Which band has the best discography?

The Smiths must be a contender for this trophy. There is hardly a crap song in their catalogue and so many jewels. There is def. more consistency than in The Beatles discography. The Smiths did not make an Ob-la-di-ob-la-da.

early Autechre has not aged well imo

Codeine
Bark Psychosis
Talk Talk

Roxy Music

Yeah, Talk Talk and Roxy Music are both to be considered.

early Autechre has not aged well imo

― The Mandymoorian (Whiney G. Weingarten), Tuesday, January 28, 2020 3:10 PM (three minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

how early we talking? incunabula is their weakest record but "bike" still goes. after that everything is golden

early Ae still sounds pretty good to me, I think the two that sound the most dated are Tri Rep (too crunchy & dry) and LP5, which is a bit over-the-top in that late 90's Aphex way that wasn't really followed up on. but I still think they've held up better than any other 90s IDM records outside of maybe Music Has the Rights to Children

i've been listening to trip rep a lot lately and idk it still sounds like the future to me

early Autechre has not aged well imo

I agree to a certain extent. Though their debut remains one of my favs from that era. Amber is actually my least favorite Ae album at this stage, but even that has some outright classics like Glitch, Yulquen and Teartear. However, Tri-Rep and Chiastic still hold up for me. Everything afterwards, once they really got into FM synthesis, has a very modern sound to it that absolutely still holds up to my ears.

Their 90's peak between 95-98 honestly could use some remastering/remixing. A lot of it sounds somewhat flat by today's standards. Would love to hear how it sounds with some restorative polish. Worked well for Kraftwerk

how early we talking? incunabula is their weakest record but "bike" still goes. after that everything is golden

This is why I love these guys. So many differing opinions on their records...

Yes, Broadcast, I was trying to make a sampler of their earlier stuff and gave up after realising I couldn't leave off anything from their compilation of early singles/EPs

i love the place amber takes me to specifically but i can also understand why someone would think that’s their weakest

take out the early stuff and you still have 2.5 decades of quality, and all of the side eps are events unto themselves

The fact that there's no consensus bad record from them says a lot.

Autechre's early stuff is their best, when they were still making techno. It's been downhill ever since.

^^^ see they even inspire the wrongest tuomas opinion possible, they win

Fugazi, Drive By Truckers, Smiths... I can get behind Autechre, Roxy, CCR ...

Fela's catalogue is extremely consistent; to a fault, some might say, but there's very few I'd warn people away from

A related question is the best band with exactly one album (or, for that matter, exactly one single).

A band that released exactly one undeniably perfect song, and then immediately broke up, could potentially win this category.

A True White Kid that can Jump (Granny Dainger) at 3:13 28 Jan 20

is there a bad Duke Ellington record?

there's probably a ton of old jazz artists who never made an out and out bad record

Uncle Tupelo

A band that released exactly one undeniably perfect song, and then immediately broke up, could potentially win this category.

― Okay, you're an ambulance (Ye Mad Puffin), Tuesday, January 28, 2020 3:23 PM (one minute ago) bookmarkflaglink

surely M|A|R|R|S gets posted by now every time one of these threads is done

― don't care didn't ask still clappin (sic), Tuesday, January 28, 2020 2:23 PM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

anyway I think my answer for this has to be Susumu Hirasawa, who from 1979 until now has put out about 30 "main" albums (including P-Model obviously), of which only maybe 2 or 3 are less than "very good". on top of that there's a ton of supplemental material worth checking out, not to mention the soundtrack work. of course there are a lot of artists who are very consistently good but Hirasawa is particularly interesting because like Autechre his music is constantly progressing, going from being part of a scene to something that's essentially peerless, and like Ae you're not really sure where the 'peak' is, you could argue for it being pretty much anywhere

if one-off all-star records count I would take "All in the Same Gang" over MARRS any day of the week

The Blue Nile have to be worth mentioning (for a change). Holy Love is probably the only weak song they put out.

Roxy Music

― ymo sumac (NickB)

Slightly let down by Flesh & Blood IMO

Is there a thread for "only released one single and nothing else"? There would be some good post-punk and dance acts in that thread.

surely M|A|R|R|S gets posted by now every time one of these threads is done

― don't care didn't ask still clappin (sic), Tuesday, January 28, 2020 2:23 PM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

Nobody remembers "Anitina (The First Time I See She Dance)"

bands that put out only one great album:

the Vaselines
Althea and Donna

A band that released exactly one undeniably perfect song, and then immediately broke up, could potentially win this category.

see also: The Normal

bands that put out only one great album:

the Vaselines
Althea and Donna

― Οὖτις

Young Marble Giants

Also Sky Ferreira.. there's never going to be a second album is there.

Nobody remembers "Anitina (The First Time I See She Dance)"

M|A|R|R|S are so perfect for this that they split up before recording, and different people did the A and B sides

Incunabula, Anti and Amber sound almost like a different group compared to more abstract sound that came later on. Those early Autechre records had bass lines and pads etc like you would think a techno or idm track to have. Later on, it's WTF is that? pretty much became their sound. To be fair, the last one I got was Confield, but I got most of their early cds including eps.

xp Best band that never really existed but seem to have released a brilliant single anyway

The Smiths did not make an Ob-la-di-ob-la-da.

Girlfriend in a Coma, Golden Lights, Meat Is Murder, Never Had No-One Ever, Work Is a Four Letter Word...all less fun than Ob-La-Di, imo.

The Birthday Party's discography is really solid. Only thing that might be considered missing is a top notch sounding live record.

Low

Uh, "Anitina (The First Time I See She Dance)" is amazing.

Came here to post Roxy Music and see it's been done twice. Yeah, their quality control (and progression between albums) still amazes me.

"you know my name, look up the number" isn't that bad, gtfo with that

It's honestly among my favorite Beatles songs.

A band that released exactly one undeniably perfect song, and then immediately broke up, could potentially win this category.

― Okay, you're an ambulance (Ye Mad Puffin), Tuesday, January 28, 2020 3:23 PM (one minute ago) bookmarkflaglink

surely M|A|R|R|S gets posted by now every time one of these threads is done

― don't care didn't ask still clappin (sic), Tuesday, January 28, 2020 2:23 PM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

Ooh, Low ...

xp. there is a doug groover track on here https://www.discogs.com/Various-Best-Of-Home-Tapes/release/4752119

Young Marble Giants is a good call since all their non-album stuff is ace

Tom Waits never really faltered imo (assuming you can get behind the early stuff, which I very much can)

Al Green and Pet Shop Boys, obviously. How is this even a question?

deffo second pet shop boys and third young marble giants

Bardo Pond

Motorpsycho have kicked out something great pretty much every year or two since 1992. only their debut album is 'less than good'.

I def think "reliable" bands in the AC/DC/Motorhead/Ramones tradition are their own separate argument

PSB are always worth checking in on to see where their ideas are at this year, but are hardly consistent across 35+ years (although if you stick to B-sides...)

PSB for sure. I think of anything of theirs that is less than good as kind of bonus music, like side three of Sandinista.