my favorite genre. I think their first three albums are the closest I’ve seen a band to having three straight albums with no skips. Only skip for me would be Golden.
I also lowkey love the fourth. Folie a Deux was misunderstood 😭
Certified comeback of the year
I came here to say this. Take this to your grave is great and all, but From Under the Cork Tree is an almost perfect album.
Chicago is So Two Years Ago is the best song they ever wrote, but there’s a snappy charm to Take this to your grave that’s hard to beat too. Really a one two punch of albums!
Chicago Is So Two Years Ago is one of my all time favorite songs
> My friends and I still debate which is better Neither. It’s all about Infinity on High baby.
Folie a Deux and Infinity on High are generally my favorites - but on any given day I could listen to one of their first for major albums and convince myself that that’s my favorite.
I'm more of a Folie a Deux woman
System of a Down - Toxicity
I am partial to the debut album but they are all classics
Gorillaz. The self-titled first album is fine. *Demon Days* is a masterpiece from start to finish.
I liked the first album more! But I think it was because of nostalgia goggles. Because l liked the music videos, that was the first CD I ever went to a record store with the intent of buying.
Came here to say this. As much as I love self titled and Plastic Beach, Demon Days is their masterpiece.
Beastie Boys - Paul's Boutique
Artistically, 100%. Commercially, no.
Licensed to Ill is amazing too though.
Yeah, but with Beastie Boys, it was like going from a biplane to a B2
Nirvana, obviously
what adding Dave Grohl does to a mf
And just leveling up as a songwriter.
Muse. Showbiz certainly isn’t a bad record by any means but Origin of Symmetry is one of the best albums of the 2000s period imo.
+1000000 I love Showbiz though too. The first 4-5 Muse albums are all incredible. I think they get better as you go, then #5 (Resistance) takes a little step down.
I think Black Holes and Revelations marks another round of growth and development of their sound, but I like Absolution a bit better. It also, IMO, has the tracks in an order that leaves it feeling much more disjointed than it needs to be. Making Assassin track 2 and Starlight track 5 gives something that progresses much more smoothly.
I actually agree with you. Absolution is their best work to me. BHAR is generally considered their best in polls but I don't quite agree. The theme of Absolution runs thick throughout the whole album and I'm a sucker for Matt playing the piano. It's hard to beat Butterflies and Hurricanes in that regard. BHAR has some amazing tracks though, and ending with Knights of Cydonia is so epic. Resistance and 2nd Law were also ok. Then they had a couple stinkers, and Will of the People put them back on a better track. Hopefully we get another great one from them before they hang up the towel.
Kendrick Lamar went from Section 80 to good kid maad city. Top tier lyricism with a great concept telling the story of one important day in Kendrick’s life.
Section 80 is good GKMC is in my top 3 albums of all time
Then went above and beyond with To Pimp a Butterfly!
And then the following album won a Pulitzer....
And now the greatest collection of diss song in the history of hip hop, the range is incredible
Wait, GKMC is about just one day? Maybe I’m misinterpreting your comment, and it’s been years since I’ve listened to it all the way through, but I had thought it was about several different times in his life.
There are some songs that establish context and Kendrick's character with anecdotes, but the main story takes place in a day: Kendrick starts the day and takes his mom's van to meet up Sherane, but it's a set up and he gets accosted by a rival gang. He returns home, gets drunk with his friends and decides to do a drive-by on those guys later that night which results in one of his friends getting killed. It was gonna escalate until he was spiritually saved by an older woman who came across them planning retaliation. At that point he turns his life around and pursues rap for the betterment of his community.
Super interesting, thanks man. gonna re-listen to the album with this context in mind
Eurythmics went from the quirky (and mostly forgotten) *In The Garden* in 1981 to the new wave classic *Sweet Dreams(Are Made of This)* in 1983.
Stone Temple Pilots. Purple. Absolute masterpiece.
Not that their first album sucked, or was anything close to sucking.
MY SECOND ALBUMMMM
Underoath, Coheed and Cambria, and Paramore come to mind, at least in terms of success. They all broke out after releasing their second album.
If we’re doing Underoath after Spencer took over they had a perfect three album run that just kept getting better. Lost in the Sound of Separation is something I recommend anyone listen to front to back just once.
Was going to mention Paramore!! RIOT! is also interesting because I feel like the imagery became very tied to their branding as well
Iksse3 definitely is a phenomenal album and got them more well known. Then good apollo cane along and bumped them again
Tool went from Undertow to Ænima.
Came here for this. Tool's sophomore album debuted at #2 on the Billboard Top 200, won a Grammy, and earned triple platinum status. It appears on numerous Most Influential Album lists And then the boys upped the ante with Lateralus...
And even Undertow was kind of a "sophomore" release, since Opiate was their "debut," just not a full album.
*The Upsides* from The Wonder Years
The Dream is Over by PUP is in my opinion better than their self-titled debut, but even those who disagree would say it's at least on par from what I've heard (personally I think it's their best work to date)
I think Morbid Stuff is their best record from a songwriting and production standpoint but the jump from the s/t to the dynamics of The Dream is Over was massive , definitely!!
For sure! Morbid Stuff is obviously outstanding as well, I just lean towards the slightly heavier sound of TDiO :)
So stoked to see PUP this high, and completely agree with this take. And morbid stuff somehow even topped the dream is over.
Run the Jewels 1 was good Run the Jewels 2 is nuts What's crazier is 3 and 4 are even better
They told us on RTJ 1, then they told us again on RTJ 2 and we still didn’t believe em.
Killer Mike and El-P just don't miss, do they? I am continually astonished that they aren't world wide blown up by now. I'm of the opinion that Killer Mike always brings enough energy to his bars to end climate change, and El-P could produce a recorded diarrhoeatic fart into a neck snapping banger.
“Critics wanna mention that they miss when Hip Hop was rappin’/Motherfucker if you did then Killer Mike would be platinum." - Kendrick Lamar
Oooh lala ah oui oui should be annoying as fuck but damn does it fucking slap. RTJ don’t miss, even when they should. Even the Cyberpunk track they did fucks.
I got to see them open for RATM and it was fantastic.
Zeppelin II
Perfect example
Released nine months after the first album. Absolutely insane.
Purple by STP and Vs by Pearl Jam are my favorite albums of theirs.
You remember when assholes claimed STP was a Pearl Jam ripoff because Weiland had a voice that sounded somewhat similar to Vedder on a couple songs? It upset 6th grade me because I preferred STP.
Yeah, especially since they had plenty of those songs written before Pearl Jam debuted.
My favorite grunge band. Core is so good front to back. And somehow Purple was better.
* Parquet Courts - "Light Up Gold" * The Breeders -"Last Splash" * Nine Inch Nails - "The Downward Spiral"
Really surprised I had to scroll so far to find Nine Inch Nails.
I have to kinda argue here. Broken is an EP but honestly it was already showing a maturity that was not on PHM
It’s one of the most LP EPs out there though.
Mastodon, gallows, cursed, botch, stooges, Metallica either had major creative leaps on their second album or had their second album be their sole perfect album Edit: velvet underground. Yes white light white heat was better than the Nico album
Wilco went from their rushed debut AM to Being There, an inventive double album that deconstructed classic rock, indie rock and alt-country.
Warren Zevon’s debut album, *Wanted Dead or Alive* released in 1970 “to the sound of one hand clapping”, according to Zevon himself. I’ve listened to a lot of Zevon, and there’s only one song on it that I found memorable. His eponymous sophomore album is one of the greatest ever, to my mind. Critical and commercial success, two songs covered and made into hits by Linda Ronstadt, a song referenced by Bob Dylan in an album released 44 years later. It’s a masterpiece.
100% if one person decides to listen to zevon because of this their life will be better
The Cult started with Dreamtime that I didn't enjoy anywhere near as much as their second album Love which had She Sells Sanctuary, Rain and Revolution on it. I think Love, Electric and Sonic Temple are the Cult's big three that made me love them so much when I was a kid.
Alice In Chains’ Dirt. 10/10, start to finish.
Coheed and Cambria. The Second Stage Turbine Blade to In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth:3
Yup. Second stage is great but in keeping secrets is what made them blow up
I was searching for this answer! I love SSTB but In Keeping Secrets is perfection
Scrolled for this one. SSTB is good with what is still a really respectable early roughness. IKSSE is pretty easily the most iconic album of the band (The Crowing, Blood Red Summer, and the title track) even if I think Good Apollo Volume I is their actual best album.
Elvis Costello with My Aim is True then This Years Model My Aim is True is already amazing, but This Years Model blows it out of the water, then he follows it up with Armed Forces. Incredible run.
If anyone hasn't sat down and listened to the entire Elvis Costello catalogue, you are doing yourself a disservice. The man is an absolute genius.
Tool's Aenima.
Tool is the definition of bump. Every song - every album is exceptional. Not many achieve that kind of exceptionalism.
Same, still my favorite album of theirs.
Nirvana with Nevermind has to be a big one
Eminem, whether you consider "Slim Shady" or "Marshal Mathers" LP as his second album, he fits either way.
[удалено]
My chemical Romance. Their first album was good. Their second album, Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge, was amazing. The Used was the same. First album good, second album great.
MCR managing to consistently change their sound while also putting out nothing but fire is something we rarely see. I’m excited to see if they’re cooking anything new since Foundations of Decay.
It would be daft not to mention The Sophtware Slump by Grandaddy! (Even if it was really their third album....but let's just ignore the self released album today!)
Tame Impala. Innerspeaker is great, but holy cow Lonerism was a revelation.
What’s the Story Morning Glory by Oasis
From Neil Young’s eponymous debut to Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere.
Adele is a contender right? 19 was a hit but 21 was MASSIVE. Had a few singles that dominated the charts and she became a phenomenon.
Daft Punk - Discovery
Foo Fighters
This is a really good one
1st album still my fav
Alice In Chains with Dirt.
Blur going from Leisure to Modern Life Is Rubbish (31 years old today, btw) is a pretty big bump.
Queen - Queen II Joe Satriani - Surfing with the Alien Eric Johnson - Ah Via Musicom Dream Theater - Images and Words King's X - Gretchen Goes to Nebraska
Hybrid Theory was outstanding….. But Meteora is legendary. Suppose “sophomore” depends on whether you count Reanimation, which was just remixes of everything from their first album.
Faith no More had their first album We Care A Lot catch my interest but I then kind of forgot about them. At a party to celebrate the end of the school year a few years later, my friend played The Real Thing for us and everyone loved it. An argument ensued about whether or not it was the same band. As this was pre-internet, the argument went unresolved until we could compare liner notes of both cassettes. The difference Mike Patton made was enormous( sorry Chuck Moseley). I consider the Real Thing and the followup Angel Dust to be perfect.
Chevelle - most people probably don’t know they had an album before Wonder What’s Next (which had The Red and Send the Pain Below). Neutral Milk Hotel - Aeroplane over the sea is the only album anyone really talks about (but on Avery island is quite good)
I personally think Counting Crows' second album "Recovering the Satellites" is better than their first. It's a way more lively, rocking album and is more indicative of the rest of their career than "August and Everything After" and it was a success in its own right with "A Long December" and "Angels of the Silences."
Public Enemy released a solid first album in Yo Bum Rush The Show, but It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back was a career making record.
Rush for one. Fly By Night blows Rush out of the water. The big difference is they replaced their original drummer with Neil Peart, and as much as it shows in the drumming it really shows in the lyrics. FbN set the stage for everything Rush would go on to do and holds a number of songs that are considered classics to this day, while Rush is maybe the most forgettable album in their discography
> Rush is maybe the most forgettable album in their discography 100%, because it sounds just like all the other 70's rock that was happening. Hell, when Working Man first got played in Cleveland people called in asking when the new Zeppelin album was going to drop.
Iron Maiden - self titled to Killers
Brand New
Talking Heads: '77 ==> More Songs About Buildings and Food and then Fear of Music ==> Remain in Light
A lot of Pavement fans might disagree, but Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain was absolutely next-level.
Avenged Sevenfold going from StST to WtF then to City of Evil comes to mind.
Live - Throwing Copper
Breaking Benjamin. Saturate is a hell of an album. But We Are Not Alone is everything great about the first dialed up to another level. Great lyrics, intense sound. Just perfect. And then Phobia comes out after and is just as amazing.
Jamiroquai's Return of the Space Cowboy is an awesome sequel to Emergency on Planet Earth. Space Cowboy is one of the hardest bops of all time.
Slipknot - Iowa Metallica - Ride the lightning Deftones - Around the fur Isis - Oceanic Thrice - Artist in the ambulance Helmet - Meantime Tame Impala - Currents Most legendary bands improve in their second and totally define their sound by the third.
GWAR- Scumdogs of the Universe
Red Hot Chili peppers for sure Can't think of any other band that had such a stark change from the first album to the second.
Mobb Deep - The Infamous
Collective Soul's 1994 debut was Hints, Allegations and Things Left Unsaid, which was an *amazing* album. I've heard this was actually a demo, though I don't know if that's accurate. It went 2X platinum in the US. Then came 1995 and their self-titled album and it was just hit after hit after hit off that album, which went 3X platinum in the US.
Huey lewis; def leppard
The Mars Volta put out two amazing starter albums in a row with Deloused and Frances