Some others that I didn't see:

The Band

The Basement Tapes (recorded in 1967 with Bob Dylan, finally released in 1976*)

Music from Big Pink

The Band (self-titled)

Stage Fright

*Of course, a bit of a technicality, but I thought it better to acknowledge The Basement Tapes and leave off Cahoots.

Bee Gees†

Mr. Natural

Main Course

Children of the World

Saturday Night Fever

Spirits Having Flown

†Leaving out the Live album.

Fleetwood Mac

Heroes are Hard to Find

Fleetwood Mac

Rumours

Tusk

The Velvet Underground

The Velvet Underground & Nico

White Light/White Heat

The Velvet Underground
Loaded

Simon & Garfunkel

Sounds of Silence

Parsley, Sage, Rosemary & Thyme

Bookends

Bridge OVer Troubled Water

[Edited 6/20/11 8:19am]

Imaginative said:

NoVideo said:

Talking Heads: Fear of Music / Remain in Light / Speaking in Tongues / Little Creatures

Definitely stronger to begin with More Songs About Buildings and Food (July 14, 1978) and end with Speaking in Tongues.

[Edited 6/20/11 7:58am]

Perhaps... but i've always had a bit of a soft-spot for "Little Creatures". Some solid stuff on that album.

Imaginative said:

The Velvet Underground

The Velvet Underground & Nico

White Light/White Heat

The Velvet Underground
Loaded

Can't believe I forgot this one.

Metallica - Ride the Lightning 84 / Master of Puppets 86/ And Justice for All 88 /Black Album 91 (I excluded the excellent Kill'Em All due to the poor production values...)

Depeche Mode - Some Great Reward 84 / Black Celebration 86 / Music for the Masses 87 / Violator 90

Duran Duran - Duran Duran 81 / Rio 82 / 7 & The Ragger Tiger 83 / Wild Boys + A View to a Kill singles + Arcadia/Power Station side projects 84-85 (ok I cheated a lil bit, lol)

[Edited 6/20/11 8:59am]

rialb said:

Cheap Trick-Cheap Trick/In Color/Heaven Tonight/Dream Police

hoho!

InsatiableCream said:

Bjork: Post/Homogenic/Vespertine/Medulla

Selma's Songs is in between Vespertine and Medulla.

Tortilla said:

Bjork - Debut // Post // Homogenic // Vespertine

Or was it in between Homogenic and Vespertine?

sosgemini said:

Tortilla said:

Bjork - Debut // Post // Homogenic // Vespertine

Or was it in between Homogenic and Vespertine?

You're right. It's between Homeogenic and Vespertine. Aargh..

Imaginative said:

To those including MJ's Dangerous and HIStory, I don't really think you understand the thread. It's kind of hard to put them on par with Fullfillingness and Songs in the Key, for instance. Or Revolver and Sgt. Pepper. The most compelling sequences are the one's (like Stevie's and many others here) where the progression builds peaks with an undisputed masterpiece. Several others here fit into that category, but not MJ or Janet (even though I love all of those J&L Janet albums.) You can't squeeze the Jackson's into every thread, and any mention of them in this one is off-topic.

Unless it's Joe Jackson!

Look Sharp!

I'm the Man

Beat Crazy

Night & Day

(I skipped the brilliant Jumpin' Jive, as it was a throw away tribute of all covers.)

[Edited 6/20/11 7:50am]

[Edited 6/20/11 8:24am]

Music snob, much?

MattyJam said:

Imaginative said:

To those including MJ's Dangerous and HIStory, I don't really think you understand the thread. It's kind of hard to put them on par with Fullfillingness and Songs in the Key, for instance. Or Revolver and Sgt. Pepper. The most compelling sequences are the one's (like Stevie's and many others here) where the progression builds peaks with an undisputed masterpiece. Several others here fit into that category, but not MJ or Janet (even though I love all of those J&L Janet albums.) You can't squeeze the Jackson's into every thread, and any mention of them in this one is off-topic.

Unless it's Joe Jackson!

Look Sharp!

I'm the Man

Beat Crazy

Night & Day

(I skipped the brilliant Jumpin' Jive, as it was a throw away tribute of all covers.)

[Edited 6/20/11 7:50am]

[Edited 6/20/11 8:24am]

Music snob, much?

Condesending as well.

I think up until HIStory MJ's songwriting got stronger with every new release.

Fiona01 said:

I think up until HIStory MJ's songwriting got stronger with every new release.

OFF THE WALL:

THRILLER:

BAD:

DANGEROUS:

HIStory:

Looks like he wrote most of Bad; who knew? Outside of that, he wrote 18 songs by himself over the course of the remaining 4 albums. Anyone in the music business knows it's common practice for an artist of MJ's caliber to demand songwriting credit for the honor of having the artist record the song, so it's a safe bet that MJ contributed very little compositionally to many of these so-called callaborations.

That said, I would call Off The Wall-Thriller-Bad a great three album sequence (even though Bad is really a formulaic re-write of Thriller, albeit with very stong songs). There is a dip after Bad with the departure of Quincy Jones, a trend which continued until his eventual accidental suicide. (Or whatever you want to call recreational anesthesia.)

[Edited 6/20/11 10:12am]

[Edited 6/20/11 10:39am]

Imaginative said:

Fiona01 said:

I think up until HIStory MJ's songwriting got stronger with every new release.

Looks like he wrote most of Bad; who knew? Outside of that, he wrote 12 songs by himself over the course of the remaining 4 albums. Anyone in the music business knows it's common practice for an artist of MJ's caliber to demand songwriting credit for the honor of having the artist record the song, so it's a safe bet that MJ contributed very little compositionally to many of these so-called callaborations.

That said, I would call Off The Wall-Thriller-Bad a great three album sequence (even though Bad is really a formulaic re-write of Thriller, albeit with very stong songs). There is a dip after Bad with the departure of Quincy Jones, a trend which continued until his eventual accidental suicide. (Or whatever you want to call recreational anesthesia.)

Firstly, Dangerous doesn't have the same tracklisting as HIStory.

HIStory alone contained 9 songs solely written by MJ, one of which became the biggest selling single of his career...

Get your facts straight before you go trying to discredit his songwriting skills. You clearly know jack shit.

[Edited 6/20/11 10:24am]

Which song became his biggest selling single?

Fiona01 said:

Get your facts straight before you go trying to discredit his songwriting skills. You clearly know jack shit.

[Edited 6/20/11 10:24am]

You showed me.

Obviously, copy and paste error (now corrected above).

I stand corrected, He wrote 18 by himself songs over the course of the remaining four albums.

If you include the 8 songs on Bad that he wrote alone, that's 26 songs he wrote all by himself in a period of 16 years! And you're comparing this to the others here, many of which where the entire four album streak came in four years or less, in some cases less than two years? Really, now.

[Edited 6/20/11 10:51am]

[Edited 6/20/11 11:05am]

Imaginative said:

Fiona01 said:

Get your facts straight before you go trying to discredit his songwriting skills. You clearly know jack shit.

[Edited 6/20/11 10:24am]

You showed me.

Obviously, copy and paste error. I stand corrected; he wrote 18 by himself songs over the course of the remaining four albums.

If you include the 8 songs on Bad that he wrote alone, that's 26 songs he wrote all by himself in a period of 18 years! And you're comparing this to the others here, many of which where the entire four album streak came in four years or less, in some cases less than two years? Really, now.

[Edited 6/20/11 10:49am]

We should be applauding quality not quantity. Fact is, the man single-handedly wrote some of the most beloved classic pop songs of the last 30 years - a claim not many singer/songwriters can make.

Besides, this thread isn't about producing a lot of music in a short space of time, it's about a string of strong consecutive releases.

Going back to the four album streak conversation, it's a lot easier for a band of four members to write regular albums than it is for a solo artist because they're sharing the songwriting efforts.

sosgemini said:

Which song became his biggest selling single?

Earth Song.

Imaginative said:

Fiona01 said:

Get your facts straight before you go trying to discredit his songwriting skills. You clearly know jack shit.

[Edited 6/20/11 10:24am]

You showed me.

Obviously, copy and paste error (now corrected above).

I stand corrected, He wrote 18 by himself songs over the course of the remaining four albums.

If you include the 8 songs on Bad that he wrote alone, that's 26 songs he wrote all by himself in a period of 16 years! And you're comparing this to the others here, many of which where the entire four album streak came in four years or less, in some cases less than two years? Really, now.

[Edited 6/20/11 10:51am]

[Edited 6/20/11 11:05am]

I would wager that it's a lot easier to write tuneless jazz noodlings that nobody really listens to for pleasure or pretentious drugged up experimental music that only sounds good to music snobs than it is timeless pop songs that resonate with millions of people spanning multiple generations.

[Edited 6/20/11 11:13am]

Fiona01 said:

Imaginative said:

You showed me.

Obviously, copy and paste error (now corrected above).

I stand corrected, He wrote 18 by himself songs over the course of the remaining four albums.

If you include the 8 songs on Bad that he wrote alone, that's 26 songs he wrote all by himself in a period of 16 years! And you're comparing this to the others here, many of which where the entire four album streak came in four years or less, in some cases less than two years? Really, now.

[Edited 6/20/11 10:51am]

[Edited 6/20/11 11:05am]

I would wager that it's a lot easier to write tuneless jazz noodlings that nobody really listens to for pleasure or pretentious drugged up experimental music that only sounds good to music snobs than it is timeless pop songs that resonate with millions of people spanning multiple generations.

Wow, Dangerous was the biggest pop album of 1992, and easily of the early-90's

and YES, OffTheWall-Thriller-Bad-Dangerous are a classic sequence, Bad being the weakest of them all, but saved by some classic singles and a huge world tour...

Imaginative said:

Fleetwood Mac

Heroes are Hard to Find

Fleetwood Mac

Rumours

Tusk

I could never really warm to "Heroes are Hard to Find" but I really love "Mystery to Me".

Fiona01 said:

I would wager that it's a lot easier to write tuneless jazz noodlings that nobody really listens to for pleasure or pretentious drugged up experimental music that only sounds good to music snobs than it is timeless pop songs that resonate with millions of people spanning multiple generations.

Your take on The Beatles, Bob Dylan, Miles Davis, The Velvet Underground, The Band, The Bee Gees, Fleetwood Mac, Stevie Wonder, Talking Heads, Simon & Garfunkel really isn't helping your argument!

With EWF U could start in a number of places:

Open Our Eyes

TTWOTW

Gratitude

Spirit

or

TTWOTW

Gratitude

Spirit

AllnAll

Damn near everything from 1973-1974 - 1979 was classic....and in 1975 2 albums were released...

JoeTyler said:

rialb said:

Cheap Trick-Cheap Trick/In Color/Heaven Tonight/Dream Police

hoho!

It's not my fault that you have terrible taste in music.

I'm willing to stipulate that they had a huge dropoff in quality in the '80s but the first four albums are all fantastic.

MattyJam said:

Going back to the four album streak conversation, it's a lot easier for a band of four members to write regular albums than it is for a solo artist because they're sharing the songwriting efforts.

I seem to be hearing this from a lot of the less musically educated folks around here, in particular in their attempts to try to discredit The Beatles. Let's look at the facts.

The Bealtes recorded and released 13 albums over the course of 8 years, almost all of which had a minimum of 14 songs. One of them was a double-album of all-new material.

In addition to this, they also recorded and released an additional 33 songs (3 albums worth, easily by 1960's standards) that were released only as singles, B-sides and on EPs. These were hardly throw away tracks, as they include classics such as I Want to Hold Your Hand, Hey Jude, Day Tripper, We Can Work it Out, Revolution, She Loves You, I Feel Fine, Paperback Writer and Lady Madonna, among others.

Less than 20 of the originals were written by George Harrison, the rest by Lennon/McCartney (except for 2 1/2 songs written by Ringo Starr).

So yes, while they were a collective, as individuals they were still insanely prolific, especially Paul McCartney and John Lennon.

Or to put into perspective for you MJ lovers, The Beatles' ENTIRE CAREER lasted the same amount of time as the period between the release of Off the Wall and Bad.

Now, you were saying...?

[Edited 6/20/11 12:25pm]

MattyJam said:

sosgemini said:

Which song became his biggest selling single?

Earth Song.

Yuck! That's interesting. Me no likey that song.

My contribution:

Marilyn Manson

[img:$uid]http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51VxiPoLw2L._SL500_AA300_.jpg[/img:$uid]

[img:$uid]http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_nY2GQYSYfho/Slq1R7vYvyI/AAAAAAAAAFA/GWLUwBehylA/s320/m4.bmp[/img:$uid]

[img:$uid]http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/volume_8_3/images/music-8-18-01-holy-wood.jpg[/img:$uid]

[img:$uid]http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/3117MBYT26L._SL500_AA300_.jpg[/img:$uid]

=0P

[Edited 6/20/11 15:00pm]

Gap Band: II, III, IV, V-Jammin'

Johnnie Taylor: One Step Beyond, Super Taylor, Taylored In Silk, Eargasm

Swing Out Sister: The Living Return, Shapes And Patterns, Somewhere Deep In The Night, Where Our Love Grows (There was an album between Shapes and Somewhere, but it was only released in Japan and I don't have it.)

Basia: Time and Tide, London Warsaw New York, The Sweetest Illusion, It's That Girl Again

Jacksons: The Jacksons, Goin' Places, Destiny, Triumph

Run DMC: Run-DMC, King Of Rock, Raising Hell, Tougher Than Leather

Beastie Boys: Paul's Boutique, Check Your Head, Ill Communication, Hello Nasty

Imaginative said:

MattyJam said:

Going back to the four album streak conversation, it's a lot easier for a band of four members to write regular albums than it is for a solo artist because they're sharing the songwriting efforts.

I seem to be hearing this from a lot of the less musically educated folks around here, in particular in their attempts to try to discredit The Beatles. Let's look at the facts.

The Bealtes recorded and released 13 albums over the course of 8 years, almost all of which had a minimum of 14 songs. One of them was a double-album of all-new material.

In addition to this, they also recorded and released an additional 33 songs (3 albums worth, easily by 1960's standards) that were released only as singles, B-sides and on EPs. These were hardly throw away tracks, as they include classics such as I Want to Hold Your Hand, Hey Jude, Day Tripper, We Can Work it Out, Revolution, She Loves You, I Feel Fine, Paperback Writer and Lady Madonna, among others.

Less than 20 of the originals were written by George Harrison, the rest by Lennon/McCartney (except for 2 1/2 songs written by Ringo Starr).

So yes, while they were a collective, as individuals they were still insanely prolific, especially Paul McCartney and John Lennon.

Or to put into perspective for you MJ lovers, The Beatles' ENTIRE CAREER lasted the same amount of time as the period between the release of Off the Wall and Bad.

Now, you were saying...?

[Edited 6/20/11 12:25pm]

Def Leppard - High N' Dry / Pyromania / Hysteria / Adrenalize

rialb said:

It's not my fault that you have terrible taste in music.

I'm willing to stipulate that they had a huge dropoff in quality in the '80s but the first four albums are all fantastic.

Ok, I'll give 'em another chance. I listened to those four albums in a row some months ago and I was not impressed, but perhaps my first impression was rushed. I mean, I enjoyed their Greatest Hits album but that was all.