I wrote in the "best album worst album" thread that Talk Talk's worst album is the first and their best album is the last. The latter one may be an unpopular choice (most probably think that The Spirit of Eden is best), however I think that they really became better with every single album (if over the last three only by 0.01% per album ).

Are there any other bands that

a) have at least four albums, and

b) their last album is the best and their first is the worst, or, even better, of which every album is better than the one before?

Seems quite unusual to me. Most bands tend to pack it in after a last album that didn't really work, or they go on well after their prime. I'm not blaming them... play as long as you have fun, but don't be surprised that fans tend to be nostalgic...

"First album worst" is probably more normal; many bands take some time to find their best shape. (I'm not asking to list all those.)

Funnily enough, while we're talking about Talk Talk, their "best album" for me is their debut and their "worst album" is a Laughing Stock, which is no laughing matter. 

If you had asked this question in 1981, I'd nominate Rush.

Now mine may be a minority position, and I do realise that the last two albums are not for everyone, but yours seems to be even more outlandish. You seriously prefer The Party's Over to It's My Life and The Colour of Spring?

To be fair, Talk Talk's last few albums sound like a different band to the one who made their debut album. I once saw them in their early days supporting Duran Duran, they were very much a synth-pop kind of band then. Having said that, "Spirit of Eden" is the best album that they, or in fact anyone, made. imo of course.

^ Nice one. I tend to think that this illustrates how strange a bunch of people RYM raters are. I'm fine with that of course.

@BrufordFreak: Nice list. I don't know all Battlestations and Motorpsycho albums, but from those I know I tend to agree that they got better and better.

Actually, I think yours is the majority opinion here at ProgArchives, seeing as many PA members regard Spirit of Eden as being Talk Talk's best album by far, but yes, in my case I really do like The Party's Over album best of all. After all, it's the only Talk Talk album I bought on the original vinyl and it also features the two hit singles, "Today" and "Talk Talk" 

Going back to the subject of your original question, I think YES are one of the bands that have improved over time, with Talk (1994) and The Ladder (1999) being my two favourite YES albums overall. Yes, really! 

I'll also mention ELP too, where Works Vol. 1, Love Beach and Black Moon are all preferable to Trilogy and Brain Salad Surgery, although I realise that's a minority opinion here. 

As you say, minority opinions and the op says bands who's best album is their last. You're not going to convince many people that Heaven & Earth is Yes' best album (or the next one when it comes out). Same with ELP.

Even I wouldn't go so far as to claim that Heaven & Earth is the best Yes album, or that Love Beach is the best ELP album, although they're both in my respective Top 7 albums lists for each band. 

I'm with you Lewian

Another great band that evolve is Enslaved

It seems many bands followed a bell curve pattern (with some wobbles) or wobbled around a bit. A few start off going in the opposite direction: great debut, but each following release was slightly less interesting.

I'm not familiar with Talk Talk, but they have been on my list of future things to listen to for a long while now.

Nik Bartsch Ronin

That's a tough question. I think almost all musicians or composers have had ups and downs. Very often, musicians become increasingly mature over a period of time, and then they top, after which their output is of mixed quality.

If we allow the world of classical music into this discussion, I would mention Mozart as a composer whose work simply became better and better. Just hold his earliest child compositions up against Die Zauberflöte...

Bowie is a great pick when it comes to "first album worst, last album best". Some of his albums I don't know and he had some ups and downs in between, but I agree with Blackstar being phantastic and his best, and the first hardly resonates with me.

I'd never have thought of Mozart, but I tend to agree.

Anekdoten, Henry Cow are rather overall consistent for me, but surely not bands who ended on a low (if they ended at all). 

I don't know (or not more than one album) of some others listed but I have some respect for bands who are characterised in this way, so maybe I check their last albums to see whether they are for me.

they have  even ratings over the 6 studio albums although the last is certainly the highest rated on PA and also has 300ish more ratings than most of the others so that has a strong case for being the best , however there are no clear worst ones. A lot of the big Swedish prog acts of the 90's onwards were very strong at the outset. They seemed to have their identity well set and managed to avoid a 'finding themselves' early period that many prog bands require. 

Boredoms for sure. They started out as pretty awful (to my ears) noise rock in the mid-eighties but piqued my interest with their ninth album, the great Super æ (1998), then followed up with the even more awesome Vision Creation Newsun (1999) and finally there's Seadrum/ House of Sun (2004) - their near perfect swan song. 

I fully agree that Anekdoten don't have any clear worst albums: all are 4* and up in my book. But there is an ascending line (imho of course) in Gravity - A Time of Day - Until All the Ghosts Are Gone.

I thought this recent reprise from "Moving Waves" is very moving and powerful! 

I don't listen to much death metal, but Gorguts debut is great. 

although for 1983 it was actually amazing but now is very dated. The last album could well be their best in all round aspects (performance, production and great songs). Good shout!

Bowie was the first person to spring to my mind when I read the OP. I own every one of his albums, and while his discography is not a straightforward upward pattern, the debut is easily his least impressive album, and Blackstar easily his most impressive. Blackstar is not just an impressive final album for Bowie, but one of the most impressive final albums of any artist, ever. (And, regardless of how Bowie is labelled in PA, his music is prog to me.)

IQ have been remarkably consistent from the beginning, with not a bad album anywhere, but for me Resistance is still a disappointment and bucks their trend....

richardh wrote: Yep Blackstar would be a fantastic album coming from anyone , but made more so coming from someone terminally ill. Amazing man and possibly the greatest loss to music in decades.

...but then it wouldn't have come from anyone... it needs a terminally ill genius to do that album.

http://www.progarchives.com/artist.asp?id=6000" rel="nofollow - http://www.progarchives.com/artist.asp?id=6000

First album was already excellent, and they keep improving on each release! WOW! 

Frenetic Zetetic wrote: Death got better and better with each record IMHO. I have my favorites, but it's hard to deny the progression between records.

I expect my death to be of pretty consistent quality. In fact I'd be quite surprised if it became either markedly better or worse with time, but who knows...