Have you ever been gagging for an album, can’t wait to get it in your hot little hands, and then been dumbfounded by it’s uselessness. I have three times this year alone. The new Conor, Outer South, Zim, Together Through Life, and Mandy Moore, Amanda Leigh were all major bummers. The Mandy Moore especially, following as it did the breakthrough Wild Hope, was a baffling disappointment.
This has happened to me all my life. Waiting patiently for the new Costello I ended up with el doggo del doggo Spike on my hand, Lennon’s follow up to Imagine? Fucking Mind Games. Public Enemy’s follow up to Fear Of A Black Planet? Apocalypse 91… The Enemy Strikes Black.
And don’t get me started on the sophormore syndrome (ok do? How many people have The Strokes sophomore effort Room On Fire on their best of the 00s? Do I hear NO ONE).
And not just rock. Elvis Crespo followed up Pintame with the godawful Wow! Flash and Ricky Martin followed his eponoymous first English language -you remember, the “Livin’ La Vida Loca” one with Sound Loaded -nope, nothing to remember on that one. And this isn’t a rarity. That lack of a decline is what makes the Beatles still considered a phenomena -and even they had Help and For Sale somewhere in there.
So what gives?
Here are a coupla possibilities.
A) the sophomore album. A band has a lifetime to write their first album, a year to write the follow up. Sometimes they have enough for two albums and they floundered on the third.
B) Expections are too high. Even Babe Ruth struck out sometimes. It might be a good album that only feels bad in comparison. As long as we’re talking Jethro Tull say Benefit compared to the earlier Stand Up or with the Only One’s, Baby’s Got A gun compared to the earlier Even Serpent’s Shine.
C) After a big hit the bands ego’s tripped em up and they thought they could do no wrong. Traffic’s Shoot At The Fantasy factory comes to mind.
D) They always blew but got lucky once. America, meet America.
And sometimes it’s just a natural dip in quality. After all, For Sale was followed by Rubber Soul.