One of mine is Commit This to Memory by Motion City Soundtrack. I basically took the title verbatim and know the album word for word. And while I would love if it did, the rest of MCS’s stuff just doesn’t hit the same way.
And if you’re not an album person, maybe a period of time in the artist’s work? Whatever works for you.
*Lots of mentions of hit debut albums that subsequently petered out, which follows with the dreaded sophomore slump that hits many artists. Anyone with mid or even later career albums that stand alone? Those always intrigue me.
For me is Silent alarm by Bloc Party.
I was so pumped to see them in concert. Unfortunately, Matt Tong (their drummer) suffered a collapsed lung when opening for Panic! At the Disco. The show was going to be Bloc Party, Jacks Mannequin, Panic! At the Disco. I was really excited to see Bloc Party & Jacks and Panic! wasn’t a bad option to see too (though their sound mixer was awful and it sounded like shit). Instead of Bloc Party, we got Plain White Tees. Just a brutal replacement.
NoFX - White Trash Two Heebs and a Bean
Grandaddy - The Sophtware Slump
All of NoFX stuff is great imo
Augustana. Can’t Love, Can’t Hurt is a fantastic album, but everything else they’ve put out is meh.
That the one with the Boston diddy?
No, that’s their first album, All the Stars and Boulevards. A few years before. Sweet and Low is their big hit from Can’t Love Can’t Hurt.
Remo Drive - Greatest Hits (which isn’t a greatest hits album) definitely fits the description. It’s extra sad since it’s their debut album, so it falls into your sophomore slump category. I respect the decision to not repeat themselves though, but I can’t help to feel like they would be able to make an album that both pleases the fans garnered from the first, and which isn’t just a rehash.
I don’t care for the Beatles, but I love the white album
Yeah, that’s most Beatles fans. Abbey road being a close second.
No. It’s not most Beatles “fans”.
Yes it is.
Tragic Kingdom by No Doubt. I love everything about that album, even today. Their other stuff is OK at best. Just not my thing.
This was the example that popped into my head when I saw the question prompt. Listening to this now still hits me as strongly as when it came out, and the rest of the albums just don’t feel as strong to me.
Boston, the Cars, but there are so many one hit wonders imo
One hit wonder to be means one song. One album hit wonders? Second Boston though! That first album is their greatest hits.
One of my favourite black metal albums is Rain Upon the Impure by The Ruins of Beverast. Nothing he’s done before or since comes even close to the perfection of that album.
M83. “Hurry up we’re dreaming” may not be perfect but it’s a great album all their other stuff pales in comparison to.
“Wolfmother” by Wolfmother. Period.
“Cruelty and the beast” by Cradle of Filth, although they had a good run around that time.
“Origin of symmetry” by Muse. It is the almost perfect sweet spot between too rough and too polished in their discography.
“Seeds” by TV on the radio.
“Boy King” by Wild Beasts.
“Passage” by Samael was peak song writing and composing. A text book concept album. Brilliant.
“The Four Seasons” by Antonio Vivaldi. Absolute banger, not an album though.
I’m kind of curious, I’ve tried Seeds over and over, but it’s unlistenable to me. Especially compared again Dear Science or Desperate. What is it you like about that album? I really want to like it because it’s probably the last of what we’ll get from them. Got any tips on appreciating it?
I think it’s one of the albums that “just click” and then you try to discover more of that great stuff and it doesn’t work. There’s this mood and vibe in the album I couldn’t find in the others.
“Passage” by Samael
I’m just going to assume you have never heard Ceremony of Opposites. That’s the only explanation.
I did (and sometimes still do). It’s okay, too doomy and far from being refined. Passage takes the stomping doom metal parts and surrounds them with the right amount of electronic sound, great lyrics, and interesting composing and arrangements. Without Ceremony, Passage wouldn’t exist, tbf, but it gets out maneuvered by its (indirect) successor in every aspect.
Correct answer
Or Worship Him which is by far their best work.
Are you a fan of the Four Seasons Recomposed, by Max Richter? I discovered it this past year and have been loving it.
I’m conservative on this one. I like the versions with Anne-Sophie Mutter and the one by Europa Galante the most. Interpretations can be so different, I’m content with that.
I loved that Wolfmother album
Sorry but Return to Cookie Mountain fromTV on the Radio is great, and staring at the sun was on their first album. But I was at peak concert going age in 2003 when that came out so I’m biased toward that.
Seeds is my second favorite album (after Cookie) and still pretty underrated though.
Pearl Jam Ten. I wore that album out and everything they put out afterwards just wasn’t even remotely the same for me.
Same. I’m sure the rest is not bad but I can’t get into it. Ten is absolute perfection.
Hard disagree
I’m not usually a full album guy, but the bands I do like every track on an album tend to only be from one album.
Modest Mouse - The Moon and Antarctica. Outside of that entire thing, I really only like Shit Luck and Float On.
I love the first Kings of Leon’s album I ever heard, Aha Shake Heartbreak, but have disliked everything else they’ve ever done.
Same with Head Automatica; I’m not really big on metal so I could even count Pantera’s stuff (I like Walk and that’s about it) with it and still only like Decadence.
Their first album, Youth and young manhood is fucking great. Better than aha shake heartbreak IMO. It’s such a fucking nose dive after that second album though.
I can’t say just one modest mouse album does it for me, but Lonesome Crowded West and Good News For People Who Love Bad News are, for me, such better albums than the rest of their work.
Lonesome Crowded West rules above them all for me. They’re my favorite band and I’ve barely listened to anything that came out after Moon and Antarctica.
Metallica: Ride the Lightning
I love this album, but can’t stand any of their other stuff.
I prefer Master of Puppets to Ride the Lightning for the overall heavier sound, and the distinct lack of acne in Hetfield’s voice. However, those two albums are definitely their top two.
Oh, the production quality on Lightning is trash. The drums sound like their not in the same room with the the microphones. Part of the charm. It sounds like a band who doesn’t know any professional producers.
Agreed
The Strokes. Their debut *Is This It *is one of the best if not the best Rock debuts. Eveything else after is just meh to me.
You’re right. It’s an amazing album. “Definitely Maybe” by Oasis is my vote for best rock debut album but I think you’re spot on otherwise about The Strokes.
Not one perfect and the rest bad, but more masterpiece to pretty good to dogshit to hot dogshit to ok.
Powerman 5000.
removed by mod
Forget the third Zombie brother, the lead singer for The Union Underground, whose only kinda good song is basically about how stupid the audience is and just make him a millionaire already…
To go into a bit more detail for what my actual knowledge is:
Tonight the Stars Revolt!: Ever loving masterpiece
Transform: Little more mindless, still really really good
Somewhere on the Other Side of Nowhere: I really like about half the album, most Powerman fans dont
Copies Clones & Replicants: Uh oh… absolutely trash cover album?..?? Where did that come from?
Builders of the Future: They’ve lost their identity, they have lost their vibe… still liked 2 of the songs. Overall a let down.
New Wave: Absolute utter trash. All of it. Never gave any of the songs a second listen. Actually actively avoided them.
The Noble Rot: One song I REALLY like, a couple I can stand to listen to if Youtube puts it up automatically, the rest just pretty bad.Rob is definitely the OG Zombie. He just has more raw visceral roaring power in his energy. Spider One is, well, he is the dude from the video for When Worlds Collide (part of the absolute masterpiece collection that came with Tonight the Stars Revolt).
I would also say, moderately recently, I saw Allegoria, and I much prefer Spider One’s B horror movie vision over Rob’s “look at my wife” movie style. In fact, I would be pretty confident saying that Spider One’s musical career trajectory and Rob’s horror movie trajectory are VERY similar.
Is hot dogshit better or worse than ambient dogshit?
Yes, because the dogshit molecules are obviously more jiggly in hot dogshit and that’s just gross.
Regular Urban Survivors by Terrorvision. Most people probably know them by way of their subsequent album, Shaving Peaches, but RUS is far superior.
