Also in that Van run, add It's Too Late To Stop Now, one of the finer live albums ever.

Zappa. Period.

scoff if you will, but i wouldn't be the fan i was if i didn't say:

'65 Today +
'65 Summer Days =
'65 Party! (we all know this is a studio album) +
'66 Pet Sounds +
'67 Smiley Smile +
'67 Wild Honey +
'68 Friends + or =
'70 Sunflower +
'71 Surf's Up +

9 albums, ranging from great to legendary, and no bad studio albums in 6 years.[/u]

Yea, I only included his studio albums, but that one was 4-5 stars on amg.

At least 65-81.

Summer Days is a pretty bad record.

I've said it before, I'm not much impressed by most of Bowie's output. He's like the male version of Madonna, taking other people's good ideas and making them toothless enough to be palatable to the masses.

His wannabe-Lou Reed period is my favorite: Aladdin Sane is pretty great, and the majority of Hunky Dory is good, but Ziggy is saved from terminal wimp only by the muscle of the Spiders From Mars. The Man Who Sold The World is a first attempt at hard rock by someone who didn't yet understand it.

Everything before The Man Who Sold The World - Bowie's wannabe-Anthony Newley period - was middling at best (and some of it absolutely wretched and laughable).

After biding time with Pin-Ups, Bowie didn't quite know who he wanted to be, and the albums from that period show him desperately clutching at genres. With the exception of two or three tracks Diamond Dogs was ass. Young Americans is an embarassingly pale attempt at soul.

His wannabe-Eno period yielded more interesting material. Station to Station and Low at least displayed that Bowie was gravitating back to the comfort of his art school education rather than delving in to the rock and soul genres he clearly didn't understand.

Lodger and Scary Monsters are examples of an artist going through the motions, both severely lacking in energy. "Ashes To Ashes" is one of the most annoying songs of its era.

And everything after that - everything - bites the sack of every small furry animal you can name.

But how do you really feel?

dylan - 1962-1975
beatles - 1963-1970
miles - 1956-1969
stones - 1965 - 1978
kinks - 1964-1971
joni mitchell - 1968-1975
coltrane - 1960-1967
sinatra - 1951- 1965
xtc - 1978 - 1986
nick drake - 1968 - 1974
pj harvey - 1992- 2000
guided by voices - 1992-1997
uncle tupelo - 1989-1994
richard buckner - 1994-2004
joe henry - 1992-2003

Y'all can laugh but I think that Kiss had a pretty good run from 74-82.


Kiss (1974)
Hotter Than Hell (1974)
Dressed To Kill (1975)
Alive! (1975)
Destroyer (1976)
Rock And Roll Over (1976)
Love Gun (1977)
Alive II (1977)
The Solo Albums (1978)
Dynasty (1979)
Unmasked (1980)
The Elder (1981)
Killers (1982)
Creatures Of The Night (1982)

Yeah, it is. It's especially painful on the twofer I have with Today! (which is decent on its own). Sunflower also pales considerably next Surf's Up, and those are also on a disc together now.

I'm really gonna have to dig deeper into Ry Cooder and Van Morrison. I have and really like the beginning albums in each of their "winning streaks" posted on here.

Neil Young definitely had an excellent run from '69-'79 if you don't count Long May You Run (which I've never heard). American Stars and Bars is pretty underra, IMO.

Still, I think Bowie's might be the most impressive.

I'll try and think of some more when I get the time.

Just sticking to a 10 year more or less 70s run, it's basically a pick 'em between Bowie 71-80 and Young 70 -79. Another I'd throw in for full decade contender is Wailers/Marley. Wonder and Mitchell were as impressive as anybody but Joni was for the most part over by 74 and Stevie was concentrated between 72- 76. Of those who got going in the early 70s, they are definitely contenders for best half decade run along with Skynyrd and Steely Dan. Al Green can fall into either half decade or full decade categories I guess. He probably holds up better in the early 70s category but is still no slouch against the full decade titans.

OK, I'll take it in this direction...

1984-1994
Queensryche 'Warning'
Queensryche 'Rage for Order'
Queensryche 'Operation Mindcrime'
Queensryche 'Empire'
Queensryche 'Promised Land'

I meant to include Marley so thanks for bringing him up.

That 72-76 Stevie period is great, esp if you give him some credit for his role in Syreeta's great albums from the same period which he produced and played on. I've always assumed when people are talking about a ten year Stevie stretch they are going back into the 60's. I don't actually own any 60's Stevie so I can't personally weigh in on its merits.

I own about half of Joni Mitchell's catalog and have yet to come across anything that I don't think is really pretty good so I don't think I'd consider her over by '74. Probably only one or two of them really measure up to the best from Bowie or Young though if that's your point. If you want to stretch the period to 20-30 years, she'd probably be my favorite though because I don't think she really had any really weak albums.

GREG DULLI

Afghan Whigs 'Congregation'
Afghan Whigs 'Gentlemen'
Afghan Whigs 'Black Love'
Afghan Whigs '1965'
Twilight Singers 'Twilight...as Played By'
Twilight Singers 'Blackberry Belle'
Twilight Singers 'She Loves You"
Greg Dulli 'Amber Headlights'
Twilight Singers 'Powder Burns'

Even though Unmasked and Dynasty are some of my favorite KISS albums, they are really weak production-wise, and I hesitate to associate albums like "Peter Criss," "Paul Stanley" and even "Dressed to Kill" with the term "strong run". Plus, you omitted Lick It Up, which is probably Creatures' equal.

Nevertheless, great post

Yeah, i agree. I thought I was among the few who choose Unmasked and Dynasty as favourites.

Zep from '69 to '75

Led Zeppelin - I (1969)
Led Zeppelin - II (1969)
Led Zeppelin - III (1970)
Led Zeppelin - IV (1971)
Led Zeppelin - Houses of the Holy (1973)
Led Zeppelin - Physical Graffiti (1975)

And just because I'm me, the Doors from '67 to '71.

I think Joni peaked too early in the decade to be a contender for all-decade. If you got a candidate let me know, but I can't think of a late 70s LP to pull her up for that title. No Belle Album or Rust Never Sleeps. To both start and end the decade as gangbusters as Young did almost makes him look like a lock. So what about mid-decade? Oh, merely On The Beach and Tonight's The Night! Perhaps on music alone, he had one or two more very good albums than Bowie but then Bowie had the broader diversity of musical style. Young had multiple styles too but the differences were for the most part more subtle so it seems slightly less impressive. On the other hand, Bowie arguably had more help from Ronson, Eno, etc. than Neil did from Crazy Horse. But that's just regarding music. No one compares to Bowie if you attempt to factor in his incalcuable influence in terms of sexuality and style. He famously came out but had company when it came to traditional camp but, egad, NO ONE personified alienation like this guy. Outer space, futurism, it was all just alienation really. To drive his great theme home he even does The Man Who Fell To Earth playing an actual alien. So it makes sense he would become a hero to outsiders, the most alienated being teens, especially gay teens. Who else could spawn an entire subculture of glamourous Fashion (the New Romantics) and then invite some of the new breed aliens to appear in one of the most outrageous videos of all time (Ashes To Ashes)? Was that cool or what?