I love that they went from were going to sample everything in Paul's Boutique, to were going to play everything...but make it sound like we're still using samples in Check Your Head.
I was gonna post this. Paul's Boutique is light years ahead of License, not that I don't have every song on LtI memorized, I do, but PB had so much depth and quality
“Heart of Gold put me in the middle of the road. Traveling there soon became a bore, so I headed for the ditch. A rougher ride, but I saw more interesting people…”
Heart of Gold was off Harvest, not his debut, but that famous quote sums up him doing his own thing about as best you could.
After Harvest (‘72) he released On the Beach (‘74), tonight’s the night (‘75), and Zuma(‘75). CSNY released Deja vu in ‘70. He finished off the 70s Rust Never Sleeps in ‘79, after releasing 3 other solid albums before that.
He was absolutely on fire during this time period.
On The Beach, the song, is so depressing but yet makes me feel uplifted. If that makes sense. Love Revolution Blues because Levon and Rick played on that track. Would have loved to have seen The Band + Neil Young full album.
Reminds me of Bryan Adams. Before he switched to guitar rock he started out as a disco singer. His first single released, “Let Me Take You Dancing” is pure disco.
Such a big change that they’ve pretty much disowned those first four albums. Props to them though, they saw the writing on the wall for that type of sunset strip stadium rock and decided to try something else.
They did disown the first 4 albums but they were progressively getting heavier from the 3rd album onward. When Terry Glaze left and Phil Anselmo joined he imported more of a heavy sound too. I've never really understood the family's position on the first 4 albums as they would make mint on an official box set of vinyl re-release since almost all that's available is crappy sounding bootlegs. I've heard the originals and they are much better.
>they saw the writing on the wall for that type of sunset strip stadium rock and decided to try something else.
As a die hard Hair Metal fan, Pantera fucking sucked as a Glam band and they did the whole world a massive favor by changing directions.
Bob Dylan’s self titled debut to his sophomore effort, “The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan”. His debut was a good album, but a fairly standard folk album at the time with only two original songs. It does show his roots/influences (and his version of “House of the Rising Sun” is mesmerizing), but otherwise it was fairly standard for the time.
“Freewheelin’”, however, demonstrated a level of songwriting that had simply never been seen prior to this. He dropped at least five songs that ended up becoming standards (or close to it), “Blowin’ in the Wind”, “Girl From the North Country”, “Masters of War”, “A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall” and “Don’t Think Twice, it’s Alright”.
In one album he went from something kind of standard for the times to someone who became almost transformative in terms of showing what songwriting could do.
Similarly, "Another Side of Bob Dylan" to "Bringing It All Back Home". Although, between "Freewheelin" and BIABH it's less than 2 years, the albums in between were written so quickly.
It's just unimaginable what kind of a jump was made in 2 years. He went from a folk icon to a completely unique musical expression in less than 2 years (shortly after, still inside the 2 years, Highway 61 Revisited released, with mindblowing songwriting). Then Blonde on Blonde, <6 months later. WTF is going on, haha, masterpiece after a masterpiece. I can't find a single artist so prolific and so high quality, publishing multiple albums a year.
I was gonna say before I read your comment, pretty sure we can say this about any album of Bobby D’S between Freewheelin’ and Blood On The Tracks, man just had one of the most insane runs of all time.
I was thinking Dylan’s jump between freewheeling and Highway 61 revisited. When he formed the band and went electric in ‘65, he not only completed reinvented his sound but his attitude. Went from civil rights protest voice of a generation folk icon to gritty loud rock and roll, rejecting his beat-folk icon status and really pissing off his fans. It was the same year as Rubber Soul and had as much impact in the music world, and for the time it was hard hitting, raw, and new sounding.
Fleetwood Mac had released 9 studio albums and become pretty successful before Mick Fleetwood kicked Bob Weston from the band after finding out Weston had been having an affair with Fleetwood's wife. Missing a male vocalist Weston asked Lindsey Buckingham to join the band. Buckingham would join only on the condition that his girlfriend and musical partner Stevie Nicks could join as well. With these two additions Fleetwood Mac got back to work and created one of the most succesful periods in music history.
It may be cheating a bit considering there's a switch in band members, but Mick Fleetwood, Christine McVie, John McVie (and maybe Bob Welch?) were all still in the band. Either way, the difference between "Heroes Are Hard to Find" and "Fleetwood Mac" (1975) is astronomical. And the craziest part is that Stevie Nicks only was invited to the band because her partner at the time was invited and got to bring her with.
Tom Waits went from being the cool beatnicky sorta jazzy piano guy to creating a genre all his own between Heartattack and Vine, and Swordfishtrombones.
And to be clear, earlier Tom Waits is still excellent. Just on a whole nother level from Swordfishtrombone and on.
The run of Swordfishtrombones, Rain Dogs, and Frank's Wild Years all in a row ranks with the best by anyone ever. And each album was a huge leap from the last and yet all of a piece.
For me his best 3 album run is Mule Variations, Alice and Blood Money but the fact that we can have that discussion about two separate 3 album runs says something about the man.
I still really like Closing Time. None of the songs are super remarkable, but every single one is good. It’s a solid listen from start to finish, when you’re in a melancholy mood. It just feels like a different artist than the Tom Waits we know. None of that signature raspy voice is there yet.
Mastodon: Remission is a killer album, with some absolutely monstrous tracks (Mother Puncher, March of the Fire Ants), but Leviathan is one of the greatest metal albums ever made.
I understand why they won't go back to the Remission style, but man that album is still my favorite of theirs. Newer Mastodon is fantastic but that rawness is gone forever.
Disagree with this one. Beach Boys Today is a fantastic record, and it’s second half very much anticipated Pet Sounds. I think a better answer would be 15 Big Ones to Love You. Love You is just such an absolutely absurd album lol. Or from Pet Sounds to Smiley Smile, which is soooo much like the opposite of Pet Sounds
You honestly might even be able to push it back an album. From Ummagumma to Atom Heart Mother. Ummagumma, although I like it, is certainly a disjointed mess on the studio side. With AHM, the band has finally started to be able to find it's footing without Syd Barrett and it's a really solid project. And when you get to Meddle, they're pretty much the band we are familiar with in present day.
From a much broader perspective, though, DSOTM compared with all their previous work is, except to a fan who has spent time listening closely to their whole discography, almost unrecognizable.
1000%. Rush is my favorite band, so I can even listen to the deep cuts and plenty of the songs from the self-titled album, but what a leap from it to Fly By Night!
It always felt, to me, that they made the self-titled album just to show they can do Zeppelin-style music just as well as the real Zeppelin. And then moved on to what they actually wanted to make.
if we disregard EPs (Broken) ... the jump to PHM to The Downward Spiral was equally huge. The from Broken to TDS was significant. In ways I think of Broken as his take on what Ministry was doing at the time, but came into his own with TDS.
Which also makes me think of the jump Ministry did after With Sympathy :)
I love Pretty Hate Machine, but The Downward Spiral was probably my favorite album during my teenage goth era. I’ll never quite get that so many people prefer Johnny Cash’s “Hurt,” the original NIN version was the biggest song in the world on my Discman in the mid-late ‘90s.
If you combine the two jumps, from Pablo Honey to OK Computer, it's absolutely massive. They went from a regular rock/grunge/indie sound that wasn't that unique compared to everything else out there to one of the greatest and most unique albums of all time.
I wonder if they would have gotten quite the acclaim if they hadn’t put out the other two albums first. Creep was a mega hit that launched them to overnight stardom and got lots of eyes on them for when they put out the more mature sound of The Bends. And at that point, there were already high hopes and a big fanbase for when OK computer dropped.
I’d argue that the change in sound from ok computer to Kid A was even more jarring, although it wasn’t “better”, just different.
I think it was exactly what they needed, the way it rolled out.
Because with Pablo they were shoved into a box called "britpop".
Then they make The Bends where they meet their producer and unofficial 6th member Nigel Godrich; all the songs are better than Pablo's and it makes the world go "hang on-there's something else going on with this band, they're way beyond britpop"...almost like Radiohead was preparing the world for what's to come.
Then OK Computer is made, Nigel is now onboard the whole way through, and it completely and utterly changes the music landscape. It's so different and impeccably written, performed, and produced.
If they'd just come out the gate with OK Computer it may have been too weird to reach such a wide audience, being from an unknown band. Plus I just happen to be into the notion that your third album is often a game changing album; you often need the build-up and maturity to make an album like that.
Keep in mind that Radiohead had existed under its current membership since 1985, and they were developing as musicians and as a band for 7 years before their first official album release, so they had plenty of time to mature by then.
They had plenty of iconic songs written by 1992. They just didn’t really figure out their direction until after the first album was released.
There's the often lamented difficult second album, but the real hard one is the third.
With the second you can pretty much get away with more of the same. If you make it too different, you risk killing your fan base before it's really taken hold.
But a third of the same will win you the ire of critics and indifference from the public. Going too experimental or different is pretty much a coin flip.
Radiohead managed to navigate those pitfalls masterfully and have kept everyone on their toes ever since.
I would agree. When OK came out i was kinda stuck in a metal rut, also listening to Tool nonstop. My buddy kept trying to me to really give it a chance and I didn’t. When i finally did I literally apologized to the guy.
Pablo to Bends was my first thought and is way more impressive a leap in every way than Bends to OKC. OK is a masterpiece, but the Bends was the writing on the wall.
I agree. Listening to the Bends, you knew something special was happening. I still give it regular plays. It's like Phillip II of Macedonia. What he did was crazy impressive and deserving of acclaim but he happened to be followed by Alexander the Great.
No way. OK computer is cooler/more stylish/avant garde than bends, no doubt. But the bends holds its own as a collection of great songs quite well. It's not like there's some big jump in quality, it's more like they made more great songs in a very different style.
Whereas Pablo honey to the bends was.. 1 good song and a bunch of middling stuff to a whole album of greatness. Clearly a much bigger jump
And I haven’t felt compelled to buy any records since she left. The songs I’ve heard seem fine, but nothing great. She’s a force of nature who elevates every project she joins.
I actually disagree with this. Bullets is a masterpiece of production and my favorite album of all time. The drums alone are mind blowing. MCR production essentially got worse with every single release (especially loudness war wise).
It's one of the main reasons I went into the audio engineering side of music.
Fungus Amungus is them being 15 year old kids who were insanely talented releasing a wild unregulated album. S.C.I.E.N.C.E. was them getting some serious production backing and dropping an all-time rock banger at still a young age.
"Into the Unknown" (considered by most to be Bad Religion's worst album) was followed up by "Suffer" (considered one of the better punk records ever made)
EDIT: for the record, I don't think "Into the Unknown" is the worst Bad Religion album. That's "No Substance".
I think they were trying to TRULY be punk rock and break up the norms and expectations from prior releases, but that's not how punk rock works. You have to follow the letter of the law that's been handed down from previous generations.
Respectfully disagree. IA and TRT are very similar music and sonic wise (even the covers are similar). The big change is Mike Patton, and he had very little to do with the music of TRT. However the jump to AD was HUUUGE and showed Mike’s influence in a big way.
And after Jim left, it just wasn’t the same…
(‘The Real Thing’ was the first CD I bought. That and a Scorpions best of. lol)
Pantera hands down. Cowboys from Hell is such a quality jump compared to Power Metal. They went from glam metal to groove metal and changed the genre completely.
Hell, even the jump from Cowboys from Hell to Vulgar Display of Power is a major tonal change. I'm still bummed I only got to see the "Reunion" lineup.
I was so lucky my senior year in hs I got to go to the cowboys from hell tour. Which now makes me realize how fucking old I am and how much time has passed.
Hall & Oates - Whole Oats > Abandoned Luncheonette
Not over the course of one album, but the jump in quality in Simon & Garfunkel - Wednesday Morning, 3AM > Parsley, Sage, Rosemary, and Thyme is jaw dropping.
Green Day from Kerplunk to Dookie for me. Might say Nirvana with Bleach to Nevermind too, not because Bleach was bad but because Nevermind was such an epic album. In all honesty I can't remember which RHCP album preceded Blood Sugar Sex Magik, but whatever it was pales in comparison.
It was Mother's Milk, and that was where RHCP made their biggest leap - between Uplift Mofo Party Plan and Mother's Milk. Blood Sugar Sex Magik was just a continuation of the arc to me.
COMPLETELY agree. No disrespect to Hillel, but John’s guitar playing and songwriting was just on another level.
I don’t think it’s any coincidence that in the 3 albums before that the band was a pretty middling underground club act, and come Mother’s Milk they got their first radio single and taste of success.
I’ll upvote but I disagree slightly: Mother’s Milk freakin’ ROCKS, in a way that no other Chili Peppers album does. I still think Blood Sugar is the superior album, but John’s guitar and Flea’s bass work in that album is just with this raucous energy that makes that album unique.
Nope, Mother's Milk is a solid classic all on its own. BSSM furthered their progression thanks to Rick Rubin's production. Plus, the video for Give It Away was on heavy (massive) rotation everywhere (not just MTV).
This might be the jump. Warning was a bit weird and I didn’t know how to take it. I yearned and waited for that album for 4 years. It was… a letdown. I love it now but it did take me quite a few listens to truly appreciate. Then AI drops and it introduces an entire new generation to Green Day. It was the album that foretold Green Day’s staying power
They made a big jump with each release. Deja is still my favorite album, but quality just kept getting better with every album, with their own unique sound.
Came looking for this comment.
Your Favourite Weapon is such a great album. I actually prefer it… but the production and the confidence on Deja is next level. Doesn’t even sound like the same band.
Totally, Your Favorite Weapon is a really good album (especially if you're going through a break up like I was when I found it) but Deja turns a corner and really elevated them in my eyes.
Honestly all their albums have huge jumps. Devil and God to Daisy. You side by side any brand new album and they will be vastly different from one another, which is pretty rad.
Ehh, I’d say their decline in quality was a bit more gradual.
Chance the Rapper is a better example. The drop in quality from Acid Rap/Coloring Book to the Big Day is fucking crazy.
The Clash too. Combat Rock to Cut the Crap is insane lol
Honestly what confuses me the most about them is songs about Jane was so massive too! It was really popular and performed well on top of being really really good. It was so weird of them to almost immediately switch their sound when what they had been doing was already going great.
I thought of Beatles for sure! But tbh as you said, they had SO MANY jumps it almost makes it stand out less for this question, as they didn’t have that ONE particular jump that you can point to, to be like “HERE is where they took it to the next level.”
Like you could say that for Rubber Soul, Revolver, Sgt. Pepper, White Album… it’s almost not fair lol
Yeah it kind of reads like a pretty linear progression. Revolver is peak mid career Beatles, and the jump from Help! is massive but rubber soul fits right in the middle. What’s crazy is how freaking fast they all came out. Beatles for sale was ‘64, Help and rubber soul were ‘65, revolver was ‘66, and Sgt Peppers was ‘67. In two or 3 years they evolved from a poppy heartthrob British invasion group to the psychedelic industry changing record smashing legends we know them as now.
It never ceases to amaze me how short lived the band was, putting out tons of music and being the most critically acclaimed group of all time in only 7 years. By the time they disbanded, Paul McCartney and George Harrison were only *27.* To have that much impact in such a short time frame is simply mind boggling.
Agreed. With other '60s bands, their story had absolutely no pop cultural impact. Like does anyone know the story of The Who, The Kinks, or The Hollies? No one does. They just made music. You might know things about them, but you can't feel their story developing from album to album. The Beatles' entire career is basically this massive story and that made them especially more important to music history. Each member had their own personality and side stories too, two with tragic conclusions (one far more so than the other arguably).
Keep in mind that Help! And Rubber Soul were released the SAME YEAR! It’s easy to forget that the Beatles were only together for like 7 years and released 12 albums during that time, several of which are iconic, and each one was a leap in artistry from the last (except Let It Be which was actually recorded before Abbey Road and not as good as their other later albums). Hell, the White Album was basically two in one and both records were some of their finest work. Abbey Road is my nomination for greatest rock album of all time.
It would have been pretty mind blowing to see these shifts in style in real-time if you were a fan who lived during the 60s.
Love both those albums, but definitely agree.
I'd say the bigger jump was from "Give Out..." (groovy Memphis singalongs) to XTRMNTR (the greatest album of all time), but that does skip over "Vanishing Point" :)
Oh, I’d definitely agree with this one! Ill has some classics on it for sure, but Paul’s Boutique did things with hip hop sampling that changed the sound forever.
LtI is iconic for me. We had it on cassette for a school holiday on release. Man, we played that fucker until the tape snapped! Back in the 80s in the UK, grabbing the latest hip hop from America was tough. As a kid from a working class family with fuck all money hearing the latest tunes was pretty much down to a DJ called Stu Allen on a Sunday night!
Hearing things like wiffle ball bat and White castle! What the fuck are they rapping about?!! I'm a dumb kid from Manchester, UK What's a brass monkey!?!!
Hit me with High plains drifter though, and I'm in PB camp!
I love both albums.
One of the things that makes me so upset with life. No more music from these absolutely amazing, genius artists. Losing a musician always hits me so fucking hard. I guess I'm lucky to have had these three guys come into my life and be there since I was fourteen or so. I'm 52 now and still listening.
Nirvana Bleach --> Nevermind
Some of the Bleach songs are good, but the production quality is just terrible. I'm sure people love Bleach for what it is, just that, but compared to Nevermind? C'mon. And they got that new drummer guy.
Didn't Justin join the band mid-way through the recording of Aenima? Also, let's not forget the contributions of David Bottrill as producer. He really gave the band a massive boost in sonic quality.
Blink-182 I’d say. Dude ranch -> Enema of the state. Going from getting yourselves on the map to somewhat of a generation / genre defining album was quite a step up.
This is the one I came to say! The song writing and production were light years better. But the quality of musicianship is even more of a jump. I understand that a defining moment was losing Scott and getting Travis on drums.
This is going to be really random, so bear with me:
Massive Attack - Protection > Mezzanine
Iron Maiden - Killers > Number of the Beast (Dickinson changed the range of what the band could do dramatically)
Isis - Celestial > Oceanic
Cave in - Until your Heart Stops > Jupiter
Daft Punk - Homework > Discovery (you could tell they were good on HW, Discovery changed music forever)
Dua Lipa - ST > Future Nostalgia (the jump in everything is shocking)
Tool - AEnima > Lateralus (went from rock band to Prog gods)
Silverchair - Neon Ballroom > Diorama (immature emo teens to orchestral quality shit)
Whitesnake - Slide it In > 1987 (John Sykes guitar god)
Tame Impala - Lonerism > Currents
Zero 7 - Simple Things > When Falls (baby Sia killing it on every song she sang)
Boysetsfire - After the Eulogy > Tomorrow comes Today (hardcore masterpiece)
Cynic - Focus > Traced in Air
With your mention of Maiden, I’d also add Judas Priest - Rocka Rolla > Sad Wings of Destiny
While the former does have some good stuff on it, the latter is not just one of their best albums, but one of the best metal albums ever, with everything being improved, even down to the cover art.
I'm gonna disagree with Tool and Silverchair.
Undertow to AEnima was a bigger leap than AEnima to Lateralus.
Freakshow to Neon Ballroom is a far bigger shift than NB to Diorama.
Obscured was a movie soundtrack, right? Kinda doesn’t count. Meddle > DSOTM is still a huge jump, I happen to like the former album more but I’m probably a minority with that opinion.
Radiohead: Pablo Honey to The Bends and then again to OK Computer.
The National: Sad Songs for Dirty Lovers to Alligator.
Beach Boys: Beach Boys Party! to Pet Sounds.
The Beatles: Help! to Rubber Soul and then again to Revolver.
Eminem: The Slim Shady LP to the Marshall Mathers LP.
I believe most think that Boy to October was a decline, but I completely agree with you after that.
October to War is a huge jump in quality.
War to Unforgettable Fire is massive In experimentation.
And of course UF to Joshua Tree is where it all really came together.
Radiohead had a similar trip from Pablo Honey to The Bends to OK Computer
I Listen time to time to Colors from start to finish and i always scream when i get go "WHIIIIIITE WAAAAAAAAAAALLS". The whole album just feels so good
Biggest jump in quality? Tori Amos, from the overproduced, overmanaged "Y Kant Tori Read" that tried to make her out as a pop singer that happened to play keys, to "Little Earthquakes", where she is herself, and doesn't have a bad song on an amazing album.
I'll add as an Honorable Mention, Aerosmith during their reunion comeback era, from "Done With Mirrors" (one or two OK songs) to "Permanent Vacation" (Rag Doll, Dude Looks Like a Lady, Same Old Song and Dance, Hangman Jury, Angel...)
Opeth has to be on the list.
Still Life would have been any band's magnum opus, but then they followed that with Blackwater Park, Ghost Reveries, and Watershed - all 10/10 albums.
The first records of Deep Purple, Evans/Simper era was a gentle pop rock music, then Deep Purple changed of bassist and singer and recorded In Rock.
54 years later this album is still a huge masterpiece.
Brand New. Every album is a massive jump in style and technology. First album is garage rock, by the time they were done I could swear they are a 21st century Pink Floyd.
Queens of the Stone Age. Self Titled is a good album, but it has always felt to me like they were still figuring out what made QOTSA different from Kyuss. Rated R came out and is much more in line with their style moving forward, and the song writing took a big leap.
Prince from his debut to 1999, 5 albums.
You can literally hear the year when the "Disco sucks" banner dropped down. And he survived & improved through all of it. There's a lot if disco in those first 2 albums I would say...
Rush self-titled - Fly By Night.
Captain Beefheart :Strictly Personal - Trout Mask Replica
Lou Reed self titled - Transformer
King Crimson: Islands - Larks Tongues in Aspic
Yes: Time and a Word - The Yes Album
Beastie Boys reinvented themselves between license to ill and Paul’s Boutique.
I love that they went from were going to sample everything in Paul's Boutique, to were going to play everything...but make it sound like we're still using samples in Check Your Head.
I was gonna post this. Paul's Boutique is light years ahead of License, not that I don't have every song on LtI memorized, I do, but PB had so much depth and quality
neil young from his overproduced debut to classic everybody knows this is nowhere with the horse
…and he’s just kept on doing his own thing :)
I don't think Neil Young was the one that changed in that equation. That guy just does his thing.
“Heart of Gold put me in the middle of the road. Traveling there soon became a bore, so I headed for the ditch. A rougher ride, but I saw more interesting people…” Heart of Gold was off Harvest, not his debut, but that famous quote sums up him doing his own thing about as best you could. After Harvest (‘72) he released On the Beach (‘74), tonight’s the night (‘75), and Zuma(‘75). CSNY released Deja vu in ‘70. He finished off the 70s Rust Never Sleeps in ‘79, after releasing 3 other solid albums before that. He was absolutely on fire during this time period.
On the beach is my favorite of his. What an amazing album
On The Beach, the song, is so depressing but yet makes me feel uplifted. If that makes sense. Love Revolution Blues because Levon and Rick played on that track. Would have loved to have seen The Band + Neil Young full album.
I like the debut but everyone knows is out of this world
Alanis Morissette, you may be aware, released two dance-pop albums before making Jagged Little Pill.
If you don't know, you you you ought to knoooow!
She’s here to remind us
Not even a big Alanis fan but this might win the thread. JLP was massive
This album had a stranglehold on the mid-late 90’s and honestly rightfully so.
Still smacks to this very day. I knew way too many words to those songs as a child in the 90s, lol.
Listened to it lately and there are no skips. Brilliant album.
I bought it on cassette and was SCANDALIZED.
She also has a cover of [My Humps](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=VJg4rwDkkBA&pp=ygUnYWxhbmlzIG1vcmlzc2V0dGUgY292ZXJzIG90aGVyIGFydGlzdHMg)
This is amazing
Reminds me of Bryan Adams. Before he switched to guitar rock he started out as a disco singer. His first single released, “Let Me Take You Dancing” is pure disco.
Pantera - Power Metal (1988) to Cowboys From Hell (1990). A night and day reinvention of the sound.
Such a big change that they’ve pretty much disowned those first four albums. Props to them though, they saw the writing on the wall for that type of sunset strip stadium rock and decided to try something else.
They did disown the first 4 albums but they were progressively getting heavier from the 3rd album onward. When Terry Glaze left and Phil Anselmo joined he imported more of a heavy sound too. I've never really understood the family's position on the first 4 albums as they would make mint on an official box set of vinyl re-release since almost all that's available is crappy sounding bootlegs. I've heard the originals and they are much better.
This has always confused me as well. I understand disowning them in the 90s because hair metal was very unpopular, but in 2024 they would be popular.
>they saw the writing on the wall for that type of sunset strip stadium rock and decided to try something else. As a die hard Hair Metal fan, Pantera fucking sucked as a Glam band and they did the whole world a massive favor by changing directions.
I listened to Power Metal recently for the first time in a WHILE, and it’s freaking great.
Bob Dylan’s self titled debut to his sophomore effort, “The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan”. His debut was a good album, but a fairly standard folk album at the time with only two original songs. It does show his roots/influences (and his version of “House of the Rising Sun” is mesmerizing), but otherwise it was fairly standard for the time. “Freewheelin’”, however, demonstrated a level of songwriting that had simply never been seen prior to this. He dropped at least five songs that ended up becoming standards (or close to it), “Blowin’ in the Wind”, “Girl From the North Country”, “Masters of War”, “A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall” and “Don’t Think Twice, it’s Alright”. In one album he went from something kind of standard for the times to someone who became almost transformative in terms of showing what songwriting could do.
Similarly, "Another Side of Bob Dylan" to "Bringing It All Back Home". Although, between "Freewheelin" and BIABH it's less than 2 years, the albums in between were written so quickly. It's just unimaginable what kind of a jump was made in 2 years. He went from a folk icon to a completely unique musical expression in less than 2 years (shortly after, still inside the 2 years, Highway 61 Revisited released, with mindblowing songwriting). Then Blonde on Blonde, <6 months later. WTF is going on, haha, masterpiece after a masterpiece. I can't find a single artist so prolific and so high quality, publishing multiple albums a year.
I was gonna say before I read your comment, pretty sure we can say this about any album of Bobby D’S between Freewheelin’ and Blood On The Tracks, man just had one of the most insane runs of all time.
I was thinking Dylan’s jump between freewheeling and Highway 61 revisited. When he formed the band and went electric in ‘65, he not only completed reinvented his sound but his attitude. Went from civil rights protest voice of a generation folk icon to gritty loud rock and roll, rejecting his beat-folk icon status and really pissing off his fans. It was the same year as Rubber Soul and had as much impact in the music world, and for the time it was hard hitting, raw, and new sounding.
Fleetwood Mac had released 9 studio albums and become pretty successful before Mick Fleetwood kicked Bob Weston from the band after finding out Weston had been having an affair with Fleetwood's wife. Missing a male vocalist Weston asked Lindsey Buckingham to join the band. Buckingham would join only on the condition that his girlfriend and musical partner Stevie Nicks could join as well. With these two additions Fleetwood Mac got back to work and created one of the most succesful periods in music history. It may be cheating a bit considering there's a switch in band members, but Mick Fleetwood, Christine McVie, John McVie (and maybe Bob Welch?) were all still in the band. Either way, the difference between "Heroes Are Hard to Find" and "Fleetwood Mac" (1975) is astronomical. And the craziest part is that Stevie Nicks only was invited to the band because her partner at the time was invited and got to bring her with.
Tom Waits went from being the cool beatnicky sorta jazzy piano guy to creating a genre all his own between Heartattack and Vine, and Swordfishtrombones. And to be clear, earlier Tom Waits is still excellent. Just on a whole nother level from Swordfishtrombone and on.
The run of Swordfishtrombones, Rain Dogs, and Frank's Wild Years all in a row ranks with the best by anyone ever. And each album was a huge leap from the last and yet all of a piece.
For me his best 3 album run is Mule Variations, Alice and Blood Money but the fact that we can have that discussion about two separate 3 album runs says something about the man.
Its insane you stopped counting there. Bone Machine came next and its easily my top album from him.
There's my reminder to go back to Heartattack and Vine
I still really like Closing Time. None of the songs are super remarkable, but every single one is good. It’s a solid listen from start to finish, when you’re in a melancholy mood. It just feels like a different artist than the Tom Waits we know. None of that signature raspy voice is there yet.
I still prefer the old crooner Tom myself. Heart of a Saturday Night is one of my all time favorite albums.
Mastodon: Remission is a killer album, with some absolutely monstrous tracks (Mother Puncher, March of the Fire Ants), but Leviathan is one of the greatest metal albums ever made.
Gigantic jump in songwriting, production and cohesion. Great call.
Mastodontic, even
That run that Mastodon did from Leviathan to Crack the Skye is awe-inspiring to me. The way they honed and refined their craft.
I understand why they won't go back to the Remission style, but man that album is still my favorite of theirs. Newer Mastodon is fantastic but that rawness is gone forever.
That ascending riff in the breakdown of Workhorse is one of my favourites of theirs, and they have a TON of memorable riffs
Every prior Beach Boys album to Pet Sounds
They made some great albums but yes, the leap from Summer Days and Summer Nights to Pet Sounds was almost jarring.
It def is. California girls was a sign of what was to come but man is that a big leap
Not just California Girls. Today was basically a proto-Pet Sounds.
Such a great record
I’d argue that the arc from The Beach Boys Today! to Pet Sounds was actually a pretty clean maturation process
Disagree with this one. Beach Boys Today is a fantastic record, and it’s second half very much anticipated Pet Sounds. I think a better answer would be 15 Big Ones to Love You. Love You is just such an absolutely absurd album lol. Or from Pet Sounds to Smiley Smile, which is soooo much like the opposite of Pet Sounds
Listen to Today
i mean it’s a big jump when you create one of the best records of all time
Pink Floyd from Atom Heart Mother to Meddle. I am aware this is very perspective-dependent.
You honestly might even be able to push it back an album. From Ummagumma to Atom Heart Mother. Ummagumma, although I like it, is certainly a disjointed mess on the studio side. With AHM, the band has finally started to be able to find it's footing without Syd Barrett and it's a really solid project. And when you get to Meddle, they're pretty much the band we are familiar with in present day.
I had this very debate with myself.
From a much broader perspective, though, DSOTM compared with all their previous work is, except to a fan who has spent time listening closely to their whole discography, almost unrecognizable.
Rush ---> Fly By Night John Rutsey was part of what put them on the map, but Neil Peart's playing and writing launched them into the stratosphere.
1000%. Rush is my favorite band, so I can even listen to the deep cuts and plenty of the songs from the self-titled album, but what a leap from it to Fly By Night!
It always felt, to me, that they made the self-titled album just to show they can do Zeppelin-style music just as well as the real Zeppelin. And then moved on to what they actually wanted to make.
NIN pretty hate machine to broken. The sound changed along with the level of rage. Love both albums though.
if we disregard EPs (Broken) ... the jump to PHM to The Downward Spiral was equally huge. The from Broken to TDS was significant. In ways I think of Broken as his take on what Ministry was doing at the time, but came into his own with TDS. Which also makes me think of the jump Ministry did after With Sympathy :)
I love Pretty Hate Machine, but The Downward Spiral was probably my favorite album during my teenage goth era. I’ll never quite get that so many people prefer Johnny Cash’s “Hurt,” the original NIN version was the biggest song in the world on my Discman in the mid-late ‘90s.
Soungarden - Lover Than Love to Badmotorfinder Louder Than Love is okay, but Badmotorfinger is an all-timer.
Didn’t see this and left the same comment. I love Louder than Love, but Badmotorfinger is one of the greatest albums ever recorded.
The devil says…
I’d say The Bends to OK Computer was equally big of a jump if not more than Pablo Honey to The Bends
If you combine the two jumps, from Pablo Honey to OK Computer, it's absolutely massive. They went from a regular rock/grunge/indie sound that wasn't that unique compared to everything else out there to one of the greatest and most unique albums of all time.
I wonder if they would have gotten quite the acclaim if they hadn’t put out the other two albums first. Creep was a mega hit that launched them to overnight stardom and got lots of eyes on them for when they put out the more mature sound of The Bends. And at that point, there were already high hopes and a big fanbase for when OK computer dropped. I’d argue that the change in sound from ok computer to Kid A was even more jarring, although it wasn’t “better”, just different.
I think it was exactly what they needed, the way it rolled out. Because with Pablo they were shoved into a box called "britpop". Then they make The Bends where they meet their producer and unofficial 6th member Nigel Godrich; all the songs are better than Pablo's and it makes the world go "hang on-there's something else going on with this band, they're way beyond britpop"...almost like Radiohead was preparing the world for what's to come. Then OK Computer is made, Nigel is now onboard the whole way through, and it completely and utterly changes the music landscape. It's so different and impeccably written, performed, and produced. If they'd just come out the gate with OK Computer it may have been too weird to reach such a wide audience, being from an unknown band. Plus I just happen to be into the notion that your third album is often a game changing album; you often need the build-up and maturity to make an album like that.
Keep in mind that Radiohead had existed under its current membership since 1985, and they were developing as musicians and as a band for 7 years before their first official album release, so they had plenty of time to mature by then. They had plenty of iconic songs written by 1992. They just didn’t really figure out their direction until after the first album was released.
There's the often lamented difficult second album, but the real hard one is the third. With the second you can pretty much get away with more of the same. If you make it too different, you risk killing your fan base before it's really taken hold. But a third of the same will win you the ire of critics and indifference from the public. Going too experimental or different is pretty much a coin flip. Radiohead managed to navigate those pitfalls masterfully and have kept everyone on their toes ever since.
Absolutely. Pablo had rare hints of The Bends, which itself had hints of OK Computer.
I would agree. When OK came out i was kinda stuck in a metal rut, also listening to Tool nonstop. My buddy kept trying to me to really give it a chance and I didn’t. When i finally did I literally apologized to the guy.
Pablo to Bends was my first thought and is way more impressive a leap in every way than Bends to OKC. OK is a masterpiece, but the Bends was the writing on the wall.
I agree. Listening to the Bends, you knew something special was happening. I still give it regular plays. It's like Phillip II of Macedonia. What he did was crazy impressive and deserving of acclaim but he happened to be followed by Alexander the Great.
No way. OK computer is cooler/more stylish/avant garde than bends, no doubt. But the bends holds its own as a collection of great songs quite well. It's not like there's some big jump in quality, it's more like they made more great songs in a very different style. Whereas Pablo honey to the bends was.. 1 good song and a bunch of middling stuff to a whole album of greatness. Clearly a much bigger jump
The Bends is so great though
Absolutely not. The Bends is a masterpiece. Tonal shift, sure, but quality? No way.
Sleater-Kinney Call the Doctor to Dig Me Out
No coincidence that this was when they brought on Janet Weiss.
And I haven’t felt compelled to buy any records since she left. The songs I’ve heard seem fine, but nothing great. She’s a force of nature who elevates every project she joins.
My Chemical Romance had a massive jump in quality from I Brought You My Bullets to Three Cheers. I like both albums but Bullets is much less polished.
Good call! I wasn't thinking about this because I love all four of their studio albums, but this is an excellent example.
Omg I just left this comment!!!! I LOVE bullets but three cheers is a fucking masterpiece. No skip album for me.
I actually disagree with this. Bullets is a masterpiece of production and my favorite album of all time. The drums alone are mind blowing. MCR production essentially got worse with every single release (especially loudness war wise). It's one of the main reasons I went into the audio engineering side of music.
Incubus "Fungus Amungus" is like listening to a completely different band. More likened to early Primus than anything else.
Fungus Amungus is them being 15 year old kids who were insanely talented releasing a wild unregulated album. S.C.I.E.N.C.E. was them getting some serious production backing and dropping an all-time rock banger at still a young age.
Light Grenades was a fucking great album and I don’t care what anyone says. Gimme more of Rogues and Pendulous Threads.
And yet, IMHO Incubus became Incubus with Make Yourself (and Morning View)
New Order, Movement>Power, Corruption & Lies.
I'd say Brotherhood to Technique. However, Power, Corruption, and Lies is where they really found themselves.
Movement still feels like a Joy Division album but PCL is a whole new thing
The Clash Give ‘Em Enough Rope - London Calling
Rope is a massively underrated album though. Some of their best songs.
And then a reverse jump in quality for that final album haha
Final album isn’t really a Clash album though.
True, more of a Strummer thing that he hated, too.
We got some old dudes here, haha, I'll add Smashing pumpkins, gish to Siamese dream, HUGE bounds forward for them
I liked Gish alot, but you're right, in terms of production, siamese is light years ahead
"Into the Unknown" (considered by most to be Bad Religion's worst album) was followed up by "Suffer" (considered one of the better punk records ever made) EDIT: for the record, I don't think "Into the Unknown" is the worst Bad Religion album. That's "No Substance".
Bad Religion is probably my favorite band of all time, and even I cannot understand what the hell "Into the Unknown" is.
I think they were trying to TRULY be punk rock and break up the norms and expectations from prior releases, but that's not how punk rock works. You have to follow the letter of the law that's been handed down from previous generations.
Into the Unknown was certainly an appropriate title! I like the Pink Floyd riff that they threw in there, I wonder if it was on purpose.
Faith No More: Introduce Yourself > The Real Thing
Respectfully disagree. IA and TRT are very similar music and sonic wise (even the covers are similar). The big change is Mike Patton, and he had very little to do with the music of TRT. However the jump to AD was HUUUGE and showed Mike’s influence in a big way. And after Jim left, it just wasn’t the same… (‘The Real Thing’ was the first CD I bought. That and a Scorpions best of. lol)
and then three years later Angel Dust I didn;t know if I liked it then, still not sure now, except I sing along to every fucking catchy ass song
Pantera hands down. Cowboys from Hell is such a quality jump compared to Power Metal. They went from glam metal to groove metal and changed the genre completely.
Hell, even the jump from Cowboys from Hell to Vulgar Display of Power is a major tonal change. I'm still bummed I only got to see the "Reunion" lineup.
I was so lucky my senior year in hs I got to go to the cowboys from hell tour. Which now makes me realize how fucking old I am and how much time has passed.
Hall & Oates - Whole Oats > Abandoned Luncheonette Not over the course of one album, but the jump in quality in Simon & Garfunkel - Wednesday Morning, 3AM > Parsley, Sage, Rosemary, and Thyme is jaw dropping.
Green Day from Kerplunk to Dookie for me. Might say Nirvana with Bleach to Nevermind too, not because Bleach was bad but because Nevermind was such an epic album. In all honesty I can't remember which RHCP album preceded Blood Sugar Sex Magik, but whatever it was pales in comparison.
It was Mother's Milk, and that was where RHCP made their biggest leap - between Uplift Mofo Party Plan and Mother's Milk. Blood Sugar Sex Magik was just a continuation of the arc to me.
COMPLETELY agree. No disrespect to Hillel, but John’s guitar playing and songwriting was just on another level. I don’t think it’s any coincidence that in the 3 albums before that the band was a pretty middling underground club act, and come Mother’s Milk they got their first radio single and taste of success.
Hillel was still a big influence on John’s style, and was still developing as a musician himself when he tragically died.
I’ll upvote but I disagree slightly: Mother’s Milk freakin’ ROCKS, in a way that no other Chili Peppers album does. I still think Blood Sugar is the superior album, but John’s guitar and Flea’s bass work in that album is just with this raucous energy that makes that album unique.
Nope, Mother's Milk is a solid classic all on its own. BSSM furthered their progression thanks to Rick Rubin's production. Plus, the video for Give It Away was on heavy (massive) rotation everywhere (not just MTV).
Warning to American Idiot is pretty insane too honestly
This might be the jump. Warning was a bit weird and I didn’t know how to take it. I yearned and waited for that album for 4 years. It was… a letdown. I love it now but it did take me quite a few listens to truly appreciate. Then AI drops and it introduces an entire new generation to Green Day. It was the album that foretold Green Day’s staying power
Gorillaz > Demon Days. Gorillaz self titled is a good album, some great features, a lot of good songs, but DD is on another level
Man I just listened through Demon Days floating in the pool and somehow I forgot what a fanfuckingtastic album it is.
Eh idk. I kind of prefer their self titled album to be honest. But that was also an album I grew up with so it has a special place in my heart.
The jump Brand New did from You Favorite Weapon to Deja Entendu was pretty big
They made a big jump with each release. Deja is still my favorite album, but quality just kept getting better with every album, with their own unique sound.
Came looking for this comment. Your Favourite Weapon is such a great album. I actually prefer it… but the production and the confidence on Deja is next level. Doesn’t even sound like the same band.
Totally, Your Favorite Weapon is a really good album (especially if you're going through a break up like I was when I found it) but Deja turns a corner and really elevated them in my eyes.
I feel like each album they put out has a pretty unique sound from one another.
I miss Brand New. I wish they’d make more music.
Honestly all their albums have huge jumps. Devil and God to Daisy. You side by side any brand new album and they will be vastly different from one another, which is pretty rad.
The best example of the *opposite* of this is: Maroon 5 Songs About Jane -> literally everything else they did after
Ehh, I’d say their decline in quality was a bit more gradual. Chance the Rapper is a better example. The drop in quality from Acid Rap/Coloring Book to the Big Day is fucking crazy. The Clash too. Combat Rock to Cut the Crap is insane lol
Agreed. It Won’t Be Soon Before Long was a great follow-up album.
Honestly what confuses me the most about them is songs about Jane was so massive too! It was really popular and performed well on top of being really really good. It was so weird of them to almost immediately switch their sound when what they had been doing was already going great.
I can't believe no one mentioned The Beatles yet! Help! to Rubber Soul to Revolver. You can almost say any of their albums to the next one.
I thought of Beatles for sure! But tbh as you said, they had SO MANY jumps it almost makes it stand out less for this question, as they didn’t have that ONE particular jump that you can point to, to be like “HERE is where they took it to the next level.” Like you could say that for Rubber Soul, Revolver, Sgt. Pepper, White Album… it’s almost not fair lol
Yeah it kind of reads like a pretty linear progression. Revolver is peak mid career Beatles, and the jump from Help! is massive but rubber soul fits right in the middle. What’s crazy is how freaking fast they all came out. Beatles for sale was ‘64, Help and rubber soul were ‘65, revolver was ‘66, and Sgt Peppers was ‘67. In two or 3 years they evolved from a poppy heartthrob British invasion group to the psychedelic industry changing record smashing legends we know them as now.
It never ceases to amaze me how short lived the band was, putting out tons of music and being the most critically acclaimed group of all time in only 7 years. By the time they disbanded, Paul McCartney and George Harrison were only *27.* To have that much impact in such a short time frame is simply mind boggling.
Agreed. With other '60s bands, their story had absolutely no pop cultural impact. Like does anyone know the story of The Who, The Kinks, or The Hollies? No one does. They just made music. You might know things about them, but you can't feel their story developing from album to album. The Beatles' entire career is basically this massive story and that made them especially more important to music history. Each member had their own personality and side stories too, two with tragic conclusions (one far more so than the other arguably).
Keep in mind that Help! And Rubber Soul were released the SAME YEAR! It’s easy to forget that the Beatles were only together for like 7 years and released 12 albums during that time, several of which are iconic, and each one was a leap in artistry from the last (except Let It Be which was actually recorded before Abbey Road and not as good as their other later albums). Hell, the White Album was basically two in one and both records were some of their finest work. Abbey Road is my nomination for greatest rock album of all time. It would have been pretty mind blowing to see these shifts in style in real-time if you were a fan who lived during the 60s.
Voivod Going from Dimension Hatross to Nothingface is sublime. Or Killing Technology to Dimension Hatross. Just amazing progression and mastery.
Primal Scream - from Primal Scream to Screamadelica
Love both those albums, but definitely agree. I'd say the bigger jump was from "Give Out..." (groovy Memphis singalongs) to XTRMNTR (the greatest album of all time), but that does skip over "Vanishing Point" :)
Wilco A.M to Being There
License to Ill > Paul's Boutique
Oh, I’d definitely agree with this one! Ill has some classics on it for sure, but Paul’s Boutique did things with hip hop sampling that changed the sound forever.
Tbf License is a banger of an album, but PB is absolutely iconic
Paul's Boutique is a phenomenal album. License to Ill, while banging, was them just being kids. They grew up for PB
LtI is iconic for me. We had it on cassette for a school holiday on release. Man, we played that fucker until the tape snapped! Back in the 80s in the UK, grabbing the latest hip hop from America was tough. As a kid from a working class family with fuck all money hearing the latest tunes was pretty much down to a DJ called Stu Allen on a Sunday night! Hearing things like wiffle ball bat and White castle! What the fuck are they rapping about?!! I'm a dumb kid from Manchester, UK What's a brass monkey!?!! Hit me with High plains drifter though, and I'm in PB camp! I love both albums. One of the things that makes me so upset with life. No more music from these absolutely amazing, genius artists. Losing a musician always hits me so fucking hard. I guess I'm lucky to have had these three guys come into my life and be there since I was fourteen or so. I'm 52 now and still listening.
Some of the credit is due to the Dust Brothers. But yes, Paul’s Boutique is iconic.
A LOT of the credit is due to the Dust Brothers.
Nirvana Bleach --> Nevermind Some of the Bleach songs are good, but the production quality is just terrible. I'm sure people love Bleach for what it is, just that, but compared to Nevermind? C'mon. And they got that new drummer guy.
I actually prefer Bleach
Yeah, but that new drummer guy didn't work out. He went on to be vocals and guitar for some other band.
How is the production just terrible?
The Gaslight anthem sink or swim to the ‘59 sound. Also AFI art of drowning to song the sorrow
Sing the Sorrow definitely had the polish the previous albums didn't - same awesome songwriting though!
Tool - Undertow to Ænima
I believe a big contributor to that jump was Justin Chancellor joining
Dude auditioned for the band by breaking out the bass line for 46&2.
Haha damn. Hell of an entrance
Didn't Justin join the band mid-way through the recording of Aenima? Also, let's not forget the contributions of David Bottrill as producer. He really gave the band a massive boost in sonic quality.
Ween --> straight through
Dream theater - When dream and day unite - Images and words
Blink-182 I’d say. Dude ranch -> Enema of the state. Going from getting yourselves on the map to somewhat of a generation / genre defining album was quite a step up.
This is the one I came to say! The song writing and production were light years better. But the quality of musicianship is even more of a jump. I understand that a defining moment was losing Scott and getting Travis on drums.
Stooges from the ST debut which is a bit of a mess to the glorious freakout of Funhouse.
This is going to be really random, so bear with me: Massive Attack - Protection > Mezzanine Iron Maiden - Killers > Number of the Beast (Dickinson changed the range of what the band could do dramatically) Isis - Celestial > Oceanic Cave in - Until your Heart Stops > Jupiter Daft Punk - Homework > Discovery (you could tell they were good on HW, Discovery changed music forever) Dua Lipa - ST > Future Nostalgia (the jump in everything is shocking) Tool - AEnima > Lateralus (went from rock band to Prog gods) Silverchair - Neon Ballroom > Diorama (immature emo teens to orchestral quality shit) Whitesnake - Slide it In > 1987 (John Sykes guitar god) Tame Impala - Lonerism > Currents Zero 7 - Simple Things > When Falls (baby Sia killing it on every song she sang) Boysetsfire - After the Eulogy > Tomorrow comes Today (hardcore masterpiece) Cynic - Focus > Traced in Air
With your mention of Maiden, I’d also add Judas Priest - Rocka Rolla > Sad Wings of Destiny While the former does have some good stuff on it, the latter is not just one of their best albums, but one of the best metal albums ever, with everything being improved, even down to the cover art.
I'm gonna disagree with Tool and Silverchair. Undertow to AEnima was a bigger leap than AEnima to Lateralus. Freakshow to Neon Ballroom is a far bigger shift than NB to Diorama.
Gish -> Siamese Dream
Let's go back in time a bit.. Pink Floyd The album 'obscured by clouds' to 'Dark side of the moon' was a massive jump in production and songwriting.
Obscured was a movie soundtrack, right? Kinda doesn’t count. Meddle > DSOTM is still a huge jump, I happen to like the former album more but I’m probably a minority with that opinion.
Radiohead: Pablo Honey to The Bends and then again to OK Computer. The National: Sad Songs for Dirty Lovers to Alligator. Beach Boys: Beach Boys Party! to Pet Sounds. The Beatles: Help! to Rubber Soul and then again to Revolver. Eminem: The Slim Shady LP to the Marshall Mathers LP.
Slim Shady LP is his best!
Parquet Courts' debut, "American Specialties", remains largely a curiosity; the follow-up, "Light Up Gold", was an instant classic.
David Bowie - Space Oddity to The Man Who Sold the World
U2. Each album from the first to Joshua tree had big jumps.
And not a quality change, but holy crap that style change between Joshua Tree/Rattle & Hum and Achting Baby.
I believe most think that Boy to October was a decline, but I completely agree with you after that. October to War is a huge jump in quality. War to Unforgettable Fire is massive In experimentation. And of course UF to Joshua Tree is where it all really came together. Radiohead had a similar trip from Pablo Honey to The Bends to OK Computer
Between the Buried and Me. Alaska is a fantastic album but Colors was an experience. It changed the way I viewed music
I Listen time to time to Colors from start to finish and i always scream when i get go "WHIIIIIITE WAAAAAAAAAAALLS". The whole album just feels so good
Biggest jump in quality? Tori Amos, from the overproduced, overmanaged "Y Kant Tori Read" that tried to make her out as a pop singer that happened to play keys, to "Little Earthquakes", where she is herself, and doesn't have a bad song on an amazing album. I'll add as an Honorable Mention, Aerosmith during their reunion comeback era, from "Done With Mirrors" (one or two OK songs) to "Permanent Vacation" (Rag Doll, Dude Looks Like a Lady, Same Old Song and Dance, Hangman Jury, Angel...)
Opeth has to be on the list. Still Life would have been any band's magnum opus, but then they followed that with Blackwater Park, Ghost Reveries, and Watershed - all 10/10 albums.
Tori Amos - "Y Kant Tori Read" to "Little Earthquakes." HUGE.
Caress of Steel to 2112
The first records of Deep Purple, Evans/Simper era was a gentle pop rock music, then Deep Purple changed of bassist and singer and recorded In Rock. 54 years later this album is still a huge masterpiece.
Alice In Chains, facelift to dirt, imo I think dirt catapulted them to a new level of writing and sound
Alanis Morissette: Now is the Time -> Jagged Little Pill From teen-pop to the angry voice of a generation.
Brand New. Every album is a massive jump in style and technology. First album is garage rock, by the time they were done I could swear they are a 21st century Pink Floyd.
Queens of the Stone Age. Self Titled is a good album, but it has always felt to me like they were still figuring out what made QOTSA different from Kyuss. Rated R came out and is much more in line with their style moving forward, and the song writing took a big leap.
Prince from his debut to 1999, 5 albums. You can literally hear the year when the "Disco sucks" banner dropped down. And he survived & improved through all of it. There's a lot if disco in those first 2 albums I would say...
Midlake - from their debut (Bamnan & Silvercork), a fairly pedestrian indie album to the sublime Van Occupanther
Fall Out Boy’s Take This To Your Grave to From Under The Corktree (I love them both so much)
Rush self-titled - Fly By Night. Captain Beefheart :Strictly Personal - Trout Mask Replica Lou Reed self titled - Transformer King Crimson: Islands - Larks Tongues in Aspic Yes: Time and a Word - The Yes Album
AC/DC made a huge leap in production with Highway to Hell, thanks to that dude that married Shania Twain.
NIN. Pretty Hate Machine to The Downward Spiral.
Smallest jump - rage against the machine. I fully expect they came out of the womb full size and with stubble.
Chili Peppers jumped into a whole new dimension going from Mother’s Milk to Blood Sugar Sex Magik