Do later mediocre albums diminish better ones?

Something I picked up from another, albeit at times, sillier prog site. Do later less impressive albums from groups like Yes, with their continual band incarnations with different members, and less stellar albums like Union, somehow diminish the listening pleasure of earlier classic albums like Fragile or CTTE? This has zero effect on me, but how about you?

Edited by SteveG - September 01 2016 at 03:42

Definitely not. If anything, they just increase the 'wow' factor of those earlier recordings.
Then again, for some folks, maybe their first taste of Yes is Heaven And Earth, they may like it a lot, then hear Relayer and say it's just weird noise.......

One example, Jethro Tull, has so many albums that the few duds do not affect it much.  Even Under Wraps has some good songs and charm to it.  However, if a group only has 3 albums, I think their whole catalog starts to look weaker.  There will always be some groups that have one hit wonders, and finding those gems are worthwhile even if the group doesn't have much else of interest.

Zero effect on me too.

Quite the contrary as far as I'm concerned. If a band has made some incredible albums, I'll tend to think of lesser albums as "pure crap" instead of "not that good" because I'll think of what they've already been able to do.

I read the reviews on this site now, so have never listened to Union, but as I only started buying music in 1976 I was put off most prog groups by their bin end output. Having eventually discovered the earlier stuff though I would say my pleasure in that has actually been enhanced by the shock of realising just how much better it was .

Lesser albums do not change my opinion of better albums or the band in general.

A backpacker is traveling through Ireland when it starts to rain. He decides to wait out the storm in a nearby pub. The only other person at the bar is an older man staring at his drink. After a few moments of silence the man turns to the backpacker and says in a thick Irish accent:

"You see this bar? I built this bar with my own bare hands. I cut down every tree and made the lumber myself. I toiled away through the wind and cold, but do they call me McGreggor the bar builder? No."

He continued "Do you see that stone wall out there? I built that wall with my own bare hands. I found every stone and placed them just right through the rain and the mud, but do they call me McGreggor the wall builder? No."

"Do ya see that pier out there on the lake? I built that pier with my own bare hands, driving each piling deep into ground so that it would last a lifetime. Do they call me McGreggor the pier builder? No."

"But ya f**k one goat.."

Man With Hat wrote: Progosopher wrote: Such albums may diminish the reputation of the artists involved, but not the earlier better albums. Exactly. This is avery weird concept to me that a bad album can diminish the strength/enjoyment of a good one.

yeah.. end of conversation.  Either judge the artist on the whole for which the stinkers are not forgiven.. or the album for which the stinkers mean jack sh*t.

Not at all. Most artists have one or two stinkers, but a great album is a great album regardless of what else the band has released