Excellent Sophomore Albums

[Ben Clarke]

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Ritual is their 3rd record. And I'd argue for Nothing's Shocking as a better record too, if I were into arguing about what records are better.

All of those are epic, masterful records though.

 

[El_Charro]

I'm in this thread about Rick Beato's Seal analysis and it got me thinking about really good second albums. What are some good ones and theories about why it happens?

First albums are often better than the rest from a given band. That make sense because at that point the band has a large body of work and can pick the best of it for that first record. All the other albums are whatever they do next.

But why sometimes is a band's second record the best one they ever do?

One theory is that the band gets record label funding and gets a great producer thrown at it. If I recall right, Trevor Horn produced that absolutely fantastic second Seal record (though he might have done the first one too).

Some examples of outstanding sophomore records that the bands never again equaled (setting aside I guess any pre-signing indie records the bands might have floating around):

• Seal 2, the inspiration for the thread.
• Train - "Drops of Jupiter". Man what a great record.
• Smashing Pumpkins - "Siamese Dream." Not sure Corgan agrees, but this to me is by far their best work.

What do you guys think?

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Gonna go with my personal tastes here (in no particular order after the first four bands I list):

Metallica - Ride The Lightning (more depth and three dimensional than Kill ‘Em All)
Black Sabbath- Debut is freaking legendary, but can you really imagine heavy music developing without the likes of War Pigs, Paranoid, and Iron Man???
Alice In Chains - Dirt (Facelift is a great album, but the production and the overall mood of Dirt is superior IMO...
Slipknot- Iowa...Those maybe fighting words depending on who you ask, but Iowa is a LOT more intense in my book than their debut which is REALLY saying something bc they went the way of Pantera with that album where they made it angrier and heavier and successfully topped their previous work)...
Nine Inch Nails-Pretty Hate Machine is a GREAT album, but it isn’t in the same league in my book as Downward Spiral...
Linkin Park- Meteora...A lot more melodic and ambitious than Hybrid Theory which was already a good album...
System Of A Down- Does this one really need an explanation???...The debut is good, but Toxicity is iconic
Judas Priest- Sad Wings Of Destiny
Nirvana-(Only tagging on to someone else’s idea bc I probably wouldn’t have thought of it)
Motörhead- Overkill
The Prodigy- Music For The Jilted Generation
Marilyn Manson - AntiChrist Superstar (friggin’ messed up as H- record, but leaps and bounds over Portrait...Which...Really what exactly is that first album really about again???...You can hear them forming ideas, but VERY disjointed)...
Fear Factory-Demanufacture is by far their best work IMO

I really wanna put White Zombie and Pantera on here bc if you count from when they changed their sound/lineup their second mainstream albums were better, but well aware that doesn’t count bc they had prior albums

As for Smashing Pumpkins and Billy Corgan disagreeing-That dude doesn’t seem to agree with anyone so I wouldn’t sweat it too much... ;-)

I don’t feel like my list is as comprehensive as it could be so I may add more later if I can think of more examples...

Thanks! \m/

 

[Ben Clarke]

This is one of the best sleeper records of the 90s in my opinion.

 

[AlexanderB]

Eurythmics - "Sweet dreams". (First album is the somewhat obscure "In the garden".)

 

[El_Charro]

Nirvana's Nevermind was arguably the biggest rock album of the 90's. I prefer the rougher quality of Bleach myself but the songwriting chops on Nevermind are very impressive and sold millions of albums (not to mention got a whole lot of bands signed). The producer, Butch Vig, also handled Siamese Dream so I'm thinking he was big part of the magic.

——————
Yeah idk why he doesn’t get more credit...Dude constantly manages to be around greatness which doesn’t really seem like a coincidence...Heck, you could even throw Garbage 2.0 on the sophomore album improvement list...

Thanks! \m/

 

[Bassic_desires]

@Altitude "First albums are often better than the rest from a given band."

I often used to think, back in the '70s, that it was actually the 4th album of many bands that were their best. As examples, Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin and there are many others. That said, there are certainly many bands who were at their best with their first album.

 

[El_Charro]

I'm in this thread about Rick Beato's Seal analysis and it got me thinking about really good second albums. What are some good ones and theories about why it happens?

First albums are often better than the rest from a given band. That make sense because at that point the band has a large body of work and can pick the best of it for that first record. All the other albums are whatever they do next.

But why sometimes is a band's second record the best one they ever do?

One theory is that the band gets record label funding and gets a great producer thrown at it. If I recall right, Trevor Horn produced that absolutely fantastic second Seal record (though he might have done the first one too).

Some examples of outstanding sophomore records that the bands never again equaled (setting aside I guess any pre-signing indie records the bands might have floating around):

• Seal 2, the inspiration for the thread.
• Train - "Drops of Jupiter". Man what a great record.
• Smashing Pumpkins - "Siamese Dream." Not sure Corgan agrees, but this to me is by far their best work.

What do you guys think?

————-
Edit:I kinda misunderstood your OP-I was trying to name albums where the second one was better than the first, not “never to be topped again”...Assuming that second one is true I would contest your Siamese Dream reference as Mellon Collie is a FAR better album in my book (then again I may be biased on that one bc I wasn’t really listening to that kind of music when Siamese Dream came out)...

Disc 1 of Mellon Collie was like auditory crack for me my sophomore year of high school...

Thanks! \m/

 

[CGramazio]

View attachment 4299599

This is one of the best sleeper records of the 90s in my opinion.

Love Sloan. Great choice.

 

[El_Charro]

@Altitude "First albums are often better than the rest from a given band."

I often used to think, back in the '70s, that it was actually the 4th album of many bands that were their best. As examples, Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin and there are many others. That said, there are certainly many bands who were at their best with their first album.

—————————
Agree on Zeppelin IV, but not sure I agree about Volume 4 as I’m partial to all of Sabbath’s first three albums over Volume 4 (great album, but Black Sabbath/Paranoid/and Master Of Reality are so solid I’d personally pick any of those three over the fourth)...

Thanks! \m/

 

[Daniel Piper]

 

[58kites]

Alice in Chans DirtView attachment 4299558

Can't say I agree with Alice in Chains, they made a very strong first record with Facelift.
Facelift was the first grunge record to be certified Gold, and MTV brought Man in a Box into everyone's living room which helped grunge blow up huge.
I agree that Dirt was full of hits, but their third record Alice in Chains (tripod) was very strong as well and their MTV Unplugged record was just as strong.
Jerry Cantrell has continued to write great songs and record very good records with Alice in Chains and solo as well.

 

[Willy B]

 

[Neon Scribe]

Not counting the 1968 record she disowned, or her 1979 Christmas album (which wasn't bad for that sort of thing but doesn't really count), Emmylou Harris' first six albums were all excellent. Great songs, great production, great playing and singing. The second, Elite Hotel, was no exception.

 

[Kenova]

King Diamond - Abigail

Mercyful Fate - Don't Break the Oath

 

[Real Soon]

Goodness. Hiatus Kaiyote - Choose Your Weapon is among the greatest sophomore albums ever put out, if you ask lil ol me.

Foreign Exchange - Leave it All Behind. More of a keyboard-based soul/rnb sound than what's popular fare hereabouts, but a completely stellar album.

I've got more but it's late on the east coast!

 

[gtirard]

Another great 2d album

Amazing basslines!

 

[Eli_Kyiv]

Duran Duran - Rio

Also Type O Negative - Bloody Kisses

Technically it was their 3rd album, but since the 2nd one was kinda live which mostly consisted of tracks from 1st album, it could be omitted.

 

[HotelX]

The Grateful Dead’s Anthem of the Sun is much better than their first IMO. It is one of my favorites of theirs. An acid-drenched blend of live and studio recordings that is the most psychedelic album they ever released.

 

[Dabndug]

Gorillaz - Demon Days

Possibly Albarn's best effort ever.

 

[Rib 13]

Just opinion of course:

Not necessarily better, but as good as the first "Murmer"