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Some of the songs on Lungs are REALLY great live at Big Black's peak, so the greatness is definetly there... Maybe expecting to hear Big Black epicness and getting the pitiful whine of Lungs makes the leap seems additionally insurmountable. In any case, those recordings make me cringe.
And pookie's totally right... the list of bands that went from good to bad is the same as the ones on the list of bands who fall into the category of "I liked their first album, but their later stuff is meh.", and that's applicable to MOST bands with multiple albums, because they stuff the first LP with the tried-and-true singles that made them well-known enough to get a record deal. Having to work for deadlines and meet the demands of record companies is enough to stunt the creativity of even the best bands after they're been squeezed for enough albums. Unless you're The Fall or Ty Segall and can pump out three albums a year just from scraping together the singles that accumulate every week. Or you're Sonic Youth and can tweak your style or rely on a formula with enough dexterity to keep albums good for decades.
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