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Who are some artists that have only released great albums?
Greatness is tough enough, but consistent greatness is nigh impossible. I'm curious as to who are some musicians/bands out there that have always delivered and never stumbled, putting out great release after great release for their entire careers. It doesn't mean they've never had a bad song or a gaffe or anything like that--just that their main releases have been solid from start to finish.
If you like educated band members look up Queen; they had a PHD in astrophysics (Ma while he was in the band), Ma in electrical engineering, Ma in Arts and a BS in Biology.
Tool for sure, they don't release many albums (4 in 25 years) but they are consistently great. Let's see if that continues with the new one this year.
A Perfect Circle and Puscifer too. Maynard is a genius, IMO.
I've yet to meet a Metric song I don't like.
Not my #1 album, but yep I still like it!
I'd probably put up Joanna Newsom -- albeit with the proviso that, she's sort of a "love it or hate it" artist, so while I think she's released four great albums, many people with whom I'm acquainted would say she's released four complete nightmares.
Milk-Eyed Mender, 2004
Ys, 2006
Have One On Me, 2011
Divers, 2015
I particularly like how different they are. Simple orchestrations or complex, rough or smooth -- but the qualities I appreciate (grit, grace, care) remain the same. I'd say Ys is my favorite and Have One On Me's my least favorite (as with all double albums, there's a few "eh" songs amidst really good ones), but I'd consider them all great.
As a rule of thumb, "bad albums" only come from groups or artists that aren't writing their own songs (with an exception for those who only do covers - but they don't usually get albums). If you make your career on a Max Marten song, it's hard to make a hit follow-up without him on your side.
Of course, that depends on what you mean by "bad". I answered based on if an album holds up a baseline of quality set by previous albums. Music is subjective, so this is about as objective a metric as I can figure. Most albums aren't bad, they're just uninteresting.
Tame Impala
For me, almost every release of Aviators (Youtube) (Bandcamp)is amazing. Yeah, there are some tracks that are not perfect, but over all, I'd say that this is my favourite artist in general.
I really like the fact that most of the music is 5minutes+ long and without constant repetition. Of course there is a chorus, but it's not like a lot of modern songs which just have one verse repeated over and over and over.