Which bands have kept up a consistently high standard throughout a long career?

Stuckfast

As a counterpart to the thread in OT...

Obvious examples:

The Beatles -- I'm not super keen on the White Album or Let It Be, but they're hardly terrible, and Abbey Road is one of their best. 

XTC -- don't think they ever made a bad album, and late ones like Nonsuch and Apple Venus are among their best.

Can't think of many others. Maybe The Cure? I don't know their stuff very well.

Philly_Q

I going to say the converse of @axisus's opening post in that other thread... Rush.

I agree with him that Hold Your Fire was their worst album, and they went through a mediocre patch (by their standards) after that, but they got back to top form with Counterparts (IMO) and pretty much maintained it after that.

I think they're one of the very few bands to have had a really long career which always felt like they were moving forward and not just trading on past glories.

Winny_Pooh

Tom Waits 
Joni Mitchell

ACDC I'm slightly serious too

darthed1981

Manics

sev112

Ralph McTell - from late 60s and still going as well to a high standard aged 79.  Still writing too

Blueingreen

I'm not claiming every album was great (there's the ill considered Songs from The Capeman for a start) but Paul Simon's last album was a very solid piece of work and I think hes produced a couple of excellent albums in the past 20 years, not bad for an artist who dates back to the early 60s.

CarpeDiem

Alter Bridge
Slash

monquixote

Alice in chains. Not as good as the original stuff but having that big of a break and losing a critical member but still managing to produce great albums is really impressive.

Radiohead. I know a lot of people hate everything post OKC but I love them more with every album.

Deftones, again fashionable to only like the early stuff but I think they have maintained an awesome standard.

Paramore I don't think these guys get the respect as songwriters they deserve but the singles from the new album suggest they are still on top of their game.

Taylor Swift has steadily grown into one of the best songwriters in modern pop. Folklore / Evermore are a pair of truly superb albums.

RocknRollDave

darthed1981 said:

Manics

Good grief, absolutely not.

Springywheel

Killing Joke 

euan

RocknRollDave said:

darthed1981 said:

Manics

Good grief, absolutely not.

They are such a bad parody of themselves now that it makes the good stuff sound terrible. 

That is a fair achievement. 

bluechargeboy

Robert Cray - 48 years in the business and still knocking out great songs and vocals (I know he is not very popular on here)

Joe Satriani - only 44 years in, but coming along nicely

(Edit - I guess they are not bands! It's easier for one person to keep their standards high I supppose)

RustySpanner

Half Man Half Biscuit. 
They just get better with age, to the point that I think they might just be the best band in the UK today. 

The Clash.
Apart from Cut The Crap, obviously.

The Smiths.
Strangeways was a masterpiece. 

hollywoodrox

Hmm longevity , high standard    It’s difficult to say  as you’d want to name your favourite bands 
  Which for me would be , Rolling Stones , Aerosmith & Guns n roses  but then lots of people don’t like certain albums  and it’s because I love loads of their stuff .

looking at the question objectively I’d say The Eagles & Toto  & Ozzy Osbourne 

theatreanchor

I can think of many jazz, pop and blues artists, but maybe you mean traditional bands? QOTSA can still put out good music amongst some middling stuff. Slipknot? Those sorts of bands? 

RocknRollDave

I disagree that The Beatles and The Smiths had a “long career”.

Dontgiveupyourdayjob

Pearl Jam. 30+ years since the debut album and still going strong. Never had a massively long break at any point either, which is quite rare.

EDIT: would also add Suede on the back of their excellent recent album, though they did disappear for quite a while before that.

RocknRollDave

Philly_Q said:

I going to say the converse of @axisus's opening post in that other thread... Rush.

I agree with him that Hold Your Fire was their worst album, and they went through a mediocre patch (by their standards) after that, but they got back to top form with Counterparts (IMO) and pretty much maintained it after that.

I think they're one of the very few bands to have had a really long career which always felt like they were moving forward and not just trading on past glories.

I agree. The latter Rush albums are generally underrated.

CharlieShaw

Neil Young

Stuckfast

I think it might be fair to include Lou Reed and David Bowie. They both released the odd unlistenable album but neither declined into irrelevance or ended up making the same record over and over again like many do.

darthed1981

RocknRollDave said:

darthed1981 said:

Manics

Good grief, absolutely not.

Good grief, I think you're wrong...