Which band has the best discography?

Galaxie 500

not to be a stickler, but it's not about "NO mistakes," but about the smallest possible ratio of mistakes taking every single item of their discography into account.

A "Cut the Crap" or a "Squeeze" are huge marks on an overall record, while, like the few noticeably shitty Nirvana songs are smaller marks.

"Who has a PERFECT discography" would be another thread!

I think "Fewest mistakes relative to solid material" is different from "fewest mistakes relative to epically, transcendently good material."

An act could be mostly great with a few spectacular missteps, or mostly okay with a few minor duds.

Does Quasi or Sleater-Kinney have a pretty good ratio? Perhaps, but fewer mind-blowing out-of-this-world moments than, say, Prince + Revolution.

Co-sign Broadcast, but would add Blonde Redhead. Their discography is nigh-on perfect imo.

Blonde Redhead def one of the most underrated bands of all time

Kazu made an album last year called Adult Baby, pretty cool

I did not know that, thanks for the heads up!

I feel like Sabbath need to be in here somewhere.

I am a firm believer that the cultural attention span is about 2.5 to 3 years. It's very hard for an artist to make five strong releases because they've got to resonate through two cultural moments - say post-punk and early indie for Smiths and Husker Du, or art rock and new wave for Roxy. It's really hard to do it without missteps and failures. Those three acts have enough meh in their second-cycle to disqualify them for me.

There's some ways around this. Like Badu, who only strikes when she's ready.

Hesitantly positing XTC. I haven't heard everything that's out there by a long shot, but for a band with such a large discography I really do love almost all of it. Loads of great B sides and many interesting experiments.

Ok hear me out, it's possible that the rapper Despot has a flawless discography, having never released an album (while having an actual career). You can't lose if you don't play.

X-Ray Spex

― anatol_merklich, Wednesday, January 29, 2020 7:33 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

This was the first one album wonder I thought of until I remembered the second album they put out in the '90s that no one speaks of.

Can't get on board with Roxy. The run through Viva! is astonishing and flawless, but Manifesto was a disappointment, and I can't get into post-Paul Thompson Roxy at all.

Ngolo Cantwell (Chinaski) at 9:26 30 Jan 20

I feel like Sabbath need to be in here somewhere

no way! post Dio is spotty at best

Roxy's arc post-Siren gets glossier and gauzier with each album, presaging Ferry's solo career. I love all three to death. Sequentially it's kind of like listening to the second side of Remain in Light. xp

there are at least two dozen duds between the XTC albums, no admittance

I feel like Sabbath need to be in here somewhere

no way! post Dio is spotty at best

lol yeah 80s Sabbath is a very grim graveyard (and not in a good, metal way!)

Nelson to thread!

Kraftwerk

Sun Ra
John Coltrane
Cecil Taylor
Sam Rivers

I knew the Sabbath thing was inherently ridiculous but the first six records are so far out there they excuse pretty much anything that came after. Although, that basically makes it a 'bands who have a discography' so I'll get my coat.

no way! post Dio is spotty at best

― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Thursday, January 30, 2020 8:55 AM (thirty-seven minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

born again: somehow still underrated despite recent rehabilitation, one of my favorite sabbath records
seventh star: maybe the worst one for how much it doesn't feel like sabbath at all but still fun
the eternal idol: good record! sorta mishandled by the late introduction of tony allen, consensus suggests that the demos on the recent reissue are better than the actual album but both rule imo
headless cross: the tony allen-era masterpiece, simultaneously very cheesy and melodic and very dark and satanic, the kind of record that would've never left a late-'80s metalhead's boombox
tyr: almost as good as headless cross
dehumanizer: return of dio so everyone knows this record rocks

i actually haven't heard cross purposes, forbidden, or 13 (absence of ward made me feel so cynical toward it that i just couldn't do it) but i'll prob correct that soon

lmao please replace all "tony allen" references in that post with "tony martin," sabbath didn't suddenly get afrobeat

i'm very tired

Nelson to thread!

― Ngolo Cantwell (Chinaski), Thursday, January 30, 2020 10:29 AM (seven minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

Came to joke about how blind we were to have thus far ignored the magnificence of After the Rain, now stunned to discover that Matt and Gunnar have kept on rockin' over several decades and 10+ albums.

lol was v confused by the Tony Allen refs

xps

Blacker Sabbath

No Accommodation for Birmingham.

this thread is an embarrassment and you all should feel ashamed of yourselves

another version of ilx would've been horrified by thread's very premise, let alone the trite offerings within it

that version sucked balls

Another vote for Sade. Would go with Steely Dan if they never release the two modern albums after "Gaucho." I like them both for the most part but never play them.

Only one mention of Creedence/CCR thus far but their 7 records are all great to amazing, and when coupled with the fact they released 7 records in just under 4 years is even more a testament to their greatness.

their low points (some of the first record and most of Mardi Gras) are p low tho

I thought maybe Duke Ellington Plays Mary Poppins would qualify as one bad album in his discography, but damn if this isn't a pretty swinging "Chim Chim Cheree"

I think Underworld's catalogue is an embarrassment of riches, so long as you cut out those bad electrofunk records from the 80s

so long as you cut out

disqualified as per OP

I mean I think you can make an exception there since it was basically a different band whose direction was steered entirely by the label - I'm not really sure why they want back to the "Underworld" name (though thank god they didn't stick with "Lemon Interupt")

similarly if you wanted to name the Moody Blues I think it's okay to say that Go Now doesn't count

If you take in every single thing a band has recorded from start to finish – albums, B-sides, loosies

yea my argument is "it's clearly not the same band" but I can definitely extoll the virtues of Underneath the Radar which I still say had some fun singles on it

IMO this band has a perfect discography, if you exclude the records that are not so good.

I thought maybe Duke Ellington Plays Mary Poppins would qualify as one bad album in his discography, but damn if this isn't a pretty swinging "Chim Chim Cheree"

― Brad C., Thursday, January 30, 2020 4:34 PM (six minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

Yeah, even his weakest records, relatively speakin, in the Reprise years -- Ellington '65 and Ellington '66 -- have rich arrangements and great solos. It was physically impossible for them to phone it in.

I don't believe there's a single front-to-back bad Ellington album; there may be weak moments in some (The Second Sacred Concert has choir sections -- sung and spoken -- that are not easy to get through), but the weak moments never dominate.

Underneath the Radar is a good single, the rest of the album I would not care to hear again, also the next album.

how you guys feel about the Sinatra/Ellington album (which I have never listened to)

The only obvious to me contender that does not appear to have been mentioned is Saint Etienne, for reasons similar to Stereolab - lots of b-side and outtake comps that hold up, every era has its boosters and even the weakest effort (for me, Good Humor) is pretty great.

I feel like artists/groups that released less than say 5 albums don’t really count here.

xp I haven't heard that album, but the track list looks disappointing; there's only one Ellington original. Except for "Mood Indigo" (not on Francis A. & Edward K.) Sinatra doesn't seem to have recorded any of Duke's standards.

Fuck it, I'm campaigning for Depeche Mode and and Orbital

Both awesome groups that have released some pretty inessential material.

I think the following are all good suggestions:

Fela Kuti
Kraftwerk
Cocteau Twins
Sade
Stereolab
Autechre

deftones btw

saint etienne fits perfectly great suggestion

Man if you cut out their entire discography, Lividity's catalog is immaculate

I suggested three earlier, but the more I think about this, the more reggae (and jazz) artists spring to mind. If you made good reggae in the 70s and managed to not put anything about post-1985 (and there are good exceptions even to that) your discography is likely to be very strong. Someone mentioned record labels earlier, and if there's a bad Studio One release, I've never heard it