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Entry #271
 
 
 
 
 
 
Title: Untitled
Date: 2008-10-23 @ 15:08
Security: public
 Lee and I have decided to undertake a reading project.  I have agreed to read one of his favorite mega-long books, Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace.  He will be reading one of my favorite mega-long books, The Stand by Stephen King.  Even though he'll be able to devote a fraction of the time to reading than I will due to his schoolwork, we both think he'll finish first.  Also, I'm hampered by the fact that the book is just too big and heavy to bring on the bus for my commute (besides, I'm still 200 pages away from finishing my "bus read," Crime and Punishment).

This has led me to wonder if anyone else I know might be interested in a book exchange program along these lines.  We lend each other a book we think the other might like at the same time and have a conversation about the two books once we were both done.  If you read this and might be intrigued, let me know (of course--some of you who read this already have some of my books, so maybe I would just get one from you).

***

The other day I was talking to Ryan about what happens when a band or artist makes an album that is so good that all their other subsequent work pales in comparison.  I came up with a few examples off the top of my head, but was wondering if others would chime in.

1.  The first one I always think of is Violator by Depeche Mode.  One of the best top-to-bottom albums I've ever heard, for sure, and they definitely haven't done anything nearly as good in the 18 years since it came out.
2.  I find it hard to make a case that anything Nine Inch Nails produced after The Downward Spiral was as good as that album.
3.  I often wonder if The Smiths would have made an album as good as The Queen Is Dead had they lasted longer.  We only have one album produced after that one, Strangeways, Here We Come, and while it's good (one can certainly put a song like "Last Night I Dreamt Somebody Loved Me" in the top-10 best Smiths songs ever), it's not even in the same league as its predecessor.
4.  I wonder if time will prove that Modest Mouse might become hugely popular, but they'll never make an album as lovely as The Moon and Antarctica.

My thoughts can only cover bands that I care enough about to be able to examine them in the context of their entire ouevre, and a great many bands I like can't be said to have produced a whole album that was so classic as to render their future work noticably inferior.  Any other takers on this question?
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Title: Untitled
Author: [info]marveloustrick
Date: 2008-10-23 20:33 (UTC)
Status:
Oddly. While it was not their first album, Metallica's Black Album stands out as so superior to the rest of their work that it might as well have been by a different band. Fans of the band say that it is overrated, but it consistently penetrates into markets that Metallica has never touched before and will never touch again. It's still a top selling CD, and frequently at venues that do not cater strongly to the metal crowd.
:: Thread :: Reply
Title: Untitled
Author: [info]the_mad_laugher
Date: 2008-10-23 20:43 (UTC)
Status:
That's a good one... none of the ones I'd listed above were first albums either. In fact, I should have gone into more detail on this point--I think part of what makes the ones we've listed good examples is because they had other albums out that were good, but not as great as what followed. I mean, I think Depeche Mode already had five other albums out by the time Violator was released

BTW, for my money, Master of Puppets is the superior Metallic album, though I take your point about the popularity of the Black Album being an important point in its endurance as a classic, never-to-be duplicated album. Along those lines, I also meant to include Hysteria by Def Leppard in my actual post, an album so unerringly spot-on as to be practically ridiculous.
:: Thread :: Parent :: Reply
Title: Untitled
Author: [info]glengarry
Date: 2008-10-23 22:41 (UTC)
Status:
RIDE THE LIGHTNING

this isn't rocket science! its the best!
:: Thread :: Parent :: Reply
Title: Untitled
Author: [info]retromorphosis
Date: 2008-10-23 20:44 (UTC)
Status:
Weezer. They made the Blue Album in what - 1994? - and have never recaptured the feel and style and originality and accessibility that made it such an iconic album.
:: Thread :: Reply
Title: Untitled
Author: [info]the_mad_laugher
Date: 2008-10-23 20:49 (UTC)
Status:
Weezer, a good one! Subjectively, I have to say I have a preference for Pinkerton, but the accessibility of the Blue Album is a good point. Weezer is especially appropriate for this discussion because not only was their earlier stuff classic, but their current stuff basically sucks.
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Title: Untitled
Author: [info]retromorphosis
Date: 2008-10-23 20:54 (UTC)
Status:
Pinkerton was a very close second for me. I had hope after that album that they'd continue their evolution in a good way, but goddamn. It was just a trainwreck after that. I can't think of any other band that has an early album that I love who has so many other albums that I couldn't even NAME if they weren't named after COLORS.
:: Thread :: Parent :: Reply
Title: Untitled
Author: [info]retromorphosis
Date: 2008-10-23 20:54 (UTC)
Status:
PS I have serious pent up Weezer anger, if you can't tell. ;)
:: Thread :: Parent :: Reply
Title: Untitled
Author: [info]nom_de_grr
Date: 2008-10-24 03:23 (UTC)
Status:
I agree that Violator outshines everything else in DM's oeuvre, but I also keep in mind that this was the album where they were intentionally trying to capture the broadest, most commercial audience (or so I've been told). Not that it makes a difference, but still...

I think that Neko Case's Blacklisted is a much better album than any other she's produced, even though Fox Confessor is the much bigger seller.
:: Thread :: Reply
Title: Untitled
Author: [info]erinfern
Date: 2008-10-24 16:48 (UTC)
Status:
The Counting Crows! August and Everything After was amazing, one of the best albums of the 90's. Everything err....after? Nowhere near as good. I saw them live in the 90's and thought they'd be just so-so, but watching a 15 minute rendition of Round Here completely floored 16 year-old me.
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