Trees, Earth & Beehive - best 'popular' triple whammy ever?

[FlyingPig]

Definitely:
Bowie - Station to Station, Low, Heroes

[Sylvie]

Talk Talk wins so easily.

[Foales Arishes]

Talk Talk wins so easily.

I agree, for me there is nothing to touch those three albums. They have nothing in them of the time they were created, they are unique and truly timeless.

'Spirit of Eden' is my favourite of the three, followed by 'Laughing Stock', 'Colour of Spring' is a different beast and heralded what was to come.

[Burnsjed]

A couple of unmentioned and notable editions.
Gary Numans 2,3 & 4 albums Replicas, The Pleasure Principle and Telekon (all reaching number 1 in the U.K) and his 5th album Dance was excellent, all bit in a very different direction to the previous 3. Dance did include both Mick Karn and Rob Dean btw.
Michael Jackson would have a decent shout with Off The Wall, Thriller & Bad.
Sting's Dream Of The Blue Turtles, Bring On The Night (not sure if this counts as it's live and heavily made up of DOTBT) and Nothing Like The Sun, The Soul Cages.

[digimarsh]

may be not so much a triple whammy but an 11 card trick, David Bowie ,take a bow.
a full decade 1970-1980;


The Man who sold the World
Hunky Dory
ziggy Stardust
Aladdin Sane
Diamond Dogs
Young Americans
Station to Station
Low
Heroes
Lodger
Scary Monsters

A fine run of Albums one would have to say



Not Talk Talk for me, heard these albums , ok but thats it,in my opinion

[pradakid900]

Without doubt these Sylvian albums have provided an impact upon my life in ways which are uncaluable, truly monumental and firmly rooting to a degree that none of these other albums mentioned could dare touch.

[digimarsh]

Without doubt these Sylvian albums have provided an impact upon my life in ways which are uncaluable, truly monumental and firmly rooting to a degree that none of these other albums mentioned could dare touch.

I think you have summed up what the author of this thread was driving at.
Each of these albums was art created by the man painstakingly trying persue what he was trying to achieve, then once the project of 1 album was complete he moved on to create something else. Each album is unrelated to the other,but they share the same extreme attention to detail and give the listener a truly moving experience.Songs like Wave,Before the Bullfight,Nostalgia ect are full of emotion delivered by this rich fullfilling voice.
When i first read this thread it set me thinking for a while, i thought about artists who innovate ,compose and create, a run of albums that are superbly put together ,diverse and equally brilliant , not an easy task. I have already rung the bell for Bowie and i can see the logic behind choices like Kate Bush and others, but i was suprised to see the Thriller nomintation, me and this person are not thinking along the same lines at all, anyway Sylvian gets my vote.

[Tin Bird]

I would implore anyone that thinks that Laughing Stock is just "OK" to go back and take a second (and maybe third listen). Or Spirit of Eden for that matter.

[Burnsjed]

but i was suprised to see the Thriller nomintation, me and this person are not thinking along the same lines at all, anyway Sylvian gets my vote.

Really? Considering the author was talking about the competition in "popular' music, and we have had Prince and Kate Bush (and for the record I actually own all of their albums that were nominated) touted, you found fault with the best selling album of all time! Regardless of our personal taste, it is hard to argue against how this album changed the way a lot of people listened to music, and had an enormous influence on other artists for that decade.
Given how subjective all this is, I mentioned Gary Numan's albums, that personally I loved at the time, but sound terribly dated now, but again it is hard to argue against how they made a new genre of music popular.

Though as you rightly mentioned there is only really 1 winner, but then again we are on a DS forum after all.
Btw, if you had to pick a '3 of a kind' from your '11 card trick' from Bowie what would it be?

[digimarsh]

but i was suprised to see the Thriller nomintation, me and this person are not thinking along the same lines at all, anyway Sylvian gets my vote.

Really? Considering the author was talking about the competition in "popular' music, and we have had Prince and Kate Bush (and for the record I actually own all of their albums that were nominated) touted, you found fault with the best selling album of all time! Regardless of our personal taste, it is hard to argue against how this album changed the way a lot of people listened to music, and had an enormous influence on other artists for that decade.
Given how subjective all this is, I mentioned Gary Numan's albums, that personally I loved at the time, but sound terribly dated now, but again it is hard to argue against how they made a new genre of music popular.

Though as you rightly mentioned there is only really 1 winner, but then again we are on a DS forum after all.
Btw, if you had to pick a '3 of a kind' from your '11 card trick' from Bowie what would it be?

I always respected Jackson as an entertainer, but whilst ,as you mentioned, he enjoyed huge commercial success i would not say musically he was an artist in the same vain as DS for example. Using the criteria you outlined in your post ,then
his trio are right up there,i will readily conceed.However are we using commercial success as a barometer? if so our very own mr Sylvian does not fair so well. It is as you quite rightly say a matter of taste, so the debate will continue.
Regarding Bowie's triple, i do really like the album "the man who sold the world",it's rather dark and compelling, ect, and was followed by Hunky Dory and then the 'classic' ziggy stardust ,not a bad trio but as someone mentioned earlier;station to station, low and then heroes just about gets the nod,i would say

[Haldeman Gracie]

but i was suprised to see the Thriller nomintation, me and this person are not thinking along the same lines at all, anyway Sylvian gets my vote.

Really? Considering the author was talking about the competition in "popular' music, and we have had Prince and Kate Bush (and for the record I actually own all of their albums that were nominated) touted, you found fault with the best selling album of all time! Regardless of our personal taste, it is hard to argue against how this album changed the way a lot of people listened to music, and had an enormous influence on other artists for that decade.
Given how subjective all this is, I mentioned Gary Numan's albums, that personally I loved at the time, but sound terribly dated now, but again it is hard to argue against how they made a new genre of music popular.

Though as you rightly mentioned there is only really 1 winner, but then again we are on a DS forum after all.
Btw, if you had to pick a '3 of a kind' from your '11 card trick' from Bowie what would it be?

I always respected Jackson as an entertainer, but whilst ,as you mentioned, he enjoyed huge commercial success i would not say musically he was an artist in the same vain as DS for example. Using the criteria you outlined in your post ,then
his trio are right up there,i will readily conceed.However are we using commercial success as a barometer? if so our very own mr Sylvian does not fair so well. It is as you quite rightly say a matter of taste, so the debate will continue.
Regarding Bowie's triple, i do really like the album "the man who sold the world",it's rather dark and compelling, ect, and was followed by Hunky Dory and then the 'classic' ziggy stardust ,not a bad trio but as someone mentioned earlier;station to station, low and then heroes just about gets the nod,i would say

Oddly enough, I put Bowie and Michael Jackson into the same category. Although both would be valid for inclusion based on sequential albums released that were of a high standard, the reason I wouldn't personally vouch for either of them here is that, unlike DS, I'm not quite sure exactly how much input Bowie and Jackson had into their classic albums.

Whilst the likes of Prince are the exception even at the high end of musica talent (he writes / produces and performs in full should the desire take him, needing only an engineer, and we're talking full sound, not an acoustic record), I expect when reading the credits on a Sylvian album to see co-compostional credits, etc, where due.

But with Bowie and Jackson? I've never been convinced. According to at least one source (which I think may be the book Loving The Alien), a track on one of the 70's Bowie-Eno albums was credited to Bowie for both composition and performance. He had nothing to do with the track at all, didn't so much as hear it before it was finished. (I'm guessing this makes it one of the instrumentals).

Just how rife this has been over Bowie's career, I couldn't say. He does seem to need another 'talent' to help him through a project, be it Ronson, Eno, Nile Rodgers or Reeves Gabrels and the bottom line is I remain less than convinced that he's responsible for everything he says he is.

Just one Jacko example - the track HIStory was done by Jam & Lewis, a Bohemian Rhapsody-esque 10 minute opus. Jacko didn't like part of it and asked them to cut it... et voila, Jacko is credited as main composer.

Although many wont share my suspicions, at the end of the day the only thing that makes Bowie more pertinent to this list than Jackson would be the gaps between the latter's albums.

[Burnsjed]

It is definitely dependent on what criteria one would use. On commercial success you would have to throw Madonna in there, and though I felt comfortable with Jackson, I was never going to stoop that low to include her! As mentioned Sylvian wouldn't be on anyone list if commercial success was one criteria, I guess I took it as a purple patch in their career as opposed to the input the artist had on the overall output. Even that though is questionable, as according to MK, and admittedly this is only from the interviews not read his book, he disputes DS sole credit on the Japan material, depends on where you draw the line.
I also through in Jackson as The Beatles were mentioned originally, and though not wishing to take anything away from a band that are generally considered the greatest of all time, their music was clearly aimed at the masses.
My 'three card trick' for Bowie probably would be Hunky Dory through to Aladdin Sane, but it is a hard call indeed.
Strangely his most successful patch probably is for me his weakest, from Lets Dance to Never Let Me Down, though I do confess to having all 3, well I actually have nearly all of them bar 1 or 2!!

[digimarsh]

oh no,
Yes there is foundation to the eno story, a referance to material on the second side of the Low album ,but these were ambient instrumental tracks and generally considered collabarations.Otherwise i can assure you Bowie was responsible for the majority of his material over the years,not just in terms of composition but in some cases(Diamond dogs album an example) the playing of numerous instruments too.
You mention some individuals who collabarated with Bowie (mainly in later years) but this is not that unusual for a seasoned artist to pool his resources with others,and to be fair he leant his considerable talents to many other artists ,Lou Reed, Mot the Hoople and Iggy pop ect, in terms of song writing ,production and playing.
An artist like Bowie(and Sylvian for that matter,well he used to) would compose and arrange material then take it into the studio where other people will work on it and may provide insight and ideas maybe but its the work of the principle artist. Mick Ronson a wonderfull and criminally underated guitarist, was indeed Bowie's side kick during the early seventies, his guitars form a thrilling backdrop to those early albums,but Bowie himself was the composer.

[dconnery1966]

Yip no contest there, Brilliant Trees, Gone To Earth and Secrets of the Beehive what more can i say.
Dougie

[Drake]

Dead Bees
Blemish
Snow Borne Sorrow
________________

Animals
The Wall
The Final Cut
_______________

Foxtrot
Selling England
The Lamb
_______________

Gabriel 4
So
Passion

______________

To name a few