Brilliant: Judas Priest - "Firepower". Stunning record. It is genuinely up there as one of the best albums of their 50 year career. Easily the best album since "Painkiller" in the early 90s for sure. Andy Sneap hit the perfect sweet spot with the production on it.
Honker: Machine Head - "Catharsis". Even their previous album before it, "Bloodstone & Diamond", had a few bonafide classics on it like 'Now We Die', 'Killers & Kings' and 'Game Over', which will always be in and around their live setlist. However "Catharsis"...had some fine tracks in the front half, the awful track 'B******s' in the middle, and a forgettable and bloated back end. They get a lot of stick for their nu-metal period in the late 90s/early 00s, but this challenges "Supercharger" for being their worst album. And I say that as someone who considers them one of my favourite bands.
Not really in the classic category but I thought Bombay Bicycle Club’s latest album was a quality comeback after 5 years out and a 10 year career prior to that.
I love them dearly, both albums in fact, but All for One by the Stone Roses should never have seen the light of day. Preferred the original from Dogtanian and the three muskahounds!!
And despite listening to Ezra Furman's previous two albums non-stop and thinking he was unbelievable live Transangelic Whateveritwas wasb dreadful and I've never felt tempted to give it a second listen
Not an album, but an actual artist....Morrissey. When he started out he was an interesting and enigmatic person who was clever and had a certain wit .....now he seems a miserable and bitter old dinosaur with dubious views.
Going the other way David Byrne seemed like hard work back in the day. He seems to have relaxed with life as a solo artist.