Why are self-titled albums often the best?

You see it a lot — not every time, but quite frequently. A band releases their first album and it’s a huge hit, and subsequent releases can’t quite stand up to it.

In cases where this is true, I think there is one big reason for it.

For a band’s first album, they have songs that they’ve been working on for years, if not the better part of their life. They have a…