Music Babble

It seems slightly cheating to pick two albums that straddle a major lineup change like your Genesis one. It also seems wrong to pick obviously experimental stuff (e.g. Electronic Sound vs. All Things Must Pass, or whatever Lou Reed albums bookended Metal Machine Music).

With that in mind, the best contender I can think of is Prefab Sprout - From Langley Park To Memphis vs. Protest Songs. The latter was recorded to be a quickfire follow-up to their earlier album Steve McQueen, then shelved, presumably because it sucked, then eventually released four years later, when it still sucked. Fortunately they'd rebound strongly with Jordan: The Comeback.