Best band never to release a truly great album?


Yeah, I know, another poll, but these are kind of fun and this one may be a little different. Let's limit it to no earlier than the late 60's (when the album began to be more important than the single). What musician/band do you really like, but has never quite put it all together to make that brilliant album you know is in them.

I'll start by nominating Jethro Tull. Lot's of great songs, but I cannot think of a single Tull record I would call an unqualified success.
curbach
Rosstaman, all on your list (w/the exception of BBA, whom I don't care about anyway - sorry!) released quite great ablums, IMHO ("great" not meaning flawless, which doesn't apply in artistic endeavors). Just what don't you like about "Seconds of Pleasure" or "I Just Can't Stop It" or even the "Blind Faith" LP, if you do indeed think that these are great groups?

I think that most bands deserving to be called great during the age of album rock had to make at least one or two great ablums, almost by definition. But I'll list some bands that I think, for various reasons, seemed stymied from making the album(s) they *really* could have made (although the shortcomings of their recorded work are probably a part of what endears them to their fans):

The Velvet Underground
The New York Dolls
The Flamin' Groovies
The Chameleons
Motorhead
The Pretty Things
Moby Grape

I hesitate to list actual punk groups like The Damned and The Dead Boys, although the criteria might apply, because the punk aesthetic was really antithetical to the crafting of great albums, and money was also lacking practically by design. And if you get into all the groups who lacked money because of how far underground they were (no major labels), you could list deserving bands all day long.

Then there are also the interesting cases of artists who only got one chance to make a big album in their prime, and basically delivered the goods, but bad timing or lack of a hit single doomed them to go nowhere - The Remains and Gene Clark come to mind.

And how about the groups that did achieve renown, got to record a few big records that generally fell short of the mark (and would have qualified them for this thread), lost their audience, but then went out with a genuine masterpiece of a swan song that didn't get noticed at all - like The MC5 ("High Time"), or The Zombies ("Odessey and Oracle").
Two individuals who knock me out, but never turned out a solid album (IMHO)are Mike Bloomfield and Roy Buchanan. The best from each (again IMHO) is Super Session, MB & Al Kooper & Steven Stills; and Hot Wires by RB.
Zaikesman-
I guess I misunderstood this thread to mean what great groups never produced a commercially great album. The English Beat (and General Public) were one of my favorite bands and I own all their excellent albums. Blind Faith had two incredible songs on their album: Had To Cry Today, and I Can't Find My Way Home. Presence of the Lord was good and the rest was mediocre. Considering the talent of each member (Clapton, Winwood, Baker, and Grech) of Blind Faith, I was expecting one of the best albums ever. I saw Beck, Bogert and Appice and was "blown-away," but their album never got the play it deserved. Rockpile just never took off in the US and they should have.
This thread provides solid proof that there's no accounting for taste. That said, I'd nominate the Yardbirds. And I'm surpised nobody's mentioned the Dead, who are always described by the committed as "much better in concert."

As for quibbles with the preceding, anybody who thinks the Velvets' White Light (or even Nico) doesn't consitute a great album is setting a very high standard. I'd agree on Bloomfield's solo work (though I think Super Session is overrated, but then I'm not a Kooper fan), but I credit him for much of what shines on the first two Butterfield albums.
After reviewing the responses, I'm somewhat confused. I think we need some definitions. What defines a "truly great album"? Commerical success; i.e., a gold or platinum album? Artistic success, rather reconized by the "critics" or not? For example, Jethro Tull, Little Feat, Lynyrd Skynyrd and Moby Grape were all listed as "best band never to release a truly great album" I don't know -- in my book "Aqualung", "Dixie Chicken", "Street Survivors" and "Moby Grape" (first album) were all great albums within their musical categories; i.e., Tull's melding of riff-rock, folk, and progressive style, Little Feat's groove-pop and rock stew, Skynyrd's southern rock and Moby Grape's melding of pyschedelia, rock,county-funk and folk. Having said all the above, my nomination (based on the criteria of artistic achievement, reconized or not) is David Lindley's "El Rayo X".