Biggest disappointment follow-up album

[Spaz]

Once again, I have to question the 'question'. The follow-up to a big album will always be a letdown because there is so much build up and expectation. So, is it a bad album because it 'sucked' on every level or just because it was NOT as good as the previous album? Is it because that it really wasn't good or that it didn't live up to your expectations? Was it because the band gave you the album THEY wanted to give you and not the album YOU wanted?

(the following are MY opinions. I do NOT discount anyone else's opinions and I respect them highly).

ABC's "Beauty Stab" was a completely different record than "Lexicon..." and was an artistic success on almost every level. This was the album they wanted to make and they did it on their own terms. Take away the expectations and you will find a fantastic album.

THE KNACK's "But The Little Girls Understand" is actually BETTER in my book because although it sounded like a retread of the first album, the songs were a little deeper and more cerebral in a shallow kind of way. Their 3rd album, "Round Trip", was their best!

HAIRCUT 100's "Paint And Paint" was a wonderful album by a talented band, but since the songwriter had left, the others wrote songs that were more light and airy, but catchy nonetheless

DURAN DURAN's "Seven & The Ragged TIger" was a decent album. But bear in mind that I was not a fan of "Rio". I prefer the debut.
But I'd also like to state that I think that everything after "Seven..." sucked big massive donkey doodoo.

ROMAN HOLLIDAY's "Fire Me Up". On one level, I'll agree that it was a very disappointing album (and one that THEY didn't want to make, from my understanding) but if it was an album by a 'new' or 'different' band, then people would think of it differently. As a new wave/pop album of the '80s, it's not so bad. As a Roman Holliday album, well,.......

THE CARS' "Candy O" is my fave album by them. Never get tired of it. I was bored with the first album 6 months after it's release. But if you look at the direction of the band, their subsequent albums were more "Candy O" than their debut. It would seem that they became more of a 'studio band' than the popular live band that made their debut.

I'll have to agree on the Stone Roses, though. I wasn't too impressed by the debut (why was that so influential???), but 2nd Coming was awful. Terrible. Sucked big time. Stunk. Dead in the water.

[KYYX4ever]

[quote][i]Originally posted by Spaz[/i]
<br>
DURAN DURAN's "Seven & The Ragged TIger" was a decent album. But bear in mind that I was not a fan of "Rio". I prefer the debut.
But I'd also like to state that I think that everything after "Seven..." sucked big massive donkey doodoo.

[/quote]

yup, I thought so too. [^]

[Borneojimy]

"More Specials" really sucked, especially after that great first record. "Valley of the Dolls" by Generation X was kinda weak too, not awful, but still a let down.

[Frau_Blucher]

Let's go old school:

THE CLASH: Give Them Enough Rope didn't cut it for me, but I'll consider it a breather before London Calling.

THE JAM: This is the Modern World, some decent songs, not the energy you would've expected, but sandwiched between In the City and All Mod Cons, who can really criticize?

THE DAMNED: There's nothing on Music for Pleasure that really grabs my attention.

ECHO & THE BUNNEYMEN: Heaven Up There never grabbed my attention, although I imagine it's begging for a revisit. But again, inbetween Crocodiles and Porcupine then eventually Ocean Rain, I oughta just STFU and appreciate it all.

THE CARS: Candy-O just has a negative psychological association with me - I turned in a mountain of Cambell Soup labels my freshman year in high school to get that album...and was so dissapointed that it just wasn't like the first album!

PS Spaz, Haircut 100 HAD a second album?! [:D]

[i_like_lectric_motors]

Some good choices although I'm a fan of Candy-O and Liverpool. How about
Red Rockers' Good As Gold? And more recently Interpol's Antics (although to be fair I'm still trying to get into this one).

[2Nu]

The Cult's abrupt plunge from the haunting Goth rock classic ('Love'- Rain, She Sells Sanctuary) into screaming metal (Electric- Love Removal Machine is the only listenable track for me) was right up there with Ministry's post 'With Sympathy' musical genre mutation. [xx(]

[firefall]

Skafishe's ''conversation', was a really bad synth rock album,after the legendary first avant pop masterpiece.Also Shirts''street light shine''was a very arty pop-rock album,and witout the manic energy and cocky attitude of the deput in 1978.

[Otters Walk Among Us]

[quote][i]Originally posted by i_like_lectric_motors[/i]
<br>And more recently Interpol's Antics (although to be fair I'm still trying to get into this one).
[/quote]

Keep trying, by now I like it more than than first album. Fewer lyrics that make me wince, and they've learned that songs are allowed to end.

[devildog]

Lloyd Cole & The Commotions' "Easy Pieces" is a drab follow-up to "Rattlsnakes". It seems lackluster in comparison-the songs were not as memorable as "Rattlesnakes".

[Spaz]

[quote][i]Originally posted by kimiiii[/i]
<br>I have a few:

Journey
Raised on Radio after Frontiers

Garth Brooks
Fresh Horses after In Pieces

Disney
Beauty and the Beast after The Little Mermaid
[/quote]

Oddly enough, I didn't see a happy smiley face after this post, which leads me to believe that Kimiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii might actually be serious. But naw, I'm sure that she liked Garth's "Fresh Horses"!

[Spaz]

[quote][i]Originally posted by Borneojimy[/i]
<br>"More Specials" really sucked, especially after that great first record. "Valley of the Dolls" by Generation X was kinda weak too, not awful, but still a let down.
[/quote]

"More Specials" was a completely different album to their debut. I liked it alot, but on a whole different level. Oddly enough, their final single, "Ghost Town", which is very much in the More Specials vein,is perhaps their most popular song...and it sounds NOTHING like the first album!

[Spaz]

[quote][i]Originally posted by Blir[/i]
<br>Let's go old school:

THE CLASH: Give Them Enough Rope didn't cut it for me, but I'll consider it a breather before London Calling.

THE JAM: This is the Modern World, some decent songs, not the energy you would've expected, but sandwiched between In the City and All Mod Cons, who can really criticize?




PS Spaz, Haircut 100 HAD a second album?! [:D]
[/quote]


THE CLASH's "Give 'Em Enough Rope" was the thunder after the lighning (their debut). It was heavy, short and sweet. I think that although it is not as immediately appealing as the first album, the songs are more accessible to a non-punk audience...which may have been the reason they chose Sandy Pearlman to produce it. He'd previously done wonders with Blue Oyster Cult.

THE JAM's "...Modern World" was panned after their debut, but I think that it's a better album. It's also the album that I got 'into' them on. I ignored the In The City album as it didn't hit me right away. It wasn't until Modern World that I could really hear the songs, the melodies, the lyrics, etc. With that album, I fell in love with the Jam and they still remain one of my faves to this day.

HAIRCUT 100 released "Paint And Paint" a year or two after Nick had left. Percussionist Marc Fox had taken over vocal duties and seemed comfortable in that position. Although drummer Blair Cunningham had played on the album, he was no longer in the line-up by the LP's release.

[Frau_Blucher]

This is why I love you guys. Always forcing me to go back and re-examine lost, unknown, or over-looked stuff. I'm gonna have another listen Spaz!

[bruiser]

[quote][i]Originally posted by randy[/i]
<br>
DEVO'S second lp--thought it was ultra lame.
[/quote]

WHAT?!!!
wow.

there are some sophomore albums that were intially very disappointing, but became total favorites with time and age:

"beauty stab"- if only because i thought i wanted more trevor horn string secitons and bombast. i really wanted guitars, and LOUD. i LOVE LOVE LOVE this album now, rarely listening to "lexicon" at all. i know, heresy. but still.

"liverpool"- again, where was the trevor horn touch? while it's not now my favorite of the two, i love it on its own merits. and lipson slips in enough ztt to keep me happy.

"rhyme and reason"- after the fantastic "spring session m" i was not prepared for all the drum machines and sequencing. but oh my garsh did i learn to love this album. it's in my all-time top 20 i think. well, top thirty then. i was one of the people who emailed one-way to get this out on disc, and years later it finally happened. we were persistent.

"regatta de blanc"- well, it grew on me. but after "outlandos" i wanted another "roxanne" i guess.

"strip"- god, after the stellar "friend or foe" this was such a piece of crap. still is.

toni basil's second album- see? i can't even remember the name of it. gawd awful. and i LIKE synthpop.

kagagoogoo's "islands" grew on me, but it took a while. now i love it.

i'll think of more albums later, i'm sure.

[dtradio]

Dramarama's John Easdale did a similarly-themed topic on disappointing SECOND albums by popular bands a few years ago in some magazine. Maybe he was suggesting that Dramarama's [i]Box Office Bomb[/i] (their second LP) was also a disappointment over [i]Cinema Verite[/i]. That would be another LP to add to the mix. Good second LP but not quite like the first...

On a Canadian note, Platinum Blonde put out a stinker ([i]Alien Shores[/i]) after the kinda-decent [i]Standing In The Dark[/i].

Lest we not forget Naked Eyes' [i]Fuel For The Fire[/i].