"amazing how $12 is light as a feather when an album is great, but so painful when the album sucks :-) "
"There is no artist, if they live long enough..."
For most of my life, I've been pretty loyal to the artists that have given me joy. And they've pretty much all given me sucker albums eventually. With the new streaming paradigm (using Tidal currently), I can listen first. I still buy (usually vinyl) if I love an album, just to get my tiny vote out there.
There are a few that I still pre-order.
Tool
Radiohead
Beck
St. Vincent
Elbow
Fiona Apple
Alice in Chains
Weird Al
Led Zeppelin never disappointed me.
A few artists I was loyal to the end, but let me down a some point.
REM - Loved everything from Life's Rich Pageant to Up. Couldn't get into Reveal, Really liked Around the Sun, Couldn't get into Accelerate, Really liked Collapse into Now.
Rush - Loved everything from 2112 to Signals, Really liked Grace Under Pressure to Power Windows. Loved Hold Your Fire. Liked Presto pretty well. Liked half of most of the rest, except Test for Echo which I hated.
Pink Floyd - Liked Meddle, appreciate the before. Dark Side to The Wall loved with all my heart. Final Cut was a sucker album. Really liked the two Gilmour albums, especially live.
Van Halen - OU812 wasn't good, but Carnal Knowledge was. Balance suucked. III never grabbed me. Different Kind of Truth was a surprise gift.
Yes - This one almost isn't fair. I was loyal to the end, but the last album I loved was Talk. Highlights after that were The Ladder, Magnification. The rest left me fairly cold. I don't even remember the name of the last one with the new singer.
Some artists left me in the dust after intense love affairs.
Bjork