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Artists that start on a high and then never quite achieve that peak again

Snufkin

pfm Member
Inspired by the 5 albums with no filler thread, I was going to add Dave Mason – Alone Together but realised it lent itself to another sort of topic; artists that start on a high and then never quite achieve that peak again.

For those of you not familiar with Dave Mason’s first album its worth noting that he was well connected at the time, had played with Hendrix as well as Delaney and Bonnie who were themselves near their peak around then. His first album had a great deal of assistance from the Delaney and Bonnie tribe and as such can almost be described as one of their offerings. It’s a tight album with no real filler and top notch musicianship as well as some of Dave Mason’s strongest compositions.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B000002PCX/?tag=pinkfishmedia-21

https://www.allmusic.com/album/alone-together-mw0000193512

So what other artists start on a high and then slowly, or quickly, slide down.
 
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Captain Beefheart peaked early with Trout Mask Replica. Later music was still staggering and was a real influence on Punk etc until his illness. RIP.

Magic Band.
 
So what other artists start on a high and then slowly, or quickly, slide down.

With jazz the trajectory is usually upwards until real old-age kicks in. I can think of very few where the earliest work is the high watermark. Maybe Thelonious Monk, but that’s about it. With rock it is almost always downwards. There are few artists (e.g. Joni Mitchell) who peaked around album five or six in a long career. Most have done their really good stuff in the first couple, three at the outside. Obviously many never even get beyond the first couple of albums anyway, and that is often a good thing and makes for a credible legacy. There’s a whole other category where the band changes beyond any recognition and picks up a whole different fanbase, e.g. UB40, Simple Minds etc. If you like the later albums it is unlikely you’ll like the first couple, or vice versa.
 
Badly Drawn Boy

The Hour of the Bewilderbeast is excellent, the rest, not so.

Rage Against The Machine.

The Ting Tings

Public Enemy (3 great albums followed by meh)

The Specials

Daft Punk
 
With jazz the trajectory is usually upwards until real old-age kicks in. I can think of very few where the earliest work is the high watermark. Maybe Thelonious Monk, but that’s about it. With rock it is almost always downwards. There are few artists (e.g. Joni Mitchell) who peaked around album five or six in a long career. Most have done their really good stuff in the first couple, three at the outside. Obviously many never even get beyond the first couple of albums anyway, and that is often a good thing and makes for a credible legacy. There’s a whole other category where the band changes beyond any recognition and picks up a whole different fanbase, e.g. UB40, Simple Minds etc. If you like the later albums it is unlikely you’ll like the first couple, or vice versa.
Monk is an interesting one, he put most of his best songs in the cannon quite early on but re-worked them in interesting ways & went on to record some brilliant albums across the 50s & 60s.
 
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Hmm. Three that come to mind:

1. Heart - Dreamboat Annie was a wonderful debut but nothing that came later really did it for me.
2. It's a Beautiful Day - Again, great debut (and one of the best covers ever) but the rest..?
3. Judie Tzuke - Welcome to the Cruise is excellent. All downhill thereafter.

All vey subjective, obviously...
 
Hmm. Three that come to mind:
It's a Beautiful Day - Again, great debut (and one of the best covers ever) but the rest..?
An astonishing debut that I didn’t realise at the time had hints of Santana about it but somehow seemed more sophisticated. I agree it was all downhill thereafter which is very sad.
 


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