Epic Wins
And now, to finish what I started, after mentioning yesterday the bands whose music declined the most from one album to the next, I’m going to suggest three bands whose music improved the most between just two releases.
3. DREAM THEATER
Lackluster Album: “Falling Into Infinity” (1997)
Fantastic Follow-up: “Metropolis Part 2: Scenes From a Memory” (1999)
What Happened: Everything. “Falling Into Infinity” was the product of a tired band. They’d been hassled by their label to make their sound more mainstream. The consequent poppification of the album, combined with the band’s frustration, made the music somewhat angrier and uninspired. Luckily, their label seemed to learn its lesson and gave Dream Theater unbridled creative power for their next release. In 1999, with a new keyboardist, more freedom, and more hopeful prospects for the future, the band came up with “Scenes From a Memory,” an album that I consider to be one of the greatest of all time.
2. THE CARS
Lackluster Album: “Shake It Up” (1981)
Fantastic Follow-up: “Heartbeat City” (1984)
What Happened: Disregarding fan opinion. 1980’s “Panorama” was frequently criticized for being too dark and moody. So a year later, The Cars presented their audience with “Shake It Up,” which was obviously more upbeat, both musically and lyrically. While not everything on “Shake It Up” was necessarily rainbows and daffodils, the more positive approach did not match their sound, and much of the album feels flat and forced, indicative of why it became easily the worst of their eventual six records. “Heartbeat City” was a return to legitimacy for The Cars. And not only did its forward-looking, synth-drenched sound feel like a more genuine musical representation of the band, but it also rocketed them to the peak of their popularity.
1. MUSE
Lackluster Album: “Showbiz” (1999)
Fantastic Follow-up: “Origin of Symmetry” (2001)
What Happened: They just got it together. “Showbiz” is full of plentiful trademark Muse sounds, but they only seem to appear briefly and separately. As a result, while having a few momentary instances of brilliance, “Showbiz” sounds like a dispassionate garage band that just happened to score a record deal due to an oversight in the A&R department. But two years later, Muse put all the good pieces of their previous work together and discovered that they actually had something there. While “Origin of Symmetry” may not be their best release, the disparity between “Showbiz” and “Origin of Symmetry” is so vast that, if they were played simultaneously, they might just open a portal to another dimension.
Tags: Dream Theater, Falling Into Infinity, Heartbeat City, Muse, music, new prog, new wave, Origin of Symmetry, progressive metal, rock music, Scenes From a Memory, Shake it Up, Showbiz, The Cars