Bands & artists with no bad albums

[OnwardToSunhillow]

Bands & artists with no bad albums

[Mr. Holland]

I'm not sure I know any. I was thinking of Led Zeppelin, but I don't know whether they count with the rules you layed down, because they effectively "only" recorded eight albums in a ten years time span.

For me, David Bowie comes real close. Even though his mid eighties albums "Tonight" and "Never Let Me Down" are far removed from his best albums, I still personally like some of the songs on both albums (Tonight: title track, Blue Jean and Loving the Alien, Never Let Me Down: Day in Day Out, Time Will Crawl), but whether they are good albums as a whole , perhaps not so much.

[Olorin]

Led Zeppelin, definitely

[Yorkshire Square]

Van der Graaf Generator
Kraftwerk
Decemberists
Kate Bush
Peter Gabriel
Bryan Ferry

[Old Frothingslosh]

For me there are only 2 bands would make this list.

The Beatles
Led Zeppelin

[ragtime]

Paul Simon passes the test with flying colours, for me. Hearts And Bones, One Trick Pony and more recently his Capeman project weren't commercially as successful as his others, but the songs are still great IMO. In fact, his preceding career in Simon & Garfunkel produced 5 albums with not a dud among them.

[soundchaser09]

Genesis come close but even they had From Genesis to Revelation which was pretty awful- outside of that I like all their albums to at least a decent amount, with many being among my favourite of all.

Yes are somewhat close also- they have made some average albums though in Keys to Ascension and Heaven and Earth, also maybe the debut album. Considering they have 22 official albums, they are still mightily impressive!

[Gilly Goodness]

Gotta be the Dan. Never disappoint. Brill building standard of songwriting straight outta the gate.

Then continual refinement with added musical prowess and experimentation. Always clever and poignant lyrics. No embarrassing TV appearances. No stupid videos with permed mullets.

Just coke and hookers on the QT

[Roundabob]

The Beatles definitely. Maybe Traffic, although I’m not very familiar with When the Eagle Flies.

[Ktrek]

I would say that Chicago, from Chicago Transit Authority through to Chicago VII made no bad albums.

[luna65]

I can't really opine, myself, just because I could make an argument for an album run, say, but there's still subjectiveness in the process. Like, it would be easier for me to consider what is a perfect album but not necessarily a flawless oeuvre. I think there can be more strong albums overall but most albums have a clunker or two or some filler. IMO.

[Mr. Holland]

Gotta be the Dan. Never disappoint. Brill building standard of songwriting straight outta the gate.

Then continual refinement with added musical prowess and experimentation. Always clever and poignant lyrics. No embarrassing TV appearances. No stupid videos with permed mullets.

Just coke and hookers on the QT

Darn, how could I forget about the Dan. You're absolutely correct Sir!

[Gtkgasman]

The Police

5 LPs in 6 years, each with multiple hits, all good listens, All really good records.

For me, they fit the original criteria perfectly.

Ohhh how it pains me, lol, to write that, as my better half is thee Sting fan. 😊.

But i do honestly feel the band had quite the good run of it.

[Chrisklenox]

Gotta be the Dan. Never disappoint. Brill building standard of songwriting straight outta the gate.

Then continual refinement with added musical prowess and experimentation. Always clever and poignant lyrics. No embarrassing TV appearances. No stupid videos with permed mullets.

Just coke and hookers on the QT

Yeah, Steely Dan by a mile. They never slipped even a little. I even consider the last two studio albums to be my favorite. Zep? Sure. Beatles, yep. I think XTC deserves a nod. The Police, Radiohead. There’s quite a few, still, most bands lose footing here and there.

I feel that way about Pink Floyd as well, but I know people are far from agreeing about the quality of The Final Cut and A Momentary Lapse of Reason.

[Chrisklenox]

The Beatles definitely. Maybe Traffic, although I’m not very familiar with When the Eagle Flies.

I’ll agree with Traffic. Check out When the Eagle Flies! I have had that in my rotation for the past 6 months. Side one of that album in particular is something that I listen to over and over, though it’s all very good.