Prog bands that pass the 5 album test

You really should give Photos of Ghosts a try. You can listen to it here. Then, if you like it, I recommend you to buy the 2010 Esoteric remaster, with 6 bonus tracks!

tis true. 

Don't ask me why. The only obvious thing is the end of Way Of Life, which I do want to conclude in some actual way. But other than that...tt just suffers something for me. That little magic spark I don't feel like I do on the rest of that 8.

But I still like the album, its just given the criteria of the thread I can't honestly say they fit five in a row for my taste. 

For me the game isn't as interesting to play with a 4.00 cutoff, because of what you said. There just aren't very many bands at all which pass that mark. I figured 3.5 is still pretty high marks. Not masterpiece, no, but far enough above average to constitute a member of a great streak.

I almost included them in my list, but Gravity is not "great" IMO... only "very good" 

The Man Who Sold The World ~ 4.02

Hunky Dory ~ 4.19

The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars ~ 4.26

Aladdin Sane ~ 3.84

His Ziggy years basically. He was untouchable then and those albums remain one of his greatest achievements. However, they don't total five, and here's why. Space Oddity doesn't quite reach 3.5 with a score of 3.34, and though Diamond Dogs does pass the 3.5 mark (barely, at 3.60), it is unfortunately preceded by Pin-Ups the covers album! Pin-Ups has only 3.04 stars to its name, and had it been released just a year later wouldn't factor into this discussion. However it does sit where it sits. If you choose not to count it, I can see your point, but the technicalities will not agree with you. Nevertheless, Bowie can't go on to have an even longer run without it, as Young Americans (ever the black sheep of his 70s releases) only scores 2.83! I agree it's his least compelling, but I don't think it's that low, but that's just my personal take. 

"But wait!" you say, "what about the Thin White Duke and the Berlin Trilogy and Scary Monsters? That makes five right?" It just almost does, and in my personal taste it absolutely passes with flying shades of orange, black, and white. However, there's one little problem with the PA ratings: Lodger.

Station To Station ~ 4.03

Low ~ 4.09

"Heroes" ~ 4.05

Lodger ~ 3.48

Scary Monsters ~ 4.15

Perhaps Bowies most oft forgotten classic album, Lodger seems to be the PA critics choice for the least compelling of this period, and what a strong period it is! Everything else here passes the test even with a 4.0 cutoff, that's not easy! Bowie was pushing boundaries and making great art in new ways on every one of these five albums, but that second to last one just didn't work so well for many people. Is it the lack of an ambient instrumental suite? Has the songwriting gotten too predictable? Is the band not as good? We may never know. 

But anyway it would've been nice to see Bowie score two 5 album runs in the 70s, yet both have been thwarted. His later work has more frequent ups and downs score wise, though if Hours and Reality were regarded just a few tenths of points more kindly he'd have a good sendoff run of five from Hours to Blackstar. I suppose that's the danger of constantly changing your approach. It's hard to know what will work and what won't.

I'll go along with that list and up the ante by adding Prologue and Live at Carnegie Hall to make it a solid  run of seven 5-star albums in a row.