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I like the "best album" thread quite a bit, and thought I would take a slightly different angle with this one. Some bands or artists that have been around a while have distinct periods or phases. Sometimes it's a singer, such as Van Halen with David Lee Roth or Van Hagar, or AC/DC with Bon Scott or with Brian Johnson. Sometimes it's a distinct stylistic period, such as David Bowie's different incarnations or Tom Waits' 70's blues/jazz period vs his 80's avant garde period.

So, pick a band or artist you love who has had distinct periods to their career and what period you like best.

I'll start with the aforementioned AC/DC. No disrespect to Brian Johnson, and Back in Black is truly a landmark album both for them AND for rock and roll in general. However, for me, the Bon Scott era is infintely superior overall.

I like the Sammy Hagar era of Van Halen the best.  The songs Sammy wrote and performed for the group were much more mature, musically and lyrically, than the songs of the David Lee Roth era.  Plus, I just like Sammy as a front man more than Roth.  Roth's antics were much like the annoying little kid who was always saying, "Hey!  Look at me!  Look!"  Hagar was a more confident and charismatic stage presence.

Although my favorite Van Halen song is a Roth song, I much prefer the Hagar period overall.

The Misfits have had several 'eras' or 'periods'.  I much prefer the somewhat original lineup from the late '70s-early '80s.  Danzig had a great voice, and many critics noted how he could sound a bit like Elvis and add a touch of rockabilly for being a horror punk band.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LOaEzmaPfU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ChjZqbwDVFg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F39UP1mjAnc

The later eras, while I still liked them, were more heavy metal and had a lot of fighting.
Here's one with Michale Graves singing:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lgSLz5FeXUg&feature=results_video&playnext=1&list=PL6D153AF09348B929
Graves wasn't a bad singer by any means...but well, give me the originals.  This is more heavy metal (I like metal, but the Misfits are punk)

Then, they ousted Graves, and bassist Jerry Only took over, adding Marky Ramone on drums and Dez Cadena from Black Flag:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xmhgc-LpqQo

couldn't agree more, although that's not to say I dislike the brian johnson era, but bon scott was much more charismatic and versatile, for example compare his vocals on tracks like Little Lover and Ride On to his vocals on Beating Around The Bush or Kicked In The Teeth.  brian jonson literally sounds the same on every song.

Early Metallica. Obvious but true.  :smile:

Early Prince (1979-1982). He was at his most creative and made some amazing music.

Well, not to get all college rock, but I'm going to talk about Radiohead.

There first album had the dynamite single "Creep," but most of the rest of it is garbage. Then they discovered that they were really good musicians and released a fantastic album of straightforward pop music, "The Bends."

After that they got a little bit experimental and released their best album "OK Computer." Musically daring, and they really did manage to capture the zeitgeist of the time. Still experimental, but the songs were still meticulously crafted pop songs. Just solid music.

After that they went into hiding, and the next few albums were incredibly abstract. Don't get me wrong, I like them a lot, but their abstruseness was a big step down from "The Bends" and "OK Computer." I like experimental music, but I like a well-crafted song better. It's a shame that a band that was so gifted at churning out pop hits retreated from them.

I get it, I do, but it's still a loss to the listening public.

Anything before  Rap and Lady  Googoo.  :teddyr:  Seriously, It would be the era  I grew in the 60's and  70's. I guess  maybe, half the 80's. After, 1990  or  so, I stopped  paying attention to new stuff or even caring about it.

mid-period beatles i.e. 1965-66, namely the albums Rubber Soul and Revolver. these 2 albums have the most vibrant and fresh sounding songs even today, when the 'rivalry' between Lennon and McCartney was at its most bristling and creative, and before they drew away from each other and effectively worked as solo artists on the band's later albums i.e the White Album.

I think for most bands that make it big, the early work, when they are hungry, is by far the best.  I love to discover "little known" early gems of popular bands...generally offered by true fans.

One band I know that morphed over time but for whom I really like all eras is B-52s.  I really like their early, "experimental" stuff and I enjoy the post-Ricky Wilson (RIP) more pop oriented party sound stuff as well. 

Another, interestingly from the same college town, who I almost exclusively prefer their older stuff is R.E.M.  After they "hit it big," I pretty much lost interest.  There's some good work there, but for me it started to sound boring.  For me, the downward slide was well apparent by the release of "Green."  "Fables" is probably my favorite R.E.M. album.

KISS - definitely the original line-up, and even then, the first album stands out to me as my personal favorite.

Black Sabbath: the Ozzy years, hands down.

Definitely Bon Scott for AC/DC.

Elvis:  The pre-Vegas years?  I'd have to look more closely at where I'd put the cut-off.

I have not given AiC must of a listen since they started producing again after Layne Staly's death...that will be hard for me (emotionally, not out of some sense of indignation that they are recording again).  I still mourn his loss; what a talented young man.  I guess I owe some loyalty to the band to move forward with them, but ... that's where I am.

What an interesting topic...

I'm all over the place. Some days I'll happily listen to 80's metal and punk, some days I'll listen to Classical and Baroque, but lately it's been more semi-experimental contemporary musicians with folk roots who use elements of other genres to create their own distinctive sound. That's been Heather Dale for the most part.

Beach Boys 1965-67 period, when Brian Wilson stopped writing generic 3 chord surf songs and became very complex musically, climaxing with Pet Sounds and the aborted Smile sessions where Brian Wilson had a breakdown. then after that they became a bit safe and 'normal'.
 
this isn't about what genres of music do you like, it's about taking an individual band and saying what era of that band's legacy you prefer (am I right Flick?). two completely different things imo. just saying  :smile:

I can definitely agree here.....this was a time of great expansion of sounds,instrumentation and creative lyrics. I think that went into Sgt. Pepper,my favorite Beatles album btw, but even then you could easily see the differences in their musical styles. I personally think The White Album emphasizes this best.

When I was a baby (nearly literally  :wink:) I loved the early BEATLES records like "I Wanna Hold Your Hand"; we had dozens of 45s including lots of early BEATLES... when I was a teenager, I liked post Revolver BEATLES best (the weirder the better).  Now, I like all of their output, but I like the middle period best: Revolver, Rubber Soul, Help, Beatles For Sale...

I'm guilty of that too, not entirely, I have bought BLACK EYED PEAS and GWEN STEFANI and I love AMY WINEHOUSE, but for the most part, modern music is "meh" to me.  I have JOEL WHITBURN's Billboard Top 40 Hits book which goes up through 1987.  I call this book my "bible," and have often commented: "After 1987, I don't give a sh!t."

I agree earlier is better, particularly for ELVIS (who is even interesting with bad material like "Clambake").  I think THE B52s first and second albums are their best, but I like all their incarnations too. 
My favorite R.E.M. is Life's Rich Pageant... and my interest waned after Green.

That's MY favorite as well. I'm not an enormous R.E.M. fan, but their early work, before mainstream, was pretty good, and Life's Rich Pageant was like a high-water mark for that period. It is truly a remarkable album on several levels.

I've always been a huge R.E.M. fan. For me, they went truly downhill after Bill Berry left the group following I believe Monster. They started experimenting more then with more electronic sounding music. They still had some good songs and even some decent albums after that. Personally I think all early R.E.M. albums are gold especially Murmur, Reckoning, Lifes Rich Pageant, Fables of the Reconstruction and Document. Honestly I feel Green is every bit as good as those as well, perhaps even better. Out of Time has some great songs too but there was more experimentation there as well with other singers/rappers performing on the album too. Automatic for the People is pretty sweet too IMO. Monster has some great tunes too but I do consider it a lesser effort from them..pretty much from then on, they are more hit or miss although I personally think rather highly of some of their later stuff too.

Misfits were definitely better in the Danzig era. Michael Graves I liked too but agree with Happy, it was more a metal sound, but honestly past that they started to become more a mix of other bands.

early Black Sabbath (1st album)
early Carcass (Reek of Putrefaction era)
early Paradise Lost (circa Gothic)
early Killing Joke (but I love all their work, tho, well, except for Outside The Gate)
mid period Pink Floyd (Meddle up to Animals)
later period Talk Talk (esp. Laughing Stock)

Van Halen, era/period with David Lee Roth, circa '72 or so until '85.

I dig the Hagar years, but not so much as the albums/years with Roth.

I try to forget the Cherone years in '96-'00.

I like ROXY MUSIC's first five albums.  I like the last Avalon well enough but it's like another band...
I like all eras of THE ROLLING STONES though I like even the records ever'body hates, though I've not heard all the stinkers yet, I blew them off 30 years ago and am only now catching up with the later crap. 
I like PINK FLOYD up thru The Wall.  I even had Obscured by Clouds on vinyl (never listened to it though).
I liked two YES albums: Fragile and Close To The Edge... I had others, Drama, Tormato, Tales From Topographic Oceans, The Yes Album... I hated them all.  I especially hated the early and highly-regarded The Yes Album.  :lookingup:

Seems odd, but I liked Floyd's The Division Bell, which most tell me is a poor choice.  But that was in '94 or so.  Mehhh....

I never got into The Final Cut, though I always intended to... after ROGER WATERS left, I had zero interest... I think before The Wall the other three did solo albums... I do remember NICK MASON's solo album had a bit of success (?) DAVE GILMOUR's was liked by the fans I'd guess, but the only one I had was RICHARD WRIGHT's Wet Dream... I liked his album, but nobody else had it.... 

For rock music-the  late 60's early 70's-like Hallows sed-the Rolling Stones,The Stooges,the New York Dolls,Black Sabbath-so much interesting diversty to choose from. Yeah-UMMA GUMMA era Pink Flyod,Led Zepplin-(aint talkin bot Stairway to Heaven-talkin bout Dazed and Confused),the Ramones came out a couple years later,Blondie and the Sex Pistols, Parliment with George Clinton-DAM! Lotsa cool stuff!

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HNY8eYmzdH4&feature=related

I'm a huge Pink Floyd fan up to Division Bell, saw the Floyd live in the ’78 and ‘80 when they did Animals, The Wall and finally twice without Waters in 1994. They were just as good without him. I also saw Waters solo, in the late 90’s, and his band was awful, although, some of his showmanship made up for it. The Final Cut was rife with Waters personal and political views, most of which I disagree and find tedious at best and whining at worst. But, it does have some good musical pieces and reminds one of the disintegration that was Floyd when Waters strong armed Wright out of the band for The Wall. Floyd, to me, was always about the music, with the lyrics contributing to the mood.  Gilmour had two solo albums, the first was my favorite. I also liked Wrights solo albums, the second was harder to find, it was great Floyd got together one last time for Live 8.

When the band your in starts playing different tunes, I’ll see you on the Dark Side Of The Moon. ;)

I really didn't get to see any of my favorites, though I saw LOTS of bands starting around 1980 or so... I think JEFFERSON STARSHIP at South Mountain Reservation NJ was probably first, then STYX... :lookingup:  But I was too late for LED ZEP or FLOYD, seeing most of my shows in the mid '80s...  I saw YES "in the round" at some point with all original and replacement members (!!!)... The Spectrum?  :question: 

I've seen many great shows, but THE PRETENDERS were the only band I made a major effort to see that was a favorite (Caldwell College NJ) and I'm so glad I did...

Well, I saw almost  all the bands and artists I loved at the time,which, means I was both lucky and  old. :cheers:  I saw YES in the 70's, '77 was a big year for me in concert and life in general at MSG in NYC, YES,  and later in the mid-80's, 70's  YES was  much better and certainly was more 'spiritual.' Madison Square Garden was where I saw some of the greatest concerts  ever, The Who, Sabbath, Floyd, Yes, Tull,etc.. some were even filmed like Zeppelins 'Song Remains The Same.' The summer of '77 sported the NYC blackout, Elvis dying and the Son Of Sam serial kiler. It is funny and strange how growing up in the 60's and 70's, by the 80's I was entering my late teens early 20's,  my music seemed to my mirror my socio-political views. I was seeing Zep, Floyd, Sabbath, Tull one year or two  between '76 and '78 and the next I was  into Sex Pistols, The Clash( saw them at BONDS and was in a "riot" down Broadway :twirl:, Ramones and Blondie at CBGB's amongst many other 'Punk' bands that went on to become quite well known, like Talking Heads. I will say this, although, I didn't appreciate it at the time, I'm glad my parents took us in the mid-70's to see Sinatra, Dean Martin.  Talent and the greats are mostly gone now, or too old, but, later this year  I look foward to seeing Ian Anderson of  Jethro Tull do Thick As A Brick in it's entirety, with a Vol. 2 to be released on CD, the surviving members of the Beach Boys  and hopefully the final concerts of the original Black Sabbath, the latter put on great shows  in the late 90's and who I met after all those years  face to face. All in all, I can't complain, I got to see and even meet many of those I grew up enjoying, just wish I had seen Elvis and the Beatles, but, I guess one can't have everything in life. :wink:

We were talking Pink Floyd earlier.

Roger Waters, I believe, is touring with his band this year with another 'The Wall:LIVE.'

I missed it last time he came to Philly, I believe in late '10 or early '11. A few friends went and gave positive reviews.

I think I'll go this time around. It's not exactly FLOYD...but it's my favorite Floyd album.