Excellent Sophomore Albums

[Altitude]

Thomas Dolby’s “The Flat Earth” may or may not be better than “The Golden Age of Wireless”. Anyone who was turned off by the heavy rotation of “She Blinded Me With Science”, well, it’s been awhile & the album is worth a listen (skip the 1st track if you must). I remember one track that wasn’t strong, but is “The Flat Earth” better? The debut has more hits, but I’ll give points for “The Flat Earth”’s successful unified theme - both are worth a listen.

Ah, great example. I think The Flat Earth is better, despite the huge MTV play of “Science.” Flat Earth has a great unity of writing. It could have been recorded better though, the mix is a bit 2 dimensional.

 

[lermgalieu]

 

[58kites]

View attachment 4299754

This Was was a great record but I think Jethro Tull's first five records were all equally fantastic.

There are too many to mention, but a few that I have enjoyed:
Joni Mitchell-Clouds

I think Joni Mitchell topped Clouds several times after that record...Blue, Court and Spark are my two favorites.

 

[noahw1]

Goat - Jesus Lizard
Rock for Light - Bad Brains
Paul’s Boutique - Beastie Boys

 

[Michedelic]

I don't know about 2nd albums, but it took 7 previous albums before Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon graced the air waves.

It may be their most popular, but not necessarily their best. I’d pick Meddle over that, maybe even WYWH.

 

[Eli_Kyiv]

Billy Idol - Rebel Yell

 

[Michedelic]

While some will no doubt disagree, I think The Clash’s Give ‘em Enough Rope kicks the ass of their undisputedly classic debut LP.

Definitely; not only better, more coherent production, but it showed that they had much more in them than paint-by-numbers punk. “Safe European Home” is such a kick ass opener…

 

[bnt]

Big Country - Steeltown

If you do not know this band, you are in for a real treat.

Yup - beat me to it. Opener Flame Of The West is a bass-driven banger about Ronald Reagan.

Another 80s band that jumped out at me was a-ha: their first album Hunting High and Low made a splash with singles like Take On Me, but their sophomore Scoundrel Days is much better overall, in my opinion. More real instruments, hits like Cry Wolf, and experiments with rock in songs like I’ve Been Losing You:

 

[dogbrained]

Fun House

 

[Paul New]

 

[Paul New]

 

[smurfco]

 

[sokolasty]

Ride the lightning
Kill'em all

 

[JPaulGeddy]

King's X - Gretchen Goes to Nebraska - many will argue Dogman, but this one's my favorite. In any event, a great, great album.

 

[Lowbrow]

Fun House

Absolutely

 

[jymyben]

ozzy-diary of a madman
faith no more-angel dust
anthrax-spreading the disease

 

[Altitude]

Billy Idol - Rebel Yell
View attachment 4299925

That was indeed an excellent album, but I think his best was "Charmed Life" from 1990. It had "Cradle of Love" and "LA Woman" which gave it some commercial success, but the deep tracks were what was really good. Heavy heavies all over the album too - Jimmy Johnson, Randy Jackson on bass, Mike Baird on drums several tracks. And it's really well recorded; I used it as a demo disc at the stereo store for a long time.

 

[Thumpin6string]

It may be their most popular, but not necessarily their best. I’d pick Meddle over that, maybe even WYWH.

Just checked out Meddle and it's not my cup of tea. I agree that Wish You Were Here is another great album, but most of them that were post Dark Side of the Moon were pretty awesome. Towards the end though, they did seem to fizzle out IMHO.

 

[Relayer71]

faith no more-angel dust

While Angel Dust is their masterpiece (and one of the greatest albums of all time), that was technically their fourth album (second with singer Mike Patton).

 

[Relayer71]

Sting: Nothing Like the Sun
Big Business: Here Come the Waterworks
Pavement: Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain
Roxy Music: For Your Pleasure