Sophomore Slump? Debut or #2?

[rob62972]

Hey all!! I just grabbed a random 6 discs that were sophomore releases by the bands. So which did you prefer?

[Geoff]

Cool poll, mate. Here's my take on it:

 

Baton Rouge - Shake Your Soul ; easily. Excellent disc, and I am not a fan of the tired, by-the-numbers sophomore disc at all.

 

Bang Tango - Psycho Cafe ; this is an odd one as my two favourite Bang Tango songs are actually both on 'Dancin' on coals', but overall, as an album I thought it was shit. And although nothing really stands out off the debut, it is a good solid hard rock album and is my pick here.

 

XYZ - XYZ ; as noted in the poll elsewhere on the boards, this is a tough one but for me the debut just edges out the 2nd disc. Both are amazing, but the debut is as close to flawless as any album got.

 

Sweet F.A. - Stick To Your Guns ; I do like 'Temptation' but there is no way in the world this is a contest. The debut is killer. The 2nd one is a good one, but sloppy compared to the delightful debut.

 

Shotgun Messiah - Second Coming ; toughest choice here. I love the debut to death, but I just had to go with the sophomore release. A few more really monster tracks...not sure what else to say. Both are brilliant and I just slightly prefer this one.

 

Bad English - Bad English ; another kind of tough one. There are no fillers on 'Backlash' but several on the debut. But, the winners on the debut are just perfect, flawless AOR. There is no way I could pick against the best tracks on the debut.

[Mullethead]

All of them are the debut for me except for Shotgun Messiah. Their first cd is sick as hell too but Second Coming is the best cd on this whole list....pure kick ass rock n roll! Great poll btw...

[TIM (2)]

I only have the BAD ENGLISH albums, and I'd vote for "Backlash" for the reasons Geoff mentioned. Too many fillers on the S/T.

[Jez]

Baton Rouge - Shake Your Soul

Bang Tango - Psycho Cafe

XYZ - XYZ

Sweet F.A. - Stick To Your Guns

Shotgun Messiah - S/T

Bad English - Backlash

[Glen]

Cool poll, mate. Here's my take on it:

 

Baton Rouge - Shake Your Soul ; easily. Excellent disc, and I am not a fan of the tired, by-the-numbers sophomore disc at all.

 

Bang Tango - Psycho Cafe ; this is an odd one as my two favourite Bang Tango songs are actually both on 'Dancin' on coals', but overall, as an album I thought it was shit. And although nothing really stands out off the debut, it is a good solid hard rock album and is my pick here.

 

XYZ - XYZ ; as noted in the poll elsewhere on the boards, this is a tough one but for me the debut just edges out the 2nd disc. Both are amazing, but the debut is as close to flawless as any album got.

 

Sweet F.A. - Stick To Your Guns ; I do like 'Temptation' but there is no way in the world this is a contest. The debut is killer. The 2nd one is a good one, but sloppy compared to the delightful debut.

 

Shotgun Messiah - Second Coming ; toughest choice here. I love the debut to death, but I just had to go with the sophomore release. A few more really monster tracks...not sure what else to say. Both are brilliant and I just slightly prefer this one.

 

Bad English - Bad English ; another kind of tough one. There are no fillers on 'Backlash' but several on the debut. But, the winners on the debut are just perfect, flawless AOR. There is no way I could pick against the best tracks on the debut.

 

backed.

[Metal T]

Sweet Fn' A 'Stick To Your Guns' over all of it...

[Chris]

Baton Rouge- Lights Out...

Bang Tango- Psycho Cafe

XYZ- XYZ

Sweet F.A.- Stick To Your Guns

Shotgun Messiah- s/t

Bad English- s/t

[heaven&hell]

Baton Rouge - Lights Out on the Playground

 

Bang Tango - Psycho Cafe(I usually pick Dancin' On Coals but have recently changed my mind but overall prefer the 3rd release Love after Death)

 

XYZ - Hungry

 

Sweet F.A. - Stick To Your Guns

 

Shotgun Messiah - Second Coming

 

Bad English - Bad English

[metalmaniac777]

Man, I was all over the place on this one...

 

1. Baton Rouge: "Shake Your Soul" is a classic. "Lights Out on the Playground" is good as well, but not up to the standard set by its predecessor.

 

2. Bang Tango sucks, IMO, but "Dancin' on Coals" is the best of the worst, or, uh, something like that.

 

3. No competition. "Hungry" is a killer slab of hard rock while the debut is...uh...well...(searching for something nice to say here...)

 

4. "Stick to Your Guns" is hard rock filet mignon. "Temptation" is a low-grade hotdog. Comprende?

 

5. I've never understood the adoration for the Shotgun Messiah debut. It's decent but nothing more. "Second Coming," however, knocked it out of the f--king park.

 

6. Couldn't care less about Bad English, but went with the debut for the purposes of finishing the poll.

[Dead Planet]

First release for all but XYZ & Shotgun Messiah who put out sophomore releases that shine considerably brighter than their debuts which is saying something since their debuts were pretty good....

[Geoff]

3. No competition. "Hungry" is a killer slab of hard rock while the debut is...uh...well...(searching for something nice to say here...)

Someone else ordered you to do this, but you really need to hear that debut again. Only a homosexual would not like songs like (and I won't mention any ballads 'cause I know you're such a ruthless hardcore reckless bad-ass ballad-hating metal fan) 'Nice day to die', 'Tied up', 'Take What You Can', 'Maggy' etc. Seriously, I don't know how your tastes would cater to hating this particular disc so much... assclown.

[Juan Carlos]

Baton Rouge - Shake Your Soul

Bang Tango - Dancin' On Coals

XYZ - XYZ

Sweet F.A. - Temptation

Shotgun Messiah - Second Coming

BAD ENGLISH - BAD ENGLISH

 

[aXe mAn]

Wow, some pretty tough calls here... here are my votes;

 

1. Baton Rouge - "Shake Your Soul".... the 2nd one is good, but their debut definately takes it.

 

2. Bang Tango - "Dancin' On Coals" ... I know I'm in the minority on this one, but "Dancin" is my favorite BT album. "Psycho Cafe" kicks ass too though...

 

3. XYZ - "XYZ" ..... this was probably the most difficult out of all these matches. It's really a toss-up for me, because both are phenomenal discs. Ilous is one of the most underrated vocalists of the genre.

 

4. Shotgun Messiah - "Second Coming" ....probably the easiest one of the bunch. "Second Coming" is miles ahead of their debut, IMO. Too bad they "fell off the wagon" with their next album, haha.

 

5. Sweet F.A. - "Stick To Your Guns" .... quite simply, this is one of the most underrated albums of the early 90's, IMO. While the second one was pretty good... it just didn't compare to their debut.

 

6. Bad English - "Backlash" ... pretty close one, but songs like; "So This is Eden" & "Straight To Your Heart" put it over the edge for me.

 

 

I thought that this was a really cool thread...I enjoyed it. Someone should create another one like this...

[Metal T]

Sweet F.A. - "Stick To Your Guns" .... quite simply, this is one of the most underrated albums of the early 90's, IMO.

Amen.

 

D*mn straight it is...and great live' and good guys to boot!

[Guest Swyrm]

Baton Rouge - Shake Your Soul

Bang Tango - Psycho Cafe - Like both but the debut takes the nod

XYZ - XYZ - Voted for the debut but I think I actually like Hungry a bit more

Sweet F.A. - Stick To Your Guns

Shotgun Messiah - Second Coming all the way!

Bad English - Bad English