The Best Five Album Runs Ever

And I went for Genesis of course ;)

Thanks for asking us for nominations first Geir!

It seems a little text has been lost in the longer lines, so just want to add here that Marvin Gaye's run includes neither "Trouble Man" nor his duets album with Diana Ross". The other line that was cut was the Beatles one, but, yes, "Magical Mystery Tour" was left out as it was not an official UK release back then.

Thanks for asking us for nominations first Geir!

Nominations were done by the critics of the world throughout the last 5 decades.

The Byrds ("Turn! Turn! Turn!" through "Sweetheart Of The Rodeo")

Sorry Geir, but this is stupid.

Why no jazz? It's music too.

"Sweetheart Of The Rodeo" ranks higher at RYM than "Mr. Tambourine Man". What should have been left out was "Turn! Turn! Turn!" but it does come in-between, so nothing to do about that.

Classical is music too, Tuomas. Obviously, Mozart had some pretty good runs of works.

Mozart never released albums though.

What should have been left out was "Turn! Turn! Turn!" but it does come in-between, so nothing to do about that

Why? (To coin a phrase)

OK, I accept it by your criterion, but the first 5 albums are really "The Byrds", "Sweetheart" is something else

I mean, this poll is obviously about Western post-1900s popular music, and jazz is as much part of it as rock or soul.

It's either Beatles or Black Sabbath.

X-post Western post mid-60s popular music more like.

I mean, this poll is obviously about Western post-1900s popular music, and jazz is as much part of it as rock or soul. Geir

Fixed

Why no jazz? It's music too.

^ Asking for trouble

X-post Western post mid-60s popular music more like.

Okay, but even a mid-60s starting date would still include people like Miles or Herbie Hancock.

Not Miles Davis' most famous five album runs, no. His 70s "free jazz" albums are rarely included in canon lists.

And Herbie Hancock? I mean, I like Hancock, but he hasn't really had a cohesive run of as much as five albums in a row. At least not that have managed to cross over like "Head Hunters" and "Future Shock" did.

That's because he never recorded any "free jazz" albums in the 70s or in any other decade (xp)

Voted Outkast. Why is Geir talking about "free jazz" (must have the speech marks.)

"On The Corner" is free jazz.

No it isn't

Oh jeez...

xp

But you're the expert on absolutely everything, so I'll bow to your superior knowledge... of absolutely everything

To be fair to the G-man, John Litweiler did include Miles in his survey of free jazz, The Freedom Principle.

Black Sabbath

I don't see the Doors on that list. I will admit that their 2nd or 3rd one was pretty weak.
Lots of good choices though.
Voted for the Stones.

I was actually shocked to see Outkast as an option on a Geir poll!

Parliament ("Up For The Down Stroke" through "Funkentelechy Vs. The Placebo Syndrome")

Unfortunate that "Motor Booty Affair" could not be swapped for "Up For The Down Stroke"

And no jazz

fuuuuuuck

love that rule, right? gahhh so stupid

voted for Outkast solely because this is a Geir poll; I encourage others to vote for Missy for similar reasons

To be fair to REM the five-album run should start from Murmur

Geir actually did a really good job making this poll and if it was anyone else everyone would be saying so instead of giving him shit about it

some dude is totally OTM but this won't stop me from campaigning for folks to vote Missy

Great poll. I'm not even a serious Beatles fan and can't imagine how you couldn't vote Beatles on this

I encourage others to vote for Missy for similar reasons

ha, this is what i did

actually tho i probably feel that it's dylan

Yeah, I thought "whoa, this can't be Geir, it includes women and black people!"

So I'll vote for Missy simply to encourage him to diversify. ha!

(That said, had the New Order option included Movement instead of Republic, that would have got my vote, but as it is, no.)

Geir actually did a really good job making this poll and if it was anyone else everyone would be saying so instead of giving him shit about it

― hannibal colecterive (some dude), Tuesday, September 29, 2009 9:41 AM (8 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

jazz hater

(my real vote is Prince btw)

He's not getting any more shit than anyone else gets for polls that other people don't think are sufficiently rigorous - justified or not

I think if you write "no jazz" into your initial post but then give no explanation why no jazz, you're gonna get shit from people who think jazz is better than anything on the list except Prince.

don't you hate it when you've written a long blurb and you think it's been submitted then you realise 10 minutes later that it didn't go through because other messages had been submitted in the time it took to write yours?

anyhow, if we're going on quality and consistency in equal measure it's bob dylan (and obviously not the second run listed), zeppelin or black sabbath for me.

'help' is kind of a strange place to start the beatles run. and why not include 'magical mystery tour'?

Despite the glaring omission of Pavement, this is a nice, well thought out list.

It's so tempting to vote for the Stones on the strength of the greatest 4 album run in music history. But we're voting on 5.

Bruce has the most consistent 5 records. But he doesn't have anything as strong as London Calling. So it's The Clash.

Peng! through Emporer Tomato Ketchup would be my choice (could make a 6-album run if Switched On were included)

^^ yeah, that stones run is phenomenal. seeing 'their satanic majesties request' threw me right off though. it wouldn't have been much better bookended by 'goat's head soup' either.

I'm voting Roxy Music; as I mentioned during another of these "best run" polls, those five albums are, to me, pretty much perfect.

I know Geir's not much of a fan of earlier XTC, but "Go 2" through "Mummer" got a HUGE amount of play at my house. Swap "Little Creatures" for the Heads debut and I'd say the same for them. Honorable mentions for the first 5 by Sparks and Blondie.

I can't think of a more R&B-endebted white rock band than CCR

I voted for Zeppelin forgetting about Roxy and not reading the list carefully enough...i guess i'm happy to vouch for zep tho. i think roxy will get #2 or 3 spot tho what's number one beats me.

1. Killing Joke
2. What's THIS for....!
3. Revelations
4. Fire Dances
5. Night Time

Not a bad one in the bunch.

Trying to decide which 5 of the perfect 7+ album run Tangerine Dream had in the 70s... Anything Alpha Centauri thru Stratosfear is pretty untouchable. Cyclone is the only one that messes up an otherwise perfect TEN album run.

Cyclone has its fans on ILM

Oh I like it, but I know better than to argue its merits as a classic on par with the others. It's more like the soundtrack to the Hobbit.

I can't think of a more R&B-endebted white rock band than CCR

The Animals, for starters. And early Stones.

did everyone forget about the pixies? what the fuck man

if you count their ep, that's 5 amazing albums in 5 years

I had Pixies in the original options, but they were among the ones I chose to leave out to meet the 50 album limit, largely because I didn't consider "Come On Pilgrim" an album proper.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

I don't think people could have really understood the concept here...all FIVE have to be great. The Beatles' Help!? Oh please... No one loves Bowie more than me, but you just can't put Scary Monsters with the previous four records he made. Frustrating!

Check out some of the other best five-in-a-row...Radiohead, Missy Elliot? Wow, there goes the neighborhood, ILM

I have one burning question about this poll result and I guess the answer must be Around The World In A Day...

"don't blame me, I voted for Metallica"

^^ that is true, btw, and I don't even really like Metallica all that much -- but that run of albums strikes me as somehow really impressive, the way it keeps its momentum and quality (and fan base!) while slowly running up to a huge crossover point

Unknown Pleasures, Closer, Movement, Power Corruption and Lies, Low Life

good idea, best five album runs by two different bands combined

the answer to this question is quite clearly 'a little man, a house, and the whole world window' through 'guns' but then that band is rapidly becoming my answer to everything

would have voted yes or blur, had i voted. or radiohead. beatles d/q'd because choosing to omit magical mystery tour is basically a crime against god and man. things i need to hear more of: bowie, prince, basically everything here that got votes

iago g, permit me to rep for maudlin of the well/kayo dot in that particular poll

if you haven't heard bowie 1976-1979, you are in for a huge treat, "Man!!"

choosing to omit magical mystery tour is basically a crime against god and man.

Why? It was never intended as an album by the band itself back then. It was an EP, and the last five tracks were nowhere to be found.

all FIVE have to be great. The Beatles' Help!? Oh please...

this seems backwards

I meant that Help! shouldn't have been included, and neither should have (as Geir correctly did) MMT, so the run would have to be:
Rubber Soul
Revolver
SGPLHCB
White Album
Let It....d'oh!
No five album run for the Beatles, shocking but correct

poor Let It Be. Everybody hates it

Why not Help?

Or are you talking about the "soundtrack" version?

Genesis and Yes only got two votes each. 21 bands got more votes.
I can now proudly say I'm a part of an ILMinority

Help! is fine, for any other band a classic (just like Let It Be), but not as good as Rubber Soul through White Album...why did i used to think that Abbey Road came out before Let It Be even though recorded after? Now Rubber Soul through Abbey Road, w/out LIB, I can warm up to that

Abbey Road did come out before Let It BE

so this poll is sorta wrong in that its going by when things were recorded and not when they were released

"Help" is a great album. Not as great as the three that followed, but way better than "The Beatles". And, yes, great.

Btw. Other than Parliament and Missy, this is not very much unlike the results you'd get if you'd ask an average bunch of music geeks to vote.

(Well, apart from Bowie's first run getting no votes at all)

I was thinking about it and this run would have been my choice:

Sad Wings of Destiny (1976)
Sin After Sin (1977)
Stained Class (1978)
Killing Machine/Hell Bent for Leather (1978)
British Steel (1980)

GodWeenSatan The Oneness
The Pod
Pure Guava
Chocolate And Cheese
12 Golden Country Greats
The Mollusk

There's 6 in a row.

someone please lock this thread!

because ween was the best answer.. i agree, lock thread

white pepper makes it seven

that's true.

Surprised no Depeche love. Not me, but I thought you guys would...

The Depeche one may have been the second I would have voted for, after Genesis.

It's a competitive world.

The Best Five Year Run Ever

This approach makes it easier to include pre-LP era jazz. On this one, artists from the 80s on will have a harder time since their best albums are more spread out beyond five year periods. I thought this would be a logical place to let you add anything I might be missing before I post a new poll.

Louis Armstrong 25-29
Bessie Smith 25-29
Duke Ellington 27-31
Duke Ellington 38-42
Billie Holiday 38-42
Charlie Parker 44-48
Sarah Vaughan 46-50
Thelonious Monk 50-54
Tito Puente 52-56
Elvis Presley 54-58
Chuck Berry 55-59
Ray Charles 55-59
Miles Davis 55-59
Bo Diddley 55-59
Ornette Coleman 58-62
John Coltrane 58-62
Sun Ra 58-62
Charles Mingus 59-63
Sam Cooke 60-64
João Gilberto 60-64
The Beach Boys 63-67
John Coltrane 63-67
Etta James 63-67
Otis Redding 63-67
Sun Ra 63-67
James Brown 64-68
The Byrds 64-68
Bob Dylan 64-68
The Beatles 65-69
Miles Davis 65-69
The Who 65-69
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band 66-70
Jimi Hendrix 66-70
The Kinks 66-70
Aretha Franklin 67-71
Velvet Underground 67-71
Tim Buckley 68-72
Creedence Clearwater Revival 68-72
Gilberto Gil 68-72
Led Zeppelin 68-72
Van Morrison 68-72
Rolling Stones 68-72
Caetano Veloso 68-72
Tom Zé 68-72
James Brown 69-73
Funkadelic 69-73
Serge Gainsbourg 69-73
King Crimson 69-73
The Meters 69-73
Santana 69-73
Sly & The Family Stone 69-73
Rod Steward 69-73
The Stooges 69-73
Amon Duul II 70-74
David Bowie 70-74
Black Sabbath 70-74
Herbie Hancock 70-74
Fela Kuti 70-74
Curtis Mayfield 70-74
Randy Newman 70-74
Popol Vuh 70-74
Neil Young 70-74
Can 71-75
Marvin Gaye 71-75
Genesis 71-75
Al Green 71-75
Hawkwind 71-75
T. Rex 71-75
Van Der Graaf Generator 71-75
Joni Mitchell 72-76
Roxy Music 72-76
Steely Dan 72-76
Toots & The Maytals 72-76
Stevie Wonder 72-76
Yes 72-76
Horace Andy 73-77
Brian Eno 73-77
Bob Marley & The Wailers 73-77
John Martyn 73-77
Pink Floyd 73-77
Queen 73-77
Bruce Springsteen 73-77
Tom Zé 73-77
Funkadelic 74-78
Kraftwerk 74-78
Parliament 74-78
Lee Perry 74-78
UFO 74-78
Dennis Brown 75-79
Burning Spear 75-79
Gregory Isaacs 75-79
Fela Kuti 75-79
David Bowie 76-80
The Buzzcocks 76-80
Judas Priest 76-80
Pere Ubu 76-80
The Ramones 76-80
Thin Lizzy 76-80
AC/DC 77-81
The Clash 77-81
Elvis Costello 77-81
Peter Gabriel 77-81
The Jam 77-81
Motorhead 77-81
The Stranglers 77-81
Talking Heads 77-81
Wire 77-81
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band 78-82
Kate Bush 78-82
The Police 78-82
XTC 78-82
Bauhaus 79-83
The Birthday Party 79-83
The Cure 79-83
Gary Numan 79-83
Prince 79-83
The Raincoats 79-83
King Sunny Ade 80-84
The Comsat Angels 80-84
Echo & The Bunnymen 80-84
Iron Maiden 80-84
Orchestra Manoevres In The Dark 80-84
The Psychedelic Furs 80-84
Rush 80-84
U2 80-84
X 80-84
The Fall 81-85
The Minutemen 81-85
Husker Du 82-86
New Order 82-86
R.E.M. 83-87
The Replacements 83-87
Tom Waits 83-87
Metallica 84-88
Prince 84-88
Run-DMC 84-88
Sonic Youth 84-88
The Cure 85-89
The Pogues 85-89
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds 86-90
The Feelies 86-90
Pet Shop Boys 86-90
The Pixies 87-91
Public Enemy 87-91
Fugazi 89-93
The Jesus Lizard 90-94
The Royal Trux 90-94
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan 92-96
PJ Harvey 92-96
Pavement 92-96
Ween 92-96
Bjork 93-97
Stereolab 93-97
The Flaming Lips 95-99
Radiohead 95-99
The Royal Trux 95-99
Outkast 96-00
Sleater-Kinney 96-00
Yo La Tengo 96-00
Amon Tobin 97-01
Ween 97-01
Queens Of The Stone Age 98-02
Wilco 98-02
The White Stripes 99-03
Animal Collective 00-04
Radiohead 00-04
Missy Elliott 01-05
Opeth 01-05
TV On The Radio 04-08
Animal Collective 05-09
Mastodon 05-09

Adam Ant 79-83

You can only have 50 options in a poll, so you can't poll all those.

The Clientele deserve some consideration:

• Suburban Light
• The Violet Hour
• Strange Geometry
• God Save The Clientele
• Bonfires on the Heath

I'd shift that Funkadelic/Parliament around a bit, noting that they're going to split votes, and that they're all the work of George Clinton—plus, you're leaving out Maggot Brain, Osmium, etc., which are some of the best stuff he did.

Also, y'know, Jazz didn't end in the '70s. You might also include Weather Report, Anthony Braxton, even some of the Marsalis stuff (which is pretty good despite being reactionary). Other folks I'd think deserve to be in there would include Slayer, Boredoms, Acid Mothers Temple, Terry Riley, Steve Reich, Stockhausen, Varese, James Tenney…

I don't get the love for the Parliament. I'll agree with Marauder that the best work of Clinton is in the Funkadelic realm.

eno:
- here come the warm jets
- taking tiger mountain
- discreet music
- another green world
- before and after science

the cure:
- three imaginary boys
- seventeen seconds
- faith
- pornography
- the top

beat the shit out of most contenders. both should have finished above parliament. what is this thing about acclaimed music? is that a website or what? an extremely dubious poll if you ask me.

Also, y'know, Jazz didn't end in the '70s. You might also include Weather Report, Anthony Braxton, even some of the Marsalis stuff (which is pretty good despite being reactionary). Other folks I'd think deserve to be in there would include Slayer, Boredoms, Acid Mothers Temple, Terry Riley, Steve Reich, Stockhausen, Varese, James Tenney…

All good suggestions. I'd have added McLaughlin's solo stuff, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Return To Forever and other stuff too. But this limit of 50 options puts an end to that.

Wow, 170+ options. I didn't realize it was that long. I could break it up into 4 polls but, ugh.

Greatest Five Year Runs, Part I
Greatest Five Year Runs, Part II
Greatest Five Year Runs, Part III

Maybe will do a 4th one with nominations later.