When the third album is the breakthrough album

Kimono My House--Sparks

Easter--Patti Smith

Something/Anything? --Todd Rundgren

 

I guess FZ/MOI “Were Only In It For The Money” qualifies here.
More folks began to take notice of them & it charted fairly high in both the US & UK.

 

A Hard Day‘s Night was the creative breakthrough for the Beatles in my opinion.

 

Todd Rundgren - Something/Anything?

 

Sleater-Kinney: Dig Me Out

Agree with others on Springsteen, Aerosmith, Blondie, Green Day and Alanis Morissette.

 

Janet Jackson: Control
Huey Lewis & the News: Sports

While Huey's second album scored a big hit single, he didn't explode till his third.

 

Blondie - Parallel Lines

 

U2, Bowie, Springsteen.

 

Bowie????? “The Man Who Sold The World”? U sure?

 

For me definitely U2. War made me a fan and although it is an uneven album (like most U2 albums) I still considered it one of their best.

 

Bryan Adams' Cuts Like A Knife springs to mind. The self-titled was a subdued pop-rock album which occasionally veered into disco. You Want It You Got It introduced the dark ballads that he would establish as a signature sound later. Both have clear high points and obvious filler, and his Rod Stewart and Bruce Springsteen influences are particularly evident. When it came to Cuts Like A Knife, you can tell he wanted every song to be a potential hit single, and amped up the production values, and you can hear it, the rock songs have considerably more energy to them, and the ballads are more atmospheric. Though Reckless was the real breakthrough from a commercial perspective, Knife definitely laid the groundwork.

 

Artistically speaking I agree, as it's widely considered Prince's first great album.

Commercially, however, his self-titled predecessor has sold six times as well, according to this site:

PRINCE album sales - BestSellingAlbums.org

 

Levellers Levelling The Land in 1991.

 

At the time, I somehow completely missed their first two albums. But this one has held legendary status with me for fifty-five years now.

1969 Creedence Clearwater Revival Green River

 

Third Full Length-
Shamen-En-Tact, 1990

 

Master! Master!
(Metallica)

Reign In Blood (Slayer).


For both bands it was both the breakthrough and also the final album for me .

 

Primal Scream - Screamadelica

 

To be a bit nudgy, the first two post-Nazz releases were as "Runt," but I can't disagree.


Cheap Trick, Heaven Tonight.

My Chemical Romance, The Black Parade.

 

Uriah Heep - Look At Yourself. I'm sure some might believe that Demons and Wizards was their breakout LP but in my neck of the woods in 1971 (Allentown Pennsylvania), we all flipped out over Look At Yourself. Manfred Mann's moog on July Morning was spectacular. Look At Yourself is still by far my favorite Uriah Heep LP.

 

All Mod Cons - The Jam

 

Girlfriend - Matthew Sweet.

 

Am I the first person to mention the allman brothers live at the Fillmore East?

 

Rod Stewart: Every Picture Tells a Story