The best 3 albums by one band over a 3 year period?

[hearth_man]

How about this Jethro Tull run through the 1970s.

• 1971. Aqualung
• 1972. Thick as a Brick
• 1972. Living in the Past (half new material)
• 1973. A Passion Play
• 1974. War Child
• 1975. Minstrel in the Gallery
• 1976. Too Old to Rock n Roll; Too Young to Die
• 1977. Songs from the Wood
• 1978. Heavy Horses
• 1978. Bursting Out: Jethro Tull Live
• 1979. Storm watch

 

[ReevesRd]

Pink Floyd
The Dark Side of the Moon 1973 March
Wish You Were Here 1975 September
Animals 1977 January

Okay, it's a little beyond the three-year period.

 

[DrumBob]

Lots of contenders here, but I vote for Rubber Soul, Revolver and Sgt. Pepper's.

 

[shihan]

Although I don’t listen to much rock anymore, I gotta stick up for the Rolling Srones
1970 Get Your Ya-Ya’s out
1971 Sticky Fingers
1972 Exile on Main St.

 

[Brucebubs]

What about best 4 albums in a 3 year period?

1971 - The Yes Album
1971 - Fragile
1972 - Close To The Edge
1973 - Tales From Topographic Oceans

 

[Midnight Toker]

Overall, I'd say the 3 "best" albums in 3 years goes to not just the most critically acclaimed, or the biggest selling, or the most timeless (as in STILL selling to an ever growing multigenerational fan base) ....but a combination of all of the above. (especially the last one!)

That would be The Beatles.
Second would be Zep.
Pink Floyd runs a strong 3rd, but no one comes close to the longevity of the Beatles and Zep. The bulk of their most fervent fan base is comprised of the folks who were too young to have ever seen them live, much less ever stood in line out front of record stores on the day of release of any of their albums. In their first decade, their 3 albums were certified only 1x platinum, if even that, and several have since rocketed to 10-20x platinum! IMO, standing the test of time is by far the greatest accolade for any recorded music.

No other albums listed in this thread have sold more, especially a decade after initial release and beyond. Not even close. And for 3 albums in 3 years...in Zep's case, if you take their 1st, 2nd, and 4th albums, they are certified a combined 44x platinum in the US alone. For the Beatles, from Revolver to the White Album are certified 37x platinum...and the White Album counts twice for being a double album (otherwise they would be 22x Platinum) . In pure units sold, Zep's 3 even crushes those!

For me personally, the White Album is likely my least favorite from their entire discography. I actually consider it more like a couple solo albums backed by the rest of the Beatles. Lots of (IMO) throwaway material on there. Coming straight from the heart, I would put Rubber Soul, Revolver, and Sgt Pepper as my 3 for them.

 

[davidbeinct]

I’m surprised nobody has yet mentioned Dylan. Bringing it All Back Home (1965), Highway 61 Revisited (1965), and Blonde on Blonde (1966).
I think the three artists who really provided the blueprint for so much that came after in rock music were the Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, and Bob Dylan, and Dylan is the one who had the most impact on the other two.

 

[Westerly Wood]

I’m surprised nobody has yet mentioned Dylan. Bringing it All Back Home (1965), Highway 61 Revisited (1965), and Blonde on Blonde (1966).
I think the three artists who really provided the blueprint for so much that came after in rock music were the Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, and Bob Dylan, and Dylan is the one who had the most impact on the other two.

I think Sandy did up further. That indeed is a good one and besides Beatles, probably the winner

 

[fronobulax]

Shotgunning quick shots in response to several posts.

1973 was a good year for Frank Zappa with
Just Another Band from L.A, Waka Jawaka and The Grand Wazoo. You could certainly pick three better albums from FZ but this is just from one year.

Whether live albums should be considered is probably an interesting veer. It could be argued that for some bands their live recordings were superior to much of their studio endeavors. I'd start with the Grateful Dead, the Allman Brothers and maybe even Frank Zappa if I had to make my case. There is also the issue of what does live really mean. I want it to mean an un-doctored recording of a performance in front on an audience but as we research famous bands we hear stories about what we thought was a live album was really spliced from several different performance and mixed with an audience track.

Politics and popular music have been uneasy bedfellows for a very long time. It is certainly reasonable to respond to music because of its political stance but the presence or absence of such a stance does not make something better music. The musicians who composed in the 60's and 70's and expressed themselves in 'rock" wrote from their beliefs and experience. If we had a different demographic we might be saying the same thing about "punK" and if we were not so "USA-centric" we might be talking about "protest" music from the Middle East or Urkraine.

Given our demographics it is going to be hard to have a conversation about musical quality, quantity and influence without putting the Beatles and Led Zeppelin near the top. In some sense if we are making a "top five" list then we are filling out the other three spots knowing we will likely agree on the top five but not the order. I note that the same personality traits that led me to buy a Guild bass because everyone around me was playing Fender basses led me to music that my peers weren't listening to.

I also note that "album" no longer means what it did decades ago since artists have different ways to try and monetize their work today.

 

[davidbeinct]

I think Sandy did up further. That indeed is a good one and besides Beatles, probably the winner

Thanks for pointing that out I see it now. I didn’t look at the chart with my old eyes!

 

[Nuuska]

@twocorgis covered one of my favourite four already

Joni Mitchell ain't too bad either

• 1968 Song to a Seagull
• 1969 Clouds
• 1970 Ladies of the Canyon
• 1971 Blue
• 1972 For the Roses
• 1974 Court and Spark
• 1975 The Hissing of Summer Lawns
• 1976 Hejira
• 1977 Don Juan's Reckless Daughter
• 1979 Mingus
• 1982 Wild Things Run Fast
• 1985 Dog Eat Dog
• 1988 Chalk Mark in a Rain Storm
• 1991 Night Ride Home
• 1994 Turbulent Indigo
• 1998 Taming the Tiger
• 2000 Both Sides Now
• 2002 Travelogue
• 2007 Shine

Leo Kottke




Not forgetting The Moody Blues

 

[Wilmywood]

This.

walrus

Revolver, Sgt Pepper's, White Album

OR

Sgt Pepper's, White Album, Abbey Road

No contest, everyone else is fighting for third.

 

[gjmalcyon]

Although I don’t listen to much rock anymore, I gotta stick up for the Rolling Srones
1970 Get Your Ya-Ya’s out
1971 Sticky Fingers
1972 Exile on Main St.

The Rolling Stones studio albums during this period were all produced by Jimmy Miller, including:

Beggars Banquet (1968)
Let It Bleed (1969)
Sticky Fingers (1971)
Exile on Main St. (1972)
Goats Head Soup (1973)

An significant number of the great albums from that era were produced by him:

Category:Albums produced by Jimmy Miller - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[davidbeinct]

I love all those albums but the only one with zero filler is Revolver.

Revolver, Sgt Pepper's, White Album

OR

Sgt Pepper's, White Album, Abbey Road

No contest, everyone else is fighting for third.

 

[Westerly Wood]

I love all those albums but the only one with zero filler is Revolver.

Yellow Submarine would be filler to me.

 

[GGJaguar]

I love all those albums but the only one with zero filler is Revolver.

I find it funny that John and Paul felt "And Your Bird Can Sing" was a throw away song. It's one of my favorites! Throw away indeed.

 

[Neal]

The Rolling Stones studio albums during this period were all produced by Jimmy Miller, including:

Beggars Banquet (1968)
Let It Bleed (1969)
Sticky Fingers (1971)
Exile on Main St. (1972)
Goats Head Soup (1973)

An significant number of the great albums from that era were produced by him:

Category:Albums produced by Jimmy Miller - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Yeah, that's an epic list right there.

 

[spoox]

MY AIM IS TRUE
THIS YEAR'S MODEL
ARMED FORCES

SAFE AS MILK
STRICTLY PERSONAL
TROUT MASK REPLICA

FACE TO FACE
SOMETHING ELSE BY THE KINKS
THE KINKS ARE THE VILLAGE GREEN PRESERVATION SOCIETY

So how I think of this is I judge "3 best" albums by the fact that the artist(s) seem to be evolving as to style in succeeding albums while maintaining
qualities that were evident in the earlier works. Some artists seem to run out of ideas or steam after the first one and merely do rehashed copies of their earlier stuff.

 

[walrus]

Yellow Submarine would be filler to me.

Do you have young kids? Show them the movie! My kids loved it!

walrus

 

[gjmalcyon]

Do you have young kids? Show them the movie! My kids loved it!

walrus

I can remember showing my kids (probably ages 4 and 6 at the time) Yellow Submarine on VHS, and they were transfixed for the entire movie.

Sit-in-one-place-on-the-floor-and-don't-blink-so-you-don't-miss-anything transfixed.