POX - Third albums

which contains the greatest song of all time....'Three Days'

I can't think of any other right now... i'll work on this list some more....

but i'm not sure i agree with andrew's basic premise here. i think the pressure often bears down harder for album #3 than for any other album an artist makes. album #1 is often no-pressure, cause the canvas is blank. for album #2 everyone's expecting more of the same, so the only pressure is to come up with another 12 decent songs (which i know is easier said than done, but the point is that no one's expecting an artist to reach out and surprise them with the sophomore album). album #3 is where you either establish that you have legs and ambition and reach, or you don't. i also think this is more true now than it used to be. way back when they were releasing albums every 8 or 10 months, there was room to fail. when you're releasing albums every two or three or four years, there's a lot more at stake

um....

Beatles - A Hard Days Night obviously (first album on which they wrote everything)
Big Star - Third/Sister Lovers
Aerosmith - Toys in the Attic
Wire - 154
Scott Walker - 3
Van Halen - Women and Children First

and I'll 2nd Velvets, Love, Prince...

(no particular order)
big star - 3rd/sister lovers
the velvet underground - the velvet underground
prince - dirty mind
the who - sell out
funkadelic - maggot brain
public enemy - fear of a black planet
nirvana - in utero
husker du - new day rising
pavement - wowee zowee
cheap trick - heaven tonight

and omigod omigod
COCTEAU TWINS - TREASURE

To address fact checking cuz's concerns above: I think that nowadays, a third album is actually a rarity. If the second one tanks, there's no chance of getting to put out a third anymore. That's why any band who gets the opportunity to release a third album (on a major, especially) probably feels a little more at ease about how it sells and how it's critically perceived.

Since my list would resemble almost any of those above, here's just a few that haven't yet been mentioned:

U2-War
Belle & Sebastian-The Boy With the Arab Strap
The Doors-Waiting For the Sun
The Posies-Frosting on the Beater
X-Under the Big Black Sun
Talking Heads-Fear of Music

still, the Stone Roses' third album was killer!

AND NEVER PUT SALT IN EYES!!!11

oh, Joni Mitchell - Blue

Burzum "Hvis Lyset Tar Oss"
Anathema "The Silent Enigma"
Biosphere "Substrata"
Elend "The Umbersun"
The Gathering "Mandylion"
Gorgoroth "Under The Sign Of Hell"
Gorguts "Obscura"
Graveland "Following The Voice Of Blood"
Immortal "Battles In The North"
Ministry "The Land of Rape and Honey"
Samael "Ceremony Of Opposites"
Sepultura "Beneath The Remains"

My Bloody Valentine - Loveless
Erasure - The Innocents
Bjork - Homogenic
New Order - Low Life
Luna - Penthouse
The The - Mind Bomb (debatable, but my personal favorite)
Grandaddy - The Sophtware Slump
Massive Attack - Mezzanine
Peter Gabriel - Self-titled (Melt cover with Games Without Frontiers)
Spoon - Girls Can Tell
Meat Beat Manifesto - Satyricon
Magnetic Fields - The Charm Of The Highway Strip
The Smiths - The Queen Is Dead
Spacemen 3 -Playing With Fire
Amon Tobin - Supermodified
Aimee Mann - Bachelor #2
Peter Murphy - Deep
The Replacements - Let It Be

Rot:

Oasis - Be Here Now
Weezer - green album
Pavement - Wowee Zowee (not horrible, but their worst)
Soul Coughing - El Oso

The The - Infected

1. Revelations by KILLING JOKE
2. Dressed to Kill by KISS
3. Raw Power by Iggy & the Stooges
4. Rocket To Russia by the Ramones
5. Psychopharmacology by Firewater
6. Number of the Beast by IRON MAIDEN
7. Black'n'White by the Stranglers
8. Bomber by Motorhead
9. Saint Julian by Julian Cope
10. Electric by the Cult

My list

And it is another good one, thanks

Wowee Zowee
Sebadoh III
Kustom Karnal Blackxploitation
My Everything
Dirty Mind
Blacklisted
Neil Michael Hagerty & The Howling Hex
Aoxomoxoa
In My Tribe
Känguru

(Just realized the Wowee Zowee / Känguru cover art tribute was probably motivated, in part, by the “3rd album” parallel — LOL)

(Whoops — “My Everything” is a 2nd album. Sub in “Raw Power,” I guess... feels unimaginative, but whatevs)

Dirty Computer

Never realized before that the third album is usually the magnum opus of most artists. I kind of love pretty much every album enlisted so far, so I’ll just mention others which I love and haven’t been mentioned.

The Books - Lost & Safe
Brian Eno - Another Green World
Broadcast - Tender Buttons
Carly Rae Jepsen - Emotion
David Sylvian - secrets of the beehive
Fennesz - Endless Summer
Grimes - Visions
Herbert - Bodily Functions
Liars - Drum’s not dead
Nico - Desertshore
Nick Drake - Pink Moon
Panda Bear - Person Pitch
Sparks - kimono my house
T. Rex - Slider
The Zombies - Odessey & Oracle
Zs - New Slaves

Never realized before that the third album is usually the magnum opus of most artists.

There’s definitely a strong strain of that, huh? — “Here’s where we go nuts / stretch out!” After Bathing at Baxter’s, etc.

The Red Crayola tried it, but their 3rd album was too weird even for their label to release!

(An alternate strain is artists who go right for the magnum opus in their second album — Royal Trux, Fiery Furnaces...)

1. Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness - The Smashing Pumpkins
2. Yesterday's Work - Ecstatic Sunshine
3. In Utero - Nirvana
4. Strange Days - Eric Copeland
5. What Would the Community Think - Cat Power
6. Dookie - Green Day
7. Visions - Grimes
8. Wonderful Rainbow - Lightning Bolt
9. New Day Rising - Hüsker Dü
10. Dirty Mind - Prince

Good thread

UGK - Ridin' DIrty
Los Campesinos! - Romance is Boring
The Wedding Present - Seamonsters
Townes Van Zandt - s/t
These New Puritans - Field of Reeds
Geto Boys - We Can't Be Stopped
Owen Pallett - Heartland

Led Zeppelin III
Double Nickels on the Dime
Secret Treaties
Electric Ladyland
Trout Mask Replica
Forever Changes
The Predator
A Hard Day's Night
Maggot Brain
The Yes Album

Portishead - Third

Orbital - Snivilisation
Motorpsycho - Timothy's Monster
Gary Numan - The Pleasure Principle
Sparks - Kimono My House
Echolyn - As the World...
Magma - MDK
Cornelius - Fantasma
Yes - The Yes Album
Can - Tago Mago
Todd Rundgren - Something/Anything

there are a lotta good ones

Stranded