One of mine is Commit This to Memory by Motion City Soundtrack. I basically took the title verbatim and know the album word for word. And while I would love if it did, the rest of MCS’s stuff just doesn’t hit the same way.
And if you’re not an album person, maybe a period of time in the artist’s work? Whatever works for you.
*Lots of mentions of hit debut albums that subsequently petered out, which follows with the dreaded sophomore slump that hits many artists. Anyone with mid or even later career albums that stand alone? Those always intrigue me.
The album Colours from Graffiti6 was so good, I’m still mad about the crap album they released after that (it was also their last)…
And to a lesser extend, Miike Snow’s first album was sooo good. Everything they’ve put out after that was mediocre at best.
Alt-J has also been going down hill ever since the first album. It’s still decent, but if I had to rate the albums from good to bad, it would be equal to the release order. Saw them live two years ago and it was meh as well.
I mean, Alt-J just aren’t that great live. I feel like they pitch-correct most of the vocals on the studio albums… I also like An Awesome Wave best but I think This Is All Yours is very very good too. But we don’t talk about the later stuff.