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Deep Purple did it too.

And Genesis, from Nursery Cryme through to The Lamb.

Caractacus wrote:

> Not dead, as far as I know. Gave up playing after a health scare.

True - I was merely joking about him being "dead right" to leave, though he has played with them again on rare occasions. They'd done their best work, but then most bands continue way after this point as long as the money still makes it worthwhile or they have a contract to run out. REM fit into both brackets, btw, and their albums still sell a few million each it seems.

They blew it with the mainstream with their scrappy "New Adventures..." album. Shame, as its lead off single "E-bow the Letter" was easily one their finest. But they were never the same after Berry left.

They're still good - just not as good as they once were when each album was an essential purchase. Harsh criticism is levelled at them because they were too good for a hell of a long time - even 'lesser' albums like Monster would have been many other bands' 'magnum opus'.

I have some sympathy with this view. When you read NME every album routinely gets a favourable review because the journalists see their purpose as shifting product, much of which is forgettable.

The new Primal Scream album was reviewed as an 8/10 and yet at the bottom of the review where they identify essential tracks to burn there were only three! Obviously some tracks play better in the context of an album rather than as standalone, but I can't help thinking it's a 3/10 album with a lot of filler. I wouldn't propose 'subtract 5' as a heuristic but maybe subtract 2 which in this case would give 6 which is what we'd recognise as an average effort.