Sophomore slump in reverse

[czeskleba]

Another one of those record rating threads...
Who are some artists whose second album is significantly better than their first?

Here's a few that I can think of:

Beach Boys
Bob Dylan
Randy Newman
Paul McCartney
The Move
Neil Young
REM
Husker Du
The Supersuckers

[JJ3810]

Santana - "ABRAXAS"
Little Feat - "SAILIN' SHOES"
Doobie Brothers - "TOLOUSE STREET"

[AKA]

Weezer - Pinkerton (vs. Weezer [1994])
The Beatles - With The Beatles (vs. Please Please Me)
Billy Joel - Piano Man (vs. Cold Spring Harbor)
The Beastie Boys - Paul's Boutique (vs. Licensed To Ill)
They Might Be Giants - Lincoln (vs. They Might Be Giants)

[Jimbo]

Jefferson Airplane (Surrealistic Pillow)
Moody Blues (Days of Future Passed)
Wham (Make It Big)
Creedence Clearwater Revival (Bayou Country)

I just know there's somebody out there thinking "Surrealistic Pillow was a sell-out! Takes Off! was a masterpiece!";)

[CM Wolff]

Van Morrison - Astral Weeks (from Blowin' Your Mind!). Just a wee bit of an improvement. :)

[Dan C]

Originally posted by czeskleba
Another one of those record rating threads...
Who are some artists whose second album is significantly better than their first?

Here's a few that I can think of:

Beach Boys
Bob Dylan
Randy Newman
Paul McCartney
The Move
Neil Young
REM
Husker Du
The Supersuckers

WHAT?! REM? Nooooooooooo!!!!!
"Murmur" is THE all-time REM classic, perhaps one of the best albums of the 80's or maybe even the past 30 friggin' years!

Oh wait. Were you talking about the "Chronic Town" EP as the first album? Ok, well, is my face ever red:eek: ;) I agree.
Dan C

[czeskleba]

Originally posted by Dan C
WHAT?! REM? Nooooooooooo!!!!!
"Murmur" is THE all-time REM classic, perhaps one of the best albums of the 80's or maybe even the past 30 friggin' years!



No, actually I DO think that Reckoning is better than Murmur. I kinda figured someone would disagree with me on that one, though. Nothing against Murmur, a fine album... I just think Reckoning is even "finer".

[JJ3810]

Cream - "DISREALI GEARS"
Simon & Garfunkel - "SOUNDS OF SILENCE"
Crosby Stills Nash & Young - "DEJA VU" (from "CS&N")

[joelee]

James Taylor-Sweet Baby James
Elton John-Elton John
Rod Stewart-Gasoline Alley
Joe Cocker-Joe Cocker
Stooges-Fun House
Talking Heads-More Songs about Bldgs. and Food
Warren Zevon-Excitable Boy
Led Zeppelin-II

All Great sophmore releases, greatly or marginally better than their first LP release. Of course my opinion.

Great thread.

[lbangs]

Blur (Modern Life is Rubbish vs. Leisure)
Squeeze (Cool for Cats vs. U.K. Squeeze)
World Party (Goodbye Jumbo vs. Private Revolution)
Big Brother & the Holding Company (Cheap Thrills vs. Big Brother & the Holding Company)
Los Lobos (How Will the Wolf Survive? vs. And a Time to Dance)
Lyle Lovett (Pontiac vs. Lyle Lovett (which ain't bad, but...)
Warren Zevon (Warren Zevon vs. Wanted Dead or Alive)
Roxy Music (For Your Pleasure vs. Roxy Music)
Lou Reed (Transformer vs. Lou Reed)
David Bowie (The Man who Sold the World vs. Man of Words, Man of Music (AKA Space Oddity)
Aerosmith (Get Your Wings vs. Aerosmith)

Well, there's a few.


I'll second the Bob Dylan vote as well, but I severely disagree with the R.E.M. claim.

Shalom, y'all!

L. Bangs

[John B]

Originally posted by czeskleba
Who are some artists whose second album is significantly better than their first?

Here's a few that I can think of:

Paul McCartney



I thought the first was reasonable. It was the third where he really went downhill (Wildlife)

[Elegy]

Here's a few a my picks.

Gov't Mule - Dose (vs Gov't Mule)
Jethro Tull - Stand Up (vs This Was)
Steely Dan - Countdown To Ecstacy (vs Can't Buy A Thrill)
Dire Straits - Communique (vs Dire Straits) Making Movies was even better and Love Over Gold was better still. This band improved with every release. One of my favorites.

That's my story and I'm stickin' to it.

[Dave]

Well ya probably all guessed which one I was gonna choose, but here you are anyways!:D

Rush: Fly By Night was far superior to the first S/T album. Maybe it was because Neil Peart joined the band for the second album.;)

[Ken_McAlinden]

The Band is frequently mentioned in this context, but there first album was nearly as good as the second, IMHO.

It seems like a lot of the seminal mid-80s to early 90s rap albums were "second" albums, Run-DMC's "King of Rock", Public Enemy's "It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold us Back", The Beastie Boys' ahead-of-its-time "Paul's Boutique", A Tribe Called Quest's "The Low-End Theory", and NWA's "Straight Outta Compton".

How about Marvin Gaye's "That Stubborn Kind of Fellow" versus "Soulful Moods of..."? Doesn't sound like much of a contest to me.

Wilco's "Being There" is more highly regarded than "AM", although I'm not sure I totally understand why since I like them both a lot. Exrtra points for ambition and pretentiousness I guess.

For the record, I listen to R.E.M.'s Reckoning more than Murmur, too. :)

Lyle Lovett (Pontiac vs. Lyle Lovett (which ain't bad, but...) I disagree with this one, too. The debut is his best ever (although Pontiac ain't bad, but...;))

I absolutely agree with lbangs choices of Squeeze and Roxy Music, though.

Regards,

[lbangs]

Originally posted by Ken_McAlinden
The Band is frequently mentioned in this context, but there first album was nearly as good as the second, IMHO.

I agree. I favor the second one, but the first is also terrific, and I know many people who would tip the scales in Big Pink's direction.


I disagree with this one, too. The debut is his best ever (although Pontiac ain't bad, but...;))

I absolutely agree with lbangs choices of Squeeze and Roxy Music, though.

Whew!

To be honest, on second thought, I should have left ol' Lyle off. I did like Pontiac better, but his debut is also a terrific album and not significantly inferior. So, we can disagree on the fave, but I agree - Lyle was a mistake.

I solidly stand by the others, though. I do have a close friend, however, who would probably fistfight me if he saw my inclusion of Roxy Music...

Shalom, y'all!

L. Bangs

[czeskleba]

Originally posted by AKA
Weezer - Pinkerton (vs. Weezer [1994])
The Beatles - With The Beatles (vs. Please Please Me)


Gotta disagree with those two. Especially the Beatles. Please Please Me, with it's spontaneous, (mostly) recorded-in-a-single-day sound, feels much fresher to me than the more labored-over, refined, double-tracked sound of With the Beatles. Out of their first four albums, PPM is the one I listen to most frequently, by a wide margin.

And I definitely would also disagree with the Band. Big Pink is a much more balanced album, with Richard Manuel and Robbie Robertson contributing equally to the songwriting, as opposed to the Robertson dominance of the second album. The Band was much stronger when Richard was healthy and contributing.

[GoldenBoy]

Originally posted by czeskleba



No, actually I DO think that Reckoning is better than Murmur. I kinda figured someone would disagree with me on that one, though. Nothing against Murmur, a fine album... I just think Reckoning is even "finer".

Well, I'd have to disagree with you on that REM as well. I think Murmur is a much better album than Reckoning, not that i think Reckoning is bad though. I like Reckoning.

I'd add Radiohead to the list. The Bends was a much better album than their first one. I'd also add Metallica to the list. Kill 'Em All was a great album, but Ride The Lightning was just on another level entirely, IMO.

[GoldenBoy]

Originally posted by lbangs
Blur (Modern Life is Rubbish vs. Leisure)
Squeeze (Cool for Cats vs. U.K. Squeeze)
World Party (Goodbye Jumbo vs. Private Revolution)
Big Brother & the Holding Company (Cheap Thrills vs. Big Brother & the Holding Company)
Los Lobos (How Will the Wolf Survive? vs. And a Time to Dance)
Lyle Lovett (Pontiac vs. Lyle Lovett (which ain't bad, but...)
Warren Zevon (Warren Zevon vs. Wanted Dead or Alive)
Roxy Music (For Your Pleasure vs. Roxy Music)
Lou Reed (Transformer vs. Lou Reed)
David Bowie (The Man who Sold the World vs. Man of Words, Man of Music (AKA Space Oddity)
Aerosmith (Get Your Wings vs. Aerosmith)

Well, there's a few.


I'll second the Bob Dylan vote as well, but I severely disagree with the R.E.M. claim.

Shalom, y'all!

L. Bangs

I agree with you about Lou Reed. The first album was nice and had some good songs on it, many left overs from his VU days and some would reapear on his later solo efforts in sometimes better form. Tranformer was indeed a more cohesive and well crafted offering, even if he was jumping on the Glam bandwagon; but he had the right to I guess. VU pretty much spawned the whole Glam and Punk scene anyway.

[Dan C]

Originally posted by lbangs
Blur (Modern Life is Rubbish vs. Leisure)
Squeeze (Cool for Cats vs. U.K. Squeeze)
World Party (Goodbye Jumbo vs. Private Revolution)
Big Brother & the Holding Company (Cheap Thrills vs. Big Brother & the Holding Company)
Los Lobos (How Will the Wolf Survive? vs. And a Time to Dance)
Lyle Lovett (Pontiac vs. Lyle Lovett (which ain't bad, but...)
Warren Zevon (Warren Zevon vs. Wanted Dead or Alive)
Roxy Music (For Your Pleasure vs. Roxy Music)
Lou Reed (Transformer vs. Lou Reed)
David Bowie (The Man who Sold the World vs. Man of Words, Man of Music (AKA Space Oddity)
Aerosmith (Get Your Wings vs. Aerosmith)

Well, there's a few.


I'll second the Bob Dylan vote as well, but I severely disagree with the R.E.M. claim.

Shalom, y'all!

L. Bangs

Damn! You beat me to it.
"Cool for Cats" is miles ahead in writing and playing talent compared to "U.K. Squeeze". And then "Argybargy" jumps another hundred miles. These guys matured very fast up to "East Side Story" before stumbling. Flashes of brilliance after that for many years though, some far better than others.

Agree with your Zevon pick as well.

Don't mean to nit pick, but Los Lobos DID have an Lp before "...and a Time to Dance", and it was called "Just Another Band from East L.A.". They recorded it and released it with their own money. All traditional Mexican folk tunes, it's back out on CD (the original LPs go for a mint on Ebay now). Come to think of it, so did Squeeze.

And I'm glad someone else here agrees with me on REM!:)

Dan C

[John B]

Originally posted by czeskleba


Gotta disagree with those two. Especially the Beatles. Please Please Me, with it's spontaneous, (mostly) recorded-in-a-single-day sound, feels much fresher to me than the more labored-over, refined, double-tracked sound of With the Beatles

Gotta agree with you, Please Please Me is agreat first album and the best sounding representation of their early live repertoire.

[lbangs]

Originally posted by Dan C


Don't mean to nit pick, but Los Lobos DID have an Lp before "...and a Time to Dance", and it was called "Just Another Band from East L.A.". They recorded it and released it with their own money. All traditional Mexican folk tunes, it's back out on CD (the original LPs go for a mint on Ebay now). Come to think of it, so did Squeeze.

And I'm glad someone else here agrees with me on REM!:)

Dan C

You nitpicker!

No problem. I didn't know about either of these albums. I have a bad habit of not counting self-funded and released albums for lists like this. Should I count these?

Thanks!

(Either album any good?)

Oh, and I am completely baffled as to how anyone could see any album after Murmur as significantly better. One of the 30 best albums ever, in my book.

Shalom, y'all!

L. Bangs

[Joe Koz]

Tom Waits - "The Heart of Saturday Night" over his debut "Closing Time"

[JJ3810]

I also Like PLEASE PLEASE ME a lot; more so than WITH THE BEATLES. Even though WTB showcases their writing abilities more and sounds more "Beatle-esque"; there is a spontaneity and freshness about PPM that is rather unique. Plus "TWIST AND SHOUT" rocks.

[Grant]

Originally posted by AKA
Weezer - Pinkerton (vs. Weezer [1994])

I was beginning to think I was the only one who liked "Pinkerton"!