I agree. Great topic. I think Springsteen’s Nebraska would have been a worthy pick, as it followed The River, which finally gave him the acclaim and following he richly deserved.
Also Sly Stone’s ‘There’s a riot going on’, Bruce Springsteen’s ‘Nebraska’, Prince’s ‘Rainbow Children’, Kanye West’s ‘Jesus is King. All quality left turns that eventually found, recovered and maintained audiences.
My vote would go to John Lennon Plastic Ono Band. After the breakup of the Beatles this album by John was a stunning shocker. The rawness of the music combined with Lennon bearing his soul lyrically and vocally came totally out of left field for most music fans. It remains a classic to this day.
Lou Reed bringing out the bleak and depressing Berlin, after what appeared to be his breakthrough with Transformer (and his collaboration with David Bowie), and his hit, 'Walk On The Wild Side'.
'Lotta other examples of Neil Young being brave in that sense. I think Springsteen releasing something like Tunnel Of Love after Born In the USA and then disbanding the E Street Band and releasing not one but TWO albums on the same day with the new band he had at the time could be a good example of that too. The Secret Life Of Plants is actually a soundtrack to the documentary of the same name, and I think Rumours is actually the sequel to the self-titled 1975 Fleetwood Mac album, but that's just me. Ha
Great video, tx. It is touching that you expected many artists to be capable of easily repeating their top albums, and that you believe that it was on purpose that they did not do a similar album.
Yes, 'Low' was a courageous step for Bowie. So were the three albums prior to it. It reminds me of what Radiohead did after the success of 'OK Computer'. They created 'Kid-A' which to my thinking is their masterpiece.
I wonder if that decision by John was possibly also about simply running dry artistically. Also, I am sure that John had the finance to be this brave. NOW, once again, The McCartney Legacy by Allan Kozinn and Adrian Sinclair. Where is the review, John?