I'd say any band that manages to produce what you'd refer to as over 2 great albums are doing well.
However you could also take into consideration the length of time of an artist's career; for instance have the Stones released anything noteworthy since Some Girls in the late seventies? Beach boys since Surf's Up in '71?
So with this in mind =:
Neil Young has to be up their for me; his run from Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere through to Rust Never Sleeps is probably only surpassed by The Beatles. ( I think that's around 7 albums, so in terms of the numerical factor he's up there?)
Dylan - Freewheelin', Bringing It All Back Home, Highway 61 Revisited, Blonde On Blonde, Blood On The Tracks.
The Smiths - a perfect Discography bar the second half of Strangeways in my mind.
Electric Light Orchestra - Eldorado, Face The Music, A New World Rceord, Out The Blue, Discovery, Time, Secret Messages and Balance Of Power all fantastic in my mind.
Simon & Garfunkel - a total of 5 albums released - 4 I'd consider brilliant. (Excluding their debut, despite its highs.)
Brian Eno, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Steve Reich, Miles Davis, Tallest Man On Earth all come to mind as well.
The Stones definitely would've been placed higher if a huge chunk of their discography wasn't so mediocre. Still there's that other huge chunk of discography filled with all sorts of greatness so ... Such a great band.
I'm not a huge fan of classic prog per se, so would you please suggest a specific ELO album?
Brian Eno's early run is legendary. Don't know about most of the rest though Discreet Music is a masterpiece and Music For Airports has one of the most uniquely calm and eerie vibes ever.
I used to love The Queen is Dead and a few tracks from the debut and specially Hatful of Hollow (How Soon Is Now is an all-timer) way back in the 00's. Somewhere along the way I got deep into punk and started ignoring the Smith because I thought they're "soft" or something. Gotta listen to them again though. Does Meat Is Murder equal the other two for you ? I haven't heard that one but always been intrigued to know what it is.
About Miles, if this list wasn't limited to rock music, he would've topped everybody on here.
In terms of ELO, the vast majority of their early discography are very much prog, however from Eldorado onwards their material becomes far more mainstream and less prog - I'd start with the album Out The Blue which is seen as the definitive ELO release and an album which really captures their sound best. Albeit the album Time is second on my all time list; for me it's just as essential listening as anything by the big boy and girl artists. Face the Music, A New World Record and Secret Messages I also highly recommend.
Meat is Murder is my second favorite by The Smiths behind Hatful.
Happy listening, check out my chart and give me some recs man x _________________ ''Isn't He A Bit Like You and Me?''
As for top artists/musicians, maybe top 10, maybe top 20. I don't think they were the greatest artist ever, if such a thing can exist. And as to the bigger question, I think they rival The Doors in emotional/artistic expression, but don't have any crap albums like The Doors do. Conceptually they have room to grow, but neither are they just the "teenage angst" everyone who hasn't really listened to their music paints them as.
I think I'd love to hear more about The Velvet Underground. Are you counting Squeeze as part of their discography and if so, what's your take on it?
Nirvana music can be harrowingly emotional at times (Pennyroyal Tea, Come As You Are, School). The only other artist that comes to my mind that might rival their ultra-simplistic efficiency and effectiveness is Neutral Milk Hotel (Aeroplane and Ferris Wheel in particular).
I haven't heard Squeeze. I think it's irrelevant to their actual legacy. For me, aside from their 4 studio albums, what cements their #1 place is the wealth of absolutely amazing live recordings they've accidentally left behind, a lot of which has been officially released in the 21st century. Either with Cale (Live at Gymnasium, Sweet Sister Ray) or Yule (Matrix Tapes, Quine Tapes), these cleaned-up bootlegs hold their own besides the studio albums and some surpass them in terms of sound quality. While the Cale recordings are mostly lo-fi hardcore avant-garde improvisations (hit or miss, but the hits are unbelievable), the Yule recordings and specially The Matrix Tapes present the quintessential Velvet Underground experience. Basically every live rendition of a song sounds different from the other. Some songs are stretched out way past their original length, and that's usually where the magic lies. The 36-minute Sister Ray on Matrix alone is worth a classic 60's psychedelic album. The 9-minute What Goes On beats the original as well as nearly any other recording by them.
I've heard the Grateful Dead have legendary live recordings. I've heard and like Live/Dead. Does anybody know about their other great live albums?
Also, yes, many harrowing performances by Nirvana allow them to be considered much more than just a punk rock band. Another that immediately came to mind when you said that is this Lead Belly cover:
This was clearly started as a diary where Amirkhosro will write about the different bands on his list. Why did it get moved to the main board? _________________ Add me on RYM
If we're gonna excuse the Velvets for Squeeze (which I think we should), then maybe we can excuse The Clash for Cut The Crap. Therefore The Clash discography is right up there with the best of them.
I'd also say the following have damn near perfect discogs that should be considered:
Cocteau Twins, Spiritualized, Low, Portishead, Broadcast, Leonard Cohen, Wilco, Replacements, Afghan Whigs, Blur, Faith No More, Talking Heads, PJ Harvey _________________ http://jonnyleather.com
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