Air and Phoenix had kind of opposite trajectories. Moon Safari made a big splash but official follow-up 10,000 Hz Legend was considered a disappointing misstep, as I recall, and the reception to the rest of Air's output has generally been "oh sure, seems pleasant enough." Meanwhile, Phoenix's first few albums were well-liked within certain circles, but I think some rockist-oriented critics were confused by them -- if they paid attention to them at all. The band didn't really break through to a wide audience until Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix.
― jaymc, Monday, 11 March 2019 00:25 (five years ago) link