Disappointing SECOND albums ..

[Cartimand]

"the theory is that the artists cram all their life's best songs into their first LP ..."

A band that bucked that trend though was Genesis.

Trespass - their second album, was orders of magnitude better than the instantly forgettable From Genesis to Revelation.

[SunnyLeslie]

Exactly.. plus the first album is basically a collection of years and years songs then they pick the best ... turn suddenly they are touring and promoting the album but the record company want them to record a second album .

Well, very often the first album is written when the group is created. When it comes to a production project. But nuggets of songs in a lifetime can have 10 albums. The question is quality. A real creator sometimes improves over time, which means that the first songs may not be so impressive.

[Zincubus]

I think many acts struggle with a second album because they have less time to record it compared to the first one, & often ending up having to use left over tracks from the first one, or else going in a different direction & losing fans as the end result is too different.

Exactly.. plus the first album is basically a collection of years and years songs then they pick the best ... turn suddenly they are touring and promoting the album but the record company want them to record a second album .

[sixtyten]

After the classic Lexicon of Love, ABC’s follow up , Beauty Stab , was such a let down

My favorite ABC album!! Wish they'd tour it instead of endless LOL tours

[SunnyLeslie]

I can think of quite a few artists who had a very good first album (I probably 2-3 hit singles from it) then either broke up before releasing another album or else released another one that wasn't as good as the first.

Do you think the reason for this could be that the people who created the group simply did not know what to do in the future? They had an idea for the first album, it went off, and what to do after? They simply have no idea what the prospects are and in what direction to develop. This situation can only be with people living one day. Although this is only a guess.

[SunnyLeslie]

A lot of bands release 1-2 good albums, after which it seems as if their creative potential ends. It seems to me that these are just one-day groups. Such ones arise in our days, arise, grab their piece of glory and profit and disappear into oblivion.

[beccabear67]

I was disappointed in the second album by The Sundays. Oddly a lot of people say it was their favorite but I found at best one track worth having whereas I loved the first, and the much later, third albums. To a lesser degree I found the second album by the New York group Television disappointing, except there is one track on it, Days, that I really love. Again their first, and much later, third albums I treasure.

[Semi42]

After the classic Lexicon of Love, ABC’s follow up , Beauty Stab , was such a let down

[PitstopPippa]

A band local to Chesterfield called Saracen released a cracking first album "Heroes, Saints and Fools" in 1981, full of pomp and catchy rock riffs. However the 1984 follow up "A Change of Heart" was exactly that: weak, weedy and distinctly not living up to the promise of their debut.

[Cartimand]

Re: Disappointing SECOND albums ..

King Crimson's "In the Wake of Poseidon" was nowhere near as good as their classic first album "In the Court of the Crimson King."

[zabadak]

Re: Disappointing SECOND albums ..

Oddly it got to number 1 on the album charts before Tubular Bells did!

Yep - TB replaced it at the top!

[Richard1978]

Re: Disappointing SECOND albums ..

Wow, that was the one I was going to say!

Oddly it got to number 1 on the album charts before Tubular Bells did!

[zabadak]

Re: Disappointing SECOND albums ..

Mike Oldfield's Hergest Ridge was a bit of a disappointment after Tubular Bells.

Wow, that was the one I was going to say!

[Cartimand]

Re: Disappointing SECOND albums ..

Mike Oldfield's Hergest Ridge was a bit of a disappointment after Tubular Bells.

[Richard1978]

Re: Disappointing SECOND albums ..

Endlessly by Duffy, not awful but not nearly as good as the her debut Rockferry.