Connect 4

Following my list of unsurpassed debut albums, and my seminal tricky third albums, the final instalment of my list trilogy is the most prestigious.

In order to qualify, you need to release 4 consecutive superb studio albums. (Compilations and live albums have been ignored). Strict admission only, Oasis three great albums followed by “Standing on The Shoulder of Giants”, hence no admission.

So here’s my top 60 list of 4 sequential studio masterpieces:

60. Ramones






1976: Ramones,
1977: Leave Home, 1977: Rocket To Russia, 1978: Road To Ruin

59. The Clash






1977: The Clash,
1978: Give 'Em Enough Rope, 1979: London Calling, 1980: Sandinista!

58. Kaleidoscope






1967: Side Trips,
1968: Beacon From Mars, 1969: Incredible! Kaleidoscope, 1970: Bernice

57. The Black Keys






2003: Thickfreakness,
2004: Rubber Factory, 2006: Magic Potion, 2008: Attack and Release

56. Black Sabbath






1973: Sabbath Bloody Sabbath,
1975: Sabotage, 1976: Technical Ecstacy, 1978: Never Say Die

55. ABBA






1975: ABBA,
1976: Arrival, 1977: The Album, 1979: Voulez-Vous

54. Siouxsie and the Banshees






1978: The Scream,
1979: Join Hands, 1980: Kaleidoscope, 1981: Juju

53. Savoy Brown





1970: Looking In, 1971: Street Corner Talking, 1972: Hellbound Train, 1973: The Lion's Share

52. INXS






1985: Listen Like Theives,
1987: Kick, 1990: X, 1992: Welcome to Wherever You Are

51. Jefferson Airplane





1967: Surrealistic Pillow,
1967: After Bathing at Baxters, 1968: Crown of Creation, 1969: Volunteers

50. Leonard Cohen





1979: Recent Songs,
1984: Various Positions, 1988: I'm Yur Man, 1992: The Future

49. Paul Weller





1992: Paul Weller,
1993: Wild Wood, 1995: Stanley Road, 1997: Heavy Soul

48. Status Quo






1971: Dog Of Two Head, 1972: Pildriver, 1973: Hello, 1974: Quo


47. Yes






1971: The Ye
s Album, 1971: Fragile, 1972: Close To The Edge, 1973: Tales From Topographic Oceans

46. Mike Oldfield





1980: QE2, 1982: Five Miles Out, 1983: Crises, 1984: Discovery


45. Radiohead



1995: The Bends, 1997: OK Computer, 2000: Kid A, 2001: Amnesiac

44. Blondie





1976: Blondie, 1977: Plastic Letters, 1978: Parallel Line, 1979: Eat to the Beat


43. Kings Of Leon






2003: Youth and Young M
anhood, 2004: Aha Shake Heartbreak, 2007: Because the Times, 2008: Only By The Night

42. Eurythmics





1985: Be Yourself Tonight, 1986: Revenge, 1987: Savage, 1989: We Too Are One

41. Rush






1978: Hemispheres,
1980: Permanent Waves, 1981: Moving Pictures, 1982: Signals

40. Cat Stevens






1970: Mona Bone Jakon,
1970: Tea For The Tillerman, 1971: Teaser and the Firecat, 1972: Catch Bull at Four

39. Roxy Music






1973: For Your Pleasure,
1973: Stranded, 1974: Country Life, 1975: Sirens

38. Kate Bush






1978: Lionheart,
1980; Never For Ever, 1982: The Dreaming, 1985: The Hounds Of Love

37. The Cure






1979: Three Imaginary Boys,
1980: Seventeen Seconds, 1981: Faith, 1982: Pornography

36. Roy Harper






1971: Stormcock,
1973: Lifemask, 1974: Valentine, 1975: HQ


35. AC/DC






1975: T.N.T.,
1976: High Voltage, 1976: Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap, 1977: Let There Be Rock

34. Suede






1993: Suede,
1994: Dog Man Star, 1996: Coming Up, 1999: Head Music

33. Mike Oldfield






1973: Tubular Bells,
1974: Hergest Ridge, 1975: Ommadawn, 1978: Incantations

32. Queen






1975: A Night atthe Opera,
1976: A Day at the Races, 1977: News of the World, 1978: Jazz

31. The Police






1978: Outlandos d'Armour,
1979: Reggatta de Blanc, 1980: Zenyatta Mondatta, 1981: Ghost in the Machine

30. Iron Maiden






1980: Iron Maiden,
1981: Killers, 1982: The Number Of The Beast, 1983: Piece Of Mind

29. Neil Young






1970: After The Gold Rush,
1972: Harvest, 1974: On The Beach, 1975: Tonights The Night

28. The Beatles


1963: Please Please Me, 1963: With The Beatles, 1964: A Hard Days Night, 1964: Beatles For Sale

27. David Bowie






1977: Low,
1977: "Heroes", 1979: Lodger, 1980: Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps)

26. The Rolling Stones






1966: Aftermath,
1967: Between The Buttons, 1967: Flowers, 1967: Their Satanic Majesties Request

25. Simon And Garfunkel






1966: Sounds Of Silence,
1966: Parsley, Sage, Rosemary & Thyme, 1968: Bookends, 1970: Bridge Over Troubled Water

24. The White Stripes






2000: De Stijl,
2001: White Blood Cells, 2003: Elephant, 2005: Get Behind Me Satan

23. Leonard Cohen






1967: Son
gs Of Leonard Cohen, 1969: Songs From A Room, 1971: Songs Of Love and Hate, 1974: New Skin For The Old Ceremony

22. AC/DC






1978: Powerage, 1979: Highway To Hell, 1980: Back In Black, 1981: For Those About To Rock

21. The Stranglers






1977: Rattus Norvegicus,
1977: No More Heroes, 1978: Black and White, 1979: The Raven

20. Dire Straits







1978: Dire Straits,
1979: Communique, 1980: Making Movies, 1982: Love Over Gold

19. The Doors







1967: The Doors,
1967: Strange Days, 1968: Waiting For The Sun, 1969: The Soft Parade

18. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds






1997: The Boatman's Call,
2001: No More Shall We Part, 2003: Nocturama, 2005: Abattoir Blues / The Lyre Of Orpheus

17. Bob Dylan







1975: Blood On The Tracks,
1975: The Basement Tapes, 1976: Desire, 1978: Street Legal

16. Black Sabbath






1970: Black Sabbath,
1970: Paranoide, 1971: Master Of Reality, 1992: Black Sabbath Vol. 4

15. R.E.M.







1991: Out Of Time,
1992: Automatic For The People, 1994: Monster, 1996: New Adventures in Hi-Fi

14. U2:






1984: The Unforgettable Fire,
1987: The Joshua Tree, 1988: Rattle And Hum, 1991: Achtung Baby

13. David Bowie






1970: The Man Who Sold The World,
1971: Hunky Dory, 1972: The Rise And Fall Of Zigy Stardust & The Spiders from Mars, 1973: Aladdin Sane

12. The Who






1966: A Quick One,
1967: Sell Out, 1969: Tommy, 1971: Who's Next

11. Deep Purple







1970: In Rock, 1971: Fireball, 1972: Machine Head,
1973: Who Do You Think You Are

10. Roger Waters






1984: The Pro's and Cons of Hitch Hiking, 1987: Radio K.A.O.S, 1992: Amused To Death,
2005: Ça Ira

9. Bob Dylan






1964: Another Side Of Bob Dylan, 1965: Brining It All Back Home, 1965: Highway 61 Revisited,
1966: Blonde on Blonde

8. Genesis:






1971: Nursery Cryme, 1972: Foxtrot, 1973: Selling England By The Pound,
1974: The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway

7. Led Zeppelin:






1973: Houses Of The Holy, 1975: Physical Graffiti, 1976: Presence,
1979: In Through The Out Door

6. The Rolling Stones:







1968: Beggars Banquet, 1969: Let It Bleed, 1971: Sticky Fingers,
1972: Exile On Main Street

5. The Beatles:






1965: Help!, 1965: Rubber Soul, 1966: Revolver,
1967: Sgt. Peppers Lonley Hearts Club Band


4. Jethro Tull:






1969: Stand Up, 1970: Benefit, 1971: Aqualung, 1972: Thick As A Brick


3. The Beatles:






1968: The Beatles, 1969: Yellow Submarine, 1969: Abbey Road, 1970: Let It Be

2. Led Zeppelin:






1969: Led Zeppelin I,
1969: Led Zeppelin II, 1970: Led Zeppelin III, 1971: untitled

1. Pink Floyd:






1973:
Dark Side of the Moon, 1975: Wish You Were Here, 1977: Animals, 1979: The Wall



5 comments:

Hergest said...

Ooooh, tricky.

I think it's incorrect to list an artist twice - should take the best run of 4 consecutive albums only.

Obviously there's a bunch of items in your list that I don't agree with (never liked punk), but more importantly, I think there's a few you've missed:

The first 4 King Crimson albums:
In The Court Of The Crimson King, In The Wake Of Poseidon, Lizard, Islands.

The next 4 King Crimson studio albums ;-)
Lark's Tongues In Aspic,
Starless And Bible Black,
Red,
Discipline

Tori Amos:
Little Earthquakes, Under The Pink, Boys For Pele, From The Choirgirl Hotel.

Porcupine Tree
Tricky to pick though - The Sky Moves Sideways was special, but the last four albums perhaps just tip the scale:
Lightbulb Sun, In Absentia, Deadwing, Fear Of A Blank Planet.

Tangerine Dream:
Phaedra, Rubycon, Ricochet, Stratosfear

Camel
Camel, Mirage, Snow Goose, Moonmadness

The Alan Parsons Project:
Tales Of Mystery And Imagination
I Robot, Pyramid, Eve
(which is a real shame, because Turn Of A Friendly Card just misses out, and it's possibly my favourite album!).

Barclay James Harvest:
Everyone Is Everybody Else, Time Honoured Ghosts, Octoberon, Gone To Earth.

Focus:
In and Out of Focus, Moving Waves,
Focus III, Hamburger Concerto

Groundhogs:
Scratching The Surface, Blues Obituary, Thank Christ For The Bomb, Split.

Van Der Graaf Generator:
The Least We Can Do Is Wave To Each Other, H to He Who Am the Only One, Pawn Hearts, Godbluff

Crispian Jago said...

Yeah, I thought of a few more I should have added but stopped as the list was getting a little too long.

I'll concede, King Crimson, Porcupine Tree and Groundhogs should be on the list. Haven't got all of the other prog rock you listed so wasn't in a position to add them.

I defy anyone however to challenge my number 1 set of 4.

Hergest said...

I can't really complain too much about your top 10 items - although:

1. it's a pity that Yellow Submarine had to make a presence.

2. I like some Rolling Stones, but couldn't listen to 4 albums in a row.

3. I don't own a single Bob Dylan album.

4. As good as Amused To Death is, I wouldn't rate Roger Waters so highly, because the other albums aren't as good. Didn't get the whole Opera thing at all.

Jeffrey Ellis said...

Dude, this post must have taken FOREVER to put together. PROPS! (And Rush should have ranked higher! ;-)

Jeffrey Ellis said...

And agree with Hergest that PT definitely needed to be there -- Lightbulb Sun through FOABP.