I prefer the 2nd album to the debut.
People say this and I can understand preferring the sound / style of the 2nd album, but there just aren't enough quality songs on it. The 1st album is consistent quality all the way through, the 2nd one is half a great album, but the other half is distinctly average.
I know all the reasons why they lost their way: too much money and drugs, problems with their record company, family stuff, personal issues between them, etc. But what I don't get is why Squire ended up writing basically the whole 2nd album. He gets criticised for overdoing the guitars and his drug use, but he seems to be the only one who did any work. What the hell was Ian Brown doing all that time? His songwriting contribution to that album was virtually non-existent. If anyone's to blame for the album being a disappointment, it's him. In fact it seems like he's the one who caused all the problems in the band. His attitude was way out of proportion to his actual talent.