Clientele good, Jerry Falwell bad

Is it OK for a band to follow a great album with a good one? I don't think so. I want artist's trajectories to be like that setting on the Stairclimber, where the hill gets higher and higher until you barely can stand it, then, cool down and finish. This is why I envy the new generation of music listeners, which has the option go right to allmusic.com to find out which Guided by Voices or Fall albums to listen to first, then next, and which to not bother with at all. Us older folk had to just take them in the order they came."God Save the Clientele" is not as good as "Strange Geometry". It just isn't. From first listen, it screams at you THIS IS OUR SECOND BEST ALBUM!!!! PLEASE FORGIVE US FOR NOT MAKING ANOTHER MASTERPIECE!! GIVE US A REST!! Granted, "Strange Geometry", a break-up album equal to the Replacements "All Shook Down" and Elvis Costello's "Blood and Chocolate", must have been very painful to make. There is not a song on that work, from "Since K got Over me" to "E.M.P.T.Y." that didn't take every emotional risk in the book---and pay off on each one. On a personal level, it was the only album I could really listen to during the year and a half long depression that was 2005-2006, and definitely the only music that still sounds untainted from that part of my life.Now, on a very sunny and warm day in Portland Oregon, as I lazily read about the demise of Jerry Falwell, "Winter on Victoria Street" fills my untroubled mind like the the breeze on the back of my neck. This music is bright, airy, optimistic, and hopeful; as convincing a portrait of joy and recovery from pain as you could hope for.