Bands you think were better before they got big

[Paul S]

The Who spring to mind.  There was always something special about the Moon/ Entwistle pairing, at least to my ears.

[Rich]

Level 42.

[Stylon Pilson]

Queen have been a bit pants since their original singer and bass player left.

S.P.

[spongebob]

Manic Street Preachers - pre-1995, before Richey Edwards went missing. Totally different band, lyrically and musically. Can't abide what they became 1996-onward....sold millions more records, but lost all of what made them different and great.

Blue Oyster Cult - Tricky one....first 3 'black and white' albums are sublime, post-'Reaper'.....some great stuff, but never the real consistent heights they reached on albums 2 and 3.

All IMHO of course.....😀

[aguacollas]

Santana. First three albums, Santana, Abraxas, Santana III have a great latin rock energy. 

[AdrianP]

Steeleye Span. The first incarnation, which only produced one album and never even toured, was the absolute epitome of gently electrified folk music. But the MK II version had Martin Carthy in it didn't it? How could that be going downhill? Well if you listen to Hark! The Village Wait you can almost taste the tension between Tim Hart and Terry Woods. But the contrasting vocal styles of Maddy Prior and Gay Woods, and of course Ashley Hutchings tremendous, melodic bass playing, make for probably the best album of the late '60s folk revival.

[skankdelvar]

4 hours ago, Shaggy said:

I think original lineup of Dr Feelgood with Wilko fits the criteria, as they had more commercial success just after he left but most of what had made the band great had gone 

True dat. Gypie was a great guitarist in his own way but the Mk1 Feelgoods were a uniquely different band to everything that followed.

Likewise, I always preferred the Jimmie Vaughan / Keith Ferguson / Kim Wilson line-up of the Fab T-Birds. Gritty and direct.

[Brook_fan]

Seth Lakeman- released a couple of fantastic of folk albums, them got signed to Sony and disappeared up his own derrière.  To be fare, I think it was a case of Sony trying to turn Seth into the next Mumford and Sons.

Robbie

[yorks5stringer]

Mr Big?

[Reggaebass]

Ub40 were great in the 80s , not so good now .

[40hz]

Bloc Party. 

[Rich]

51 minutes ago, Brook_fan said:

Seth Lakeman- released a couple of fantastic of folk albums, them got signed to Sony and disappeared up his own derrière.  To be fare, I think it was a case of Sony trying to turn Seth into the next Mumford and Sons.

Robbie

Freedom Fields is one of my absolute favourite albums by anyone ever. Nothing he's done since has come near it, for me.

[Brook_fan]

36 minutes ago, Rich said:

Freedom Fields is one of my absolute favourite albums by anyone ever. Nothing he's done since has come near it, for me.

Yep, mine too. There are some truly fantastic songs on that album. And he’s from my neck of the woods too.  Kitty Jay was bloody fantastic as a debut album.

[T-Bay]

Therapy, amazing first (mini) albums Baby Teeth and pleasure death, first full album was stunner, then sign to a different label, go mainstream, drummer gets peed off at new direction and leaves and downhill from there. Glad I saw them five times while they were brilliant.

[Graham]

I do like the last three Opeth albums, but much prefer the old sound, basically, I wish Akerfeldt would go back to listening to Morbid Angel as much as he listens to Camel

[davepb24]

The Cult... Dreamtime is my all-time favourite album, Love was different but still a belter, Electric...well I played it twice and have never bought a record of theirs since

[Frank Blank]

1 hour ago, davepb24 said:

The Cult... Dreamtime is my all-time favourite album, Love was different but still a belter, Electric...well I played it twice and have never bought a record of theirs since

Ian Astbury was always a c*** (not Cult) in waiting, having said that Wild Flower and Lil’ Devil are good tracks imho, I think I’m right in saying that Rick Rubin made them play direct into their amps without effects on Electric and I find that pure sound is rather fresh and invigorating, however, Astbury becoming an LA rock god overnight was sickening. Fire Woman from their next album, Sonic Temple, is also a bit of a hard rock classic, however I’d throw all those tracks in the bin in order to listen to Ressurection Joe, so, essentially, I’m agreeing with you. I saw their first iteration Southern Death Cult and their second as Death Cult and they were already showing signs of the tossers they were to become. In summary, I agree.

Edited December 18, 2018 by Frank Blank

[Frank Blank]

11 hours ago, Barking Spiders said:

A recent re-run of a christmas edition of TOTP on BBC4  featured the Human League miming Don't You Want Me Baby. I've never really cared for the mark 2 line-up, mainly because of the cr@p vocals of the 2 girls. Definitely prefer the more experimental line-up of the original band.

Great call, those first two Human League albums, Reproduction and Travelogue are two of my favourite albums of all time, I totally agree, MK2 Human League? Pfffftttt.

[Frank Blank]

11 hours ago, Dad3353 said:

I saw Genesis at Eel Pie Island, Twickenham, playing mostly acoustic guitars, with (I think...) Phil Collins on drums. Well before it all 'took off'; they were excellent. I saw them several times, later, with the Gabriel theatrics 'n all, too; stunning stuff. Can't say for the post-Gabriel shows, but no regrets for having missed 'em.

Post-Gabriel Genesis, dreadful. The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway is my favourite prog album ever.

[Frank Blank]

10 hours ago, Shaggy said:

I think the OP meant only in terms of band line-up changes?   In which case if the The Skids were the mark 1 Big Country, I'd include them

I loved aThe Skids but despised Big Country and I’m always surprised that the latter are held in such high esteem, am I missing something?

Edited December 18, 2018 by Frank Blank

[chris_b]

I know several bands that went right down hill after I left.

[BigRedX]

41 minutes ago, Frank Blank said:

Great call, those first two Human League albums, Reproduction and Travelogue are two of my favourite albums of all time, I totally agree, MK2 Human League? Pfffftttt.

But there was a lot of nurturing and development to get from the earliest Human League recordings to Reproduction as anyone who has heard "A Golden Hour Of The Future" will attest. And it wasn't plain sailing all the way - "Dignity Of Labour" anyone? Plus their first official release on Virgin Records "I Don't Depend On You" under the pseudonym The Men wasn't a million miles away in sound and arrangement from Dare.

[chris_b]

38 minutes ago, chris_b said:

I know several bands that went right down hill after I left.

. . . or maybe they got better!!

[Deedee]

Arctic Monkeys anyone? Their debut album was full of humour and raw energy and since then they have seemed to be on the obligatory slide up their own behinds..

Fleetwood Mac - I love Peter Green’s FM and I also like some of the later stuff but tbh I look at the later version as a completely different band anyway.

Edited December 19, 2018 by Deedee

[upside downer]

Many will say Public Image Ltd never bettered their first two albums, `Public Image` and `Metal Box`, the latter is stunning. Maybe a slide down in quality since, although 1986s 'Album' is great, features Steve Vai and Ginger Baker. The revolving door of members started with various drummers on `Metal Box`. They've now had around 40 odd members. The current line-up are bloody fantastic live, mind you.