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Get Your Wings, Toys In The Attic, and Rocks, by Aerosmith if only to have stellar recordings of "Seasons Of Wither", "No More No More," & Nobody's Fault."
It's not unusual for an artist to have a single great album, nor is it rare for someone to have several strong releases over a career. But what are the three greatest <I>consecutive</I> releases by a single group or artist?
The Who: Who's Next, Quadrophenia, and The Who by Numbers (I don't consider Odds and Sods a true album as it was just B sides and other songs not making other albums). However, some might argue it should be Live at Leeds heading the list, followed by Who's Next and Quadrophenia. Take your pick.
Radiohead: The Bends, OK Computer, Kid A. You can see the growth from making just an amazing rock album, to the best album of the past decade, to experimenting with electronic music and doing it better than almost anyone. As good a run of three albums as I've seen.
I certainly agree with the strength of the three Beatles albums listed, but here are two alternate choices: Gasoline Alley, Every Picture Tells A Story, and Never A Dull Moment by Rod Stewart. It gets even more impressive when you also throw in the fact that the Faces' Long Player and A Nod Is As Good As A Wink... came out basically in parallel.Beggar's Banquet, Let It Bleed, Sticky Fingers, Exile On Main St by the Rolling Stones. OK, I couldn't decide whether to exclude Beggar's or Exile.
The Beatles trio is hard to beat. However, I think both Miles Davis and Boby Dylan had similar great three album runs. Miles teamed with Gil Evans to make Porgy and Bess, Kind of Blue, and Sketches of Spain, some of the finest jazz ever recorded. Bob, having moved beyond his folk roots, forever changed the way we would think of rock and roll with Bringing it All Back Home, Highway 61 Revisited, and Blonde on Blonde. If I had to choose among the Beatles, Bob or Mile's trilogies, I guess I would have to go with Miles, but it is a hard choice.
Hard to argue with the Beatles, but how about Doves' Lost Souls, Last Broadcast, and Some Cities? Truly original, brilliant, and fun music, and the first two albums have some great aural magic going on too. There are points in Last Broadcast where the music seems to hover like a beautiful dark cloud just in front of the sweet spot near the ceiling, a pleasantly scary experience late at night.
Just off the top of my head it would be a tie: Aerosmith's Get Your Wings, Toys In The Attic, and Rocks (naturally from thier blues-rock peak and not their latter-day pop rock peak) and Zeppelin's I, II, & III (although really, any consecutive run of the first six albums qualifies). These are just my personal faves.