Name two polar-opposite albums from the same artist

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Sub-question: does an artist who has an "established" style owe it to his/her audience to consistently deliver material that is "expected", or not too divergent from their style? In order for an artist to break out of his/her "box", is he or she restricted to only side projects to tend to those needs of creative diversity?

― alex in montreal, Friday, 12 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

This sounds like the Neil Young question, to an extent. Or the Prince question, sorta.

― Ned Raggett, Friday, 12 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Ministry: WITH SYMPATHY vs. PSALM 69

― Alex in NYC, Friday, 12 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

The only thing I could fathom at this late hour is RHCP's "Mothers Milk" and John Frusciante's "Niandra Lades & Usually Just a T-shirt". But I guess that comes under the side project provision.

Zeppelin vs. The Honeydrippers. But again, not technically the same artist.

How about any album by His Name Is Alive?

― paul, Friday, 12 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

The Cure: JAPANESE WHISPERS vs. PORNOGRAPHY

Talk Talk: THE PARTY'S OVER vs. SPIRIT OF EDEN

― Alex in NYC, Friday, 12 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Hardly known here: Rudy Trouve (formerly in dEUS). He has tons of bands. All play different styles. It depends what you aim for.If you want the masses, go for expectancy. If not, do what you want. I guess.

― nathalie, Friday, 12 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Lou Reed - Coney Island Babe vs Metal Machine Music vs New York

― Queen G, Friday, 12 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Eno - Discreet Music and Here Come The Warm Jets (basically any vocal album could be pitted against any other Eno album from the late '70s onwards, obviously).

― Damian, Friday, 12 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Primal Scream - Sonic Flower Groove Vs Primal Scream Vs Screamadelica Vs XTRMNTR.

― Nick Southall, Friday, 12 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

'Scott 1/2/3/4' vs. 'Tilt' by Scott Walker

'Happy Days' vs. 'Insignificance' by Jim O'Rourke

'Kind of Blue' vs. 'Dark Magus' by Miles Davis

― Andrew L, Friday, 12 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Radiohead - Pablo Honey/Kid A

― Poops McGee, Friday, 12 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I kind of liken artists in that 'box' to painters who are constantly painting and repainting the same sorts of pictures in the effort to find the perfect representation of their style. That said, who are the master painters, usually? People who evolved from that box to different styles, usually. Modern painters need not apply, I'm looking at you Warhol.

― Todd Burns, Friday, 12 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

>ABC's Lexicon of Love/Beauty Stab

― MSS, Friday, 12 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

The Graveyard And The Ballroom vs. I'd Like To See You Again

― Jeff W, Friday, 12 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Killing Joke:

WHAT's THIS FOR... (loose, sparse, enigmatic, primal post-punk) vs. OUTSIDE THE GATE (polished, ludicrous, pretentious, abortive wanna-be prog rock)

― Alex in NYC, Friday, 12 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Siamese Dream vs. Adore, then. Both fantastic, of course. ;-)

― Ned Raggett, Friday, 12 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Frank Sinatra Songs for Swingin' Lovers vs. Only the Lonely

― Curt, Friday, 12 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

For some artists, their "box" is a different genre-hop each time out. Beck albums are like Coen Brothers movies - a brand name sensibility applied to various cultural recyclings. Their audience's only expectation is they don't chose the same genre twice in a row.

― Curt, Friday, 12 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I thought of Neil Young as soon as I saw the thread title. That may be because I just got Trans on vinyl yesterday. Yay! I think the idea of "polar opposites" is just not on, however, because much of what's been mentioned so far on this thread is not exactly polar, but different points along the same continuum that are not really all that divergent. In the grand scheme, Adore and Siamese Dream are virtually identical; With Sympathy and Psalm 69 are a bit further apart. New York and Metal Machine Music even further. No matter how similar these extremes of style are, though, I find the artists with fair range of style/mood/etc far more interesting overall than yr average bear.

As for the sub-question, I don't think an artist owes the audience anything. Ever. Of course, the audience doesn't owe the artist their loyalty, either.

― Sean Carruthers, Friday, 12 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

name any of the four original Velvet Underground albums that do sound alike

― M Matos, Friday, 12 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Underneath The Radar vs. Beaucoup Fish FITE.

― Dan Perry, Friday, 12 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

There's simply no contest here, and the winner is . . . Pat Metheny? "Zero Tolerance for Silence" v. "New Chautauqua." On the one hand, formless screaming feedback noise, and on the other something reasonably close to acoustic fuzak folk.

― J, Friday, 12 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

King Crimson. The pastoral early ones (Lizard and Islands) compared to the noisy later ones like Red. This was more of an evolution than a complete switch, so maybe this doesn't count.

― nickn, Friday, 12 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Felt: Train Above The City vs Forever Breathes the Lonely Word

― Daniel, Friday, 12 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Neubauten has to be up there in changing their dynamics.

― bnw, Saturday, 13 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Coney Islan Baby, Metal Machine Music, and Sally Can't Dance are all the same album. Especially the last two. Berlin and Growing Up In Public are the most different Reed albums.

― Sterling Clover, Sunday, 14 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

one month passes...

John Lennon - "Plastic Ono Band" & "Imagine" (back to back!!) Einsturzende Neubauten - "Kollaps" & "Tabula Rasa" Louis Armstrong - "Hot Five and Seven Recordings" & "What a Wonderful World" Yanni - "Keys to Imagination" & "In My Time" Van Morrison - "Them" & "Astral Weeks" U2 - "Boy" & "Zooropa"

As for the question, I think it depends on whether you're dealing with an true artist, such as Dylan or Miles Davis, who is obliged to follow a divine muse, or a mere musician like Britney Spears or Matchbox 20 (or is it twenty?) who should stay true to the careful image they came with, (or just not bother).

― freddy, Wednesday, 15 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Adam F. Colours (feat. appearances by Roni Size, Grooverider and Tracey Thorn) vs. Kaos: The Anti-Acoustic Warfare (feat. appearances by Redman, Capone-N-Noreaga and LL Cool J).

― Nate Patrin, Wednesday, 15 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

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