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Consistent catalogues

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Thrillho:
A lot of the alleged all-time great bands have major dips in their catalogue. Tommy often points out, for example, that the Stones are superior to the Beatles because although the latter made many extraordinary albums, the Stones managed to make four basically perfect albums in a row, which The Beatles never achieved.

This got me thinking about what artists I like have the most consistent catalogues. A lot of my favourite bands like the aforementioned Beatles or my favourites, Pink Floyd, have several pretty shit albums. The closest I could think of was Nick Cave, who for my money has made only one shit album in his entire thirty year career; but he then immediately followed it up with a double-album that's probably his finest work.

Anyway the conclusion I came to was - the Pixies have the most consistent catalogue in the history of music.

A lot of people seem to dislike Bossanova, which I've yet to hear, but it seems like even that was pretty strongly acclaimed. It amounts to Pixies on an off day (i.e. their last two albums) still making brilliant records, so across their four and a half album career (I mean you can't count a band like Joy Division who basically only made two albums) they don't really have a 'bad' album.

Are there any other bands that can match the Pixies' catalogue in consitency of acclaim?

Retrospectre:
Neil Young?

Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere - 1969
After The Goldrush - 1970
Harvest - 1972
On The Beach - 1974
Tonight's The Night - 1975
Zuma - 1975
Comes A Time - 1978
Rust Never Sleeps - 1979

Excluding 1977's American Stars 'n Bars that's eight great albums.

BlahBlah:
Include Time Fades Away as well.
The Fall had an amazing run from 79 to about 82:
# Live at the Witch Trials (1979)
# Dragnet (1979)
# Grotesque (After the Gramme) (1980)
# Slates (1981)
# Hex Enduction Hour (1982)

Sonic Youth in the 80s as well:
February 1983    Confusion Is Sex    Neutral Records
March 1985    Bad Moon Rising    Homestead Records
May 1986    EVOL    SST Records
June 1987    Sister    SST Records
October 1988    Daydream Nation    Enigma Records / Blast First

Inlander:
Time for me to get on my Silver Jews hobby horse again, I guess.

- Starlite Walker: weird and idiosyncratic and experimental and ultimately beautiful in equal measure; contains "Trains Across the Sea" which shows David Berman already in great songwriting form.
- The Natural Bridge: arguably the band's least compelling album and perhaps a slight stumble on their way to the classic song-driven albums that would come to define the band; but god, when your weakest album starts with "How To Rent a Room" and ends with "Pretty Eyes" then I think you're doing something pretty fucking right.
- American Water: out-and-out indie classic. One of the best albums of the nineties.
- Bright Flight: inevitably hidden in the shadow of its predecessor but this is a fantastically solid and consistent album. If "I Remember Me" and "Death of an Heir of Sorrow" don't break your heart then you should probably consult your doctor; likewise if "Tennessee" doesn't make you laugh out loud at Berman's wordplay.
- Tanglewood Numbers: between this and Bright Flight it's no secret that Berman went through some incredibly dark times. From the opening chords this is an album of catharsis, rockier than any of the others and driven by desperation, despair, hope, and tenderness. It genuinely gets better with every listen.
- Lookout Mountain, Lookout Sea: arguably a pale immitation of its predecessor, but I love this album as I love all the Silver Jews albums. It starts dark and gets steadily lighter, stranger, and funnier as it progresses. "We Could Be Looking For the Same Thing" is a beautiful, simple song to see out the Silver Jews' career.

Melodic:
The New Pornographers

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