mraor

TomOpus and I were having a chat. As per usual, it began with him referencing inappropriate subject matter, but it quickly progressed into a worthy topic: which artist(s) are the most consistent over the course of their entire career?

I think there have to be a couple of rules:

1) They have to have at least 3 albums
2) They have to have been around for at least 5 years
3) They can have rotating band members

I have MANY favorite bands, but there aren't many that fit this bill. How many great artists have put out at least ONE crap album?

My favorite band of all time, Queen, had some low points. "Hot Space" anyone? While it had a few decent tracks, it's not a good album. So they're off my list.

There are a lot of bands that get close, but no cigar. Either they had some mediocre albums, or they weren't around long enough to meet the criteria.

I'm challenging you to be honest and REALLY evaluate yer favorites...who deserves the honor as (drum roll) The Most Consistent Artist(s).

PLeASE be ready to defend yer position!

Giles

Pet Shoy Boys
Manic Street Preachers
The Wedding Present
Echo and The Bunnymen
The Ocean Blue
Muse
Super Furry Animals
Orbital

rbbrbndsmlfnny

Between The Buried And Me
Every Time I Die
Sigur Ros

Tscott

Never faltered:
The Sundays
Mazzy Star
Allison Moorer
Neko Case
The White Stripes
Cocteau Twins
Fiona Apple
The Bangles (and yes, I'm including 2003's Doll Revolution in that statement)

Almost never faltered:
Stereolab (a few minor lows here and there.)
They Might Be Giants (Mink Car is their weakest with a few tracks I can't stand.)
Siouxsie and the Banshees (the final album, The Rapture, can't compare to their previous work. It's not bad, but weak in comparison.)
Sigur Ros (Von does nothing for me, otherwise they're out of this world.)
Red House Painters (fantastic all through the 90s, the 2001 reunion album wasn't that good though.)
Lucinda Williams (the album Essence didn't do to much for me. Otherwise she's fantastic.)
Wilco (great, except for A Ghost is Born, which is a frustrating listen.)

MANBREASTS

George Strait

Giantrobo

When he was alive. Stevie Ray Vaughn.

DullandWitless

Tool

DrRingDing

the beatles?! i'm listening to abbey road right now. love it.

admittedly, i'm not terribly familiar with Yellow Submarine, but that's a soundtrack with many songs not even composed by the beatles, if i remember correctly.

and i'm considering only album releases, not, for example, the Anthologies or other such releases.

-ringding-

Byron_T

I'll second this.

The Bus

I'd have to say without a doubt in my mind that it's Cake. While they are not the best band ever, not only has every album of their sounded the same to an extent, all their albums have been pretty good. They are nowhere near my favorite band, but damn it, even their covers look the same.

Others I can think of:

Air
Beastie Boys
The Beatles
Beck
Björk
Nick Cave
Coldplay
DJ Krush
DJ Shadow
The Doors
The Hives
Nick Drake
Electrelane
Folk Implosion
Jamiroquai
Jay-Z (sigh)
Manu Chao
Modest Mouse
Money Mark
Outkast
The Pixies
PJ Harvey
Placebo
Portishead
Radiohead
Rage Against the Machine
The Russian Futurists
Soul Coughing
Ween
The White Stripes

I won't even go into jazz artists; that's another entirely different discussion.

wendersfan

The Jam never put out a bad album. Neither did The Small Faces.

rentonpunk

Sleater-Kinney: 7 albums out - each one different, more mature and technically/lyrically better than the next...

oppie1

the best band in the world, IMO, PEARL JAM... 'nuff said

Hiro11

Roxy Music never made an awful album and most of them are classics.

Capo2002

Recently its Tool and Pearl Jam. In the past: Alice in Chains, Soundgarden, Pink Floyd.

david12

Tool.

rbbrbndsmlfnny

THE BEATLES?
that band wasn't consistent at all.
now, don't get me wrong, i am absolutely in love with them and everything they did for music, but EVERY album had a different sound, and they went in every possible direction back then.

consistent with delivering on album after album? yes.
consistent with delivering a similar sound? no.

Mhepburn20

Fortunately for DrRingDing the OP is only asking about the former. No where does it state the band must have a similar sound in each album. Consistent here just means consistently good. I would say this is extraordinarily difficult for older bands especially with rotating lineups. Fleetwood Mac would be eligible if not for one album in 1995 which featured only one of the singer / songwriters of the Rumours lineup.

As for answering the OP's question, I know some aren't fans of Achtung Baby or Pop or Oktober but IMO, U2 does not have a bad album.

The Bus

There's U2 fans that don't like Achtung Baby???

mraor

Honestly not that familiar with most of these artists, but I know that some White Stripes fans weren't particularly pleased with their latest.

Any comments from the peanut gallery? (Y/N)

mraor

Yeah, TomOpus brought up the Beatles. For as long as they were around, that would be pretty incredible if every single album was a gem.

mraor

One of these bands are on my "total worst of - banished to an island." I'll save that for a diff thread...!

mraor

Was Alice around long enough and put out enough albums? I thought they had like, 2 albums...mebbe if you include live and greatest hits...

Sorry...wasn't a fan of grunge...killed my music...(RIP Hair Metal!)

PopcornTreeCt

I would say Green Day, even though their old stuff is way better than American Idiot, most people and critics like it.

mraor

Ha! That's funny! That's actually the other band TomOpus mentioned.

Verrrry interesting...!