'I prefer their later stuff'

[sutin]

Sparks have got to be the ultimate exception to that. Ron's mind seems to sharpen as he gets older, and they made their most daring music in their 4th decade.

[Glebe]

Faith No More greatly improved as Jim Martin's influence was dialled down (and once he left the band entirely). The Chuck Mosley albums have the odd good nugget but it's thin stuff overall, with The Real Thing (replacing Mosley with Patton) being the best culmination of that earlier style. Things really took off from Angel Dust onwards. KFAD for the win, and I'd always rather listen to AOTY and Sol Invictus than the first three albums.

I actually found KFaD a tad disappointing, there are some cracking songs on there but I felt like they'd kinda lost a bit of their magic spark, although AotY is a bit more like it. Haven't heard Sol Invictus, apart from one the singles.

[Video Game Fan 2000]

Sparks have got to be the ultimate exception to that. Ron's mind seems to sharpen as he gets older, and they made their most daring music in their 4th decade.

There's a lot of recent Sparks songs which are a bit flat because you expect there would be some crazy melodic hook or harmony, or an OTT Russell delivery, but there's just a normal chorus.
But then they do something like Johnny Delusional or Ediaf Piaf (Said it Better than Me) and there's genuinely a case to be made that they're better than they were in the mid 70s.

[the science eel]

There's a lot of recent Sparks songs which are a bit flat because you expect there would be some crazy melodic hook or harmony, or an OTT Russell delivery, but there's just a normal chorus.
But then they do something like Johnny Delusional or Ediaf Piaf (Said it Better than Me) and there's genuinely a case to be made that they're better than they were in the mid 70s.

Edith Piaf is sooooooooooooo good

[cosmic-hearse]

Oh yeah the Beatles is a great choice.

There's a lot of hardcore punk / extreme metal where the earlier albums are really 'raw' and sound like they were recorded through a calculator, and to me it is so vastly inferior to the music they made when they've got a bit of cash; even the re-recordings of their old songs are much better. I can barely listen to some of the most lo-fi stuff. Leftover Crack and Carcass can be two big name examples (that I'm not ashamed of mentioning on a left-leaning messageboard).

But when I think about it, most of my favourite bands' early records aren't their best, and the best stuff tends to appear in the middle of their career.

Maybe you've gotta do a Nirvana at your creative peak. Not to say Bleach has any bad songs on it, but In Utero's best songs are much better.

What HC bands do you think record their best stuff later in their career? Other than Poison Idea (Feel the Darkness -1990) & Rudimentary Peni (Cacophony - 1988) I can't really think of any - in fact it's one of those genres where your safest bet is always their debut 1981 7" or what have you.

[markburgle]

yeh, I knew A New Morning would cause trouble, I don't rate it much but I do think Head Music is their best, by a decent stretch - the guitars on prior albums sound dreadful.

I don't know Suede in much depth but I thought Barriers and Hit Me off Bloodsports were both brilliant, they'd be regarded as absolute classics if they were on the early albums

[cosmic-hearse]

Sebadoh - their first few albums were littered with filler & half realised acoustic meanderings, but once Eric Gaffney left they solidified into playing powerful Mission of Burma-esque indie rock.

[sutin]

There's a lot of recent Sparks songs which are a bit flat because you expect there would be some crazy melodic hook or harmony, or an OTT Russell delivery, but there's just a normal chorus.
But then they do something like Johnny Delusional or Ediaf Piaf (Said it Better than Me) and there's genuinely a case to be made that they're better than they were in the mid 70s.

I was talking about their 4th decade though (the '00s). Lil' Beethoven, Hello Young Lovers and Exotic Creatures Of The Deep contain their least commercially-minded music after playing the '80s and '90s relatively safe in comparison.

[wrec]

I probably prefer Iron Maiden's ambitious post-comeback/post-2000 albums now.

I enjoy these largely because they're less familiar to me, and I reckon The Final Frontier is underrated (a Maiden-obsessed acquaintance says he wished they'd never released it). But I've just listened to Dance of Death for the first time in ages and apart from being three or four songs too long, the "prison is like a bloody holiday camp" has harshed my buzz something rotten. Whereas when I listen to any of the first seven albums I'm sure that one's my favourite.

[wrec]

Rush. yeah I'm always proverbially spinning Test for Echo over 2112.

well ok maybe not I'm not quite that biased but my favs these days still Grace Under Pressure and the stuff around it rather than 70s Ayn Rand rock stuff.

Grace is my go-to as well (though I'd say Moving Pictures is technically their best) and I think A Farewell to Kings to Power Windows is the best stuff. I don't really get the reverence for 2112.

[kalowski]

weirdos. Blackstar is terrible

No it's not.
It's not better than his run 1971-1989 but it's still great. I love a bit of "Bowie does Scott".