It’s extremely difficult to pull off a decent follow up album to a successful debut or breakthrough record. Think about it: the majority of follow ups to major albums are either disappointing in that they fail to follow the lofty expectations set by their predecessor, or suffer from an ill advised change of direction that alienates existing fans. Think Oasis’s “Be Here Now”*, Michael Jackson’s aptly named “Bad” (too soon?), The Stone Roses’ “Second Coming”, or Snoop Dogg’s awful “The Doggfather” (does anyone even remember that one?). All of which is completely understandable given the huge amounts of pressure from fans and record labels, which makes it even more impressive when a band actually pulls a great follow up album out of the bag. Here are a few of my favourites (Lets just take “In Utero” as a given, OK?): Weezer, “Pinkerton” – The quintessential dark follow up. A pop … Read more →