Second album syndrome: the best sophomore slump of the British post-post-punk bands arrived in 2004-2005

Of that lot? Definitely Maximo Park, not sure I understand why album seems to be so maligned.

Best of a mediocre bunch, vote Weekend in the City, Our Earthly Pleasures a close second

And I voted for Franz Ferdinand. Not a classic, but still good. 'News And Tributes' and 'Our Earthly Pleasures' were not bad, the rest were disappointments/or plain crap.

Best of that lot - Franz
Biggest drop in quality between first and second album - Bloc Party
Never any cop in the first place - all the others

"News and Tributes," not just b/c it is the only one of these I've actually heard, but I feel it was unjustly ignored. It is, in many ways, better than the debut & it expands their aesthetic without compromising their core strengths, which is about all you could ask from sophomore LP.

Art Brut because it's the only one that has any claim to being better than the first.

Kaiser Chiefs, although they don't really belong here as they are more neo-Britpop than neo-postpunk. The best one out of these that is actually postpunk would be Franz Ferdinand.

Maximo Park is by FAR the best. better than their first and only got shat on because the NME decided they didnt like
them anymore and a load of other press people decided to follow suit.

also: A Weekend In The City is one of the most embarassing records i've ever heard

I like News and Tributes a lot.

the maximo is the best - it took me a while to warm to but now i prefer it to the debut

the rakes was a major disappointment to me - it's not awful but it's just not in the same league as their first record, which i love

i've only heard the singles from the art brut one, not the whole album.. they're good tracks, but it's hard to get excited about art brut these days

No British Sea Power Open Season, no credibility.

^hate hate hate that record

Futureheads 2nd is their best, imo. They achieve a real haunting quality on some tracks, and blast really fucking hard on others. Shows their range, and just a great bunch of songs.

Franz Ferdinand by a thousand fucking miles.

It's their best record.

Yes. That Franz record is great.

I like the Art Brut record too. But yeah, that's the best record on that list.

I agree that the Maximo Park is no slump, but an improvement over their debut. I am optimistic about their upcoming album, Quicken The Heart (May 11). "Wraithlike" is a cracking song. Franz and Futureheads are just as great. I was defending The Rakes on another thread, but it's true that their debut and new one are better. It should have included their 17:53 long version of "The World Was A Mess But His Hair Was Perfect," which was used in a Dior fashion show. Even though it's a total Elbow/Coldplay bite, I love The Editors' "Escape The Nest."

"News and Tributes," not just b/c it is the only one of these I've actually heard, but I feel it was unjustly ignored. It is, in many ways, better than the debut & it expands their aesthetic without compromising their core strengths, which is about all you could ask from sophomore LP.

This, absolutely. Never understood why everyone seemed to find it so dull, especially considering its middling company.

YCHASMB is probably the best here, though.

scary to think that someone might've heard all of these albums

xpost

And yeah, "Open Season" should be here.

Open Season is better than their first and third albums put together.

The second Franz album has worn better than the first, IMO.

Another vote for Franz because it has really good singles.. "Do You Want To," "Eleanor Put Your Boots Back On," "The Fallen.." there might have been another that wasn't as good as those 3.

See, I don't think any of those singles were as good as their counterparts off the 1st album...

The Futureheads: News And Tributes is a great album. It blows the others away.

Just to be clear - I meant the other albums listed in this poll not the other FH albums.

I'd vote for Open Season if it was on here. I've heard very few of these, though, aside from Bloc Party, which was pretty turgid.

hope of the states, where are you now

hahahahahaha

Re: British Sea Power - I think they are different kind of animals, came well before 2004, and musically different to the skinny tie-bands.

Debut album was only 2003, wasn't it? They've got a definite post-punkishness about them, if, yes, minimal compared to most of these.

Dunno, I always thought this bunch of bands as they came after Franz Ferdinand's breakthrough, were championed by the press as post-punk revival etc. British Sea Power always seemed just like a decent indie band, nothing else.

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Yay. I put them all in a playlist last week while at work, and they mostly hold up fine except for parts of Art Brut, Bloc Party and all of Kaiser Chiefs.