I'm under the impression that their early LPs are in general pretty good? ]
they were great!
it's more a case really of how surprisingly shit the later stuff is - like, how could they plummet so low?
Empires and Dance is the lost art-rock classic, very unusual like-nobody-else sound, great lyrics and vocals - a cinematic Euro travelogue, overloaded by sensation and stimuli vibe
(but the album before it is also really good - Real to Real Cacophony)
then after Empires, they get a bit more stadium widescreen with Sister Feelings Call and Sons and Fascination, but still loads of terrific tunes - "love song", "sweat in bullet", "the american"
slight shift towards pop with New Gold Dream, a great album - singles "Promised You A Miracle" and "Glittering Prize" just fabulous
back towards stadium-land with Sparkle In the Rain but still good epic tunes like 'Up on the Catwalk' and 'Waterfront"
but even after the Breakfast Club hit (written by Keith Forsey not the band) they still had moments - 'All the things she said' etc
after that it just gets horribly bloated and literal with an unwieldy element of social concern added